Chrissie B
Race Dog
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2006
- Messages
- 1,229
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Costa Blanca, Spain (NC750X)
- Bike
- Honda NC750X
In the end we were only 2 1/2 bikes and a useless back up vehicle (Mario and the Colt Rodeo, which he was taking ob it’s first proper test drive after he did the Lexus V8 conversion!!), Ernie on his KTM 990, me on my Twin and my son Kevin on the borrowed Honda XR125L…. He definitely had the easiest ride 
.
So we set out on Saturday morning, with my very sketchy directions (taken off Google Earth, see attached, hehehe) and Ernie’s GPS with a couple of way points (just to make sure we're heading in the right direction!).
At least I found the turn off that we missed on our October ride… (that time we ended up getting lost and going in the opposite direction and the bikes decided to take us to the Agnes Mine Rec Club for a few cold ones!!) but the road up to there, which was a 'highway' last time, was fairly bad now, I just hoped it would get better as we went along… Lots of twee-spoor, long grass, ruts, trees hanging down into the path… so that was already not so good… but I was doing great so far. Then we started to climb and the 'road' got worse, the ruts got deeper and there were rocks, loose stones and some water trickling down from strange places! Now Ernie was in the lead, I was next, Kevin behind me and the useless back-up Colt Tail End Charlie. Then the going got really bad for a fairly short stretch… so I ditched the Africa Twin the first time, I got stuck in a rut and couldn't get out… so I fell to the right… the guys stopped to pick up the bike. But I was a bit rattled now, took me a few minutes to get going again, and only after I convinced Mario to put my bike in a place where I could pull off without too many obstacles, which he reluctantly did. My hand was a bit sore, but not too bad.
And it looked like the path was getting a bit better… still going up, but not as much… hahaha, around the next corner things got bad again… I chose my line and decided to go for it, no hesitation… and I was almost over the really bad bits, I had a good do-able line… don't know what I did or why, but I think I looked at the 'BIG' rut next to me (there was only about a 30cm width part to ride on, the rest was bad), and of course my front wheel slipped right in there… tried to power it out, but that made it worse and the bike shot off to the left (in another stupid rut) towards the bushes, hit the ground quite hard this time, not just a fall over like the last… so now my knee was also a bit sore and my off-road gloves have holes in them (Full Throttle here we come again).
Again the guys picked up the bike, parked it in a more suitable spot and off I went again… but now I was really rattled!! The next piece of rough stuff I stopped and had to first contemplate what to do about it… eventually all three of them walked the bad part and showed me which way to go over it… had to ponder over it a few more minutes, started the engine, switched off again… I was really nervous… Mario was getting impatient and told me to get moving… so I started the engine again, pulled off and followed the line exactly as they told me to… got to the other end and thought, gee that was not so bad, it was actually quite easy!
So I was ok again, my confidence was back and off we went. Luckily only a few more inclines and we got to the forestry road, and that was pretty good. Then I looked behind me and saw white smoke… The Colt.. Not again, this thing just breaks down as a hobby! One of the water pipes had a leak AGAIN!! So we stopped, while Mario and Kevin (with a little help from Ernie) patched things up, filled up with water (luckily Mario took a bunch of 5l bottles of water with), and I took the opportunity to have some of my Tequila, should have done that at the bottom of the mountain, I would have done so much better, lol.
Finally we were ready to roll, but we had to roll start the Colt, as the battery was dead again (we think it’s the fans that keep running to keep this huge motor cool!) and let the Colt go ahead, the motor was just getting way too hot at these slow speeds… hopefully he'd find his way to White Gates on the R38. For a while the going was really good so we made up some time, and the we turned into another forest path… not too bad, but twee-spoor and long grass, with hidden rocks all over… but we managed fine, for Kevin it was child’s play, that little 125 managed everything so easily.
Finally we arrived at the R38. Mario decided to go tar from there, straight to Vygeboom Dam, and the 3 bikes crossed over the R38 to find our way to as close to the dam as we could manage to get. Again the going was really good to start off with, and deteriorated as we got further away from civilisation… those bloody twee-spoors and long grass with hidden obstacles… took a lot of concentration, but was not difficult as such… we got a little bit lost, had to turn around and find the other 'road', found it and after another tiring climb we eventually came out on the R38 again. From there we took the 13km tar to the Nkomati turn off, and back onto the dirt. And that was lovely… RACETRACK…. Hehehe, so we picked up some speed… we had to go 7km and then turn to the left to find the Tigers MCC at their camping spot in the middle of no where… cool… found the turn off… and yet another overgrown twee spoor…. Was getting a bit tired of those now, takes too much concentration to stay in the path.
I was glad when we finally got there, I think it was around 2ish, and Mario was not there yet, strange… but apparently he didn't listen and turned off much too early, then the car died and girls went in their bakkie to rescue him (heheh being rescued by women!) They got back just in time to eat Ox tail Potjie with us. But it was hot out there, absolutely no trees, had a few more Tequilas and then we headed home, but this time on tar. That was the SLOWEST I have ever done the pass down to Barberton… average of around 90kph… that little 125 was just not built for tar roads and long distance travelling, it's just really, really, really slow. Now and then I opened up a bit around my favourite corners and then I had to wait for Kevin again, Ernie went up ahead a few times to take pics. So we had a leisurely ride back. Got home at about 16h30.
And I must say that this route is NOT Pillion or Beginner friendly! So I will have to come up with a new idea for the long weekend, if anyone is still interested in coming for a ride around here!
Mario only got back (19h30), he was waiting for a tow truck… as the clutch also fell apart as well, so he couldn't drive anymore at all… so, a few leaking water pipes, a dead battery and a broken clutch, combined with the cost of the tow truck… not a cheap days outing!!
And I'm gonna have to doctor my poor bike, and thank goodness for the crash bars, have to take them off and straighten the brackets etc before Friday!!! I should have taken my other Africa Twin, thought about it briefly, but then decided it can't possible be that bad, hahaha, but luckily no major damage. The clutch was slipping on the way home, but then I saw that the hand guard had moved and was pressing against the clutch lever, sorted that out while I was riding and then it was all good again, but I did worry there for a moment!
Thank you Ernie for your good company, and for helping with the braai on Saturday night. It was great having you here, at least I had someone to ride with for a change! It sucks to have only friends with road bikes when there is soooo many more interesting dirt roads to investigate in the area!
And hopefully Ernie took some better pics to post here. I used my phone, but it doesn’t work so well…
.So we set out on Saturday morning, with my very sketchy directions (taken off Google Earth, see attached, hehehe) and Ernie’s GPS with a couple of way points (just to make sure we're heading in the right direction!).
At least I found the turn off that we missed on our October ride… (that time we ended up getting lost and going in the opposite direction and the bikes decided to take us to the Agnes Mine Rec Club for a few cold ones!!) but the road up to there, which was a 'highway' last time, was fairly bad now, I just hoped it would get better as we went along… Lots of twee-spoor, long grass, ruts, trees hanging down into the path… so that was already not so good… but I was doing great so far. Then we started to climb and the 'road' got worse, the ruts got deeper and there were rocks, loose stones and some water trickling down from strange places! Now Ernie was in the lead, I was next, Kevin behind me and the useless back-up Colt Tail End Charlie. Then the going got really bad for a fairly short stretch… so I ditched the Africa Twin the first time, I got stuck in a rut and couldn't get out… so I fell to the right… the guys stopped to pick up the bike. But I was a bit rattled now, took me a few minutes to get going again, and only after I convinced Mario to put my bike in a place where I could pull off without too many obstacles, which he reluctantly did. My hand was a bit sore, but not too bad.
And it looked like the path was getting a bit better… still going up, but not as much… hahaha, around the next corner things got bad again… I chose my line and decided to go for it, no hesitation… and I was almost over the really bad bits, I had a good do-able line… don't know what I did or why, but I think I looked at the 'BIG' rut next to me (there was only about a 30cm width part to ride on, the rest was bad), and of course my front wheel slipped right in there… tried to power it out, but that made it worse and the bike shot off to the left (in another stupid rut) towards the bushes, hit the ground quite hard this time, not just a fall over like the last… so now my knee was also a bit sore and my off-road gloves have holes in them (Full Throttle here we come again).
Again the guys picked up the bike, parked it in a more suitable spot and off I went again… but now I was really rattled!! The next piece of rough stuff I stopped and had to first contemplate what to do about it… eventually all three of them walked the bad part and showed me which way to go over it… had to ponder over it a few more minutes, started the engine, switched off again… I was really nervous… Mario was getting impatient and told me to get moving… so I started the engine again, pulled off and followed the line exactly as they told me to… got to the other end and thought, gee that was not so bad, it was actually quite easy!
So I was ok again, my confidence was back and off we went. Luckily only a few more inclines and we got to the forestry road, and that was pretty good. Then I looked behind me and saw white smoke… The Colt.. Not again, this thing just breaks down as a hobby! One of the water pipes had a leak AGAIN!! So we stopped, while Mario and Kevin (with a little help from Ernie) patched things up, filled up with water (luckily Mario took a bunch of 5l bottles of water with), and I took the opportunity to have some of my Tequila, should have done that at the bottom of the mountain, I would have done so much better, lol.
Finally we were ready to roll, but we had to roll start the Colt, as the battery was dead again (we think it’s the fans that keep running to keep this huge motor cool!) and let the Colt go ahead, the motor was just getting way too hot at these slow speeds… hopefully he'd find his way to White Gates on the R38. For a while the going was really good so we made up some time, and the we turned into another forest path… not too bad, but twee-spoor and long grass, with hidden rocks all over… but we managed fine, for Kevin it was child’s play, that little 125 managed everything so easily.
Finally we arrived at the R38. Mario decided to go tar from there, straight to Vygeboom Dam, and the 3 bikes crossed over the R38 to find our way to as close to the dam as we could manage to get. Again the going was really good to start off with, and deteriorated as we got further away from civilisation… those bloody twee-spoors and long grass with hidden obstacles… took a lot of concentration, but was not difficult as such… we got a little bit lost, had to turn around and find the other 'road', found it and after another tiring climb we eventually came out on the R38 again. From there we took the 13km tar to the Nkomati turn off, and back onto the dirt. And that was lovely… RACETRACK…. Hehehe, so we picked up some speed… we had to go 7km and then turn to the left to find the Tigers MCC at their camping spot in the middle of no where… cool… found the turn off… and yet another overgrown twee spoor…. Was getting a bit tired of those now, takes too much concentration to stay in the path.
I was glad when we finally got there, I think it was around 2ish, and Mario was not there yet, strange… but apparently he didn't listen and turned off much too early, then the car died and girls went in their bakkie to rescue him (heheh being rescued by women!) They got back just in time to eat Ox tail Potjie with us. But it was hot out there, absolutely no trees, had a few more Tequilas and then we headed home, but this time on tar. That was the SLOWEST I have ever done the pass down to Barberton… average of around 90kph… that little 125 was just not built for tar roads and long distance travelling, it's just really, really, really slow. Now and then I opened up a bit around my favourite corners and then I had to wait for Kevin again, Ernie went up ahead a few times to take pics. So we had a leisurely ride back. Got home at about 16h30.
And I must say that this route is NOT Pillion or Beginner friendly! So I will have to come up with a new idea for the long weekend, if anyone is still interested in coming for a ride around here!
Mario only got back (19h30), he was waiting for a tow truck… as the clutch also fell apart as well, so he couldn't drive anymore at all… so, a few leaking water pipes, a dead battery and a broken clutch, combined with the cost of the tow truck… not a cheap days outing!!
And I'm gonna have to doctor my poor bike, and thank goodness for the crash bars, have to take them off and straighten the brackets etc before Friday!!! I should have taken my other Africa Twin, thought about it briefly, but then decided it can't possible be that bad, hahaha, but luckily no major damage. The clutch was slipping on the way home, but then I saw that the hand guard had moved and was pressing against the clutch lever, sorted that out while I was riding and then it was all good again, but I did worry there for a moment!
Thank you Ernie for your good company, and for helping with the braai on Saturday night. It was great having you here, at least I had someone to ride with for a change! It sucks to have only friends with road bikes when there is soooo many more interesting dirt roads to investigate in the area!
And hopefully Ernie took some better pics to post here. I used my phone, but it doesn’t work so well…
