On Saturday, Steve (1200GS), Marnus (KTM990) and me (Mario - F800GS) did a recce for the PTA BMW club. We left at about 8:15 and the planned route was:
Sambok Bar, Mamelodi quarry, railway road to the west, then north via the railway road through Mamelodi, north to Kwa Mahlangu and then loop back to Cullinan, trying to find twee spoor sandroads and a watercrossing.
This is what happened:
The quarry was fun as always - with that sudden drop-off to get you awake...
I had heard that the Mamelodi railway road to the North had got new gravel and might be tricky. The plan was to check if there was a bailout route from the west railway road to Hans Strijdom/Simon Mahlangu. That bit turned out ot be loads of fun. There is a nice patch of big gravel chips under the Hans Strijdom bridge and then there is a little footpath leading to the gravel road that connects South to the road. It's basically a donga, with a bit of railwayline (sans track -> stolen?), but it is steep down, quick right turn, and steep up! Marnus might have video...
Luckilly there was bit of mud as well on the road back to the tar.
Steve:
After all that the railway road through Mamelodi was actually plain sailing and very easy - just lots of people traffic.
A man and a horse called Tanika (somewhere in Kwa Mhalanga)
Marnus and Steve next to the (for sale) Cornershop. You can buy a bar counter and two tractors too! Thanks for the energy bars Marnus!
We did not find the deep sand tweespoor, but we did ride along some nice twisty small roads that had a bit of sand here and there. The tweespoor to the watercrossing on the loop back to Cullinan was nice with a bit of sand, but the Elandsriver is bone dry... :-(
The highlight of the trip was my first ride on a 990. WOW, you get real feedback from that engine! Quick throttle response, nice suspension, seems to run on a track through a corner... Hard seat though, encourages you to stand When I'm all grown up I want one!
We arrived at Cullinan at about 12:00 and enjoyed cheese burgers and a pie at Oppistasie. (Harriers is apparently the rum to drink if you are a miner... ).
A shovel full of lunch...
Their "moerse" burger has an 18kg patty and can feed 40! They need 2 days notice to prepare it.
Nice colour scheme...
Thanks guys! It was a great ride!
Sambok Bar, Mamelodi quarry, railway road to the west, then north via the railway road through Mamelodi, north to Kwa Mahlangu and then loop back to Cullinan, trying to find twee spoor sandroads and a watercrossing.
This is what happened:
The quarry was fun as always - with that sudden drop-off to get you awake...
I had heard that the Mamelodi railway road to the North had got new gravel and might be tricky. The plan was to check if there was a bailout route from the west railway road to Hans Strijdom/Simon Mahlangu. That bit turned out ot be loads of fun. There is a nice patch of big gravel chips under the Hans Strijdom bridge and then there is a little footpath leading to the gravel road that connects South to the road. It's basically a donga, with a bit of railwayline (sans track -> stolen?), but it is steep down, quick right turn, and steep up! Marnus might have video...
Luckilly there was bit of mud as well on the road back to the tar.
Steve:
After all that the railway road through Mamelodi was actually plain sailing and very easy - just lots of people traffic.
A man and a horse called Tanika (somewhere in Kwa Mhalanga)
Marnus and Steve next to the (for sale) Cornershop. You can buy a bar counter and two tractors too! Thanks for the energy bars Marnus!
We did not find the deep sand tweespoor, but we did ride along some nice twisty small roads that had a bit of sand here and there. The tweespoor to the watercrossing on the loop back to Cullinan was nice with a bit of sand, but the Elandsriver is bone dry... :-(
The highlight of the trip was my first ride on a 990. WOW, you get real feedback from that engine! Quick throttle response, nice suspension, seems to run on a track through a corner... Hard seat though, encourages you to stand
When I'm all grown up I want one! We arrived at Cullinan at about 12:00 and enjoyed cheese burgers and a pie at Oppistasie. (Harriers is apparently the rum to drink if you are a miner...
).
A shovel full of lunch...
Their "moerse" burger has an 18kg patty and can feed 40! They need 2 days notice to prepare it.
Nice colour scheme...
Thanks guys! It was a great ride!
