Carnivore
Race Dog
Riding alone can be very rewarding.
With much ant…icip.ati….on…… the night before the night before the day of departure arrived, and after many unsuccessful look-see attempts and try-this attempts…I finally hit on the correct and logical way to mount my Comet 500’s. You see, I have always luuuurved fitting spot lights to cars, bakkies, aeroplanes…. But these days, cars have plastic bumpers and so the art is being lost forever…. But wait… bikes need more lights too, don’t they?
Having established that the alternator was up to the task of running absolutely everything on the White Stallion, out came the oxy torch and the welding plant…
Voila! (I think that is French for spotlights..)
Thursday night, bag tied down… GPS mounted… darn! Home made power plug ISM… Right, no worries, just make a new one.. I had two ready-made wires with terminals… on they go, out with the glue gun… nice dollop in the plug hole… aaaaaaaggh! Forgot to put spray and cook in the hole before moulding the plug.
I had to spend an hour digging out the glue, and in the process, broke off the –ve pin. Yes, what a stupid wally thing to do! Well, I cut up a genuine Garmin power cable and did the soldered joint thang… and there was sufficient stump of a pin to make contact. Lesson learned the hard way. Still gotta get that pin replaced/fixed…
Anyway, off to work on Friday, and the day passed v e r y s l o w l y as I gazed out my office window at Strydomsberg peak exactly 23 km to the west.
Things got a bit delayed with wrapping up some issues, and I only left the factory at 3pm. Seeing as I was riding solo, I was under no pressure to leave and RVZ anywhere… it was just me, myself and I on the trail.
I took the dirt road about 3km out of Uitenhage and was as happy as a lark. Connected with the Elandsrivirer road about 6km down from Uncle Freddies and was soon in the dust of two huge concrete mixer trucks. After a while, I sat down for a bit of a contemplatory moment with my Olympus.
Am I worried about it getting dark? ………… no……..!
I am just enjoying the ride and the road. The sun was certainly getting tired of hanging in the sky all day… and riding into the west give a sense of the end of the day coming soon.
Old bike, old rider, new adventure…
Elandsrivier Road, and the Valley… I first traveled this road in 1978 on a Yamaha DT360.
I remember a film from my youth… “How Green Was My Valley…”
On the other side of the Cockscomb, lay the plains of the Steytlerville area. Criss-crossed by roads that vary from twee-spoor to gravel highways. In the dusk of the dying day, this was going to be fun.
Lots of construction work going on… some of the Elandsrivier Road is in an excellent state for vehicles, and lots of it is in an excellent state for an Adventure Bike…!
And so I came to Antoniesberg Pass, through Groot Rivier Poort, where I saw the evidence of the Canines’ Shenanigans earlier in the day.
Always a treat descending this pass into the Poort. It heralds the passing of what’s behind and the advent of what’s to come.
I had met up with a pair of farmer chaps in their bakkie who opened the gate for me just after the river, which, happily, posed no problem. I duly closed said gate and followed them up the other side. They waved me through, and I did not see them again. The sun had now dropped below the horizon, and a sunset of note was due in an hour or so…
My new spots came into their own pretty soon, and I realized that I should have blanked off the outer edge of the glass lenses, which were affecting my night vision. I would do this in due course, but was a bit lazy to dig in my stuff for black tape.
The promised sunset was just as expected. A sense of well being and peace descended over me as the land went to sleep.
My lights were really performing their magic, in spite of the back glow. I was really glad that I had fitted them. A few adjustments were needed to ideally light up the road. I like to train my spots on the edges of then road, to better pick out animal eyes, or the shape of a buck. I saw a beautiful specimen of a kudu, resplendent with his white stripes on his shoulders and about 2 turns of horn. No chance of a photo. He was gone in a few moments.
So, I duly arrived at the Bash, to be greeted by some friends I had met last year. This always makes me feel good – meeting up again. The fire was pretty welcoming too.
Things were starting to rev up…
Watty called me to see the magnificent scene at the dam..
Saturday morning saw the Metal Jockeys enjoying breakfast together.
No sign of rain yet… still a fair, but cloudy, morning…
The hub of the proceedings, where much shelter was later to be sought.
Trail Rider, Crossed-up and Rovrat – not sure what mischief they were planning!
Looking very … er, um… pensive…?
Waiting for the bus…, Bus..?
Last night’s dam, in the morning.
Let’s Go Fishing…. What kind of tribal dance is that?
Standing around, talking, chilling…
Campfires here and there, to ward off the chill, and as it turned out, to dry out sleeping bags and clothes..!
LGF ready to depart on the technical ride, I believe…
Me, admiring my Horse…
It started to rain, and the manne started to … er… attend to the matter of thirst-quenching.. TR, Oetie, and Michnus warming his ass.
“I tell you, man, it was this big…”
Bus looking for bubbles, while Jacko explains one of life’s mysteries.
It rained a bit…
And hailed a bit too…
Don’t quite know what mission Paddler was on…that is NOT white gold he’s holding.
ChrisL and Amanda contemplating the morning and the weather…
Paddler looking for a screw…. An M8 x 60, to be precise.
And then it was the evening and the morning of the first day… night time brought the dawgs home and the barman was kept busy.
“I tell, you, Boet… he went THAT way..!” Andy telling a story…
Very gesellige fire was kept going most of the night. Plenty of firewood had been collected.
Aaaaaahhhhhh! What any self-respecting carnivore really looks forward to.
MrBig, and me.
Lucky draw/prize-giving. Good job, Watty, getting through that lot with those dawgs in that state.. Eish!
With much ant…icip.ati….on…… the night before the night before the day of departure arrived, and after many unsuccessful look-see attempts and try-this attempts…I finally hit on the correct and logical way to mount my Comet 500’s. You see, I have always luuuurved fitting spot lights to cars, bakkies, aeroplanes…. But these days, cars have plastic bumpers and so the art is being lost forever…. But wait… bikes need more lights too, don’t they?
Having established that the alternator was up to the task of running absolutely everything on the White Stallion, out came the oxy torch and the welding plant…
Voila! (I think that is French for spotlights..)
Thursday night, bag tied down… GPS mounted… darn! Home made power plug ISM… Right, no worries, just make a new one.. I had two ready-made wires with terminals… on they go, out with the glue gun… nice dollop in the plug hole… aaaaaaaggh! Forgot to put spray and cook in the hole before moulding the plug.
I had to spend an hour digging out the glue, and in the process, broke off the –ve pin. Yes, what a stupid wally thing to do! Well, I cut up a genuine Garmin power cable and did the soldered joint thang… and there was sufficient stump of a pin to make contact. Lesson learned the hard way. Still gotta get that pin replaced/fixed…
Anyway, off to work on Friday, and the day passed v e r y s l o w l y as I gazed out my office window at Strydomsberg peak exactly 23 km to the west.
Things got a bit delayed with wrapping up some issues, and I only left the factory at 3pm. Seeing as I was riding solo, I was under no pressure to leave and RVZ anywhere… it was just me, myself and I on the trail.
I took the dirt road about 3km out of Uitenhage and was as happy as a lark. Connected with the Elandsrivirer road about 6km down from Uncle Freddies and was soon in the dust of two huge concrete mixer trucks. After a while, I sat down for a bit of a contemplatory moment with my Olympus.
Am I worried about it getting dark? ………… no……..!
I am just enjoying the ride and the road. The sun was certainly getting tired of hanging in the sky all day… and riding into the west give a sense of the end of the day coming soon.
Old bike, old rider, new adventure…
Elandsrivier Road, and the Valley… I first traveled this road in 1978 on a Yamaha DT360.
I remember a film from my youth… “How Green Was My Valley…”
On the other side of the Cockscomb, lay the plains of the Steytlerville area. Criss-crossed by roads that vary from twee-spoor to gravel highways. In the dusk of the dying day, this was going to be fun.
Lots of construction work going on… some of the Elandsrivier Road is in an excellent state for vehicles, and lots of it is in an excellent state for an Adventure Bike…!
And so I came to Antoniesberg Pass, through Groot Rivier Poort, where I saw the evidence of the Canines’ Shenanigans earlier in the day.
Always a treat descending this pass into the Poort. It heralds the passing of what’s behind and the advent of what’s to come.
I had met up with a pair of farmer chaps in their bakkie who opened the gate for me just after the river, which, happily, posed no problem. I duly closed said gate and followed them up the other side. They waved me through, and I did not see them again. The sun had now dropped below the horizon, and a sunset of note was due in an hour or so…
My new spots came into their own pretty soon, and I realized that I should have blanked off the outer edge of the glass lenses, which were affecting my night vision. I would do this in due course, but was a bit lazy to dig in my stuff for black tape.
The promised sunset was just as expected. A sense of well being and peace descended over me as the land went to sleep.
My lights were really performing their magic, in spite of the back glow. I was really glad that I had fitted them. A few adjustments were needed to ideally light up the road. I like to train my spots on the edges of then road, to better pick out animal eyes, or the shape of a buck. I saw a beautiful specimen of a kudu, resplendent with his white stripes on his shoulders and about 2 turns of horn. No chance of a photo. He was gone in a few moments.
So, I duly arrived at the Bash, to be greeted by some friends I had met last year. This always makes me feel good – meeting up again. The fire was pretty welcoming too.
Things were starting to rev up…
Watty called me to see the magnificent scene at the dam..
Saturday morning saw the Metal Jockeys enjoying breakfast together.
No sign of rain yet… still a fair, but cloudy, morning…
The hub of the proceedings, where much shelter was later to be sought.
Trail Rider, Crossed-up and Rovrat – not sure what mischief they were planning!
Looking very … er, um… pensive…?
Waiting for the bus…, Bus..?
Last night’s dam, in the morning.
Let’s Go Fishing…. What kind of tribal dance is that?
Standing around, talking, chilling…
Campfires here and there, to ward off the chill, and as it turned out, to dry out sleeping bags and clothes..!
LGF ready to depart on the technical ride, I believe…
Me, admiring my Horse…
It started to rain, and the manne started to … er… attend to the matter of thirst-quenching.. TR, Oetie, and Michnus warming his ass.
“I tell you, man, it was this big…”
Bus looking for bubbles, while Jacko explains one of life’s mysteries.
It rained a bit…
And hailed a bit too…
Don’t quite know what mission Paddler was on…that is NOT white gold he’s holding.
ChrisL and Amanda contemplating the morning and the weather…
Paddler looking for a screw…. An M8 x 60, to be precise.
And then it was the evening and the morning of the first day… night time brought the dawgs home and the barman was kept busy.
“I tell, you, Boet… he went THAT way..!” Andy telling a story…
Very gesellige fire was kept going most of the night. Plenty of firewood had been collected.
Aaaaaahhhhhh! What any self-respecting carnivore really looks forward to.
MrBig, and me.
Lucky draw/prize-giving. Good job, Watty, getting through that lot with those dawgs in that state.. Eish!
