EC Ride to Brakkeduinen and Oyster Bay

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G

GreenMamba1974

Guest
Roné invited a group of dawgz during the week to go check out Oyster Bay and have a braai at a place called Brakkeduinen which is right on the bank of the Impofu Dam.

We met at the Caltex opposite the Hunters Retreat Hotel.

From left to right we have Jman, TerrorSA, Fugly, Roné, GreenMamba1974 and 214.  Thump was holding the camera.

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The conditions for riding were excellent, a cold crisp morning soon gave way to a perfect warm day that never got too hot to be uncomfortable.

Here are a few pics of the route we took.

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The google earth version, we took the pink route  ;D

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We took a small detour on the way to the Van Staden's Pass through some easy and smooth gravel roads to keep our bikes happy, they don't like tar.  Got through Van Staden's Pass and turned left to get down to the Gamtoos River Mouth to ride that lekker stretch of gravel that runs along the river.  This short stretch is always a favourite.  It has a few humps to catch some air and is always a blast to ride.

I got a bit of a fright before the first hump.  I have never had this before and almost bit the dust.  I got a huge head shake while I was standing on the pegs.  Fugly was behind me and thought I was definitely going down.  I don't know how I managed to control it, didn't accelerate or brake, just tried to counter the head shake without gripping too hard on the bars, it worked, fark me, that was a close one.  We stopped to check tyres, everyone had a grin on their dial. that is a nice series of whoops to get the adrenaline going.

We then pushed on to Humansdorp to get some braai meat and drinks.  We pulled into the Spar to get some chow and Fugly shot off to the bottle store to buy some piss.

Right then, lets get this show on the road.  As we pull out Thump signals to me he has a flat rear tyre.  No worries, Thump takes his bike to a garage while I try to catch up to the others to let them know.  No one is in a hurry and I find everyone not too far ahead waiting for Thump and myself.  We all end up back in Humansdop at the Engen petrol station watching 214 and Thump get stuck into the repair.

It turns out Thump didn't have a fresh puncture.  An earlier repair had come undone.  Fugly had a spare tjoop for Thump so it was just a case of putting it in.

Friendly Engen dude keeping the bike up for us.

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Thump and 214 handled the job at hand quickly and professionally (not).

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214 lost control and started humping Thump.  Must be a fugly related phenomenon, only KLR riders must understand.  Tyger, you've got problems.   :biggrin:

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Thump was having a bit of an argument with his rear brakes and couldn't figure out why.  214 informed us of this little oversight but decided to see if Thump would notice.  A few hints couldnt' help!  c'mon Thump!  ;D

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:biggrin:

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Soon enough all is fixed and a thirst is beginning to build.

Thump has brought along his fly fishing kit. Good idea, simply pvc tube on the rear peg and tied on.  Nice.

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Roné has his KLR set up army style.  you don't get much more solid than this! 

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Off we go.  The dirt roads to Oyster Bay are in excellent condition.  Some of them kicked up much more dust than others, so keeping a decent distance behind the next rider seemed the best option.  We took a few wrong turns here and there but got to Brakkeduinen by about lunch time.

The other side of Brakkeduinen at the Impofu dam wall.

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from the wrong side of Brakkeduinen we came across this 'other dam' which is not really a dam, but actually a part of the Krom River that has been pooled.

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At Brakkeduinen proper we rest up on a nice grassy patch and light a fire.  214 and Thump tried their luck with the fly fishing while Fugly, Roné, Mambabirthdate, Terror and Jman cracked open some drinks.

TerrorSA must have sat on an ants nest or something, but fortunately that's as far as the authorities would allow things to go.  :biggrin:

Thump and 214 had no luck catching fish, so we braaied, beered and talked a bit of kark.  Lekker  :thumleft:

A few pics.

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nice guys, thanks!   :thumleft:

we then decided to head home going different routes.  fugly had to tar it to make an appointment so couldn't join us to check out Oyster Bay.

I didn't take any photo's of Oyster Bay.  It is a seaside village, lots of nice looking houses built recently with 'old money' me thinks.  i beautiful place to retire.

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bumped into a few cows here and there.

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I love my strom.  it's a winner for this type of riding and is beautiful on tar. 

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Jman, Roné, Thump and myself ended up getting petrol in Humansdorp and decided to tar it to PE.  Thump and I took the old road through the Van Staden's Pass again and found ourselves bumping into Roné and Jman.  Jman had to get home so the rest of us popped in for a beer at Out Of Africa.   

Thump was keen on getting a bit of technical riding in and Roné also wanted in.  My bike isn't suited for technical riding but Thump said he would show me the easier stuff.  We went into a brilliant place for plastic bikes, the Kakkerlakvlei near the old Ford Testing Centre or something.

my bike is not too bad in the rough stuff, but i could never take it to the next level, the strom simply does not have the ground clearance.  It is a pity, because the engine seems to really enjoy slow descents and ascents.  on the way down one track i hit a 'double donga' and felt the bottom hit something.  it wasn't serious, but my useless plastic bash plate broke off on the front and was dragging.  it is attached to the zorst by means of a metal hose clamp.  the screw attaching the clamp to the bash plate simply snapped.  cheap junk!  :eek7:

so we cable tied tied the bash plate to the lower part of the crash bars and all was well.
unfortunately the bash plate got too close to the zort on the way home and melted a bit.  it is still usable for now until i can source an affordable aluminium plate.   :-[

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the one thing i do know, is that i enjoy the technical stuff much more than i thought i would.  a plastic bike is definitely on the shopping list in the future.  for now, it's a case of not being to rough on me strom.

thanks for the ride fellow dawgs!   :thumleft: :thumleft:

 
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