schalk vd merwe
Race Dog
Going missing on the Amageza qualify.
A week before the Amageza, Mariza ask me if I could give Mad Mike a lift as I was going to Sutherland with a bakkie. As I still had to qualify on the Friday and we left Johannesburg on the Thursday at 5 am with Mikes 1981 BMW R 1000 and my Yamaha XT 660 R on the back. Mike had qualified during the year. I had to be at the briefing by 6.30 PM. The GPS showed that we had 1,5hours spare but after Bloemfontein the stop and goes started. It also started to rain heavily and when we got to Matjiesfontein the GPS showed that we were going to be late by 20 minutes. I then phoned Mariza to inform her about our lateness and started to put foot through the heavy rain and winding road to Sutherland. At places we could not see more than 4 metre ahead of us in the heavy rain around Sutherland. In the end we were only 10 minutes late for the briefing.
The qualify and going missing.
The next morning we were at the start point by 6.30 and I don’t think anybody had breakfast except maybe the people who stayed at guest houses or the hotel. I only had a camel bag with water and some spare tools and tubes with me. By 7.10 am 24 bikes and riders including Daryl Curtis (South Africa’s competitor in the Dakar) were off for the 84 KM qualify, we had 3 hours to cover the distance. We travelled past the Sutherland Salt telescope entrance and soon ended up on a gravel road and later turn onto a two spoor 4x4 track. I could see that most of the riders were experienced off road riders and this was no Sunday morning wilddog breakfast run. We soon got to the first river crossing and the KTM in front of me nearly got totally drowned on the other side exit point. The rider and fellow rider pulled it out with the same haste that it fell into the water. From a strategic point the Amageza photographer took photos of all the mishaps. I managed to do the crossing without falling off but with my boots on the foot pegs the water still ran into my R3500-00 BMW boots from the top. A little bit further I came across a rider with a British accent, he had a flat front tyre and I stopped to hear if he was OK. He had all the right spares with him and soon fixed the puncher. I travelled further and soon came across Jaco from Cape Town with a KTM with a rear wheel flat. The valve was torn completely out of the tube. He already had the bike lying on its side and the wheel out including the tube. He begged me for my spare rear wheel tube as this could be the difference between qualifying or not for him. I got off my bike and loosened my spares bag and gave him my 17 inch tube while his rear wheel was an 18 inch but rubber can stretch. I tied my bag back to the bike and in that time all the remaining bikers came past. I travelled further and later travelled in a sandy river bed and then up some very steep uphill’s with some very loose rocky sections. Jaco in the meantime changed the tube in record time and caught up with me on a steep uphill with his much lighter KTM. He helped me a short distance uphill and as he had a sense of urgency I then told him to go as I did not want to hold him up. I soon caught up with some riders who was stuck in the mud and just had their bikes pushed out, they stood in the way and I could not pass as I came around the bend. I stopped in the mud at the same point where they got stuck just as they were pulling off. Little did I know that this was going to cost me the qualify and whatever was to follow. By now I was stuck with a big rock in front of my rear wheel, the rock had a forward angle and the wheel would just spin until the bash plate was touching the rock. My earlier delay caused me to be the last rider and the two brothers who was stuck before me was my last hope and now I was by myself with no riding buddy to help me out. The distance was 42 KM and 1,5 hours has past exactly half time and half distance. If I could just get the bike out I could still make it I thought but it was going to be different. The bike was standing by itself in the thick mud. I went to look for some small stones to put in-between the tyre and the rock and then the bike fell over into the thick mud. At least I could put some loose rocks in the hole where the back wheel used to be. Picking up the bike was impossible as it was sucking into the mud. I used a long flat rock to lever the bike just above the mud and then eventually lifted the bike up. All this took the best part of 4 hours. My camel bag was already dry 2,5 hours into the qualify and all the lifting and carrying rocks to lift the bike made me even more thirsty. I rode the bike out of the mud and went uphill about a kilometre further and believe it or not got stuck again in a mud hole with a exactly the same type of forward slanted rock in front of the rear wheel with the bash plate resting on the rock. The mud was the same sucking stuff and when you walk in it your boot wants to stay behind. I could see many other riders got stuck here as well by the rocks that were lying around. I could see the rocks were used to put under the rear wheel to get out of the mess. My bike was standing by itself in the mud and I tried everything to get it out. First I used my wheel spanner to try and dig out the rock but it was too big. Then I tried to make a trench behind the rear wheel in order to push the bike back but the flowing mud would just run strait back. Al this took hours and eventually it was sunset and I just knew that tonight I am going to spend the night here in the Sutherland Mountains in freezing weather. I checked my GPS and saw that I was 45 KM from Sutherland too far to walk. As my water ran out many hours before the muddy water started to look attractive but I eventually gave it a miss. I learned afterwards that the road was too heavy for the sweeper 4x4 to sweep the route and the search for me was not completed. The wind was starting to blow cold over the mountains. I tried to find a place to lay down behind some rocks on top of a flat rock and used my thermal blanket to cover me but the wind would just lift it up. I thought this is not a good idea to lie down because if you fall asleep and it gets below freezing during the night you will just die. The only way was to stay awake and be positive. I think my Africa bike trip with my son previously helped me to stay positive as we had many a night battles on that trip. I then took a big flat rock and put it next to my bike on top of the mud on the east side as the wind was blowing cold from the west. The bike was standing by itself in the mud without the side stand. The bike still had about 10 litre fuel in the tank and I then started the bike and went to sit on the flat rock in the mud leaning against the bike with the wind blowing through the bike from the west side. It worked quite well and then after about 10 minutes I would switch off the bike until it cooled down and then would repeat the cycle of starting the bike again for 10 minutes and so on. I sat with my helmet and cloves on and it was only my feet that were really cold as my boots was still wet on the inside from the river crossing and walking in the mud all the time. It was now 24 hours since I had something to eat and about 11 hours since I had my last bit of water to drink but I tried not to focus on that. I rather used the opportunity to watch the lovely Sutherland skyline and not a minute would go by that I did not see a satellite come over. I also put a small stick in-between the throttle to rev the bike to just over idle to keep the battery charged ever so often as you cannot switch the head light and the tail light off on the Yamaha. 8 O clock came 9 O clock came and my “heater” worked quite well in the freezing cold and then after 10 O clock I saw a cars lights behind the mountain at an angle and I immediately started my bike in order to switch on the head light. As it was quite dark they saw my light and I thought maybe it is the farmer thinking it was somebody stealing his sheep. As the vehicle came closer I saw it was Theo from the Jupiter’s pub and his friend Willem and another friend. Man was I happy to see them. Willem and Theo took my bike by the two rear handles each and lifted the bike over the rock like you would pick up a brief case and laughed as they said to me “you would have loved to be able to do that” (sterk boere hierdie). We took my bike down to the farm house which I did not know was only about 3 km away. We then loaded the bike on the double cab and left for Sutherland. Apparently what happen was when I did not come to light Alex phoned the police at 6 PM to report me missing. As they did not have a suitable vehicle to look for me they in turn phoned Theo who has the only vehicle in Sutherland that could do the trick ( A 4x4 Toyota bakkie with back and front diff locks and raised body). They must have been looking for me for a couple of hours. We reached Jupiter’s pub at about 11.30 PM and Theo organised me the nicest stew I had in a long time and after a couple of beers at 12.30 AM I went to bed.
I just want to thank everybody as I believe a lot of people were worried about me going missing and I do not blame anybody but myself for being stuck up in the mountains all night. I want to thank Alex and Marizza of Amageza, Theo and his buddy’s and their wife’s and staff and the couple from the South Coast of Durban who said they prayed for me and everyone else not mentioned who had a share in all this. I have learned two things. 1/ You got to be supper fit for the Amageza and 2/ You need a riding partner in the Amageza in order to help each other in case one is getting stuck. I am not giving up on the mountains of Sutherland and I am planning to come back to do the same route as the qualify and the Amageza route later this year. As for next year’s Amageza I will do the qualify during the year and my son and I will definitely be there next year. I will soon do the rest of the RR traveling through the farms around Sutherland on the Saturday and Sunday while waiting for Mad Mike to complete the Amageza on his 1981 BMW. I met up with the most amazing farmers during those two days. With thanks Schalk vd Merwe.
A week before the Amageza, Mariza ask me if I could give Mad Mike a lift as I was going to Sutherland with a bakkie. As I still had to qualify on the Friday and we left Johannesburg on the Thursday at 5 am with Mikes 1981 BMW R 1000 and my Yamaha XT 660 R on the back. Mike had qualified during the year. I had to be at the briefing by 6.30 PM. The GPS showed that we had 1,5hours spare but after Bloemfontein the stop and goes started. It also started to rain heavily and when we got to Matjiesfontein the GPS showed that we were going to be late by 20 minutes. I then phoned Mariza to inform her about our lateness and started to put foot through the heavy rain and winding road to Sutherland. At places we could not see more than 4 metre ahead of us in the heavy rain around Sutherland. In the end we were only 10 minutes late for the briefing.
The qualify and going missing.
The next morning we were at the start point by 6.30 and I don’t think anybody had breakfast except maybe the people who stayed at guest houses or the hotel. I only had a camel bag with water and some spare tools and tubes with me. By 7.10 am 24 bikes and riders including Daryl Curtis (South Africa’s competitor in the Dakar) were off for the 84 KM qualify, we had 3 hours to cover the distance. We travelled past the Sutherland Salt telescope entrance and soon ended up on a gravel road and later turn onto a two spoor 4x4 track. I could see that most of the riders were experienced off road riders and this was no Sunday morning wilddog breakfast run. We soon got to the first river crossing and the KTM in front of me nearly got totally drowned on the other side exit point. The rider and fellow rider pulled it out with the same haste that it fell into the water. From a strategic point the Amageza photographer took photos of all the mishaps. I managed to do the crossing without falling off but with my boots on the foot pegs the water still ran into my R3500-00 BMW boots from the top. A little bit further I came across a rider with a British accent, he had a flat front tyre and I stopped to hear if he was OK. He had all the right spares with him and soon fixed the puncher. I travelled further and soon came across Jaco from Cape Town with a KTM with a rear wheel flat. The valve was torn completely out of the tube. He already had the bike lying on its side and the wheel out including the tube. He begged me for my spare rear wheel tube as this could be the difference between qualifying or not for him. I got off my bike and loosened my spares bag and gave him my 17 inch tube while his rear wheel was an 18 inch but rubber can stretch. I tied my bag back to the bike and in that time all the remaining bikers came past. I travelled further and later travelled in a sandy river bed and then up some very steep uphill’s with some very loose rocky sections. Jaco in the meantime changed the tube in record time and caught up with me on a steep uphill with his much lighter KTM. He helped me a short distance uphill and as he had a sense of urgency I then told him to go as I did not want to hold him up. I soon caught up with some riders who was stuck in the mud and just had their bikes pushed out, they stood in the way and I could not pass as I came around the bend. I stopped in the mud at the same point where they got stuck just as they were pulling off. Little did I know that this was going to cost me the qualify and whatever was to follow. By now I was stuck with a big rock in front of my rear wheel, the rock had a forward angle and the wheel would just spin until the bash plate was touching the rock. My earlier delay caused me to be the last rider and the two brothers who was stuck before me was my last hope and now I was by myself with no riding buddy to help me out. The distance was 42 KM and 1,5 hours has past exactly half time and half distance. If I could just get the bike out I could still make it I thought but it was going to be different. The bike was standing by itself in the thick mud. I went to look for some small stones to put in-between the tyre and the rock and then the bike fell over into the thick mud. At least I could put some loose rocks in the hole where the back wheel used to be. Picking up the bike was impossible as it was sucking into the mud. I used a long flat rock to lever the bike just above the mud and then eventually lifted the bike up. All this took the best part of 4 hours. My camel bag was already dry 2,5 hours into the qualify and all the lifting and carrying rocks to lift the bike made me even more thirsty. I rode the bike out of the mud and went uphill about a kilometre further and believe it or not got stuck again in a mud hole with a exactly the same type of forward slanted rock in front of the rear wheel with the bash plate resting on the rock. The mud was the same sucking stuff and when you walk in it your boot wants to stay behind. I could see many other riders got stuck here as well by the rocks that were lying around. I could see the rocks were used to put under the rear wheel to get out of the mess. My bike was standing by itself in the mud and I tried everything to get it out. First I used my wheel spanner to try and dig out the rock but it was too big. Then I tried to make a trench behind the rear wheel in order to push the bike back but the flowing mud would just run strait back. Al this took hours and eventually it was sunset and I just knew that tonight I am going to spend the night here in the Sutherland Mountains in freezing weather. I checked my GPS and saw that I was 45 KM from Sutherland too far to walk. As my water ran out many hours before the muddy water started to look attractive but I eventually gave it a miss. I learned afterwards that the road was too heavy for the sweeper 4x4 to sweep the route and the search for me was not completed. The wind was starting to blow cold over the mountains. I tried to find a place to lay down behind some rocks on top of a flat rock and used my thermal blanket to cover me but the wind would just lift it up. I thought this is not a good idea to lie down because if you fall asleep and it gets below freezing during the night you will just die. The only way was to stay awake and be positive. I think my Africa bike trip with my son previously helped me to stay positive as we had many a night battles on that trip. I then took a big flat rock and put it next to my bike on top of the mud on the east side as the wind was blowing cold from the west. The bike was standing by itself in the mud without the side stand. The bike still had about 10 litre fuel in the tank and I then started the bike and went to sit on the flat rock in the mud leaning against the bike with the wind blowing through the bike from the west side. It worked quite well and then after about 10 minutes I would switch off the bike until it cooled down and then would repeat the cycle of starting the bike again for 10 minutes and so on. I sat with my helmet and cloves on and it was only my feet that were really cold as my boots was still wet on the inside from the river crossing and walking in the mud all the time. It was now 24 hours since I had something to eat and about 11 hours since I had my last bit of water to drink but I tried not to focus on that. I rather used the opportunity to watch the lovely Sutherland skyline and not a minute would go by that I did not see a satellite come over. I also put a small stick in-between the throttle to rev the bike to just over idle to keep the battery charged ever so often as you cannot switch the head light and the tail light off on the Yamaha. 8 O clock came 9 O clock came and my “heater” worked quite well in the freezing cold and then after 10 O clock I saw a cars lights behind the mountain at an angle and I immediately started my bike in order to switch on the head light. As it was quite dark they saw my light and I thought maybe it is the farmer thinking it was somebody stealing his sheep. As the vehicle came closer I saw it was Theo from the Jupiter’s pub and his friend Willem and another friend. Man was I happy to see them. Willem and Theo took my bike by the two rear handles each and lifted the bike over the rock like you would pick up a brief case and laughed as they said to me “you would have loved to be able to do that” (sterk boere hierdie). We took my bike down to the farm house which I did not know was only about 3 km away. We then loaded the bike on the double cab and left for Sutherland. Apparently what happen was when I did not come to light Alex phoned the police at 6 PM to report me missing. As they did not have a suitable vehicle to look for me they in turn phoned Theo who has the only vehicle in Sutherland that could do the trick ( A 4x4 Toyota bakkie with back and front diff locks and raised body). They must have been looking for me for a couple of hours. We reached Jupiter’s pub at about 11.30 PM and Theo organised me the nicest stew I had in a long time and after a couple of beers at 12.30 AM I went to bed.
I just want to thank everybody as I believe a lot of people were worried about me going missing and I do not blame anybody but myself for being stuck up in the mountains all night. I want to thank Alex and Marizza of Amageza, Theo and his buddy’s and their wife’s and staff and the couple from the South Coast of Durban who said they prayed for me and everyone else not mentioned who had a share in all this. I have learned two things. 1/ You got to be supper fit for the Amageza and 2/ You need a riding partner in the Amageza in order to help each other in case one is getting stuck. I am not giving up on the mountains of Sutherland and I am planning to come back to do the same route as the qualify and the Amageza route later this year. As for next year’s Amageza I will do the qualify during the year and my son and I will definitely be there next year. I will soon do the rest of the RR traveling through the farms around Sutherland on the Saturday and Sunday while waiting for Mad Mike to complete the Amageza on his 1981 BMW. I met up with the most amazing farmers during those two days. With thanks Schalk vd Merwe.
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