TimeMan
Pack Dog
So i had to go to a client yesterday 160km from me 30km away from burgersford . Yup you guessed it ..... ideal to take my KLR and the brand new Mita E07 to run in the tyre and to enjoy the beautiful mountain passes and scenery .
Going there it was awesome , stunning views great weather to ride in
BUT .......
I finished at the client at 5 and it started to rain ....not too hard . Now from what everyone said about the E07 and wet roads i was very concerned . So carefully rode on the pass , as i went down on the otherside looking down at lydenburg i saw what was ahead of me . Lightning was going crazy , more to the longtom pass than to the bambi route , so i opted to go the bambi route although not looking forward to it as in that road there is potholes the size of swimming pools thanks to the cANCer not maintaining the road and the VERY irritating ore trucks that run 24/7 on the roads .
As i got into lydenburg i hit the first cloudburst , water was running 20cm deep over the road and i was soaked , not knowing where the bloody potholes were hanging onto my handlebars for dear life . I made it through that storm alive yet wet , at least my jacket was waterproof so my chest was still dry and i carried on to the bambi /lydenburg road .
OMG riding behind a ore truck with all the wheels spraying the water up was a challange of note , luckily these drivers know where all the really bad potholes were and slowed enough so i could pass him , my relief was however very short lived as another truck decided to ignore all potholes and drive on my ass .
I knew if this truck passed me i wouldn't be able to see anything so i kept my speed and luckily there was a looong uphill so the idiot fell back , once again relief swept over me , just to drive into another cloud burst to be followed by a hail storm , man oh man those pieces of ice hurt like a mother even through my jacket !
As i got through the hail storm yet back into more rain the lightning hit a tree next to the road not more than 50 m from me , HOLY SHIT !! the whole tree lit up like a flourecent globe , trust me i shat myself !!
Then the wind started to blow like there was no tomorrow driving the rain into me like a firehose , i was leaning over so much and with the gusts going all over the road , luckily i remembered the advice someone gave that you must open your leg towards where the wind is comming from and once i did that could control my bike much better . Thanks to whoever gave that advice .
Well by now i was soaked and purple and blue just to hit another hail storm about 30 km from the bambi turn off , hell these were even bigger than before and no place next to the road to stop and wait it out , so i gritted my teeth and opened up .
Made it safely to the bambi T-junction , last strech of road to nelspruit , for you that have been here , next to the old joe "statue" i hit my third cloud burst , the cars were doing 50km/h with hazards on just to see where the road was and here is mad du toit on his klr kakking myself for cars comming from the back , the cars being asswipes driving on full on brights , blinding me from behind and the rain from the front .
Well soldiered on and as i got the turnoff to nelspruit my bike started surging and i went over on reserve 310km before i had to go on reserve .
Well i made is safely home , wife worried sick as i couldn't phone her because once i stopped at home my waterproof jacket could only handle so much water , and the jacket pockets was filled with 10 cm water in which my poor phones was taking a bath .
Funny thing is albeit being scary as hell and taxing every muscle in my body to keep the bike on the road being soaked to the bone , i had a time in the middle of the strom that i actually laughed and i felt so bloody alive !! So yeah i think we all a little nuts to do this to ourselves but still someone who only drives in a cage day in day out have not lived like we have lived riding in a storm like this .
PS anyone who thinks a mita E07 doesn't work in the rain , hell i am impressed from wet roads to 20cm deep water on the road and hail it didn't slip or make me feel once that i was not in control , or maybe it was just my guardian angel working his ass off
Going there it was awesome , stunning views great weather to ride in
BUT .......
I finished at the client at 5 and it started to rain ....not too hard . Now from what everyone said about the E07 and wet roads i was very concerned . So carefully rode on the pass , as i went down on the otherside looking down at lydenburg i saw what was ahead of me . Lightning was going crazy , more to the longtom pass than to the bambi route , so i opted to go the bambi route although not looking forward to it as in that road there is potholes the size of swimming pools thanks to the cANCer not maintaining the road and the VERY irritating ore trucks that run 24/7 on the roads .
As i got into lydenburg i hit the first cloudburst , water was running 20cm deep over the road and i was soaked , not knowing where the bloody potholes were hanging onto my handlebars for dear life . I made it through that storm alive yet wet , at least my jacket was waterproof so my chest was still dry and i carried on to the bambi /lydenburg road .
OMG riding behind a ore truck with all the wheels spraying the water up was a challange of note , luckily these drivers know where all the really bad potholes were and slowed enough so i could pass him , my relief was however very short lived as another truck decided to ignore all potholes and drive on my ass .
I knew if this truck passed me i wouldn't be able to see anything so i kept my speed and luckily there was a looong uphill so the idiot fell back , once again relief swept over me , just to drive into another cloud burst to be followed by a hail storm , man oh man those pieces of ice hurt like a mother even through my jacket !
As i got through the hail storm yet back into more rain the lightning hit a tree next to the road not more than 50 m from me , HOLY SHIT !! the whole tree lit up like a flourecent globe , trust me i shat myself !!
Then the wind started to blow like there was no tomorrow driving the rain into me like a firehose , i was leaning over so much and with the gusts going all over the road , luckily i remembered the advice someone gave that you must open your leg towards where the wind is comming from and once i did that could control my bike much better . Thanks to whoever gave that advice .
Well by now i was soaked and purple and blue just to hit another hail storm about 30 km from the bambi turn off , hell these were even bigger than before and no place next to the road to stop and wait it out , so i gritted my teeth and opened up .
Made it safely to the bambi T-junction , last strech of road to nelspruit , for you that have been here , next to the old joe "statue" i hit my third cloud burst , the cars were doing 50km/h with hazards on just to see where the road was and here is mad du toit on his klr kakking myself for cars comming from the back , the cars being asswipes driving on full on brights , blinding me from behind and the rain from the front .
Well soldiered on and as i got the turnoff to nelspruit my bike started surging and i went over on reserve 310km before i had to go on reserve .
Well i made is safely home , wife worried sick as i couldn't phone her because once i stopped at home my waterproof jacket could only handle so much water , and the jacket pockets was filled with 10 cm water in which my poor phones was taking a bath .
Funny thing is albeit being scary as hell and taxing every muscle in my body to keep the bike on the road being soaked to the bone , i had a time in the middle of the strom that i actually laughed and i felt so bloody alive !! So yeah i think we all a little nuts to do this to ourselves but still someone who only drives in a cage day in day out have not lived like we have lived riding in a storm like this .
PS anyone who thinks a mita E07 doesn't work in the rain , hell i am impressed from wet roads to 20cm deep water on the road and hail it didn't slip or make me feel once that i was not in control , or maybe it was just my guardian angel working his ass off
