SGB
Race Dog
The KZN team slowly took shape over the weeks before the event - we were lucky enough to secure 15 places for Alfie Cox Racing after only 8 were originally allocated. Time seemed to stop after the Alfie Cox DS Festival which kept us quite busy, and the wait felt like forever until we left in pouring rain on Thursday morning. We did the softie thing too, and trailered to Matatiele - the LC4 riders with serious knoblies got their way this time around..... Ugly, isn't it! >
We offloaded and kitted at Gavin Sol's farm, and thanks to them for looking after the cars for the weekend!
BM Rider practicing the KTM Grin
The 15 of us left and found the Plothond team along the way - nice big gang. Qachasnek border.
I stopped at the Senqu weir for a pic, always nice when the river is in flood.
Look at the difference, I crossed the river here 2 weeks ago, second pic is from the other side of the crossing 2 weeks ago.
The ride along the river to Tele Bridge was uneventful, except for Bruce's bike's fuel hose that pinched and we did some quick "repairs" to fix that. The bike is called Goldilox and she is actually a trophy that Alfie won at the Dakar. Bruce rode her for the weekend and looked after her very well until the hooligans got hold of her....
The ride up Lundeansnek was great once again, just a nice route and recommended for any DS ride in this area. Arrived at the venue to be greeted by a sea of orange.
We settled into our small good looking tents and chilled until sunset.
Dinner and the welcome talks / rider briefing set the scene and a great evening of kuiering and chatting to old friends was had by all. The relaxed environment and good food and hospitality from the local community was amazing.
Friday morning we set off on the RR1 track. The fuel station in Barkly East looked quite occupied with all the bikes waiting to fill up.
The route was just technical enough for a good ride on a 990, and you had to be alert and look where you were going. We had some rocks, mud, off cambers, water, farm roads, etc. I took far too few pics en route (especially where we were fighting a little >), just shows how I was holding on!
Here are some.
Some noobs were slowing us down a little, had to wait for them....
Congestion and traffic management before the steep sections:
The mud monster was out in all its glory....
Back at the venue, we had a shower and went down to watch the "Global Challenge". Mike Glover explaining the rules:
Barrel racing - first qualifying towards finals
"Footup" section. Some serious skill displayed here.
The Sala challenge follwed - Gio set a technical track which was raced against time, him, Alfie and Riaan competed for the best time. Riaan on the 640 taught the 950 SE some manners in this....
I never thought there were that many posers around. The turnout of 250 is impressive if you consider that only about 600 KTM adv bikes were sold in SA in the last 3 years.
Some smooth riding was seen all over - the riding skill in general was better than I thought, and it was good to see the responsible attitude. That night in the pub however, some real smooth attitude came out and the party went into the early morning hours. Shoo.......
Saturday morning we had to pose for the camera in the helicopter for the pic that Plottie posted. Enough posing....
We then went off on RR2 - we were threatened with huge rocks and carrying a 990 just did not appeal to me. Alfie and some went for the hills and the rest of us were on the Tiffendel road heading to Ugie down Naudesnek.
The king of Roy Hesketh, Rod Gray at age 62 on one of Alfie's older Dakar bikes. Rod is still an incredible rider. 8)
Top of Naudesnek
More to follow just now.....
We offloaded and kitted at Gavin Sol's farm, and thanks to them for looking after the cars for the weekend!
BM Rider practicing the KTM Grin
The 15 of us left and found the Plothond team along the way - nice big gang. Qachasnek border.
I stopped at the Senqu weir for a pic, always nice when the river is in flood.
Look at the difference, I crossed the river here 2 weeks ago, second pic is from the other side of the crossing 2 weeks ago.
The ride along the river to Tele Bridge was uneventful, except for Bruce's bike's fuel hose that pinched and we did some quick "repairs" to fix that. The bike is called Goldilox and she is actually a trophy that Alfie won at the Dakar. Bruce rode her for the weekend and looked after her very well until the hooligans got hold of her....
The ride up Lundeansnek was great once again, just a nice route and recommended for any DS ride in this area. Arrived at the venue to be greeted by a sea of orange.
We settled into our small good looking tents and chilled until sunset.
Dinner and the welcome talks / rider briefing set the scene and a great evening of kuiering and chatting to old friends was had by all. The relaxed environment and good food and hospitality from the local community was amazing.
Friday morning we set off on the RR1 track. The fuel station in Barkly East looked quite occupied with all the bikes waiting to fill up.
The route was just technical enough for a good ride on a 990, and you had to be alert and look where you were going. We had some rocks, mud, off cambers, water, farm roads, etc. I took far too few pics en route (especially where we were fighting a little >
), just shows how I was holding on!Here are some.
Some noobs were slowing us down a little, had to wait for them....
Congestion and traffic management before the steep sections:
The mud monster was out in all its glory....
Back at the venue, we had a shower and went down to watch the "Global Challenge". Mike Glover explaining the rules:
Barrel racing - first qualifying towards finals
"Footup" section. Some serious skill displayed here.
The Sala challenge follwed - Gio set a technical track which was raced against time, him, Alfie and Riaan competed for the best time. Riaan on the 640 taught the 950 SE some manners in this....
I never thought there were that many posers around. The turnout of 250 is impressive if you consider that only about 600 KTM adv bikes were sold in SA in the last 3 years.
Some smooth riding was seen all over - the riding skill in general was better than I thought, and it was good to see the responsible attitude. That night in the pub however, some real smooth attitude came out and the party went into the early morning hours. Shoo.......
Saturday morning we had to pose for the camera in the helicopter for the pic that Plottie posted. Enough posing....
We then went off on RR2 - we were threatened with huge rocks and carrying a 990 just did not appeal to me. Alfie and some went for the hills and the rest of us were on the Tiffendel road heading to Ugie down Naudesnek.
The king of Roy Hesketh, Rod Gray at age 62 on one of Alfie's older Dakar bikes. Rod is still an incredible rider. 8)
Top of Naudesnek
More to follow just now.....
