- Joined
- Jan 24, 2006
- Messages
- 5,159
- Reaction score
- 345
- Location
- Brakpan, South Africa
- Bike
- BMW R1200GS HP2
Seeing that Ama Ride Ride is new to our part of the world, I thought it a good idea to take him for an outing and show him around. The impromptu public holiday we had mid week seemed like an excellent opportunity to get this done, so I invited a few of my regular riding mates along, but Zonkelnut developed family related urgencies, Funacide?s new bike couldn?t or wouldn?t go the distance and Excalibur had recently acquainted someone who needed some happiness put by her body. 
So it was down to ARR & G/F plus me to do this. We met in Pretoria and set about one of my favourite routes, not only because it?s rather scenic, but also the road surface allows for nice fast travelling. From our meeting spot, after a nice cuppa coffee / tea we headed east in Hans Strydom towards Mamelodi.
ARR didin?t think anything funny of riding through Mamelodi , or never mentioned anything so I assume he was OK with this. We followed the signposts that indicate KwaMachlanga, and ended up on a sandy dirt road but my new found confidence with my steering damper made small work of this.
Seeing that we were only two bikes I indicated to ARR that we should ride abreast, as no one then needs to eat dust all the way. This worked fine and for most of the day that?s how we rode. In twisty sections this is rather dangerous, but I could see that ARR had done this type of thing before, as he would fast accelerate or brake, to allow me to fall in either behind or in front of him when approached by a cage, as I was riding on the ?wrong? side of the road.
If I must say so myself the road surfaces were in an excellent condition, and one could easily travel at plus 160 km?h. However we were taking it slow as Me ARR had not pillioned since the GSC 2005, and we didn?t want to scare her. Also ARR made her stand on those narrow OEM footpegs, and I could see she was taking some strain
ARR looking into the furure??
Sure looks mighty comfortable on the 1200GSA
We left quite a cloud of dust in our wake, as Gauteng hadn?t had any rain for a long time, which was evident from the lack of green stuff. As we got closer to Loskopdam this picture changed quite a bit, along with the temperature. On top of the hills leading towards Loskop the temp was around 25 degrees. As we moved down into the Loskop valley it rose to 30 and when we stopped at the biltong shop it was a lovely 39 degrees.
We got ourselves some biltong along with something to wash it down with and then headed towards the dam wall to show the ex-capetonians around.
While we were enjoying some biltong we were joined by two other chaps, also 1200 GS & GSA combination claiming to be from Cape Town (although the bikes had GP numbers) who were heading towards Swaziland. They were heading towards Malelane for the night. Said they would join us in Dullstroom at the Duck & trout, but we never got a glimpse of them again.
Was a perfect day at the dam and one could really do a nice booze cruise. Pity one is not allowed to swim in the dam with all the flat dogs and hippo?s around! :shock:
From here on we headed on Zonkels famous puncture road, but Murphy had nothing planned for us for the day, except for some heat, but sweating and then standing up to catch a bitta breeze from behind that GSA screen proved to be rather nice, refreshing and very cooling.
Soon we were having some trout and a cold one at the famous Duct and Trout in Dullstroom and were served by a very friendly waitress who couldn?t believe we had travelled all the way from Gauteng for the day, just to have brunch at their place and then ride straight back. Suppose this place is frequented by lotsa Harley guys who just ride from downtown Dullstroom to uptown Dullstroom :?
From here I took the ARR duo to the famous Old Transvalia Inn, without which a visit to Dullstroom would be incomplete. Sweet from heaven taking you straight to hell ? for sure. Also bumped into Stephen King & Mrs of Touratech fame, but I will not mention what he was riding, out of fear for retribution.
This area must have had excellent rain, cause the early signs of winter, or should I rather say autumn had not veered it?s head yet and was covered in a green blanket.
Not far outta Dullstroom we took a shortcut that would put us on the R577 between Lydenburg and Roossenekal, but more importantly on the eastern side of the Steenkampsberg pass, so we would have to ride over the pass to get back home. The grin factor of this pass must record a 10.9 on my Richter scale.
Another characteristic of the area is the abundance of the famous Cosmos flowers. All along the road they stand and smile with their beautiful little flowery faces. Surely makes riding an absolute pleasure. Some farmers in this area seem to grow them as food, as we saw several fields completely covered with their little flowery faces. Absolutely beautiful. (Yea I guess the land just hadn?t been worked)
Well as I mentioned we HAD to go over Steenkampsberg pass and she lived up to her promise.
The main purpose of riding a pass like this is of course to clear the tyre of all the dirt, so one could have better traction when hitting the next dirt section. For some it?s also the opportunity to remove the hero blobs from their footpegs or to get rid of those annoying little rubber thingamachings that is put on the tyre to show it?s new. Of course there also the grinder option, all of which will enforce serious respect from your regular riding mates. I prefer the steel kazoonas option, as it?s way more fun and in any case the grinder doesn?t run off the utility plug on my beemer.
Do yourself a favour, and next time you visit the area, make sure to ride this pass, it?s way better than sitting on the boring N4 past Belfast and Dullstroom. The pass starts about 50 km?s outta Lydenburg, but you will arrive in Lydenburg with a serious smile on your face.
Our return journey took us back past Loskop, (we had to buy some biltong to take home) but this time we headed off towards Plattekloof and from there on to Zusterstroom. Man these roads were in an excellent condition and I saw non legal speeds on my speedo quite a few times. Yes ARR had fallen back, clear outta my dust, as I would have had his nuts in a vice if he was doing that kinda speed with his pillion.
The Zusterstroom section runs all along the Wilgers River, but some serious rain is needed here I have never seen the river so low, and the dry (read winter) season is only starting.
As we used to say in the days I served in the army: ?All roads leads to Pretoria,? and soon we were sitting at the Riverside Mixer having a cold one to quench the thirst from all the biltong and of course to wash down the dust
Hereafter it was time to say our goodbyes as we headed home to bring to an end a day filled with lotsa riding on some of the best gravel roads Gauteng and a bit of Mpumalanga has to offer. I left home at 06:30 am and arrived home 06:15 pm after having lotsa fun where we covered the best part of 600 kays.
Sorry to the guys who missed it, hope your excuse turned out for the better :wink: and to Mr & Me ARR thanks for the company.
See U on the next one. Cheers
:wink:
So it was down to ARR & G/F plus me to do this. We met in Pretoria and set about one of my favourite routes, not only because it?s rather scenic, but also the road surface allows for nice fast travelling. From our meeting spot, after a nice cuppa coffee / tea we headed east in Hans Strydom towards Mamelodi.
ARR didin?t think anything funny of riding through Mamelodi , or never mentioned anything so I assume he was OK with this. We followed the signposts that indicate KwaMachlanga, and ended up on a sandy dirt road but my new found confidence with my steering damper made small work of this.
Seeing that we were only two bikes I indicated to ARR that we should ride abreast, as no one then needs to eat dust all the way. This worked fine and for most of the day that?s how we rode. In twisty sections this is rather dangerous, but I could see that ARR had done this type of thing before, as he would fast accelerate or brake, to allow me to fall in either behind or in front of him when approached by a cage, as I was riding on the ?wrong? side of the road.
If I must say so myself the road surfaces were in an excellent condition, and one could easily travel at plus 160 km?h. However we were taking it slow as Me ARR had not pillioned since the GSC 2005, and we didn?t want to scare her. Also ARR made her stand on those narrow OEM footpegs, and I could see she was taking some strain
ARR looking into the furure??
Sure looks mighty comfortable on the 1200GSA
We left quite a cloud of dust in our wake, as Gauteng hadn?t had any rain for a long time, which was evident from the lack of green stuff. As we got closer to Loskopdam this picture changed quite a bit, along with the temperature. On top of the hills leading towards Loskop the temp was around 25 degrees. As we moved down into the Loskop valley it rose to 30 and when we stopped at the biltong shop it was a lovely 39 degrees.
We got ourselves some biltong along with something to wash it down with and then headed towards the dam wall to show the ex-capetonians around.
While we were enjoying some biltong we were joined by two other chaps, also 1200 GS & GSA combination claiming to be from Cape Town (although the bikes had GP numbers) who were heading towards Swaziland. They were heading towards Malelane for the night. Said they would join us in Dullstroom at the Duck & trout, but we never got a glimpse of them again.
Was a perfect day at the dam and one could really do a nice booze cruise. Pity one is not allowed to swim in the dam with all the flat dogs and hippo?s around! :shock:
From here on we headed on Zonkels famous puncture road, but Murphy had nothing planned for us for the day, except for some heat, but sweating and then standing up to catch a bitta breeze from behind that GSA screen proved to be rather nice, refreshing and very cooling.
Soon we were having some trout and a cold one at the famous Duct and Trout in Dullstroom and were served by a very friendly waitress who couldn?t believe we had travelled all the way from Gauteng for the day, just to have brunch at their place and then ride straight back. Suppose this place is frequented by lotsa Harley guys who just ride from downtown Dullstroom to uptown Dullstroom :?
From here I took the ARR duo to the famous Old Transvalia Inn, without which a visit to Dullstroom would be incomplete. Sweet from heaven taking you straight to hell ? for sure. Also bumped into Stephen King & Mrs of Touratech fame, but I will not mention what he was riding, out of fear for retribution.
This area must have had excellent rain, cause the early signs of winter, or should I rather say autumn had not veered it?s head yet and was covered in a green blanket.
Not far outta Dullstroom we took a shortcut that would put us on the R577 between Lydenburg and Roossenekal, but more importantly on the eastern side of the Steenkampsberg pass, so we would have to ride over the pass to get back home. The grin factor of this pass must record a 10.9 on my Richter scale.
Another characteristic of the area is the abundance of the famous Cosmos flowers. All along the road they stand and smile with their beautiful little flowery faces. Surely makes riding an absolute pleasure. Some farmers in this area seem to grow them as food, as we saw several fields completely covered with their little flowery faces. Absolutely beautiful. (Yea I guess the land just hadn?t been worked)
Well as I mentioned we HAD to go over Steenkampsberg pass and she lived up to her promise.
The main purpose of riding a pass like this is of course to clear the tyre of all the dirt, so one could have better traction when hitting the next dirt section. For some it?s also the opportunity to remove the hero blobs from their footpegs or to get rid of those annoying little rubber thingamachings that is put on the tyre to show it?s new. Of course there also the grinder option, all of which will enforce serious respect from your regular riding mates. I prefer the steel kazoonas option, as it?s way more fun and in any case the grinder doesn?t run off the utility plug on my beemer.
Do yourself a favour, and next time you visit the area, make sure to ride this pass, it?s way better than sitting on the boring N4 past Belfast and Dullstroom. The pass starts about 50 km?s outta Lydenburg, but you will arrive in Lydenburg with a serious smile on your face.
Our return journey took us back past Loskop, (we had to buy some biltong to take home) but this time we headed off towards Plattekloof and from there on to Zusterstroom. Man these roads were in an excellent condition and I saw non legal speeds on my speedo quite a few times. Yes ARR had fallen back, clear outta my dust, as I would have had his nuts in a vice if he was doing that kinda speed with his pillion.
The Zusterstroom section runs all along the Wilgers River, but some serious rain is needed here
I have never seen the river so low, and the dry (read winter) season is only starting.
As we used to say in the days I served in the army: ?All roads leads to Pretoria,? and soon we were sitting at the Riverside Mixer having a cold one to quench the thirst from all the biltong and of course to wash down the dust
Hereafter it was time to say our goodbyes as we headed home to bring to an end a day filled with lotsa riding on some of the best gravel roads Gauteng and a bit of Mpumalanga has to offer. I left home at 06:30 am and arrived home 06:15 pm after having lotsa fun where we covered the best part of 600 kays.
Sorry to the guys who missed it, hope your excuse turned out for the better :wink: and to Mr & Me ARR thanks for the company.
See U on the next one. Cheers
:wink:
