SuperJuice
Race Dog
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2006
- Messages
- 1,337
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- Johannesburg
- Bike
- New Hudson (all models)
I was lucky enough to be invited by KTvroom (Mike) to attend the Poes Plaas Rally, a private rally of 3 bike clubs namely The Titty Twisters, The Cuzzins and The PielKoppe.
This was the 9th Poes rally held at Noorspoort, a farm just outside Steytlerville and owned by Danie Craven (grandson of Doc. Danie Craven).
We had 1024km's to do down to Noorspoort in a day and after not getting much sleep due to the excitement and overwhelming anticipation I was up at 3:50 to get ready to meet some friends and PielKoppe members at the Zenex on Van Buuren Ave with out next meeting point at Grasmere to catch the rest of the bunch and ride the long road together. There was a varied mix of bikes ranging from a BMW 1100 GS, BMW 1150GS, KTM 950, Honda VFR800, Yamaha FJR, Kawasaki ZX-14 and a Suzuki Bandit 1100.
Our route was pretty simple, we had to be at Noorspoort the same day and tar most of the way had to be done and done as quickly as possible so we headed straight down the N1 to Bloemfontein then on to Colesburg, Middelburg and onto Graaf Reinet.
From Graaf Reniet a couple of us decided to take gravel down to Noorspoort and having done a similar route to the Buff last year I knew it was a lekka route with nothing too technical or challenging as Stef who had his wife on pillion was a little worried.
We stopped for some refreshments at the Droste Hotel and made our way to Adendorp where we turned off and hit the gravel.
The area was greener than I've ever seen it and there was a lot of latent water still lying around. The roads were in good condition and made the last rip of the journey a lot of fun. Having done a similar route on the 1150GS I had, last year it was great to able to compare the 2 bikes on the gravel. Just in case you're wondering the KTM wins hands down.
From there our next stop was at Klipplaat for some much needed refreshment and shade. It was hot and guesstimating the temp I'd say it was around 35 degrees C at least!
We soon acquired a local fan club who came and inspected the bikes and chatted to us for a bit. I really enjoy talking to the locals and these guys asked 1000 questions with great enthusiasm. I noticed one of them was wearing an 'interesting' cap and took a close up pic, upon asking where this place was (just for interest sake, I swear!) he told us it was a gift, much to our disappointment.
We carried on from Klipplaat and took the R338 to Mount Steward then hung a left and carried on to Noorspoort via Pienaarspoort where we came upon this beautiful rock formation. (S33 16.828 E24 22.830)
From there we rolled in to Noorspoort at around 18:00 and enjoyed some frosty beverages and seeing old friends again.
Distance on Day 1: 1024km's and change.
Noorspoort is a very interesting place and as I said earlier is owned by Danie Craven III. There is some fascinating memorabilia all over the place and in the bar especially.
That night was party time and we made sure that we replenished lost liquids by the bucket loads.
The next day saw us up early and off to a friends farm in Bosfontein. The original idea was to do Baviaans but with the heat and stifness of the previous days ride still lingering in our bodies, it was decided a day at the pool on the farm would be a better idea.
We took a nice gravel road out to the farm and rode like hooligans in the name of fun. I launched the 950 a couple of times and was beaming from ear to ear trying to better my air time each time.
Saturday night was sheep on the spit and more of the same form the previous night.
Distance on Day 2: 123.5 km's
(CrazyPorra on the right looking a little sunburnt and earning his new name 'CrispyPorra'
(KTVroom (head of the JHB PielKoppe) and his lovely wife Bettie.
The (in)famous HowieZowie
A good night was had by all.
Up early again on Sunday the plan was to overnight in Wepener.
We took the same gravel road to Mount Stweard and went straight on to Jansenville and from there on the R75 to Graaf Reinet.
Church at the rail crossing in Jansenville
TourX choms.
2 up on gravel, lekka!
From GF we went via Middelburg, Steynsburg, Burgersdorp, Aliwal North, Zastron, Vanstadensrus and into Wepener.
In Wepener I had a lekka MLOTC (momentary loss of talent and concentration).
As we were going down a road in formation, me being at the back on the left, Willie in front the to right and Stef and nis wife Sandra in front on the left we started slowing down and I looked ahead and saw Stef looking to the left down the road, it didn't look like he was turning (no indicator or brake lights) so I continued on my way and checked out the GPS, as I looked up I saw Stef turning left and staight away though HGKG. I slammed on brakes and started drifting and eventually got it sideways with tyres screeching and my poephol knuiping. Stef heard the commotion behind me, looked to the left and saw me steaming ahead (sideways) and moved out the way. The tyres then dug in and high sided me over the bike and I landed on my hip and elbow. The crash bars on the bike took most of the hit and were slighty bent (easily repairable). ATGATT saved me from some nasty roasties and all I had to show for my MLOTC was this bruise on my hip:
Lesson leared, never ever let down your guard or stop concentrating. I was lucky I didn't t-bone Stef or Sandra and that the bike didn't take too much damage if any.
We stayed the night at the Lord Fraser in Wepener. I can highly recommend staying here and the steaks are excellent!
I have to wonder if the (mounted) Bull took out all those cars or it took that many cars to take out the bull!
That night we first heard the news of Dave Strauss' fatal accident. It put a very somber mood on the evening and makes you think a lot about what we do and the risks we take and also how something that provides us all with so much fun and pleasure can provide so much grief, sadness and pain at the same time.
RIP Dave Strauss.
Distance on Day 3: 585 km's
As Monday dawned with stiff bodies, we headed of to Hobhouse to meet the gent that reported on Dave's accident and followed him to the crash sight to try and work out and make sense of the crash scene. We couldn't see much and headed in to Ladybrand to see that the police had recovered his personal belongings and to get some idea on what happened from the official statements.
The agriculture in this area is a sight to behold and dealing with farmers in my line of work I took special interest in seeing the valley's of mielie rows and a bumper crop is definately to be expected. Sunflowers were also planted and the green of the mielies together with the bright yellow sunflowers was truly beautiful.
From there we went on the R26 to Ficksburg, Fouriesburg and stopped for lunch in Clarens.
Heading out of Clarens we went through the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. The ride from Ficksburg to Clarens is beautiful and breath taking. Rolling hills and twisty's with the Lesotho mountains to your right and green everywhere you look. Even better is the ride through Golden Gate.
From Golden Gate we took the R57 to Reitz, Tweeling, Frankfort and on to Villiers where we hooked up on the N3 and back home to JHB were as we rolled in to JHB we hit a storm like never before with cagers riding like idiots and rain pelting down.
It was good to be home and looking back we had a great trip and a great rally!
Distance on Day 4: 616.4 km's.
Total Distance: 2348.9 km's.
This was the 9th Poes rally held at Noorspoort, a farm just outside Steytlerville and owned by Danie Craven (grandson of Doc. Danie Craven).
We had 1024km's to do down to Noorspoort in a day and after not getting much sleep due to the excitement and overwhelming anticipation I was up at 3:50 to get ready to meet some friends and PielKoppe members at the Zenex on Van Buuren Ave with out next meeting point at Grasmere to catch the rest of the bunch and ride the long road together. There was a varied mix of bikes ranging from a BMW 1100 GS, BMW 1150GS, KTM 950, Honda VFR800, Yamaha FJR, Kawasaki ZX-14 and a Suzuki Bandit 1100.
Our route was pretty simple, we had to be at Noorspoort the same day and tar most of the way had to be done and done as quickly as possible so we headed straight down the N1 to Bloemfontein then on to Colesburg, Middelburg and onto Graaf Reinet.
From Graaf Reniet a couple of us decided to take gravel down to Noorspoort and having done a similar route to the Buff last year I knew it was a lekka route with nothing too technical or challenging as Stef who had his wife on pillion was a little worried.
We stopped for some refreshments at the Droste Hotel and made our way to Adendorp where we turned off and hit the gravel.
The area was greener than I've ever seen it and there was a lot of latent water still lying around. The roads were in good condition and made the last rip of the journey a lot of fun. Having done a similar route on the 1150GS I had, last year it was great to able to compare the 2 bikes on the gravel. Just in case you're wondering the KTM wins hands down.
From there our next stop was at Klipplaat for some much needed refreshment and shade. It was hot and guesstimating the temp I'd say it was around 35 degrees C at least!
We soon acquired a local fan club who came and inspected the bikes and chatted to us for a bit. I really enjoy talking to the locals and these guys asked 1000 questions with great enthusiasm. I noticed one of them was wearing an 'interesting' cap and took a close up pic, upon asking where this place was (just for interest sake, I swear!) he told us it was a gift, much to our disappointment.
We carried on from Klipplaat and took the R338 to Mount Steward then hung a left and carried on to Noorspoort via Pienaarspoort where we came upon this beautiful rock formation. (S33 16.828 E24 22.830)
From there we rolled in to Noorspoort at around 18:00 and enjoyed some frosty beverages and seeing old friends again.
Distance on Day 1: 1024km's and change.
Noorspoort is a very interesting place and as I said earlier is owned by Danie Craven III. There is some fascinating memorabilia all over the place and in the bar especially.
That night was party time and we made sure that we replenished lost liquids by the bucket loads.
The next day saw us up early and off to a friends farm in Bosfontein. The original idea was to do Baviaans but with the heat and stifness of the previous days ride still lingering in our bodies, it was decided a day at the pool on the farm would be a better idea.
We took a nice gravel road out to the farm and rode like hooligans in the name of fun. I launched the 950 a couple of times and was beaming from ear to ear trying to better my air time each time.
Saturday night was sheep on the spit and more of the same form the previous night.
Distance on Day 2: 123.5 km's
(CrazyPorra on the right looking a little sunburnt and earning his new name 'CrispyPorra'
(KTVroom (head of the JHB PielKoppe) and his lovely wife Bettie.
The (in)famous HowieZowie
A good night was had by all.
Up early again on Sunday the plan was to overnight in Wepener.
We took the same gravel road to Mount Stweard and went straight on to Jansenville and from there on the R75 to Graaf Reinet.
Church at the rail crossing in Jansenville
TourX choms.
2 up on gravel, lekka!
From GF we went via Middelburg, Steynsburg, Burgersdorp, Aliwal North, Zastron, Vanstadensrus and into Wepener.
In Wepener I had a lekka MLOTC (momentary loss of talent and concentration).
As we were going down a road in formation, me being at the back on the left, Willie in front the to right and Stef and nis wife Sandra in front on the left we started slowing down and I looked ahead and saw Stef looking to the left down the road, it didn't look like he was turning (no indicator or brake lights) so I continued on my way and checked out the GPS, as I looked up I saw Stef turning left and staight away though HGKG. I slammed on brakes and started drifting and eventually got it sideways with tyres screeching and my poephol knuiping. Stef heard the commotion behind me, looked to the left and saw me steaming ahead (sideways) and moved out the way. The tyres then dug in and high sided me over the bike and I landed on my hip and elbow. The crash bars on the bike took most of the hit and were slighty bent (easily repairable). ATGATT saved me from some nasty roasties and all I had to show for my MLOTC was this bruise on my hip:
Lesson leared, never ever let down your guard or stop concentrating. I was lucky I didn't t-bone Stef or Sandra and that the bike didn't take too much damage if any.
We stayed the night at the Lord Fraser in Wepener. I can highly recommend staying here and the steaks are excellent!
I have to wonder if the (mounted) Bull took out all those cars or it took that many cars to take out the bull!
That night we first heard the news of Dave Strauss' fatal accident. It put a very somber mood on the evening and makes you think a lot about what we do and the risks we take and also how something that provides us all with so much fun and pleasure can provide so much grief, sadness and pain at the same time.
RIP Dave Strauss.
Distance on Day 3: 585 km's
As Monday dawned with stiff bodies, we headed of to Hobhouse to meet the gent that reported on Dave's accident and followed him to the crash sight to try and work out and make sense of the crash scene. We couldn't see much and headed in to Ladybrand to see that the police had recovered his personal belongings and to get some idea on what happened from the official statements.
The agriculture in this area is a sight to behold and dealing with farmers in my line of work I took special interest in seeing the valley's of mielie rows and a bumper crop is definately to be expected. Sunflowers were also planted and the green of the mielies together with the bright yellow sunflowers was truly beautiful.
From there we went on the R26 to Ficksburg, Fouriesburg and stopped for lunch in Clarens.
Heading out of Clarens we went through the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. The ride from Ficksburg to Clarens is beautiful and breath taking. Rolling hills and twisty's with the Lesotho mountains to your right and green everywhere you look. Even better is the ride through Golden Gate.
From Golden Gate we took the R57 to Reitz, Tweeling, Frankfort and on to Villiers where we hooked up on the N3 and back home to JHB were as we rolled in to JHB we hit a storm like never before with cagers riding like idiots and rain pelting down.
It was good to be home and looking back we had a great trip and a great rally!
Distance on Day 4: 616.4 km's.
Total Distance: 2348.9 km's.
