Cacher
Pack Dog
After way too many weeks of renovations at home and no light in the tunnel yet, I decided that enough is ENOUGH and that is it time to stop commuting on the bike and use it again for its intended purpose/purchase and regain my sanity……. The timing could not be more perfect, as my sister (a non wilddog currently), let us call her Cacher’s Sister (CS) was back after work in Cape Town. So where do we go???? Obviously somewhere where we have not been before and this time it was time for OffCamber located just outside of PE on the Elandsriver Road.
Since CS is more at home on the road bikes, she opted for a quad she purchased a while ago. Gearing up and going
So OffCamber suggested to us to take the blue route and later try the more difficult sections.. We tried the difficult stuff right from the start and this included some steep uphills and as they say, everything that goes up, must come down.
Some local wildlife up close and personal
One of the turn offs is called Rusty Ruts Downhill. From the pic below, you only see the “flat” section of it, and I wondered where the downhill section was. The flat was very soon followed by a steep downhill that did not allow the chance for the camera to come out.
After the Rusty Ruts Downhill, I really thought that we were at the bottom of things, but apparently not, as we entered “Deepend Dropoff”
Yip, that is my sis, and she definitely received the good looking genes between the two of us…
Some more downhills and uphills, but nothing to break out into a summer sweat for
Every now and again, I had to just stop riding and take in the scenery, as it was AWESOME and I could feel the stress of home renovations just gushing out of my system.
Sometimes life and trails change their mind, just when you think you are getting comfortable. No name tags for the section below, but you can see the trail disappearing sharply and rising abruptly out of the bush. To say that I was a bit concerned, was a BIG understatement, but big brother had to put on his calm and confident face and say “Let’s ride it!!”
My concerns were not unfounded, because as we entered the lower sections, it almost felt like a 80 degree downhill and it had consequences… The quad’s wheels locked up and tumbled back over front. My DR650 also kissed mother earth briefly whilst going down. Luckily CS only came off with some scratches and bad bruises, but we could at least still sit down and smile for a quick pic.
Somewhere during the ride, the bolt holding the quad’s exhaust in place sheared off, but this was quickly fixed up with some cable ties. If I should ever find the guy who invented cable ties, I do not know if I will be able to thank him enough for the 1 000 001 uses there are for it….
The next part of the ride was labeled “Rock & Roll riverbed”. This was aptly named, as were rocked, but luckily did not roll off again.
No "flattering "name for the next section, but coming straight out of the river and through a muddle of mud, there was AGAIN a steep uphill. This time, both the bike and I dropped and kissed the earth again…
Encountering a sign like “Towbar Tuckin” after dropping the my bike twice, made me approach this downhill with a lot of caution, and it paid off.. Lots of slip and sliding, but no dropping.
After the above, we went passed a section called “Diepkloof Drop” where some off- roaders were needing a helping hand, literally. The section was just too steep for the 450cc scramblers to get out of on their own, so a rope was lowered and we had to haul out both bike and rider simultaneously. After seeing the terrain and helping out, I decided that enough was enough for one day and so our front wheels started heading off into the direction of the base camp.
The consequences of the ride:
The bikes being dropped, bruises, burns from exhaust pipes, minor damage to the bikes, happy faces and most of all, SANITY REGAINED!!! Thanks Sis!!!
PS: If you love technical riding, this is definitely for you, but you can literally customize your adventure to be as easy as you want or as difficult as you want, that is saying if you know where every turn-off goes…. otherwise, I hope your bike is light and has a VERY tight turning circle…
Since CS is more at home on the road bikes, she opted for a quad she purchased a while ago. Gearing up and going
So OffCamber suggested to us to take the blue route and later try the more difficult sections.. We tried the difficult stuff right from the start and this included some steep uphills and as they say, everything that goes up, must come down.
Some local wildlife up close and personal
One of the turn offs is called Rusty Ruts Downhill. From the pic below, you only see the “flat” section of it, and I wondered where the downhill section was. The flat was very soon followed by a steep downhill that did not allow the chance for the camera to come out.
After the Rusty Ruts Downhill, I really thought that we were at the bottom of things, but apparently not, as we entered “Deepend Dropoff”
Yip, that is my sis, and she definitely received the good looking genes between the two of us…
Some more downhills and uphills, but nothing to break out into a summer sweat for
Every now and again, I had to just stop riding and take in the scenery, as it was AWESOME and I could feel the stress of home renovations just gushing out of my system.
Sometimes life and trails change their mind, just when you think you are getting comfortable. No name tags for the section below, but you can see the trail disappearing sharply and rising abruptly out of the bush. To say that I was a bit concerned, was a BIG understatement, but big brother had to put on his calm and confident face and say “Let’s ride it!!”
My concerns were not unfounded, because as we entered the lower sections, it almost felt like a 80 degree downhill and it had consequences… The quad’s wheels locked up and tumbled back over front. My DR650 also kissed mother earth briefly whilst going down. Luckily CS only came off with some scratches and bad bruises, but we could at least still sit down and smile for a quick pic.
Somewhere during the ride, the bolt holding the quad’s exhaust in place sheared off, but this was quickly fixed up with some cable ties. If I should ever find the guy who invented cable ties, I do not know if I will be able to thank him enough for the 1 000 001 uses there are for it….
The next part of the ride was labeled “Rock & Roll riverbed”. This was aptly named, as were rocked, but luckily did not roll off again.
No "flattering "name for the next section, but coming straight out of the river and through a muddle of mud, there was AGAIN a steep uphill. This time, both the bike and I dropped and kissed the earth again…
Encountering a sign like “Towbar Tuckin” after dropping the my bike twice, made me approach this downhill with a lot of caution, and it paid off.. Lots of slip and sliding, but no dropping.
After the above, we went passed a section called “Diepkloof Drop” where some off- roaders were needing a helping hand, literally. The section was just too steep for the 450cc scramblers to get out of on their own, so a rope was lowered and we had to haul out both bike and rider simultaneously. After seeing the terrain and helping out, I decided that enough was enough for one day and so our front wheels started heading off into the direction of the base camp.
The consequences of the ride:
The bikes being dropped, bruises, burns from exhaust pipes, minor damage to the bikes, happy faces and most of all, SANITY REGAINED!!! Thanks Sis!!!
PS: If you love technical riding, this is definitely for you, but you can literally customize your adventure to be as easy as you want or as difficult as you want, that is saying if you know where every turn-off goes…. otherwise, I hope your bike is light and has a VERY tight turning circle…
