SGB
Race Dog
The speed of time… Last year’s Roof did not feel 365 days ago when we mounted the horses on Thursday morning. My brother Bees and I left Bloemfontein and quickly consumed the 120 km of slab to Ladybrand where we met up with Andre and Jacques for breakfast at the Wimpy. Andre was riding my 525 and Jacques on a Yamaha 660 kwat. In the back of my mind I was unsure of the kwat idea for what we “traditionally” enjoy at the Roof, I have no experience in that department, but I do know Jacques is a brave man, so he came along. The plan was to get to Maseru for the “Round the Houses” and work our way through to Roma along the time trial route and sleep over at Ramabanta. Some other old friends were also on their way and I was looking forward to seeing them all again!
The border formalities took no time and we were in Maseru in time to see this motard style race with knobblies. You are not allowed to change tyres, gearing or add fuel after this part, and you depart on the time trial route straight after this. It is incredible how the top guys can control the machines sliding into the corners at scary velocities, good to watch.
Our spectator spot was in front of a school, and we provided some entertainment between heats. It felt good to be someone’s hero…
I did some map studying of the routes before hand, and we followed the road to some of the time trial spectator points. The competitors looked fresh and ready to race, even the ones on blue bikes… We found Roger and friends from Durban, and exchanged some stories.
This down hill section was quite interesting, can you see the bikes? And the route?
View down to Roma Bridge
Mike Glover and a bunch of plastic tourers arrived and he took them down here too. We saw them again at Roma bridge and some of the bikes had lost some plastic. Dallie Terblance told us that he went down with Brian Capper – he never took his feet off the pegs! Some people’s kids… We also stopped over at Roma bridge and at the finish at Roma for something to eat.
From here we took the long way round to Ramabanta, a scenic track with a little challenge here and there. Very enjoyable riding.
I was looking from the corner of my eye at the clouds building over the Ramabanta mountains. We were lucky to make it there just in time to stay dry. I saw a big lightning strike in the valley as we came down the pass into Ramabanta, the bang made me sit down on the bike quickly. Not that I think it helped, but somehow you just want to be low in these conditions. Looking up the hill towards Baboons we saw a hut burning – that is what that lightning struck, those poor people lost everything, including a child.
The view...
The evening was spent catching up with all the others, Lennox, Husky, Edgy, Dom, etc. My friend Daan also arrived – he is a mechanical magician and his latest project is this XR650.
Friday morning we headed out early to see the start at Roma. Lined up next to the starting tunnel and chatted to a lot of old faces – was good to be there.
Dallie Terblanche, famous quad racing farmer from Pongola was there on a 300, and he joined us to the spectator point at Bushmans pass. The number of spectators this year was amazing – people all over the place. DS bikes of all shapes and sizes. It was great to watch the race up this chute – you know that a camera makes a hill flat. Upon arrival, you look around for the track, and realize that this is the only way out. And thoughts ranging from “impossible” to “stupid” to “what we you thinking” cross my mind.
Those rocks were still wet, and traction was a serious problem. It became a little better as it warmed up and the leading bikes carved a line. But still hectic – some assistance was welcomed… Boiling and toiling… Rook en kook…
'
Spectators...
We carried on to the next point after Belekomo (Welcome) Pass, Birch was looking good – increasing his lead.
A spectator on a plastic bike was styling up the hill, went over the little bump nicley but upon landing it looked like he was shot with a 375. Bad place to get hurt, but he was in the ambo an hour later.
More spectators...
The Lesotho defence force decided to have an exercise along the route too, shooting flares and machine guns – they used the opportunity to show a bit of force.
From here it was off the tar (about time…) onto another scenic gravel section with a washed away bridge. Some boulders in the river made for some dodgy crossings and the lucky ones only emerged with wet boots.
The footpath up to the Makhaleng control point looked inviting, and we shot up there – turned out not so suitable for DS bikes, but great fun nonetheless!
Roger on a GSA! Well done!
We came up here, did not look like this from the bottom...
The local go on these.... Wonder why they don't use 2 strokes.
Waited here for a while, this shop had some half cold beverages, so the wait was not so bad. It took the race quite a while to complete the Likolobeng loop, and many got stuck in this section. Continued to the fuel point down the hill, lots of life here.
Look at all the spectators!
We decided to continue towards Jockstrap pass. When the control marshal said it was impossible to get over there I knew we were on the right track.
Turned out to be a challenging ride with some toiling and horizontal time here and there. In a moment of weakness we did not watch the GPS and followed the leader. The leader was Ron Bailey. Mistake… When the track ended, some cooling off was done, and after some looking on the GPS we found the track again.
On the way back to the right track, the bank collapsed and Jacques and his quad rolled down the hill. Scary moment. He was OK and the quad only had some bent levers and handle bars and plastic. We hauled it back up with some tow straps, and I was happy that we came off so lightly.
Where the bank used to be:
The pass made for some sweating. Bowling ball sized rocks, loose and the bikes just scabble for traction until it finds some and then shoots forward with all 100 hp. Throttle and clutch control goes to a new level… “Ride to preserve” man and machine is in my mind. Wonder why? When we looked around, all those DS bikes we saw at Bushmans were now missing. Ron Bailey and Ian Kinnear were there on SE’s and there were 3 990’s, a 640 and 2 690’s – one with pillion! And some plastic bikes. Is a DRZ 400 a plastic?
The last piece of gravel road down the pass from Semonkong’s side into Ramabanta felt like the N3. Got to Ramabanta relaxed, de-stressed and satisfied with a great day of Roof watching and riding action.
Enjoyed the evening hospitality at Ramabanta, good food, good company and general bike related banter was shared at all levels of alcohol induced wisdom, mostly starting with “The %^&* organizers” and “They should” and “I would”. The older we get, the faster we used to be… I could not help feeling a bit sorry for the guys we saw arriving after 9 at night, no support crew around and totally drained. That is the roof I suppose...
Saturday morning, same drill, at the start. I don’t know what we did wrong, but when I looked up we were following none other than the famous Sir Bailey again! No way out now, so we follow the racing route after everyone started. Found this poor guy who crashed minutes after the start. Bertus the medic looked after him nicely and off we went.
Amazing riding, followed the track back to Ramabanta.
Found Wollie from Clarens - that famous guy from the IT era with all the vintage bikes, chatted a bit.
We got stopped at the Ramabanta turn-ff by the cops, nobody allowed on the racing route we were told in no uncertain terms. We wanted to get to Thusong and the race was using 500 m of the road. We made a plan and rode down the hill on a foot path further along, bit rocky, but made it. And off we went.
At the river crossing, Jacques announced that the kwat is left with 1 wheel drive, splines in the one wheel stripped. But with a bit of shoving and lots of momentum he got up the hill.
We arrived at Thusong and went down towards the river.
There was lots of time to play, the racers were only expected 2 hours later and we had a look around.
Back at the top, we settled at the village shop where we got some cold ones and Lucky Star Pilchards, Bully beef and Marie biscuits for brunch. The friendly family next to the shop made available some shade and chairs and water and we had a relaxing time camping on their veranda.
Daan made friends with the family’s piglet.
The race eventually arrived, and it was again incredible to watch the rate at which these guys cover ground up the hills of Lesotho. Look at that climb – can you see the bike?
Happy with what we saw, we said good bye to our hosts and headed back to Ramabanta. Checked out and departed for home after greeting friends and a great part of the world.
Re-fueling
Some orange plastic for the tadpoles
Marshal point
On the way back to Ramabanta
Whilst riding back and signs “African civilisation” started presenting themselves again, my mind felt a bit like a tumble drier. I wonder how I would have treated a bunch of dirty strangers arriving at my door step asking to sit on my polished stoep. Would I give them water, bring out my chairs and leave them to do do their own thing whilst I carry on with life. I wonder how many of “us” claiming we are African actually understand what being African is all about. We ride past the Chinese embassy in Maseru, and the American one with the big fence and cameras and boom gates and signs. And I wonder if it is all worth it? A car hoots when I don’t pull of quickly enough at the traffic light. I land in civilisation – tar road, traffic light, border post. And start thinking about Monday. I hope the next 365 days go by a lot faster! See you all back here in 2010!
Just to end off, you learn something on every trip. Here are some things you probably all know, they were just reinforced in my mind for various reasons along the way:
- Think for (all) the cars you encounter, driving skill of locals and Roof support crews not always very safe.
- Always carry pain killers, I have given away all mine in the past and forgot to replenish, when we needed I did not have.
- Tow straps are essential.
- Get to know your riding buddies' kit. If someone rides off without his back pack or tool pouch, let him know fast, or look back and see where he left it.
- Water is never too heavy.
- Be globally aware, ride when you have to, rest when you have to, smile when you have to - just be in sync with the surroundings, the team and yourself.
- Interact with the locals - it makes for a better understanding of your own position (or lack thereof) in life.
I really enjoyed this outing, I lift my cap high to Bees, Andre and Jacques for putting up with me and the places we went without complaining - and thanks to Dallie for the running entertainment, and Ron Bailey and crew for leading the way where they did, and motivating the team.
ps. I deliberately left out the detail of the Roof standings and winners, etc – see www.roof-of-africa.com for all of that.
The border formalities took no time and we were in Maseru in time to see this motard style race with knobblies. You are not allowed to change tyres, gearing or add fuel after this part, and you depart on the time trial route straight after this. It is incredible how the top guys can control the machines sliding into the corners at scary velocities, good to watch.
Our spectator spot was in front of a school, and we provided some entertainment between heats. It felt good to be someone’s hero…
I did some map studying of the routes before hand, and we followed the road to some of the time trial spectator points. The competitors looked fresh and ready to race, even the ones on blue bikes… We found Roger and friends from Durban, and exchanged some stories.
This down hill section was quite interesting, can you see the bikes? And the route?
View down to Roma Bridge
Mike Glover and a bunch of plastic tourers arrived and he took them down here too. We saw them again at Roma bridge and some of the bikes had lost some plastic. Dallie Terblance told us that he went down with Brian Capper – he never took his feet off the pegs! Some people’s kids… We also stopped over at Roma bridge and at the finish at Roma for something to eat.
From here we took the long way round to Ramabanta, a scenic track with a little challenge here and there. Very enjoyable riding.
I was looking from the corner of my eye at the clouds building over the Ramabanta mountains. We were lucky to make it there just in time to stay dry. I saw a big lightning strike in the valley as we came down the pass into Ramabanta, the bang made me sit down on the bike quickly. Not that I think it helped, but somehow you just want to be low in these conditions. Looking up the hill towards Baboons we saw a hut burning – that is what that lightning struck, those poor people lost everything, including a child.
The view...
The evening was spent catching up with all the others, Lennox, Husky, Edgy, Dom, etc. My friend Daan also arrived – he is a mechanical magician and his latest project is this XR650.
Friday morning we headed out early to see the start at Roma. Lined up next to the starting tunnel and chatted to a lot of old faces – was good to be there.
Dallie Terblanche, famous quad racing farmer from Pongola was there on a 300, and he joined us to the spectator point at Bushmans pass. The number of spectators this year was amazing – people all over the place. DS bikes of all shapes and sizes. It was great to watch the race up this chute – you know that a camera makes a hill flat. Upon arrival, you look around for the track, and realize that this is the only way out. And thoughts ranging from “impossible” to “stupid” to “what we you thinking” cross my mind.
Those rocks were still wet, and traction was a serious problem. It became a little better as it warmed up and the leading bikes carved a line. But still hectic – some assistance was welcomed… Boiling and toiling… Rook en kook…
Spectators...
We carried on to the next point after Belekomo (Welcome) Pass, Birch was looking good – increasing his lead.
A spectator on a plastic bike was styling up the hill, went over the little bump nicley but upon landing it looked like he was shot with a 375. Bad place to get hurt, but he was in the ambo an hour later.
More spectators...
The Lesotho defence force decided to have an exercise along the route too, shooting flares and machine guns – they used the opportunity to show a bit of force.
From here it was off the tar (about time…) onto another scenic gravel section with a washed away bridge. Some boulders in the river made for some dodgy crossings and the lucky ones only emerged with wet boots.
The footpath up to the Makhaleng control point looked inviting, and we shot up there – turned out not so suitable for DS bikes, but great fun nonetheless!
Roger on a GSA! Well done!
We came up here, did not look like this from the bottom...
The local go on these.... Wonder why they don't use 2 strokes.
Waited here for a while, this shop had some half cold beverages, so the wait was not so bad. It took the race quite a while to complete the Likolobeng loop, and many got stuck in this section. Continued to the fuel point down the hill, lots of life here.
Look at all the spectators!
We decided to continue towards Jockstrap pass. When the control marshal said it was impossible to get over there I knew we were on the right track.
Turned out to be a challenging ride with some toiling and horizontal time here and there. In a moment of weakness we did not watch the GPS and followed the leader. The leader was Ron Bailey. Mistake… When the track ended, some cooling off was done, and after some looking on the GPS we found the track again.
On the way back to the right track, the bank collapsed and Jacques and his quad rolled down the hill. Scary moment. He was OK and the quad only had some bent levers and handle bars and plastic. We hauled it back up with some tow straps, and I was happy that we came off so lightly.
Where the bank used to be:
The pass made for some sweating. Bowling ball sized rocks, loose and the bikes just scabble for traction until it finds some and then shoots forward with all 100 hp. Throttle and clutch control goes to a new level… “Ride to preserve” man and machine is in my mind. Wonder why? When we looked around, all those DS bikes we saw at Bushmans were now missing. Ron Bailey and Ian Kinnear were there on SE’s and there were 3 990’s, a 640 and 2 690’s – one with pillion! And some plastic bikes. Is a DRZ 400 a plastic?
The last piece of gravel road down the pass from Semonkong’s side into Ramabanta felt like the N3. Got to Ramabanta relaxed, de-stressed and satisfied with a great day of Roof watching and riding action.
Enjoyed the evening hospitality at Ramabanta, good food, good company and general bike related banter was shared at all levels of alcohol induced wisdom, mostly starting with “The %^&* organizers” and “They should” and “I would”. The older we get, the faster we used to be… I could not help feeling a bit sorry for the guys we saw arriving after 9 at night, no support crew around and totally drained. That is the roof I suppose...
Saturday morning, same drill, at the start. I don’t know what we did wrong, but when I looked up we were following none other than the famous Sir Bailey again! No way out now, so we follow the racing route after everyone started. Found this poor guy who crashed minutes after the start. Bertus the medic looked after him nicely and off we went.
Amazing riding, followed the track back to Ramabanta.
Found Wollie from Clarens - that famous guy from the IT era with all the vintage bikes, chatted a bit.
We got stopped at the Ramabanta turn-ff by the cops, nobody allowed on the racing route we were told in no uncertain terms. We wanted to get to Thusong and the race was using 500 m of the road. We made a plan and rode down the hill on a foot path further along, bit rocky, but made it. And off we went.
At the river crossing, Jacques announced that the kwat is left with 1 wheel drive, splines in the one wheel stripped. But with a bit of shoving and lots of momentum he got up the hill.
We arrived at Thusong and went down towards the river.
There was lots of time to play, the racers were only expected 2 hours later and we had a look around.
Back at the top, we settled at the village shop where we got some cold ones and Lucky Star Pilchards, Bully beef and Marie biscuits for brunch. The friendly family next to the shop made available some shade and chairs and water and we had a relaxing time camping on their veranda.
Daan made friends with the family’s piglet.
The race eventually arrived, and it was again incredible to watch the rate at which these guys cover ground up the hills of Lesotho. Look at that climb – can you see the bike?
Happy with what we saw, we said good bye to our hosts and headed back to Ramabanta. Checked out and departed for home after greeting friends and a great part of the world.
Re-fueling
Some orange plastic for the tadpoles
Marshal point
On the way back to Ramabanta
Whilst riding back and signs “African civilisation” started presenting themselves again, my mind felt a bit like a tumble drier. I wonder how I would have treated a bunch of dirty strangers arriving at my door step asking to sit on my polished stoep. Would I give them water, bring out my chairs and leave them to do do their own thing whilst I carry on with life. I wonder how many of “us” claiming we are African actually understand what being African is all about. We ride past the Chinese embassy in Maseru, and the American one with the big fence and cameras and boom gates and signs. And I wonder if it is all worth it? A car hoots when I don’t pull of quickly enough at the traffic light. I land in civilisation – tar road, traffic light, border post. And start thinking about Monday. I hope the next 365 days go by a lot faster! See you all back here in 2010!
Just to end off, you learn something on every trip. Here are some things you probably all know, they were just reinforced in my mind for various reasons along the way:
- Think for (all) the cars you encounter, driving skill of locals and Roof support crews not always very safe.
- Always carry pain killers, I have given away all mine in the past and forgot to replenish, when we needed I did not have.
- Tow straps are essential.
- Get to know your riding buddies' kit. If someone rides off without his back pack or tool pouch, let him know fast, or look back and see where he left it.
- Water is never too heavy.
- Be globally aware, ride when you have to, rest when you have to, smile when you have to - just be in sync with the surroundings, the team and yourself.
- Interact with the locals - it makes for a better understanding of your own position (or lack thereof) in life.
I really enjoyed this outing, I lift my cap high to Bees, Andre and Jacques for putting up with me and the places we went without complaining - and thanks to Dallie for the running entertainment, and Ron Bailey and crew for leading the way where they did, and motivating the team.
ps. I deliberately left out the detail of the Roof standings and winners, etc – see www.roof-of-africa.com for all of that.
