EATMYKTM.
Race Dog
"Dear Reader
I have posted no pictures on this thread. Not because i didn't want you to see the awesomness of where I rode but because I didn't take a camera on this ride as I wanted to ride and not take photo's OK! Use your imagination..."
Let's begin.
On Saturday morning I had a couple of hours to kill while KTM Gal was booked into the Salon for some pampering so I decided to go to Maraisburg and bust out a quick ride on my 990 with his new Hilton Hayward front suspension. I was keen on riding hard and not stopping for too many smoke breaks so I went alone and had all my emergency repair kit for both my bike and myself with me.
On Friday night we had the first rains of the season which led to some great riding conditions on Sat morning. Lot's of grip, no dust (not that I cared, riding alone) and a couple of nice water splashes!
Arriving at the garage at 7:20 with about 7 litres of fuel in MacDonald's (my bike) we got a couple of funny looks but we knew what we were doing and blasted off down the whooped out path down to the first sandy pan. I had not been to Maraisburg for a couple of months so my route was altered by some rather large felled trees, which only made the route more challenging!
The sand pan had formed a slick crust in places that kept me honest as the front and back wheel were skating around in different directions. Once we got out of the shade into the sunny areas the sand was thick but moist so great fun to max him out in 3rd gear and revel in the incessant wheelspin and gentle headshake that my damper was trying to arrest.
Blasting into the twisty tree section MacDonald's' new suspenders made light work of the ruts and exposed roots snaking across our path. The rear end still 'popped' a little but it is standard and I'm quite used to it now. Riding him like a dirt bike...well a really poorly ridden dirt bike, I was in awe of how well he would rail berms and pop the front end up over fallen trees at will. Commit and he would oblige, hesitate and I was fucked :mwink:
Out of the trees and into the western side of the first mine dump the whoops were closely spaced and relentless but still, we rode hard and even though we got bounced off line by thick patches of sand every now and again, we soaked up those pesky bumps no worries. Caught an ankle twist every now and again on taller rocks but thanks to my Sidi Crossfire boots I just winced and tucked my toes in closer for the next potential obstacle.
Onto the fast open stretch which is full of nasty lurking rocks and watery whoops we tore, keeping a keen eye out for the best line possible, without wussing out and avoiding all the fun bits >
! We took a couple of big hits from rocks that were just unavoidable at this speed and when the whoops got going in earnest at the end of the trail we had to slow down slightly 'cos 208kg bike + rider @ 50km/h over big ass, closely spaced rocky bumps has interesting and potentially costly results!
Getting into my groove now, I was getting quite cocky and pushing harder, so turning off the dirt road by 'widow maker', MacDonald's and I cut our way through the rock garden that links the road with the back of 'that' informal settlement?
The bike felt great and riding slowly through the settlements front garden I gave my legs their first break and planted my ass on the seat for those 40 meters. Passing a couple of pedestrians as I turned left towards the 'black mud hole' I attempted a small stand up wheelie but was quickly humbled by yet more nasty whoops with visible ruts running through them. "Keep it in your pants Andy, anders gaan jy lekker (KAK) val!"
The black mud was a breeze which was a relief as I had no one to help pull me out and so we crossed the road and headed into the bowl. The short twisty section leading there was cool and allowed my to (try?) imitate Ricky Charmichael and arrive in the bowl feeling fantastic :ricky: Met a couple of plastic riding dudes who accepted when I asked to join them to the main dune and off we went up the climb out of the sandy bowl. The first climb was up the side of a overgrown dump which my first CRF mounted mate tore up without too much hassle so I decided to follow him. About half way up I got bounced out of the directional rut and lost all my momentum. Not good on a 990 Adventure when scaling a 50% gradient :-[!
Dragging the bike around I remounted and rolled back down the dump and off to find a less extreme way up.
To cut a long story a bit shorter, after failing the third section of climbs, I admitted defeat and rode back into the bowl to get around the dump the long way around.
This was not much of a chore as I got to concentrate on my own riding yet again and with the motivation of failure fresh in my mind I pushed even harder, with MacDonald's responding to every input like a lithe Rally Replica. The ground was rocky but with the night before rain, really grippy, allowing me to weight the outside peg out of corners and catapult out with the tail hanging out in enviable fashion.
The faster, lower whoops for the next part of the ride did wonders for my confindence and MacDonald's and I were on fire. The front TKC-80 was gripping beautifully and the suspension earning it's price tag many times over.
The whoops alongside the tar road by the soccer field where attacked at around 90km/h with clenched teeth but I had no need to worry as it seemed the harder I rode him, the more he delivered.
Down to the Main dune after passing through the township, I hung a left across the stream and blasted along the north side road, trusting that the terrain had not changed in the last couple of months, as it can so often do so!
I turned right down the rutted tree lined path on the eastern side of the dune and tried to keep a nice fast flowing pace down the hill. The ruts cris-crossing under my wheels were actually inconsequential and only freaked me out for the first 300m or so. Momentum is awesome :thumleft:
Onto the dune and straight up we went for the first proper stop of the ride. Goggles off and a good gulp of water from the Camelback. I eventually saw my plastic mounted mates on the horizon and decided to push off again back to the garage. Plummeting down the insanely steep dune, I turned right and hoped over the bumps and rises to the western side of the dune and picked my way as quickly as possible along the narrow technical single track route back to the intersection. Dropped my bike once on this section when I tried to turn on a closed throttle in soft sand, which tends to happen when you are being a Muppet!
Riding my route in reverse I took a couple of different forks and almost twisted my left ankle twice more before reaching the big road by the bowl. Must keep toes tucked in! Up past the cement works I took a different route and joined up at the beginning of the dirt road which was a lekker excuse to open MacDonald's up and clear the dust out of his lungs. I hope I don't meet a bunch of plastics coming the other way around one of the corners as a 990 takes a while to slow down from 130 on a marbled road >
Back down the bumpy twisty route to the water splash I saw a couple of plastics on the side of the path which made me push that little bit harder and I almost saw my mielie when I lost control of the front end over the rocks and deep ruts. Thankfully the bike landed under me each time and I think I pulled it off without too many noticing what was going down! Accelerating hard I hopefully redeemed myself slightly by launching over the two drain pipes that the riders had made a jump out of and landing gracefully in the water on the other side.
Tearing off up the whoop section I felt in fine form, but my body was starting to feel the effects of 1 hour of hard riding on a big bike. Onto the section that I was looking forward to all morning, the southern and eastern side of the big dump, I was pushing hard but my body position was not ideal and I paid the price over a couple of whooped sections, hanging onto my bucking bike like a rag doll tied to the handlebars. Slow down I thought, " Not a chance, stop being a fookin' girl and TTFU!"
Concentrating on my body position helped no end and squeezing with my knees I managed to control the beast a bit better, although I did take a couple of big hits over the bigger whoops, which, with my new found confidence I attacked a little to quick :mwink:
Dropping down the twisty route onto the first sandy pan again I decided to turn left to complete my ride up the rock section with the big gully down the middle just to challenge myself one last time. Forgot that this pan was still slick as snot and attempting to turn I went down hard when the front wheel washed out and smashed me into the deck! One broken GPS bracket and nothing else, so good to go! Helps when you remove your mirrors before riding like this... :thumleft:
The locals obviously don't want us to ride up ravine, so they chopped 2 trees down across the only paths entering this route. After failing to get over the second big trunk, I took the tiger line through the trees and bullied my way through the bushes onto one of my favorite parts of the Maraisburgs ride. Bouncing up the rocks in the river bed, my new suspension made life much easier than previous times and this tricky section was over before I knew it! A couple of hundred meters later I was back at the garage with, you guessed it, people still looking at me funny ???.
Ahh well, that loop of 54km's took me less time to ride than to write this report, so I had plenty of time to kill before i had to be back home. Wash Goggles, limp to the loo, drag down a smoke... life's awesome!
I Know :biggrin:! Put R50 fuel in MacDonald's and get back out there and do it again ya poof! Oh OK, you convinced me.
Same loop, much quicker this time 'cos Iknew the terrain a bit better and I got back in 58 minutes without stopping once.
Job done, let's have a beer and get home so KTM Gal and I can go to a 1 year old's birthday party :xxbah:
I have posted no pictures on this thread. Not because i didn't want you to see the awesomness of where I rode but because I didn't take a camera on this ride as I wanted to ride and not take photo's OK! Use your imagination..."
Let's begin.
On Saturday morning I had a couple of hours to kill while KTM Gal was booked into the Salon for some pampering so I decided to go to Maraisburg and bust out a quick ride on my 990 with his new Hilton Hayward front suspension. I was keen on riding hard and not stopping for too many smoke breaks so I went alone and had all my emergency repair kit for both my bike and myself with me.
On Friday night we had the first rains of the season which led to some great riding conditions on Sat morning. Lot's of grip, no dust (not that I cared, riding alone) and a couple of nice water splashes!
Arriving at the garage at 7:20 with about 7 litres of fuel in MacDonald's (my bike) we got a couple of funny looks but we knew what we were doing and blasted off down the whooped out path down to the first sandy pan. I had not been to Maraisburg for a couple of months so my route was altered by some rather large felled trees, which only made the route more challenging!
The sand pan had formed a slick crust in places that kept me honest as the front and back wheel were skating around in different directions. Once we got out of the shade into the sunny areas the sand was thick but moist so great fun to max him out in 3rd gear and revel in the incessant wheelspin and gentle headshake that my damper was trying to arrest.
Blasting into the twisty tree section MacDonald's' new suspenders made light work of the ruts and exposed roots snaking across our path. The rear end still 'popped' a little but it is standard and I'm quite used to it now. Riding him like a dirt bike...well a really poorly ridden dirt bike, I was in awe of how well he would rail berms and pop the front end up over fallen trees at will. Commit and he would oblige, hesitate and I was fucked :mwink:
Out of the trees and into the western side of the first mine dump the whoops were closely spaced and relentless but still, we rode hard and even though we got bounced off line by thick patches of sand every now and again, we soaked up those pesky bumps no worries. Caught an ankle twist every now and again on taller rocks but thanks to my Sidi Crossfire boots I just winced and tucked my toes in closer for the next potential obstacle.
Onto the fast open stretch which is full of nasty lurking rocks and watery whoops we tore, keeping a keen eye out for the best line possible, without wussing out and avoiding all the fun bits >
! We took a couple of big hits from rocks that were just unavoidable at this speed and when the whoops got going in earnest at the end of the trail we had to slow down slightly 'cos 208kg bike + rider @ 50km/h over big ass, closely spaced rocky bumps has interesting and potentially costly results!Getting into my groove now, I was getting quite cocky and pushing harder, so turning off the dirt road by 'widow maker', MacDonald's and I cut our way through the rock garden that links the road with the back of 'that' informal settlement?
The bike felt great and riding slowly through the settlements front garden I gave my legs their first break and planted my ass on the seat for those 40 meters. Passing a couple of pedestrians as I turned left towards the 'black mud hole' I attempted a small stand up wheelie but was quickly humbled by yet more nasty whoops with visible ruts running through them. "Keep it in your pants Andy, anders gaan jy lekker (KAK) val!"
The black mud was a breeze which was a relief as I had no one to help pull me out and so we crossed the road and headed into the bowl. The short twisty section leading there was cool and allowed my to (try?) imitate Ricky Charmichael and arrive in the bowl feeling fantastic :ricky: Met a couple of plastic riding dudes who accepted when I asked to join them to the main dune and off we went up the climb out of the sandy bowl. The first climb was up the side of a overgrown dump which my first CRF mounted mate tore up without too much hassle so I decided to follow him. About half way up I got bounced out of the directional rut and lost all my momentum. Not good on a 990 Adventure when scaling a 50% gradient :-[!
Dragging the bike around I remounted and rolled back down the dump and off to find a less extreme way up.
To cut a long story a bit shorter, after failing the third section of climbs, I admitted defeat and rode back into the bowl to get around the dump the long way around.
This was not much of a chore as I got to concentrate on my own riding yet again and with the motivation of failure fresh in my mind I pushed even harder, with MacDonald's responding to every input like a lithe Rally Replica. The ground was rocky but with the night before rain, really grippy, allowing me to weight the outside peg out of corners and catapult out with the tail hanging out in enviable fashion.
The faster, lower whoops for the next part of the ride did wonders for my confindence and MacDonald's and I were on fire. The front TKC-80 was gripping beautifully and the suspension earning it's price tag many times over.
The whoops alongside the tar road by the soccer field where attacked at around 90km/h with clenched teeth but I had no need to worry as it seemed the harder I rode him, the more he delivered.
Down to the Main dune after passing through the township, I hung a left across the stream and blasted along the north side road, trusting that the terrain had not changed in the last couple of months, as it can so often do so!
I turned right down the rutted tree lined path on the eastern side of the dune and tried to keep a nice fast flowing pace down the hill. The ruts cris-crossing under my wheels were actually inconsequential and only freaked me out for the first 300m or so. Momentum is awesome :thumleft:
Onto the dune and straight up we went for the first proper stop of the ride. Goggles off and a good gulp of water from the Camelback. I eventually saw my plastic mounted mates on the horizon and decided to push off again back to the garage. Plummeting down the insanely steep dune, I turned right and hoped over the bumps and rises to the western side of the dune and picked my way as quickly as possible along the narrow technical single track route back to the intersection. Dropped my bike once on this section when I tried to turn on a closed throttle in soft sand, which tends to happen when you are being a Muppet!
Riding my route in reverse I took a couple of different forks and almost twisted my left ankle twice more before reaching the big road by the bowl. Must keep toes tucked in! Up past the cement works I took a different route and joined up at the beginning of the dirt road which was a lekker excuse to open MacDonald's up and clear the dust out of his lungs. I hope I don't meet a bunch of plastics coming the other way around one of the corners as a 990 takes a while to slow down from 130 on a marbled road >
Back down the bumpy twisty route to the water splash I saw a couple of plastics on the side of the path which made me push that little bit harder and I almost saw my mielie when I lost control of the front end over the rocks and deep ruts. Thankfully the bike landed under me each time and I think I pulled it off without too many noticing what was going down! Accelerating hard I hopefully redeemed myself slightly by launching over the two drain pipes that the riders had made a jump out of and landing gracefully in the water on the other side.
Tearing off up the whoop section I felt in fine form, but my body was starting to feel the effects of 1 hour of hard riding on a big bike. Onto the section that I was looking forward to all morning, the southern and eastern side of the big dump, I was pushing hard but my body position was not ideal and I paid the price over a couple of whooped sections, hanging onto my bucking bike like a rag doll tied to the handlebars. Slow down I thought, " Not a chance, stop being a fookin' girl and TTFU!"
Concentrating on my body position helped no end and squeezing with my knees I managed to control the beast a bit better, although I did take a couple of big hits over the bigger whoops, which, with my new found confidence I attacked a little to quick :mwink:
Dropping down the twisty route onto the first sandy pan again I decided to turn left to complete my ride up the rock section with the big gully down the middle just to challenge myself one last time. Forgot that this pan was still slick as snot and attempting to turn I went down hard when the front wheel washed out and smashed me into the deck! One broken GPS bracket and nothing else, so good to go! Helps when you remove your mirrors before riding like this... :thumleft:
The locals obviously don't want us to ride up ravine, so they chopped 2 trees down across the only paths entering this route. After failing to get over the second big trunk, I took the tiger line through the trees and bullied my way through the bushes onto one of my favorite parts of the Maraisburgs ride. Bouncing up the rocks in the river bed, my new suspension made life much easier than previous times and this tricky section was over before I knew it! A couple of hundred meters later I was back at the garage with, you guessed it, people still looking at me funny ???.
Ahh well, that loop of 54km's took me less time to ride than to write this report, so I had plenty of time to kill before i had to be back home. Wash Goggles, limp to the loo, drag down a smoke... life's awesome!
I Know :biggrin:! Put R50 fuel in MacDonald's and get back out there and do it again ya poof! Oh OK, you convinced me.
Same loop, much quicker this time 'cos Iknew the terrain a bit better and I got back in 58 minutes without stopping once.
Job done, let's have a beer and get home so KTM Gal and I can go to a 1 year old's birthday party :xxbah:
