Browse >
Home / Archive: July 2008
Keep it clean……No, not your language, you’re a biker……….dammit! And I certainly hope I don’t have to be talking about your hygiene issues either. I’m talking about your bike, your scoot, your horse, your love. Sound like a silly thing to say? Ok, let’s analyse my comment a bit.Nothing blows my mind more than watching guys arrive for a ride or race with a dirty bike. And let’s face it, dirt bikes get, well, dirty – it’s the nature of the game. The thing is, particularly in South Africa, they are such expensive toys. Surely you want the reason for its expense to look like the reason for its expense? They are beautiful examples of high performance engineering, regardless of age. And yes, the older bikes do tend to get oil stained and suffer from plastic pigment fade. But these are no reasons for blatant neglect. Sometimes it feels like the last thing you want to do after a ride – clean your steed. Me, I don’t sleep happily if I haven’t done the clean thing after the ride, in fact a thorough cleaning, like it or not, is part of the ride deal to me. Besides plain old respect for my investment and my passion, I think its cool to role in with a shiny bike and off load her for everyone to see how slick she’s been maintained for each ride. And besides, chicks dig it!Unfortunately though, there is more to it than taking a pressure hose and sponge to visible items only. You get two types of bike cleaners – those that spray and store (or get the dude at the carwash to spray and scrub with a toothbrush while the owner sits back with a coke and a smoke), and those that clean and maintain. Yeah, chicks will still dig it if you role up with your machine all sparkly and clean……. in the places that are clearly visible anyway. But who’re you kidding? You know just as well that that is not really clean. That’s just a case of “Bo blink, onder stink” (sorry, a little national service humour sliding in there, not that it was so funny at the time). What people don’t understand is that a proper post-ride clean is also tantamount to basic necessary maintenance as well. When a dude pitches up with a dirty bike, one of the first things that goes through my mind is not that he doesn’t care about his ride, but its more a case of “if he hasn’t taken the time to clean, then he certainly hasn’t taken the time to do the necessary maintenance”. What’s the problem with this you ask. Well, quite simply, odds are that this is the bike that is going to break down out there and screw up my ride!! Quite frankly I don’t really care about his ride, he’s obviously not as interested or passionate about it as I am, but he’s coming out with me and when he breaks down in the middle of nowhere, I’m obliged to make sure that he’s taken care of, one way or another, and that screws up my ride.So what do we need to do? Well different folk have different ways of skinning the same cat. My method is as follows:I strip my bike down. Seat, tank, radiator shrouds, front plate, side covers, and fenders. I remove the air filter and securely (water tight) block the carb input from the air box and I block the exhaust. I then take my naked, dirty baby and load her back on my trailer and take her up to the local car wash. I use a half litre of the strongest degreaser I can find (I personally prefer a bottle of Engen engine cleaner) and spray the entire bottle all over the bike with focus on the greasy areas – around the engine and carb, exhaust manifold, etc. The engine cleaner gets about 5 minutes to settle in and shift the grime and then I hit it with a high pressure hose – at the local Shell station’s car wash bay, for 10 bucks I get 5 minutes hot soapy pressure jet and 5 minutes cold clear water pressure jet to rinse. Works like a bomb! I try to keep direct pressure off the chain and the radiator. I’ve heard a million stories about the potentially damaging affect direct water pressure can have on those areas. I don’t necessarily believe all of them but I’m not tempting fate with my Katy.When we get home, I start on all the stripped off pieces. Warm water with a strong cleaning agent diluted. I use plenty of the solution generously with a lot of elbow grease thrown in on each piece and then rinse with clean water. I do one piece at a time and leave to dry while I do the next piece. After all the plastics are done I mix new cleaning solution for the bike. Yes, we do more on the bike!!! You’d be surprised at how much high pressure water jets don’t get to. So, as with the plastics, we generously apply cleaning solution and elbow grease to every piece of frame, motor and wheels we can get to and then rinse with fresh water thoroughly.I then use a rust retardant with lubrication qualities – Wynns No. 5 to be exact. I spray a bit everywhere and wipe down. I also make sure that all moving areas get a good blast with the No. 5 – swingarm joints and bushes, kick starter swivel, etc, etc. I also check all bolts and nuts to make sure they are tight. What better time than when you bike is stripped down and you can get to them all. Obviously, where you find issues, you correct them before you continue. While you have easy access to all the moving bits, you can check the tension of your chain and, if necessary, tighten it up a bit. The last thing I get to while she’s all stripped down is the front forks. Carefully clean the area around and just under the seal covers. Sliding some photographic or thin x-ray film under them can assist this. Finish the job by spraying some of that No. 5 around them and compressing them once or twice for lubrication. This is such an easy way to ensure a longer fork seal lifespan.Then I start with all the plastics. Each piece gets a spray of No. 5 and a wipe – back and front, under and over, before I replace on the bike. This brings a nice “new” shine onto the plastic and has preservation qualities. All bolts and nuts that get put back to hold plastics in place get a little shot of locktite. After all plastics are in place I do my rims. But before I shine them up, I check that no spokes are loose. This is done by spinning the wheel slowly and tapping each spoke with a spanner. You should hear a nice pinging sound for each one. If you hear a dull thud, then that spoke is loose and should be tightened – or left loose if you are keen on riding with a warped rim – hey, different strokes…..In the case of my KTM, I have easy access to my air box for air filter servicing. Other model bike owners might want to deal with the air filter before they replace the seat and/or side covers. Anyway, the air filter should be serviced regularly – the experts reckon this should be done after every ride. I try to do it after every ride but I sometimes make my own judgement call on that one. However, if you’re going to do it properly then every ride is the way to go. I keep a spare air filter. And my process is simple. I clean the air filter in petrol to remove any and all dirty air filter oil. Some will say that this is bad (specially the filter oil manufacturers) because it eats away the foam of your filter. I say nonsense!!! I’ve been using this method since 1981 on my first Yamaha IT175. I immediately give the filter a thorough wash in water with detergent followed by a thorough rinse in fresh water. This filter goes on the line to dry and becomes next week’s spare. Last week’s clean filter comes into play now. I saturate the filter in approved air filter oil and make sure that the oil totally covers the filter. The oil is really lousy stuff to work with and there are a couple of tricks that can be employed here. The obvious one, and my preferred choice, is using a pair of disposable latex or plastic gloves. The other method is to put your filter in a plastic bag, pour oil into the bag and massage the oil through the filter in the bag. The only problem with the bag option is the maneuvering of the air filter over its brace and into the air box. Once your filter is oiled you need to get it into the air box. Obviously, I’m hoping you’ve removed your waterproof cover and made sure that the air box and carb manifold is clean. Before you put the air filter in, you should use some grease and put a thin coating around the area that the air filter is going to make contact with. This is to create an air and water proof seal. The last item for consideration with air filters is some say you should not actually do the air filter service until just before your next ride because the filter oil collects at the bottom of the filter and the rest dries out. Uhhhmmm……I don’t necessarily agree with this chain of thought. Yes there is a bit of a gravity effect, but not to the degree that will degrade the quality of the filter’s effectiveness.After you’ve completed the reassembly of all outstanding items, you should lubricate your chain. There is constant debate about what the best chain lube is, some say wax, others say that wax attracts too much grit that wears away the sprocket prematurely. Others say that you should use good ol’ engine oil brushed on liberally. I say, choose your preferred lubricant (I use normal liquid chain lube – not really brand conscious on the issue), and make sure that your chain is properly lubed before each time you ride, and preferably after you clean your bike to prevent rust and/or hardening between the clean operation and the next ride.Finally, I stand back, grab a cold one, sit back and admire the absolute beauty and readiness of my baby for next week. See ya there.Keep the shiny side up and ride it like you stole itSteve “Tombstone” LauterP.S. This does not constitute a full service of your motorcycle. This is just basic, necessary maintenance. Kind of like the way you take a shower every day!
Every Saturday for the last……well however long it has been, you’ve been getting up at the crack of dawn after hardly sleeping the night before, to go ride with your buddies. You have a great machine, you have all the kit, you have acquired a vast array of skills, and you’ve ridden everywhere. Really, everywhere!!! Today’s different though. This Saturday you’ve been up since 3:00 AM and you really haven’t had a decent kip since Wednesday anyway. Why? Today you’re riding in your first race.Your buddies and you have done all the homework about where and how to enter, what the requirements are, where to be, what time to be there…..nothing has been left to chance. Your bike has been loaded on the trailer since last night, your kit has been packed, checked, re-checked and loaded into the boot of the car. You have a huge note tagged to the front door to remind you not to forget the cooler bag that has your braai meat and cold ones for after the event. Your new jerry can is full and mixed with your favourite synthetic two stroke. You’ve packed a toolkit (your whole personal workshop inventory in fact) – and you do know what you have ‘cause you used almost every tool you own last Sunday when you stripped and prepped your bike for the big event. You’ve showered, got dressed, re-run a checklist of everything you think you’ll need. You’ve packed the cooler box in the car (this took you 15 minutes ‘cause you couldn’t help just standing and staring at your baby mounted on her trailer all shiny and race-ready – hell you’ve waited long to say that). You go inside, absolutely confident that you are now ready for the big race and you pick up the telephone to call your mates to confirm that they are awake and everybody knows the meeting place for your convoy travel arrangement. Then you notice that it is still 5:30 AM and you are, like, 2 hours early, dude! The phone gets placed in the cradle, you set your alarm for 7:30 exactly so no time will be wasted as soon as it becomes socially acceptable to make the call and switch on the kettle for some coffee and the tune in to the sports channel on the TV.After getting over the fright of the telephone ringing at 06:50 ‘cause your buddies are in exactly the same position as you but don’t feel too much for socially acceptable graces, your teeth show ear to ear as you bolt for the front door to head out. You meet all your mates at the designated meeting spot an hour and a bit earlier than originally planned and you find that within 5 minutes, the whole crew are there and you head out.On your arrival, you’re quite amazed at the amount of people there. The tents and camping gear from the guys that have been there since the night before, the factory team trucks and canopies, and a plethora of trailers and canopies and umbrellas all placed neatly on either side of the various pit lanes marked off with plastic tape. You quickly do a recce of the pit area and realise that, had you left at your original planned time, your crew would not have had a decent spot at all. You have a quick conference and decide where your pit is going to be. Cars are laagered, canopies are rigged, bikes offloaded, jerry cans lined up – this is starting to look so pro. You all take a couple of steps into the track and stand next to each other admiring your pits. Until 10 seconds ago you all looked like vets, now everybody knows that you’re the rookies. Who cares? You’re here to race.You all head off to registration. You pay for your day license, you pay for your registry, and after arguing because you’re not allowed to use the race numbers you already stuck on your bike ‘cause the range and colours you’ve chose designate that you’re an octogenarian racing a turbo charged Zimmer frame, you pay for a new set of race numbers. You head back to your pits and carefully remove your carefully chosen and applied race numbers and re-apply the new numbers. You all get changed into full riding gear and start up your bikes, you must warm them up before the race you know. Your engine warm-up is exactly 15 seconds long and you’re all riding toward the scrutinising station. You have a mild sweat building – is my bike ok? What haven’t I checked? What will they stop me racing for? You get into the queue and you and your mates look around you. Yep, you’re standing out like sore thumbs as the rookies once again! Everyone else is still in their shorts and t-shirts with their bikes. Of course this makes absolute sense – the race only starts in 2 hours still. Why would everyone else want to be sitting around in chest protectors and knee guards for that long? Bike scrutiny is painless, your bike is a-ok and you’re now feeling the excitement – the only outstanding formality is getting onto the start line.Not too long after sitting around telling war stories with each other and making sure that all your gear is ready for the race – re-fuel is in the correct place, spare, clean goggles are ready and accessible, water bottles are in reach, your wife has the camera ready – you hear the call for briefing. Great what’s briefing?!? You and your mates look at each other, look at the crowd all starting to walk in the same direction (this time they’re wearing kit), look at each other again, nod heads, quickly kit up again (record time), and join the crowd. Briefing is interesting. You’re told what the markers mean and that you may not race while under the influence – this is slightly perturbing as you slowly slip your mx shirt sleeve over the beer bottle you’ve been casually sipping from. You’re told the starting order and times and are pleased that your 300 puts you in the first class to start (you need all the help you can get). You and your buddies, well the ones in the same class as you anyway, head to the start line. The excitement is awesome now. You are in a line of bikes all side by side, about 120 of them, across the top of a big, open field. Hmmm, this is going to be interesting. The starter walks on to the field and puts a 1 minute board up. Engines are started all around you – it is deafening and as you start up your own bike you realise that all the conversation that you were having with the guys on either side of you is over, in fact all conversation is over for the next couple of hours. The 30 second board goes up and the revving starts – sounds like Beethoven’s 5th to you. The excitement is tangible and as the starter’s hands go up in the air with all fingers extended and the fingers start going down one at a time to count off the last 10 seconds, you feel what a real race-face feels like! Last finger goes down, green flag goes up and 120 lunatics are screaming down the field side by side heading for a single, narrow point in the distance and you are in the pack. It takes two seconds to realise that you are, in fact, devoid of all real sensibility and another two seconds to realise that you can’t see a thing for the dust! Your brain works quicker than your two stroker is revving and lets you know, very subtly, that it would not be unwise to slow down a tad because:a) You’re not going to win this race – it is your first and there are experienced, sponsored factory riders in the same competition; andb) You can’t see; andc) Hell, all you’re here to do is be involved, have fun, and get your medal for completing the full eventCommon sense prevails, and to your immense satisfaction you realise that in slowing down, you’ve managed to comfortably negotiate yourself through the first corner, get involved in the spread, find a great comfort pace, and most important, realise that there’s a whole bunch of guys behind you. You’re racing, your heart is pumping, you’re mid-pack, you’re riding some new terrain, and you have the biggest smile on your face since the day you walked out of the shop with your first bike. You can almost taste the adrenalin running through your system. Even though you heard it at briefing, the marking system really only makes real sense when you’re using it. The single markers always on your left, the small cluster showing you where and which direction the turns are, and the big clusters showing you the hazards – these are a bit daunting sometimes when you see an ambulance near them! The course is great, the organizers have thrown all the challenges you’d want into the mix. There’s flat track, mud, river beds, river crossings, mud, hill climbs, steep descents, all of it. You get to the first area where spectators are and for a brief second you’re Alfie Cox. Your pit strategy is two laps, re-fuel, and two laps. You come through the pit checkpoint at the end of your first lap and as you’re riding out you give the hero wave to your wife who is in attendance at the right spot with the camera. This racing stuff!!! It’s tit man!!!Your second lap is even better than the first, you’ve done 30kms-40kms and you’re really comfortable on your bike. This isn’t one of your usual Saturday rides where there are regular drink and/or cigarette stops. This is ride, ride, ride. To your pleasure you find that one of your mates has a similar race pace and is right in front of you. You turn on the gas a tad, come up next to him and give a thumbs-up. He acknowledges and the two of you know that you’ll probably do the rest of the race together. Second time through the pit checkpoint and you head for your pits. It’s exciting. The wives, girlfriends, and other supporting buddies that have come through are lending a hand, getting your jerry can to you, a bottle of cold drinking water, clean pair of goggles – it’s all happening. You look around and see that one of your ride buddies has taken most of his kit off and is sipping back a cold one. Apparently he took a hard get-off and punctured his front wheel – his race is over but he’s still enjoying the day. You head out and complete laps three and four. Every lap you do is more fun. You’ve got used to the course and you’re really comfortable in the seat now. You come through the pit checkpoint for the last time and you are happy. Man, you have one of the biggest ride smiles you’ve ever had – and everybody can see it – not difficult with all the grime on your face and the only visible white is your teeth. You take a slow amble to your pits, park the bike, take off the helmet, haul out a coldy and check who from your team is in before you (all in that order). You’re pleased, you’re in the middle of your crew’s pack and, after you’ve gone to the checkpoint, you find out you’re in the middle of the class pack. Excellent. You pick up your completion medal and head back to your pits where you help get the fire started for the braai. You sit down and start the war stories. This takes time, everybody has a great one and they are interrupted every now and then by a buddy coming in after completing his race.After everyone has finished, had a bite and a couple of coldies, packed up and loaded up, you say your goodbyes and head home. You sit in the car next to your wife on the road home and, after a half hour of silence, she looks over at you and tells you that the total brilliance of the whole experience is written all over your face. You smile – you can feel it!!! You’ll be back for more!!! You know that this race isn’t over yet. The stories that you and your ride buddies will share with each other and relate to other buddies over a social drink or two will go on for months…….or at least the next race – and, yes, there will be a next one.Keep the shiny side up and ride it like you stole itSteve “Tombstone” Lauter
Some of this is totally fictional and some of it is an adaptation and mixture of true events. You’ll recognize them if you were there!Saturday morning six AM. The bedside alarm is going mad. Your wife rolls over and pulls the pillow harder over her head, not that she wasn’t expecting this, and even though you haven’t really been sleeping since 3:30AM because your sub-conscious is fully aware that it’s been six days since your last ride and the butterflies in your stomach are behaving like an under 17 rugby team on tour about to walk into their first skin club, you still behave like this should not be happening to you this early on the weekend. But that feeling only lasts a couple of seconds after you’ve thrown the alarm clock across the room, hit the DSTV off the top of the TV by mistake and ripped your shoulder almost out of its socket in the process, and your conscious mind takes over from the sub-conscious but retains the ride info as if was a first class rugby pass and you were the ball recipient right in front of the try line. The boys are in the skin club!!!You drag your lazy butt out of the bed and head for the kitchen to put the kettle on so you can try drown that huge Friday night, pre-weekend hang-over in a mug of triple strength black coffee. You obviously make three or four checks on the way to the kitchen on the ride kit that you laid out yesterday afternoon as you got home from work in preparation for Saturday’s ride – even though the kitchen is only 15 meters from the bedroom. Don’t want to leave anything behind, not that there’s a bunch of chance of that happening when you’ve packed four motocross shirts in your bag so that you have options when you kit up…..even though you know that you’ll probably ride in a t-shirt anyway.You gulp back the coffee and start another one brewing (with much grimacing from the 1st cup) and grab your car keys so that you can hitch the trailer and load the boot. This is done in no time at all and, once the trailer is properly positioned, you go fetch the pride of your life to load up. There it is, gleaming in the pristine condition you left it in after the post-ride bike wash and polish you administered after the last ride. The filter is clean, the chain is lubed and tensioned, everything is perfect. Who cares that there are still a few clouds out and a bit of drizzle falling…it’s only water and it WILL go away. You load your baby and make sure she’s tied down properly before heading back indoors to grab that second coffee and hit the shower. As you step out the shower you look out the window to check on your bike, a bit to admire it’s beauty mounted up there on its transitional transport device and a bit to make sure she’s still there…..like someone’s really going to untie, unload and carry the bike over your Gauteng-special 10ft wall with barbed wire crown in the time it takes you to shower! You get dressed, making sure that you have chosen the correct baseball cap for the day…..the Calloway cap is for tomorrow, and head for the kitchen. You make a third cup for yourself (you are starting to feel better and heap much praise on the power of coffee having forgotten that you just took 3 extra strength Disprin and two Proheps before you stepped in the shower) and a cup for your wife, not so strong of course, to make peace for waking her up so early so that you can get a smiley good-bye kiss.You climb in the car, crank up your favourite head-grinding metal on the stereo (or what ever music it is that floats your boat before a ride) and head for the local petrol station to fuel your steed up. The fuelling can take a bit of time while your head tries to come to terms with basic mathematics this early in the morning when you’re calculating your two-stroke mix. However, you get it right nine out of ten times (this is your baby were talking about). Next stop is the designated meeting spot for this weekend’s ride. The first 10 minutes is always great, if you’re not there first! If you’re there first then its pretty boring while you wait for everyone else to arrive. The point is, when you all see each other first thing in the morning its like a bunch of kids hooking up at play school in the morning. Smiles are ear to ear and witty banter is flowing faster than the Limpopo in flood season. Hydraulic sandwiches (beers) are procured from all manner of cold storage devices for breakfast, corn syrup is consumed, bikes are off-loaded and kit is adorned. Now the U17s have seen her take her g-string off!!! With a little bit of luck your meeting spot for the week is at a place with a kitchen and you delay everything for a half hour while you wolf down a greasy breakfast over some continued meaningless banter which is washed down by coffee number four which is, in turn, chased by a beer.You, with your buddies, mount up and warm up your machines. The smiles are seriously wide now and you can see the tips of the corners of every body’s mouths just under their eyes through their goggles. And then you watch the smiles disappear as the one pulls in late and we all have to wait while he unloads and kits up…..yes, there is always one – worse, he’s also the guy that brings his fuel in a jerry can and we have to wait for him to decant some motion lotion into his bike as well. Pretty soon though, after some minor swearing and under-breath nattering, the smiles are back and we head off. Of all the rushes that you experience out on the ride, there is nothing that quite compares to the initial rush in the 1st 30 seconds of the ride when you realise that you’re on your machine again, you’re totally in charge of the twist grip, and it’s doing everything you’ve been waiting a week for it to do. You head out into the unknown, hopefully we’ll be bashing out some new trail today – pioneering is always great fun. And if we’re riding known ground….well so what! The reason its known so well is ‘cause we like it so much. As you pull in to the next pit-stop and order your favourite in-ride tipple, you’re trying to work out to yourself what feeling was better: the feeling you have in remembering what you felt like a half hour ago sitting on your back wheel in one of the most awesome wheelies you can remember yourself having done, or the feeling you have in listening to your mates acknowledging what an awesome wheelie they saw you do. Such is the nature of the dirt biker that before you even say thanks, you are already acknowledging someone else’s ramp, wheelie, speed, etc, etc. Not too much longer and you’re all saddled, sorted and continuing.You get to some new area, the obstacles are great. How do we tackle this river? – head on man! How do we get over the railway? – up and down the stairs of the public crossing! Dig this jump, let’s hang around here for a bit! Twin track trail and you’re pinned in top gear next to your buddy. These are but a few of the things that get the U17s ready for each skin club visit.You pass another crew and one of the guys has broken down or crashed. Its unwritten but its law, you stop! Nobody told you the law, this is the nature of the game. You have never known and you will never know camaraderie such as is found in the dirt-bike circles. You offer assistance and if accepted, you give. And you know in your heart of hearts, that had the tables been turned others would have done this for you!You ride on. By now you’re totally in tune to this whole adventure. The outdoors, the bike, the known and unknown trails. You’re looking out for the lurkers: the sneaky little rocks hiding under grass on single track trail, the sudden ditch that you need to quickly pick your front wheel up for, or the mud patch that you know you’d better be in front for or way behind the guy in front of you ‘cause he is going to cover you in it! You’re also watching out for the potential play sections: where is a dry river bed that we can pin our throttles open in, or another cool jump, or challenging hill climbs or river crossings. Nobody ever argues if you change directions for one or more of these. The great thing about changing direction is getting lost. Never give a destination when you start, only a direction. Trying to find your way back to your start point off-road when you’re lost is guaranteed to open up new trail ground and force some previously untried challenges on you.Six or seven hours later, you’re back at your start point. It feels like its been no more than an hour. You can tell very quickly which dudes were not in front or too close behind at a mud crossing. You can tell which guys had some get-offs (hopefully you’ve had no serious ones…..they also happen). You can tell a lot of things about everybody’s ride. But while you’re sucking down a cold one, there is one thing you can tell about everybody. They had a gas, they are all still on such a rush!!! Each one to a man is already counting hours till next Saturday. And then they’ll start this whole fantastic cycle again.The bond of friendships, the respect for others in the game, the adrenalin of the ramp and wheelie and the rush of the ride, the love of your bike and the sport – this is the spirit of it all.Keep the shiny side up and ride it like you stole itSteve “Tombstone” Lauter
So you wanna be a cowboy?Why? ‘Cause chicks dig it!!!I hear ya. I really do. Man, there are few rushes that compare to hauling along on your back wheel past the crowds. Have you ever got some serious air time in front of your mates or, better yet in front of a bunch of strangers? You know that buzz I’m talking about – eight guys sitting and staring up a monster hill climb and you just breeze past them and ride up the thing like it was a tarred highway. Way, way, cool.That is until you open your eyes and the crowds and/or your mates and/or the strangers and/or the eight guys are all staring down at you and hear things like: “he’s opening his eyes” or “do you think he’s broken anything” or “does anyone know his name?”. Hmmmm, not so nice. Well here’s some good news and some bad news. Good news: Everyone on a dirt bike gets to be cowboy, some more than others, some a little bit by mistake, some…….’cause they can! But we all do it. Why? ‘Cause it’s cool. Bad news: The problem is not everyone is a great cowboy and this leads to very common and very regular “dethroning”. Sometimes pretty hard. A crazy phenomenon that a lot of dirt riders don’t realize is quite a painful one – and that’s another story all on it’s own – how many guys do repeat hospital visits for doing the same dead-head things!!!Anyway, back to this story. So you all get the picture. You are going to study the ground at high speed and up close and personal. It’s the nature of the game. The problem with this is that your body was not manufactured for this side of the sport. Fortunately, a bunch of clever okes out there have been making and improving on safety kit for many years. Unfortunately, a bunch of stupid okes still ride without it!!! Well pale face, start using your brains. It doesn’t matter how slow you think you’re going, when your head hits a rock or hard, packed sand road at 10kms per hour, it’ll do the same damage as hitting the veld at 60kms per hour. The range of helmets available today is unbelievable and the prices range from almost give-away to pretty expensive. The thing is, the helmet is probably the most important piece of equipment you should use and the pricing and availability of them is such that there is no excuse for not wearing one. Quite frankly, if you want to ride around wearing absolutely nothing, you should still wear a helmet. Those of you who choose not to, you get less than zip sympathy from me when you have a serious crash and, if you are responsible for family or employees, then you should be liable for a massive fine for negligence towards the well being of those that depend on you! (Oooookaaaaay, that’s off my chest…..moving right along then……….).Next on my personal list of importance is gloves, some may argue that goggles or boots are next and I understand their argument. But, think about it – you are guaranteed to fall off your dirt bike if you actually let the clutch out and start moving forward under the power of the machine, regardless of speed. And, when you fall off, your first natural reaction is going to be putting your hand or hands out to protect the rest of you from the fall. Hell, you don’t even have to fall off a bike, any fall you take, you will stick your hands out!!! Bear in mind, that the faster you are going when you have your crash or the rougher the surface of the terrain, the more skin you’re going to take off your hands. Much, much better with gloves there to protect you. Furthermore, good gloves will give you enhanced grip on your handlebars thereby giving you better control. And, if you get a pair with decent protection over the knuckles, you will far more enjoy rides at De Wildt and places with similar terrain than others who spend the rest breaks pulling thorns out of their hands from between their knuckles. Don’t laugh, this is gospel!!!Boots. These are usually the most expensive piece of equipment but also soooooo important. No they are not going to stop guys spraining or, worse, breaking an ankle or a foot now and then, but they do prevent the frequency of these injuries. You have to have a really unlucky twist of the foot to have an orthopaedic injury when wearing a proper pair of boots. Furthermore, almost all of them have metal toe-caps as standard. For motocross this may not be so important, but for all of us trail riders the high-speed-toe-against-the-hidden-rock injury is greatly avoided and I have seen many a rider kneeling down to their metal toe-caps over a beer at the end of a ride. The other value that boots bring to the ride is the ankle support they provide. Stand-up riding is part of the game for better bike control. The ankle support your boots provide is fantastic. Try standing a bunch during the ride wearing takkies, you’ll soon learn what I mean. Finally, you will often cross rivers, your boots are usually more than half way up your shin and usually provide some water proofing.Goggles would be the next important item. You cannot ride blind. In fact you cannot do much blind!!! And that’s a real threat if you are not wearing eye protection. Sure, it’s not so bad if you’re in the lead – you may still study the odd bug really close up and I promise the tears in your eye will not be because you think it is the most beautiful of nature’s creatures!!! Riding behind one or many guys is going to kick up enough dust to irritate at slow speeds and enough small gravel to do permanent injury at higher speeds. Besides, what’s the fun of riding when you can’t see where you’re going. ‘Nough said!We all know that riding alone is dangerous and stupid. Good, so now we realise that we will often be riding behind someone. We all know that knobbly tires kick up some big stones. Good, so now we know that we ride behind someone pretty regularly and big stones will be flying towards us. Cool, we understand the need for a chest protector!!! Easy huh? Please believe me when I tell you that it is not there to stop breaking your collar bone and probably won’t but you will wish you had been wearing one when the stone cracks a rib or leaves you with a black and blue swelling for a week.Picture the scene: Average speed of 60kms/hour – 80kms/hour. Average quality of terrain is very to mildly bumpy – but always bumpy. Your kidneys are not connected by bone, steel or any other hard supportive structure to any other hard supportive part of your body. They move up and down a lot when you ride. When you start passing blood it’s too late to have wished you’d been wearing a kidney belt. Shall I go on?Once your hand has taken the fall, you are going to be sliding (9 out of 10 times) on your forearms, elbows, knees and shins. Get yourself knee and shin guards and elbow guards. Most elbow guards provide forearm protection as well.All of this sounds like a lot and a lot usually sounds like expense. Well there are a couple of ways of looking at it. Your bike, even second hand, usually costs a bunch of money. The price of kit new or used is a small percentage of the cost of the bike – make the investment. If you cannot afford brand new kit, then get it second hand. There are always guys selling stuff and there are a few places that keep used gear – Full Throttle in Edenvale have a whole section of used gear. Your medical expenses and the cost to those who depend on you when you’re injured are far more expensive than the cost of kit. Go get some.My nickname “Tombstone” came the hard way. I have had too many injuries in my riding years to go into detail. I used to think I was the super Cowboy. I used to ride “minimalistic” – overalls, boots, helmet, goggles and gloves. I looked cool, thought I was cool, but hurt like hell. You wanna know about “Chicks diggin’ it”? Scabs, scars, bandages, crutches are not attractions. I have been the sacrificial lamb. I have done the stupid thing and learned all the lessons for all of you. Why do you want to re-learn them? Don’t be stupid – kit up!!!You can never, never have too much kit!!!Keep the shiny side up and ride it like you stole itSteve “Tombstone” Lauter
By now you have either decided to buy a bicycle or you have made peace with the fact that your bike, regardless of make, model or age, is fast and dangerous. Hopefully you haven’t done yourself too much damage and you have some great war stories building up to share over a beer or two after the ride. Mind you, it’s not just your bike you’re learning a deep sense of respect for, but also the terrain you insist on riding it through. And these facts that you realize are actually quite true are the essence of my tale this month. I was unfortunate to have to help a good mate of ours, with the assistance of some of the other members of our crew, an ambulance and a pair of paramedics, out of a hole in a mine dump a couple of weeks ago. Our buddy suffered four broken vertebrae and four broken ribs. He will not be back on his scooter in the foreseeable future! My nickname, “The Tombstone”, did not come painlessly either. The crew members of the Wang Gang Gang bestowed this handle on me some three and half years ago after a typical war story session where my broken-bone-and-body-metal-count was brought into the open. Yeah, the big crashes do make great war stories…….but are they really worth it? Nobody’s saying that you shouldn’t be riding, hell no! I’m also not saying that you should slow down, jump lower and shorter, or never lift your front wheel. Jeez, I’m probably more addicted to all of that stuff than most of you combined. What I am saying is “Ride with your head”! No, this is not another trick you need to learn to show off to everybody else. This means that you need to just be a little more aware of what you’re doing once you’ve let that clutch out, especially when you get into the band. So now you ask yourself “what the hell does this guy mean when he says don’t slow down, don’t jump shorter and lower and, by all means, pick that front wheel up………but ride aware?????” Its simple folks. Know your bike, know your self, and know your terrain. And when there is a hint of doubt in any or all of these areas then be very, very careful. Let’s start with the bike:Jammed throttle: not funny. Been there a couple of times. I have a couple of collar bones that wish I hadn’t but that’s another story. Throttle stickers are not uncommon on all makes of dirt bike. You get a tiny piece of grit stuck in your carb cylinder or you mistakenly route your throttle cable incorrectly and get a kink in it…….all of a sudden you find yourself on a machine with a mind of it’s own. The problem here is that novice riders don’t think. Panic is the first thing that sets in and, very often, a bunch of pain is the second. Slow your head down folks, the problem is simple to solve. Pull in your clutch and use your brakes!!! It doesn’t matter that the engine is screaming, at least you’re not falling. Once you’ve got your speed under control, kill the engine, stall it if you have to by letting out the clutch with all your brakes reigned in.Punctures: I know it sounds stupid, but you’d be surprised at how many times I’ve ridden with guys that get so bitter that they have a puncture that they just don’t accept it and carry on the ride regardless. Sometimes the “tire weld“ doesn’t work and you’re pretty much stuck with a flat. You have no choice but to ride back to civilization on your crippled steed. Use you head folks!!! Don’t race. Your ride is, for all intents and purposes, over! Be careful! You have radically reduced control over your handling, even at slow speeds, and you stand the risk of seriously damaging your rims – expensive items to repair or replace.Bent handlebars: Very, very irritating but very, very common when you drop your bike….at almost any speed. Your bike may be absolutely rideable but its setup is now radically different. Be careful! Your bike is not going to behave like you’re used to it behaving. And the freakiest thing with bent bars is when you suddenly get into a situation and your first reaction is corrective steering. You want to see the size of your own eyes when your bike goes in a direction other than the one you’re trying to steer it into.Bust levers: Another common issue when you drop your scooter – bent or broken brake or clutch levers. Again, nobody said don’t ride. Your bike is probably still cool. Just be aware of your stopping ability. And if it’s your clutch – remember that if you stall going up a hill climb or in a river, or in the middle of a road you’re crossing…..you’re in trouble!!! The terrain. Aaah, this is the part that catches everybody out. Rule number one………………y.o.u a.r.e r.i.d.i.n.g a m.o.t.o.r.i.s.e.d v.e.h.i.c.l.e c.a.p.a.b.l.e o.f h.i.g.h s.p.e.e.d.s i.n, o.v.e.r, a.n.d t.h.r.o.u.g.h p.l.a.c.e.s n.o.t d.e.s.i.g.n.e.d f.o.r a.n.y v.e.h.i.c.l.e, m.o.t.o.r.i.s.e.d o.r o.t.h.e.r.w.i.s.e!!!! You need to keep you eyes open and your wits about you at all times. Dirt biking is the best fun in the world but it requires two physical elements to properly complete the experience, fitness and concentration. Fitness is an issue that can be discussed on its own and does play a part in your safety out there, but concentration is paramount. You cannot go blasting your way through unknown bush or new trail. Hell, not even old trail if you haven’t been there before. Rocks, holes, ruts, thin passes, deep rivers…these are some of natures little hiccups that break your bones! I am being serious – you wouldn’t believe how much a trail’s nature can change with one overnight rainfall. It looked funny every time, but I cannot count the number of times I have seen a mate rush round a corner, or over a hill, or through a “puddle” that turned nasty on him. I’ve been the brunt of the giggle too many times myself. Sometimes it’s not funny though, take the opening paragraph of this article as an example. This was purely a case of rushing into the unknown without being wary enough of what may be waiting. And the price this time was expensive. Lastly, know your limits. C’mon guys, if you want to do tricks on your bike then great. But go play on a motocross or xtreme track. These places are confined to a specific area so help is immediately available if you need it. The jumps are obvious and so are their landing strips. Ugly obstacles like rocks and ruts do not exist and, in the rare cases that there may be a new rut, it is usually created by you going through the same line anyway. Going beyond your limit on a trail is going to:
- Hurt you;
- Break your bike; and worst
- Screw up everyone else’s ride
So, take this from someone called “The Tombstone”, hospital food sucks, the nurses in South Africa do a great job but they aren’t all oil paintings like in the movies, and I still feel every nut and bolt in me when it gets cold or rains. Take your bike, get in the dirt, go fast, wheelie, jump, do it all….…just do it with your head.Keep the shiny side up and ride it like you stole itSteve “Tombstone” Lauter
You’ve read my previous articles in EW and you know you’re having fun because your bike is well maintained, you’re carrying tools for your bike and your skill and ability is ever improving. But as mentioned once before s**t happens, so this piece will try and give you some tricks and tips for sorting out the unexpected in the middle of a ride.First off, the three universal tools for all bikes that are taken off road:
- Cable ties
- Duct tape
- Tow rope
When all else fails one of these or a combination will get you home……..almost always!Right, let’s deal with the most common of ride problems – the infamous flat tyre – especially if you’re riding at De Wildt. Ok, there are a few tricks to lessening this nuisance, the main one being “prevention is usually better than cure”. Get your tyres prepped before your riding. The best thing I find is to fill your tyres with Slime. It costs approximately R80 per bottle and you need a full bottle for each wheel. This stuff is great, it has tiny beads in it and, in the case of a hole, the slime and beads block the hole before your tyre goes flat. I have clipped off loads of thorns have been embedded in the tyre after a De Wildt ride and still gone for a bunch of rides on the same tyres. In fact I only replaced the tubes when I replaced the knobblys. Good stuff that Slime. Another pre-ride anti-puncture trick is to wrap your tube in an old tube. Take an old tube and slit it open right around the inside. Encase your new tube in the old tube, stick the whole bunch in your tyre and inflate. Presto – extra thick, dual walled tubes!All this is good, but you still sometimes get punctures that beat your prep. So, it is always smart to carry a can of your favourite canned tyre fix brand. And, in cases where your tube is ripped, your cable ties and duct tape can be used. Hopefully you have the means to get your tube out of your tyre and to re-inflate after repairs. But if this is the case, you tie off your tube on each side of the rip with cable ties. Pull really tight. Wrap up the damaged section between the cable ties with duct tape, replace tube and inflate – Viola! Another common mishap is the drowned steed. This happens a lot too. Some guys try cross the uncrossable while others manage to drop bikes on their sides while crossing water. Whatever the case, when the bike is drowned, it’s drowned. Once the bike has been successfully removed from the troublesome pond or stream, the next issue is trying to start it again. First trick, if the bike has been on its side, is to turn the gas off. The obvious next step is to try start it – you guys with electric starters, stop laughing!!! If you see water splashing out the exhaust with every kick then definitely turn your gas off, get off, and with the help of a couple of your buddies, stand the bike straight up pointing at the heavens. This is to get all the water out of your exhaust system. You’ll be surprised at how much you’ve actually managed to store. You can try pushing the kickstarter you’re your hand or foot to create a bit of pressure to help “blow” the excess water out. Once satisfied that you’ve expelled all there is, put the bike down. Put the gas back on and start kicking (electric start boys……….). After a few attempts if your bike hasn’t tried to start then you need to go for the push start approach. The trick here is to get the bike into a high gear when you pop the clutch so that your engine gets turning. Once you’ve dropped the clutch and the motor’s turning, jump off and run next to the bike to keep the motor turning. Eight times out of ten the bike kicks into life pretty quickly. If it doesn’t, then you haul out the tow rope you’ve been carrying and get one of your buddies to give you a pull while you try the same thing you were doing while running with it. Nine times out of ten, this definitely gets it going. If it doesn’t, well here’s an ugly one for you. You need to turn off your gas again. Remove your spark plug, turn your bike upside down and drain any water that may be in your cylinder. You can put a cloth or t-shirt or something over the plug hole and turn the engine over a couple of times to create pressure to aid with the aqua-expulsion. Put your bike together again and start with kick start, push start, tow start routine. If your bike won’t start now then I’m afraid you’ve got water in your electrical system and no trail mechanics are going to be much help. Keep that tow rope tied on and hope you’re close to wherever it is you need to get towed to.The trusty old clutch cable snap. This is not nice. Especially when you need to cross some water or get up a nasty hill climb. I hate riding with a bust clutch. Thankfully I have a hydraulic system. But for those of you with cable systems, the bad news is that they break – either snapping or coming apart at the lug behind the lever. The quick and easy tip loved by thousands out there is this: take a spare cable with you. And the best way to take it, is routed along your current cable. That’s right, take off your petrol tank. Put a spare cable along the same route as the current cable from the lever all the way to the clutch housing by taping it to the current cable. Put a small plastic bag snugly on each end to protect it and viola. When your cable snaps, it’s a simple job to put the lug of the new cable onto the lever and mount the lug on the other end to wherever it needs to go.To be honest, these are the main things that happen to bikes out there. Most other problems are caused by damage from a crash of some type. In these cases the problems are rarely mechanical, but structural and, in most cases, your cable ties, duct tape and sometimes your tow rope will get you home.Keep the shiny side up and ride it like you stole it.Steve “Tombstone” Lauter
Isn’t it amazing how fanatically fixated dirt bikers get with the brand of bike they ride. I mean I love my KTM. You need to understand, I really love my KTM – it lives indoors. Not my garage, good heavens no, my entertainment room in my house. She’s my second KTM, a 2003 300 EXC, my previous bike was a ’97 250 EXC. I have a KTM sticker on the back windshield of my car. I have two KTM motocross shirts and when our first set of club shirts were manufactured, I had to weather a small internal storm because I had them made in black with KTM-orange print.Funny thing though, before my first KTM, I went through a stage of various Yamahas YZs and ITs. Before that it was a Honda XR. The point is, with each brand, I swore there was none better. My brother proved that I was not insane, he still swears nearly fourteen years later that if it doesn’t have wings……..I’ve grown up a whole bunch and the crazy thing is my partisan attitude hasn’t changed. Neither has that of my buddies about their brand of bike. In our heart of hearts we all know that at our level of skill and ability the difference in a race is not going to be balanced on the name stuck on the side or the factory colour. No matter, you try keeping your mouth shut when someone slanders KTM – doesn’t work! Better yet, strap yourself in and watch the fun when you slander the green team, the red devils, the smurfs or the yeller-bellies in front of them. The dirt biker’s mind is a crazy thing when we get into our chosen brand. How many of you have bought colour coded kit. No, not coded to your favourite colour but coded to the default factory colours of your bike manufacturer. We go out and spend fortunes on No Fear, Thor, Fox, etc because they put great colour coded sets together based on standard manufacturer colours. And we’re happy to! Wouldn’t it be great if, when you bought you bike, you could choose your own colour or colour scheme – like you do when you buy a car?Well boys and girls, here’s the kicker: it doesn’t matter!!! No really, think about it. You’re not sponsored so no one’s paying you to swear such staunch allegiance to your brand. KTM, for example, is dammed expensive - for bikes and parts. Others are not that much cheaper. So why are we buying them. There is no secret speed or air-time switch that really makes one brand do things a whole lot better than any other. Your bike really is as good as you are to it and it makes absolutely no difference what the label is.Lesson 1. Look after your bike. After all is said and done it makes no difference which make you ride or what people who ride different makes say about it. If you do not maintain it, it will break. Any brand!!!! If you really look after it, you can make it last longer, go faster, look better, handle better, etc, etc. When you break down on an outride and screw up everyone else’s ride, not one person is going to tell you what a crappy make of bike you ride. They will tell you though that you’re a lazy so-and-so and you have no right to bring such a badly maintained bike out with a bunch of other riders. The onion award will go to you not your bike. The slowest and unskilled novices are looked after on a ride on a well looked after bike far more than top rider on a dodgy machine. Everybody knows that the dodgy bike is going to mess the day up for everyone.Lesson 2. Your bike cannot make you ride better. When guys win races, get major airtime over jumps, handle themselves well on an outride, etc, etc. I guarantee you that I have yet to hear someone say “hell, that Yami goes well” or “check that Suz” or “did you see how high the Kwakker jumped”. Instead the riders are mentioned by name. “Joe is flying today” or “did you check how high Pete jumped”. Your steed, regardless of brand is only as good as you.The banter between different brand owners is fun and makes for healthy dealership competition. Just don’t let it get to your head. Make sure you keep it fun. When someone tells you that your Husaberg is heap of c**p, keep it together buddy it’s no more or less a heap of c**p than his, whatever it is. Unless of course you’re not looking after it.Ok. So now that I’ve destroyed all the loyalty you had for a particular brand, how do you assess which is the best one, or better yet and more important, the best one for you. Well, the first part of this question is easily answered. Buy your favourite dirt bike magazine that has bike reviews and shootouts. They will rate all the brands in different categories like suspension, weight, etc, etc. They also give an overall rating. But you need to understand that difference between first and last is marginal and only a pro expert will really notice the major differences. As for the second part of the question: Choose a bike you can afford. One that has good parts availability and has dealerships accessible to you. If it’s a used bike and its not the brand you had in your mind but its been well looked after and the price is right then go for it. You’ll get into the dirt sooner and odds are you’ll stay in it longer on that machine.Finally, the moral of the story: The brand is not the thing about dirt riding performance. You are. You attitude to maintenance, your growing experience and the fun you’re going to have………………………………………..except of course if it’s a KTM!!!Keep the shiny side up and ride it like you stole it.Steve “Tombstone” Lauter
We’ve come some way. Your bike’s got a couple of battle scars by now, hopefully you haven’t as many. You have amassed all the necessary equipment and chosen your style of kitting up – it burns you though that you tossed the R599.99 MX jersey ‘cause riding in a t-shirt in sunny SA is just far more comfortable. You’ve been reading EW since its launch last year and you’ve learned a couple of things – how to prep, how to behave, where to go and where not to go and you’re riding better and better and you’re starting to understand why the off-road lunatics are what they are. Worse, you’re realizing that you are an off-road lunatic!!! You’ve also come to realize that the local fraternity is not that big, well it is big but the camaraderie is such that it doesn’t take long for most to get to know most.As you ride with more and more different groups, one thing is becoming apparent, there are a lot of guys out there who are way, way better than you are. Some are quicker, some are more stylish, some have tech skills that you cannot understand and some will attack obstacles like rivers and hill climbs that you never thought could be possible. As this realisation sinks in, you go through a few phases:Phase 1: I need to find other guys to ride with ‘cause I look real bad with this lot and they probably don’t like me anyway ‘cause I’m probably slowing them down a bunch so maybe I should peel off now and go get a beer and hang out in the pool or something ‘till they get back and……. S**T did you see what that oke just did and they want me to follow !?!?Relax buddy! If these guys didn’t want you to ride with them, the odds are they would have told you. Brutal honesty is something that is always in your face on an outride. Like it or not. Almost every time, the experienced guys will be watching you and, if they feel you can make something they’ll push you and if they feel you can’t, they’ll ask you to wait or point you in another direction with a meeting point (usually someone will come with you in this case).Phase 2: I’m tired of these guys telling me what and how to do things. I’ve been playing this game for six months now and I know how!!!Nonsense! I’ve been playing this game for 23 years and I’m still learning. Watch, Grasshopper, and learn. The master didn’t learn to climb that hill or wheelie over that ditch from thinking that he knows enough and cannot learn anymore. The more you learn, the more you do. The more you do, the more you enjoy. (And you get to go to a whole bunch of new places on out rides ‘cause the guys trust your ability out there).Phase 3: Hell this isn’t so tough. Check how easy he just went up there. I’m sure I could get up there too. “Hey, what gear were you in and how fast were you going on your run-up?”Now you’re talking!! You’ve understood. This is where you need to be. Two things to remember:1) Don’t be scared to ask. If you don’t ask you don’t learn.2) You will get a positive answer. If there’s one thing every off-roader loves, it’s acknowledgement of his knowledge or ability in the game. I’ve used the actual ride and mainly hill climbing as an example for this story so far, but the guru has far more uses than just the ride. The workshop is where you really need to exploit these animals. Maintaining, and sometimes repairing, off-road bikes is not only essential but often unavoidable. Your choices:
- send it to your dealer – this can very expensive (specially if you’re taking it there every week for post-ride check and pre-ride prep),
- sit yourself down with your tools and workshop manual – good, good, but time consuming, very time consuming specially at the beginning and you miss out on all the “trade tricks and secrets”, or finally,
- invite your favourite guru over for a few beers to help you in your workshop and show you a thing or two (thanks Warwick).
Off-road bikes are not difficult to maintain and most repairs are also pretty easy. Do yourself a favour, have some fun on your bike when you’re not in the seat. Your guru will help you do this. Your bike will always be properly prepped. And you will find another element of enjoyment in the sport – knowing that you are keeping your scooter going the way it should. My final point in this tale is this: You are your own best guru! Listen to your conscience first. If you think the hill climb is not yet within your limits then don’t do it. Don’t ask how yet. And don’t let yourself get pushed into it. If you feel you and/or your guru do not have sufficient tools and/or know-how to change that bust fork seal then don’t do it, send it to your regular mechanic. Keep yourself safe above all and keep your scooter working properly. Only you can tell you how best to do this every weekend. Thank you to my gurus – Dad, Anthony, Malcolm, Barry, Rex and Tom to name but a few. Keep the shiny side up and ride it like you stole it. Steve “Tombstone” Lauter
Hendrik Jansen aka Mr. Bapsontein aka The Lamborgreenie called me about two months ago asking me to reserve Saturday, 19th July for an epic De Wildt ride for his son’s birthday. Me, being true to my word, did just that and “epic” is an understatement to describe it.
Mr. Baps,
Junior Baps,
Baps family friend (humble apologies for not remembering his name)
Pixie
CCubed
Pierre
Andrew
PaddyC
Yours truly
The 9 of us left the Morula Sun hotel at 9:00. The route we followed took us from the hotel to the base of Long Rocks, down to the River Bed, along the River Bed to the Twisties, Twisties to 3-Fences shop. A beer and a puncture fix, and a lot of smiles for a great ride so far were enjoyed by all before we set off on the trail to Jericho. Great little ride and most unfortunate that we didn’t have a camera to capture the cattle skull, complete with horns, that I fixed to the front of my bike for a while…. had this really cool southern dixie thing going for a while!! At Jericho we topped up with fuel and headed down the dry river bed to the Rock. The Rock, as always was intimidating but fun. However, the news of the day was that instead of claiming victims, it made champions when two guys, Andrew and Pierre, both rookie-to-intermediate level riders conquered the heap of stone, both up and down!
After the rock it was a stop at the Bafana Bafana shebeen for another refreshment and then off to the dry river bed again on the return journey. From the Jericho river bed it was a sand-road short cut route back to the 3-Fences shop for, you guessed it, another refreshment. After that we rode up past the entrance to the Twisties to the start of the River trail from which we trailed all the way back to the main River Bed which we jumped out of for……….. another “refreshment” at the Secret Shebeen. Once the kids had received their traditional sweets, it was back down into the River Bed where we tested the stamina of the group by remaining in the River Bed all the way to the Coconuts exit, and up to the base of Coconuts. Well done to all the guys for still managing to get up Coconuts, including PaddyC who, only made it 2/3rds but with a solid effort, not too much swearing, and finished with the help of Mr. Baps.
From the top of Coconuts it was an as-fast-as-you-could-ride sprint back to the hotel so that we didn’t get caught in the dark. We arrived a minute before the final rays of sunlight left us and enjoyed Baps’ special boerie rolls and brandy and coke in the dark.
I’d say that 4 shebeens, 128km, 9 hours, no injuries, and big smiles qualifies as an “epic”
Happy birthday Baps Jnr.
« Previous Page
