De Wildt 22 November 2008 - COMFORTABLY NUMB by Albert Pos

Comfortably Numb

 

Satisfied - this was one of those days that makes one feel that the world is a great place. Rose tinted this may be and problems a plenty but it made no difference. I wanted for nothing else but to be on a dirt bike on a sunny day after some rain in De Wildt. I was looking forward to the ride and could not wait. Not as bad as waking up at 3:00am on Saturday morning, but close. Tombstone has this area as his weekend hang-out and one could not wish for a better guide. Sixteen riders made the trek to the far side of Pretoria and a 140km dirt ride from Morula Sun to Jericho and back. Jericho is in itself not remarkable apart from a large rock that presents one with a daunting challenge to ride up. Tombstone got a warm welcome from the local community which can only help keep riding areas open to bikes. Sports equipment was donated to the local school which included soccer balls and goals. The next superstar may be practicing already. My day began well by arriving early for a buffet breakfast before the ride. Not a bad way to start the day. I had an omelet which I never bother making at home. Some strong coffee also went down well.   Life sometimes makes obvious circles and one gets a chance to try things again. I did a Newbie ride a while ago with MuddX and this was going to be a re-test. Riding at De Wildt is always a test actually.  To my horror, not long into the ride I was faced with a long rocky downhill called Aloes. Not to worry I had my positive mood to get me down in one piece. I did have a slow rider in front of me which gave me some time to catch my breath. We then dropped into a washed out river bed. What fun. We had to ride out the sides if it was rocky or full of water. Then we did a track which had large puddles of water which had an agricultural smell to them which we all managed to get covered in. Wonderful fun and no worries. This was my day to enjoy splashing mud everywhere and that I was covered in it did not matter. One of the riders managed to kill his bike in a larger puddle and was pulling his bike out when I went flying past not giving a thought that he was actually stuck. Shark_za went back to rescue him. My apology.  At around this time we got a lecture from Tombstone on how one is to cross water without getting stuck. It turned out that two rivers later, the one and only, managed to drown his bike. This exercise proved to be a challenge not only to get the bike going but not to be left holding a tool. I think the chiefs managed well at passing the tool. I stayed out of the way and prayed that my bike would not break down. It seemed that KTM’s where in the wars and mine must have been on the list. At least my bike was far enough down that we did not get to it.  The masses where becoming restless and started demanding a shebeen stop. We went to the Coconuts shebeen and where greeted by singing children. I did not find out why but I hoped it was something to do with 2010. Fuel bought in 2l coke bottles and beers in quarts we enjoyed our stop.  Next was the Three Fences river bed. This is a wide winding sand pit. I never really got my bike flying but speed is the extent of technique required. Some large personal dangling bits help. Nothing being implied regarding my endowment, I was only looking after my own interests. I did manage a tumble or two and brushed it off with I am not trying hard enough if I never fall. No harm done. Next was something different. We rode through dense scrub having to make a million twists and turns. Nintendo games have nothing on this. This is real adrenaline pumping action. One could go as fast as you know what was just mentioned allowed.  It also involved the crossing of three river in flood for De Wildt – the rivers actually had water in them. We managed so cross just about every imaginable type of terrain in our own backyard. Jerico awaited and the climb of the brave. I took the easy route and got to the top in no time only to get lost trying to get down. Another mountain conquered, sorry could not resist.  Another pit stop at a shebeen in Jerico with blaring techno music. Can you imagine. The masses had rugby to play, sorry support and plans made for a quick escape route back. So the group became four.  The day was not done and Coconuts was the last challenge. I was hoping the we would stop and be given the option of taking an easier route back but this was not to be. It gets its name from the size of the rocks one has to ride over. They do not make for a controlled ride and some blind faith is needed to remain going in the right direction. I did manage to get launched off my bike. I made it to the top in one piece but physically spent. In my exhausted state getting back home was a mission for survival. I did not mind somehow and took this in my stride. We got back at 5:30pm. Tired but happy, a perfect day in everyway. Many thanks to Tombstone for a magnificent day’s riding.  Click on the polaroid to view the whole album.

MuddX Intermediate ride at De Wildt - 26 July 2008

MuddX runs a Newbie ride at De Wildt every month. It’s an organised ride with marshals and catering and takes riders, regardless of their skill level, on a 45km guided loop through an are of De Wildt. These have been going on since February 2007 and have continued mainly due to popular demand (Steve taps himself on the shoulder). We have not been keen on running an intermediate event, specially after lessons learned last year in July when the first intermediate was hosted, simply because it is so difficult to tell what an intermediate rider’s fitness and skill levels are. Are they one notch up from newbie, or one below expert?

We did another one anyway, folks were asking so much that I decided to give it another whirl.

Well, what a great ride!

The riders were: Brad, Richard, Peter, Leon, Anfried, Keith, Brian, Justin, Renato, Tyrone, Anton (marshal), Tiaan (marshal), Steve (Marshal), and yours truly.

The route I planned took a lot of technnical riding into the start of the ride and then eased off. This was to make sure that the guys could get a taste of the technical stuff before they got too tired. So we left the hotel (had to wait about 10 minutes at the boom for a local funeral procession to pass) and headed along the normal newbie route to the start of the Coconuts/Long Rocks T-Junction road. This is where we changed it up! Up the T-Junction road and down Long Rocks.

It was really cool that a bunch of our usual ride buddies: Nolan, Sean, Andre, Etienne, Brad, Justin, Tom and others were riding their own style and route but in a similar direction, so besides hooking up with all of them for breakfast at the hotel before the ride (I strongly recommend this approach to a day’s riding at De Wildt), we also met them a couple of times on the ride. The base of Long Rock being the first.

From Long Rocks we rode down the the River Bed where the serious technical stuff kicked in since we stayed in the River Bed until the Coconuts exit. Unfortunately we lost three riders before we got to the Coconuts due to a nasty bale and fitness. However, those that left us got back to the hotel safely and happily.

 From the Coconuts exit, it was off to Big Tree, then the MX Section, then the trail to 3-Fences. Instead of 3-Fences, we opted for the Twisties given that the 3-Fences river bed is horrible during this time of year. Go figure…. 7km of river bed whooped out down to bedrock. Not pleasant! 3-Fences Shop saw us hook up with the rest of the breakfast crew again and it was all good times over a couple of beers listening to how they had tried to cut a new trail up the mountain between Aloes and the V. Much respect boys…. but not for me thank you.

After 3-Fences we headed back to the river and rode the banks of the river until we got to the point where we dropped into the River Bed from Long Rocks in the morning. A vote was taken on whether the guys wanted to continue up the River Bed again to conclude the ride by riding up Coconuts or to jump out of the bed at this point and head for the hotel. The majority voted technical!

And so it was. We rode up teh River Bed again, took the Coconuts exit and trailed up to the base of Coconuts. At this point I gave some basic tips on how to conquer Coconuts and headed up to the top. Everybody bar 1 got there on their own, some just took a bit longer than others. Renato…. good effort anyway bud (but I gotta tell ya… I hate walking down Cocos).

Back at the hotel it was the usual boerie rolls and beers which led to some really good and liquid socialising when the res of the breakfast crew arrived. However this was not before MuddX’s standard ride awars was given to Leon for really having an issue with staying upright on two wheels after the 3-Fences shop ;-). A close runner up was Peter who provided us with quality entertainment with the depth of mud he got his bike stuck in and the recruitment of half a township to get it out.

I’m sure I speak for everyone there on the day when I say “Another great day in Africa!!”

Photos to follow

The Jericho Rock Project

 On a Saturday in mid-June, we went out to the Jericho Rock and for a beer at the Bafana Bafana Tavern at the base of the Rock at Jericho. I was having a chat with J.J., the village chief and he was telling me how the young kids at the primary school are desperately short of sports equipment to keep them busy after school. So big was the problem with not having things to keep the kids busy, that some kids had been arrested the day before for getting up to mischief instead.

I have started collecting donations, starting with my own of R250.00. You can add R10 or R10 000, whatever you feel like.

During the last week of July, I will take what has been collected and I intend buying a set of portable soccer goals, soccer balls, cricket kit, baseball kit, netball kit, and rugby balls.

On Saturday 9 August (Woman’s Day), I’d like you, whether you contributed or not, to join me at the Bafana Bafana Tavern at Jericho for a braai, drinks, some dirt biking and the handing over of the sports equipment to the school.Families are welcome. Trials bike riders are welcome. The Rock itself is only about 1km from the Tavern. There is plenty local riding ground to have some fun.The bank account details are:Nedbank
Branch: Killarney Mall 191605
Account name:S Lauter
Account no: 1916062660

You don’t have to put your name down if you want to remain anonymous but please put ROCK in the reference so that I know that the amount it is for this cause.

For more info, you can mail me at steve.lauter@iafrica.com. I have posted this on 25/07/2008, only 3 weeks before the handover of the sports equipment and I have collected almost R7000.00 so far!!!

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It’s Sunday, 10th August 2008. The “Project” was delivered yesterday. WOW!!!! Before I tell you all the story let me first throw out a massive thank you to all the dirt bike community who raised R14 500.00 which was delivered in the form of the desired sports equipment and a R5 000.00 cheque made out to the primary school.

By Monday morning, 4th August we had collected R9 500.00 and I was looking forward to going for some retail therapy on behalf of the kids at Jericho. So off I went to Sportsman’s Warehouse in Fourways with a nice big shopping list.

For their soccer requirement I bought 7 soccer sets, each including a bag, a ball, a pair of shin guards, cones, a water bottle, and a pump. I bought a really up-quality match ball. I bought a pair of dismantleable netted goals.

For their rugby requirement I bought 10 rugby sets, each including a bag, a ball, a water bottle, a pump, training cones, and a kicking tee.

For their netball requirement I bought 2 freestanding netball posts complete with netted hoops, 2 practice balls, and a match ball.

For their cricket requirement I bought 3 cricket sets, each including 2 bats, 2 sets of stumps and bails, 2 sets of batsmen’s pads, 2 sets of batsmen’s gloves, 1 set of wicket keeper pads and gloves, 4 balls for hard and soft play, 10 marker cones, and a score book.

They had asked for baseball but unfortunately the cost of baseball equipment was too rich for our budget, but….

I bought a netted basketball hoop and 2 basketballs. I bought 4 tennis racquets and 4 packs of tennis balls. And finally, lest we forget the folks that have to hep these kids, I bought 3 referee/coach whistles.

Another big thank you to Sportsman’s Warehouse in Fourways for also assisting by stretching our rands a little.

On Tuesday afternoon, the 5th August, I was standing at O R Tambo airport getting ready to fly to Durban when I received a phone call from one of the guys who has already made a sizeable donation in his own right. He told me that his company loved the initiative, would like to get involved, and would like to donate R5 000.00. Wow!!! Unfortunately the shopping was done so a cheque was made out to the primary school for that amount. Awesome.

Yesterday morning a bunch of dirt bikers, some with their families, all met at Hartbeespoort Dam from where we left in convoy to Jericho, some 55km away in the general direction of Brits and beyond. On arrival, our cars were herded onto the school’s sports field by a huge group of children in school uniform literally singing us in. Even the most grizzly, gnarly bikers had lumps in their throats.

We unloaded all the equipment onto one of the netball fields in front of a couple of gazebos where all the local dignataries were gathered. Next to them were parents and teachers of all the kids, and place for all of us to take our seats. We were greeted by one of the teachers who acted as MC for the day and who called the local reverend for a brief scripture reading and prayer. I must admit the whole evangelistic “Gimme a halleluyah” kind of thing was quite cool. We were then introduced to the local tribal authority official who delivered his welcome and then to the one of the most important men there, the tribal chief. This guy carries serious weight and commands respect from those around him in a way that I was quite unused to. Then it was my turn. I got the opportunity to present the equipment by sports type to the captain and coach of each discipline. It was amazing to see how cricket and rugby captains were made on the spot! There were pleas by almost all the speech makers for folk who knew the sports to try and find time to come through to Jericho more often to help teach and coach in those two sports which they as, a community, are aching to play. Unfortunately, there is only so much some of us can do. I finally had the opportunity to introduce Lassy and Hannes, who were making the cash donation, to the dignataries. This went down very well.

Final speeches of gratitude were then made by JJ and a final, very moving one by JJ’s own son, also a pupil at the school. Man, I got a huge kick out of the “Viva Tombstone Viva” bit!

The children went to get kitted up for various sports events that were going to continue into the afternoon but it was requested that a very brief dirt bike demo was asked for by the main manne. Hmmmm….ok. Tom and I unloaded our bikes, did a couple of short wheelies on the soccer field, and gave a couple of the small kids a slow ride around the field. We loaded our bikes and took a small tour around the school. 

And then we all headed for the Bafana Bafana tavern. Round two was about to begin.

At the tavern we all headed immediately to the bar to wash out dry throats with quarts of Zamalek (black label beer) icy cold as only African shebeens know who to keep them. After the first three or four gulps had got us back to a feeling of general humanity again, we unloaded our bikes, lit the fires in the braais that had been provided next to long covered tables and chairs that had also been prepared for us and went for our first ride. This was to the Rock. A few of us rode up and down this huge mound of stone and then headed back to the Tavern. One of us rode half way up and fell down the rest…. ouch Brad. (P.S. Brad 3 - The Rock 2. I think that’s the score at the moment).

The fires were just right and, after grabbing another beer, we started braaing. The families that joined us sans bikes were already getting into the swing of things. The afternoon was fantastic. Those that wanted to ride more did so - the Jericho River Bed is another big attraction. Others, like yours truly, decided to spend the afternoon eating, drinking and talking with the locals. How often do us whities get to experience something like this?

As it happens, JJ’s brother Koos, yes his name is Koos, lives across the road from the Tavern. It was the most wonderful thing for a whole bunch of us to be invited into his modest lounge to join him and JJ to watch the rugby.

Bar one unfortunate incident late in the afternoon, although I did get all my credit cards and license back and there wasn’t much cash left anyway, and I suppose this is Africa, it was one hellava day!!! Dirt biking is a fantastic sport, the social aspect of it is a huge passion of mine given the people and experiences and acquaintances and friends I get out of it. This one rated right up there with the best ever.

Click on the polaroid to view the whole album.

De Wildt - 19th July - Bapsie’s son’s birthday ride

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.

De Wildt 7 June 2008

Who said the Wang Gang Gang had disappeared? Ok, ok, so it had… but what an awesome get-together to have a whole bunch of the old club hook up with a couple of new buddies and a guest from Oz for a burn around De Wildt. The day started with the customary (back in the day anyway) hotel breakfast at the Morula Sun and was followed by a great day in the dust at De Wildt.

Click on the polaroid to view the whole album.

De Wildt – 03 March 2007

Click on the polaroid to view the whole album.

Friday, March 2nd, 2007. Just after 8:30pm. I sit here at my PC reflecting on the week gone bye and the day tomorrow. It’s easy to reflect like this with my second Johnny Walker Black Label on the rocks in my hand…. But I digress. The week started not unlike the start of most weeks in my life. Log onto e-dirt, post a message in a new topic about where I’ll be riding on Saturday, send the same message to my very popular e-mail list, and sit back and see if I’ll be joined by 6 or 16 riders come Saturday. I must admit, from the heart, that most, if not all, the guys that have responded, and still do respond after 8 years, are more than riding companions, but are actually friends. But more than that, and here’s the honest bit, my e-dirt post and e-mail go out for the prime reason that I know at least 4 or 5 guys will respond positively and I won’t have to ride my chosen venue alone. That may sound a little selfish, but I’ve grown to understand over the last few years that there are a lot of people out there that actually wait for my post and e-mail because they know that they’ll get a pretty good ride in with good company as well. So it actually works out for everybody.

So back to tonight…. It’s been a great reflection. My post went out not very dissimilar to most weeks except that I expanded quite radically on the proposed route for the weekend out at De Wildt. No expansion on the great fun we’ll have, that happens every week. But I expanded on the distance and milestones we plan to cover. The result has been quite amazing. In less than twelve hours time, I will be meeting approximately 20 great buddies and riders at the Morula Sun hotel for breakfast which will be followed by what promises to be an epic outride in this territory. I have gone so far as to arrange with the hotel that a braai and portable bar will be waiting for us back in the hotel parking lot on our return at the estimated time of 16:00. This promises to be a great one!!!

For those that know De Wildt, the planned route is as follows: Morula Sun Hotel – Long Rocks – River Bed for +/- 3km - “Tombstone’s” newest Shebeen (there are quite a few of those) – River Bed (opposite direction) – Big Tree – MX Section – New Trail to 3-Fences – Twisties – 3-Fences Shop – Chicken Run to Jericho – Jericho River Bed – Trail to the Rock – Greetings to JJ (Tribal Elder) – The Rock – Bafana Bafana Shebeen – Jericho River Bed – 3-Fences Shop – River – Bra Eric’s (Shebeen across the road) – River Bed – Coconuts/Big Tree (depending on decision at that point) – Hotel. Estimated distance without any of the usual bundu bashing that comes into play is 140km round trip. B R I N G I T O N!!!

I have to pause now because it is almost 9:00pm and I think I have done enough to set the tone for a fairly decent ride report for this edition of E-dirt Magazine. So I’m going to save this document, shut down my tech stuff, and you can all catch the results in the rest of the article. What I will share with you at this point is that I’m very skeptical about how much sleep I’m going to have tonight…….

No, the ride hasn’t finished yet! It’s 4:00am! What am I doing here you may well ask yourself? I’m not actually sure if it’s a mixture of excitement, half a bottle of Johnny Walker Black last night, or my 6 month old son letting me know that he feels like an early breakfast this morning. Be that as it may, its only an hour before my alarm is due to go off anyway, and the little tyke does need to eat, so I’m going to sort all my stuff out and haul my backside over to the Morula Sun. Catch y’all later.

What a trip!!! What and absolutely fantastic day out on our bikes!!!

Guys were trickling into the hotel parking lot at 6:45 already. The first surprise of the day was Bradbronx (Bradley Bronkhorst) who rolled in with his bright and shiny brand new KTM 300 XC-W on the back of his bakkie. The so-and-so was keeping it a secret from us. The guys very quickly got busy fitting a sump and exhaust guard to the new scoot while we waited for the rest to arrive for breakfast. At 7:15 we all made our way into the hotel dining room and sat down for a prefect start to the day. By the time we had completed breakfast, the rest of the riders had arrived. It was going to be a big group.

Next surprise of the day…. And we still hadn’t geared up yet, let alone started riding. Briang was doing the rounds trying to find out who would break into his car for him. Seems he didn’t have the heart to break a window on his own BMW X5 which he had locked his keys inside of!! Mielie (Sean Meisel) was only too happy to help with that, sadistic bastard!

The role of the day was as follows, including some new hardware to break-in:

Armpump (Deon Gouverneur) – KTM

BlankieMan (Carl Eler) – Yamaha

BradBronx (Bradley Bronkhorst) – brand new KTM

Briang (Brian) – KTM

Green Monster (Wouter Germishuys) – brand new Kawasaki

Mielie (Sean Meisel) – Yamaha

Mr. Bapsfontein (Jaffie Jansen) – Kawasaki

Nacnac (Erwin Minnie) – brand new Yamaha

Nick – Kawasaki

Orsm (Bradley Snaith) – Yamaha

RedAnt (Anthony Dyboll) – KTM

Shark_za (Ronald Doyle) – Kawasaki

Shill (Stuart Hill) – KTM

Spanky (Henk) – KTM

Tomcat (Tom Saether) – KTM

UFUDO (Garth) – Husqvarna

Vatso (Mark Erasmus) – Honda

VooDoo (Tiaan Broodryk) – KTM

Yours truly – KTM

We left the hotel and headed directly for Long Rocks. By the time we got to the T-junction for Coconuts and Long Rocks, we’d spread out quite nicely and I waited for the back markers to catch up while the rest started their attack on Long Rocks. I was wondering why their faces all looked so dusty already (add nasty little grin here). My nasty thoughts were soon to be handed back to me in kind….. Long Rocks is best achieved with some momentum. Going too slowly only makes the job that much tougher. Me, being “Mr. Nice Guy” and waiting for the back markers to catch up was now headed down Long Rocks behind said back markers! Sweaty job to get to the bottom to say the least. I did manage to pass some of the guys which gave me a bit of extra time at the bottom with the rest of the guys to talk nonsense, catch our breath, and greet other riders who were going up or down. I must apologise to the bunny-huggers out there for the first tree destroyed on our suarez, it was a small tree and not as strong as I thought it was to lean my bike against. Uhhh…..bike and tree lay down!

From there it was a nice, solid burn down some shale-covered single track with some nice whoops, into sandy twin track with some nice whoops and down to the river. Again, just before the river, I hung back to wait for the back markers to catch up. Unfortunately a couple of lads hooked up accidentally with another large group and carried on past the re-group point which was as we entered the river bed. We had a short break there while I called Tomcat on his cell, left a voice message telling him that he was with guys he didn’t know and to start heading back when he gets the message. Luckily he called back as we were about to head out again and I told him where he should go to meet up with us.

Our route took us about 4km down the river bed. Not very technical (that stuff was behind us in the opposite direction – towards the Big Tree), but certainly a lot of fun. We left the river bed and were heading to one of my newly found “secret” shebeens for our first proper break. I call it my “secret” shebeen because it is one of those little spots that isn’t in the middle of a lot of noise and action and is not known by many dirt bikers (in fact I’ve never seen any others than the crew I’m with at the place). En route, we found Tomcat who rejoined the pack without anybody even noticing except me…… since I was the one that would have had a head-on with him had I not been alert to the fact that he would be coming that way. I waited once again as the path exited from the heavy brush on the sides of the river bed for the pack to regroup. Alas, nobody was behind me. I took off my helmet and couldn’t hear any bikes. Hmmmmm, nobody would have missed my turn out of the thick stuff, somebody must have an issue. Unfortunately it was Shill. Apparently trying to keep up with Mr. Bapsfontein over the whoops. Trying being the operative word here ‘cause he wasn’t doing it. Shill 0 - whoops 1. Fortunately, nothing more than a bit of dazed-and-confused for a few minutes and a damaged ego, oh and apparently he also has a roost protector pattern imprint on his back now. Anyway, all present and accounted for, we headed on to the “secret” shebeen. Luckily my “nose” for these places is still so trustworthy as Orsm was trying to show me how his GPS was pointing in a different direction. Never mess with the TZT (Tombstone’s Zamalek Tracer) – I was right! (For those unfamiliar with some of the Gauteng dialect, “Zamalek” is rural speak for a Black Label beer).

A solid quart each of Zamalek for Orsm, Mr. Bapsfontein and myself. Some soft drinks for the rest of the soft…, uhmmm, blokes, and a milk………… yes a milk for Vatso. Some dirt biker banter. Some peace-making with the locals (I usually hand out sweets to all the children in the area, makes for good relations when we come back). And some voting. It seems that the masses wanted to get to The Rock as soon as possible. This piece of stone was to be the far end of our loop the day and a milestone that most of us (in fact all bar 2) had never seen. So we decided democratically to alter the planned route and continue down the river in the direction we were going instead of doubling back to go via the Big Tree and the MX Section.

We managed to keep the group together all the way down the river but we did stop long enough anyway to watch Nick take a line from the other side of one of the wider sections and make his KDX look like some sort of troop landing craft at Normandy beach. Very, very chuckle-worthy. We had one more brief stop along the river to say hi to four buddies who were coming towards us from their loop: Buffalo, Crooz, KingP and Splitpinn, and then we finally got to the tar road.

Our choice of route here was to go left up the road and then right which would take us to the beginning of the Twisties instead of all along the river to the gravel road that takes us to the 3-Fences Shop. It was on this tar that Bradbronx was showing me his ever improving talent for lifting his front wheel on his new KTM. Hmmmm, methinks the fellow was getting a bit ahead of himself on this new machine of his. I own a similar machine and the beast should first be tamed!

I hit the Twisties hard and fast and by the time I got to the gate at the end, only Orsm was with me (he later told me that his GPS had tracked us at speeds in excess of 80km/h through there – that’s quick in the dirt in anyone’s language). We removed our helmets, bumped fists in recognition of an awesome little burn, and wondered why there was no one else behind us…. There weren’t even the sounds of other bikes. Disconcerting, very disconcerting. What was weird to me was the fact that if someone had had an issue then at least the guys immediately behind Orsm should have been with us….. Unless it was the guy immediately behind Orsm…… Bradbronx was third into the Twisties!!! We rode back to see what had happened and unfortunately our premonition was right. Bradbronx had grabbed more throttle than he wanted to/should have over the whoops and had taken out a tree in the process of redesigning some skin patterns for himself and trashing his hydraulic clutch reservoir on his new scoot. Talk about “christening” a scoot – this KTM was the Pope! Shame, poor tree. Sorry bunny-huggers. Bradbronx 0 – whoops 2!

We waited until Brad had caught his breath and everybody had had their turn in assessing the damage to both rider and bike. After all the “ooohs” and “aaahs” we figured Brad could crash-change his gears on a gentle ride to the 3-Fences Shop which was on our itinerary and not too far away. The plan was to chill there for a bit before we headed to Jericho, home of The Rock.

Bradbronx got going first with me on his tail. I very quickly had to get alongside him to tell him to start his chill session immediately. Don’t these kids ever learn??? Back at the gate, I took the sweeper position again to make sure that the whole crew had got through without any more hassles. From there it was down to the 3-Fences shop. Mr. Bapsfontein started alluding to his new nickname on that new KDX 200 of his, but more of that later.

The 3-Fences Shop was like a meeting place for the who’s who of Gauteng recreational riders. There were four other crews there, all with one or two riders that at least one or two of us knew. So our 19-strong group grew into a 35-strong tea party… ok, ok, beer party. After a couple of Heinekens (yeah, 3-Fences has definitely become far more cosmopolitan in recent times) and some good banter it was time to resume our trail. We bade farewell to Bradbronx and Orsm who were going to take a slow and safe ride back. Orsm always likes to make an early departure, I think he’s scared of his kids, but this time I was pleased that someone was available to make sure that Bronxy got home safely after his MLOT (for those not totally in tune with dirt bike speak, MLOT = Momentary Lapse Of Talent).

Our planned route was to get to the BP garage at Jericho via the chicken-run (gravel roads) so that we could get there quickly, refuel, and get to The Rock. UFUDO took point as trail leader as he knew this route. I am pleased to say, that in true dirt biker spirit, the thought of roads of any nature were not on his mind and he led us instead through an awesome, tight, twisty, single track through the bush to Jericho. This bit of trail also took its victims. Shark_za left his decision to brake or bunny-hop or rail a corner too late and ended up in a ditch. Luckily he has a problem deciding and accelerating at the same time so he didn’t hit the ditch to hard and neither him nor his scoot were any worse for wear. The trail also took us through three tricky river crossings, the last of which claimed Tomcat’s scoot in a little drowning episode. Mr. Bapsfontein was the show-boat of the moment and, while everybody negotiated the +/-1 meter drop down into the river, he showed us how to ramp off the edge, front wheel slightly raised and cruise across in a fraction of the time it was taking everyone else. I was then amazed by his repeat jump, sans bike, off aforementioned river bank into the river. Don’t you test the waters before you take your bike in? I was later informed that he was showing Mielie how it’s done.

At the Jericho BP garage, everybody fuelled up and had some refreshments as we waited for Tomcat to patch his front tube that had gone flat. About 45 minutes later him, Nick and Vatso bade us farewell as they took the chicken run back to the hotel. Tomcat’s tyre was ripped at the valve, his ride was over. Nick and Tomcat were travel mates so it was just fair that Nick go with him. And Vatso chickened out!!! (place 2nd evil snigger here).

From the garage it was off to the Jericho river bed. For those that have never heard of or ridden it, let me try explain. This river bed is about 4 or 5 km (perhaps more) long. It is dry, thick river sand. It is about 10m wide at it’s narrowest point and easily in excess of 50m at its widest. Because of the consistency of the sand, you are able to ride flat-out all the way. Brakes are unnecessary because you automatically cut and rail your own berms as you corner. And should you need to slow down, you just tap off a bit, the sand does the rest. For me, it is absolutely awesome riding. Two noteworthy events took place in the Jericho river bed. First, Nacnac got to “christen” his scoot. Luckily it was in the soft sand river bed and not ala Bradbronx’s rites. Second, Mr. Bapsfontein earned himself a new nickname. I was in 4th and pinned going round a bend when Mr. Baps came past me so fast I thought I wasn’t moving. At that moment I called him and his KDX, and I will continue to call him…….. “the Lamborgreenie”.

At a point in the river bed, there is a right turn into a smaller tributary bed which eventually becomes hard pack single and double track sand. Some interesting and challenging slippery climbs up the banks on both sides of this bed as you go along the trail. Challenging enough to certainly catch a couple of our crew out. By the time we got to the Bafana Bafana shebeen just before The Rock, we decided we should stop there and chill for a bit. We were all extremely hot and the ride up the tributary had taken its toll on the stamina of a few of the guys. So we made camp there for a bit, had some Zamalek and cold drinks, depending on personal preference, passed around a 5 litre bottle of refrigerated water that was poured over heads as it went round a couple of times until it was finished, and discussed The Rock. Shark_za, who had been there before was explaining how it is this huge mound of stone that has a very steep section with a short run-up and a “chicken-run” option which, for most, is actually the clever option. I went on to tell of stories I had heard from friends of mine who are more than capable riders and hill climbers who had said that you hit it in second and you’ll have to gear down to first at some stage, but whatever you do you must not hit neutral or a false neutral – you will be toast! I continued to tell the guys that it would be chicken-run for me as I don’t want to do anything silly, what with a family at home and everything….

We left Bafana Bafana and in less than 5 minutes found ourselves at the rock. There were 13 guys shoulder to shoulder looking in awe up the steep face of this behemoth. I was 20 metres behind them shouting at them to make way. Mountains out of molehills!!! Huh!!! I was going to do this sucker!!! A path was cleared and I hit the base in 2nd. At about 5 meters up the angle reduces a bit but by this time you’re running out of steam and with the reduction in angle and the traction on the rock your front wheel is lifting. A brief pucker moment as I pulled in the clutch, dropped the front wheel and a gear, and continued in 1st. Lots of grunt, still a huge angle, and plenty of traction. The front wheel came up again. Another brief pucker as I brought the scoot under control again and rode to the top. Truly an awesome experience. Next to try was the Lamborgreenie. He hit the base in 2nd, and just before the change in angle after the first 5 meters it sounded like his scoot was going to die on him… which it did as he cleared the lip of the angle change. He managed to get it started again and found a criss-cross route to the top. What totally blew my mind then was when he turned his bike 180 degrees facing down this thing and rode it back to the bottom. Armpump was next. He too hit the base in second and as he cleared the lip of the angle change, geared down and………. Hit neutral! Everybody held their breath. There he was teetering a quarter of the way up the side of The Rock trying to hold both himself and his bike steady without dropping either back down again. Luckily he was riding with this new special trails tyre from Michelin which seemed to be acting like glue against the rock face! To everybody’s relief, he somehow managed to get both himself and his scoot down again unscathed. The next man up was Mielie. He came up The Rock from bottom to top so smoothly he could have been riding on the M1 and so straight you could have manufactured rulers against his line. The last one up the steep face was UFUDO who was battling with a couple of thoughts himself. So far everybody that had given it a shot had been on 2-strokes and he had no reference for gear selection on his 4-stroke Husky. Nevertheless, he gave it a shot and also made it all the way with ease. The rest of the guys all started going around to the “clever-run” and joined us at the top. Did I say the rest? I meant to say the rest bar one. By the time we were all gathered at the top looking down, we noticed the Lamborgreenie was psyching himself up for another run. He hit the base, started up the initial very steep section, the bike sounded like it was going to die again. But he managed to maintain the revs and drop a gear. He gave a handful of throttle just as he was coming past us and his front wheel took off like the Challenger. It was legs, and arms, and scoot. We watched in amazement as he magically saved what appeared to be the making of a big off. As we started to find our smiles, 2 seconds later, just before the top, he did it again. But bigger. And still held it together! We were stunned.

After some banter and some photos at the top of The Rock we decided that since it was 15:30 and our braai back at the hotel was scheduled for 16:00 and that we were hot and had ridden long and hard, that we should take as direct a route as possible back. Luckily most of the roads back from Jericho to the Morula Sun were gravel road. Although definitely not challenging, we still had a great ride back. Cruising and wheeling and just chilling as a group on our bikes back to the hotel. When we arrived I found I had a voice mail on my cell, it seemed we had left RedAnt and the Lamborgreenie behind. The Lamborgreenie had picked up some hardware in his rear tyre and was limping back slowly. Luckily they both rolled in about 15 minutes later and no harm was done. We wrapped up the afternoon with some delicious boerie rolls, beer, brandy and coke (thanks Lamborgreenie) and a whole heap of war stories from the day.

Another lousy day in Africa!

Steve “Tombstone” Lauter

De Wildt – 16 February 2008

The “Office” ride.

Somebody at the office asked me if I would take a group of folk that were into off-roading on a more subtle ride through De Wildt. Particularly one that was conducive to quads (did I just say that out loud?). And so it was that on Saturday the 16th of February, I met up with a bunch of colleagues and a couple of usual riding mates at the Morula Sun hotel. The ride was pleasant and for the most part, uneventful. Except, of course, for the fellow that had got towed in to the 3-Fences shop covered in mud. It seems that his “buddy”, the tow-master, really didn’t care too much that his poor, broken down mate was only 2 meters behind him and had no way of escaping the rope when said “buddy” hit the mud!

Unfortunately we also removed the wind out of the sails of one of the quad riders who tried an awkward line down to the river crossing and ended up upside down and stuck under his quad. I really did my best to stifle my giggle.

Click on the polaroid to view the whole album.

De Wildt – Newbies – 19 January 2008

This is a collection of photos of our 12th MuddX Newbie ride. These events are close to my heart. They are always great fun and the e-mails I get back praising the event and the work that my marshals and I do is always very rewarding. This particular ride had about 18 guests and 6 marshals.

One of our usual stops on a Newbie ride is at one of the local shebeens where we have drinks and snacks about 2/3 into the ride. We truly do give the newbies a proper African bush riding experience. Unfortunately, on this particular ride, the proprietor of our usual shebeen was at a funeral. Luckily, with my uncanny ability to sniff a Zamalek (rural speak for Carling Black Label) out from at least 25Km, I found another shebeen around the corner where we chilled for a bit.

Good times, good riding…….. again.

Click on the polaroid to view the whole album.

De Wildt – 12 January 2008

Tomcat, Spanky and yours truly set out at a fiery pace to 3-Fences. From the Morula Sun, down Coconuts, along the river, through the Twisties to the 3-Fences shop. Probably record time for us. It was awesomely crazy!!! A couple coldies and we hit the river bed back towards civilization. At the usual exit point we decided to stay in the river and see how far we could ride it. What a fantastic idea. We had an awesome ride. The river bed changed from thick river sand, to small stream, to rocks, back to river sand, back to small stream, …. The cycle continued for kilometers. Eventually we hit a point where we had to climb out up a steep bank, that was a little challenge all of its own. Once out it was a great little bundu-bash in the general direction of where we thought we needed to be which is always great fun. We eventually found ourselves on the path to the pipeline road near the police station. We decided to take a sharp 90 degree turn and check out what the old black trail around the air strip looked like since we hadn’t done that in many moons. All was good until the trail got wetter and wetter and the mud thicker and thicker. Those that know the dangers of the black clay near the police station will know exactly what I’m talking about. After a while we decided to bash it straight across the pathless veld and get off the trail, it was just getting way to thick and slick. After bashing through some mud-slinging veld, we eventually found ourselves at the road that headed back towards the Morula via the Coconut/Long Rocks road from the other direction. Out of the corner of my eye, as I was passing, I noticed what looked like a great drinks shop. And with almost a full speed u-turn, we found ourselves at the Sunshine Tarven (yes, Tarven) where the beers still had ice on the bottles!!!! Needless to say we hung around there for a while before the final burn back to the hotel. Another great ride to notch into my great ride stick.

Click on the polaroid to view the whole album.

Qwa Qwa – 22 April 2007

The Party of The Year

February 2007, Tombstone to Mrs. Tombstone: “Sweety, can you believe it? All the boys are going riding in Qwa Qwa on the weekend of my birthday. What a bummer.”
Mrs. Tombstone to Tombstone: “Well why don’t you go with, it is after all your 40th and after the party you threw for your buddies last year, you know you ain’t having another one this year!!!”

Bonus!!!!

So, it was with great excitement, that 45 dirt biking enthusiasts set out for the mountains of Qwa Qwa just north of the Lesotho mountains for a weekend of riding, alcohol, and general good mayhem.

The riding was some of the best I’ve ever experienced. The party was the best I’ve ever experienced. I don’t think any of us were ever perfectly sober during those three days. It was absolutely unbelievable.

Click on the polaroid to view the whole album.

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