BMWMCC club off-road ride : Sandveld/railroad tracks : 12/07/2014 List added
BMWMCCC club off-road ride into the wintry Western Cape Sandveld along the railroad tracks to Hopefield.
Start- Point : The SWARTLAND EGNEN, N7 08H30. Saturday 12th July.
Destination : Hopefield, return on tar.
Skills level- : Experienced, seasoned riders. Not pillion friendly
Back up vehicle : no back up planned.
What about the weather? We ride regardless of rain, sun, snow.
Ride leader : Andy Connell (mechanic and medic as well))
Start time : Be tanked up, fed, fully clothed in ATGATT (All The Gear All The Time) by 08H30. Mandatory safety and route briefing follows, we leave at 08H50. Homeward passing Swartland Engen again by 17H30.
Cost : R 50.00 if you are not a club member. All refreshments, food and fuel for your own account.
Lunch will be at the Juffroushoogte Restaurant c/o R27 & R45 for your own account. http://www.juffroushoogte.co.za/
Juffroushoogte
The total length is around 300 adrenalin filled, dirty kilometres and we will stop for fuel on the way.
The roads are not in reasonable condition you will rely on past off tar experience under your belt to enjoy this ride. We will keep it safe. You will enjoy this challenge if you have off road experience.
If you are a new beginner to off tar riding, avoid this event as you will be returning home early. You will not enjoy it.
Railway line
We will stop for Kodak moments (there will be many) and to rest regularly (we will need to).
Water crossings/Kodak moments
If you have a two-way radio on the club frequency, you can participate in the coms between lead, sweep and the rest.
The route will be adapted for weather to ensure we all get back by 17H30 before it is dark.
GPS .gpx files can be sent to you upon request two days before the event.
So come on out on your bike, we will have quite a few water crossings, rail crossings and lots of twee spoor.
We will meet 2 kilometres of the sand monster, we will measure the sand monster we will beat the sand monster.
But each rider will ride the sand monster at his/her own pace and the sand masters will wait for us at the end of the 2km sand monster section. It is all doable.
Enjoy a great day with the club, learning from others, getting kilometres under your belt and seeing a marvellous part of the Wild Western Cape on what has always been a really popular summer route to ride for all adventure bikers.
We will ride is groups of around ten bikes to a group so that ride leaders maintain their pace and control easier.
We will have several experienced riders to assist us on the ride.
We will learn all about self-rescue and recovery.
We will not damage bikes or property or ride too fast.
This is technical, demanding and you will sleep like a log after you have washed off the bike and yourself on Saturday evening.
Please book with Anna-Marie Wilken on Annamarie@bmwmccc.org.za with your full name, surname mobile and mail details so you can get the updates.
This event does not clash with any Rugby, Soccer or Formula 1 motorsport event.
Also this reference to the previous trip:
http://bmwmccc.org.za/sunday-11th-september-offroad-ride-hopefield
List added:
Arno Rossouw
Eric McLaren
Charles Oertel
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| hopefield 2014.gpx | 69.26 KB |
Hi Anne-Marie
Can you please add me to the list.
I sent you an E-Mail, but the Mail to the E-Mail address you supplied in the above post, did not go through.
Thanks
Please add me to the list. This is a ride I never got to complete last time due to unfortunate circumstances so I need to do some dragon slaying. 
Thanks.
Long term weather forecast definitely shows cloud cover, but only spots of rain may fall.
no Wagnerian opera with all the dark skies, thunder lightning torrents etc.
Just plain winter cape Saturday.
If you have not already, please do send Annemarie your name to book on this ride.
I guess we will only have numbers for one group.
We will do an inventory of tools, compressors and tyre kits, spare tubes, tow straps just so we know whats in the bag.
The 650's and 800's will have no quarrels, but the 1200's will find it very rewarding. (read Lekker kak)
My bike is back in the fray- new battery and all.
On the other hand it may all have dried up to be a normal fast ride over the most stunning areas motorists rarely ever get to see.
Which means Dragons Ditch will be the only challenge.
I have the route and will send to those that ask on my response form on Thursday.
Please have your bike Rdie ready with
- tyres at your desired off road settings (I am 1.7 front and 1.9 rear)
- suspension preload at your desired setting (I am at the heighest prelaod setting)
- damper on your desired setting (I am on HARD)
- Engine Mapping on your setting if you on a fancy bike
-and all gear ready by the time we gather for the briefing.
We will stop to regroup at the Kalbaskraal rail entry point and to take off traction control. STC, and ABS.
At any obstacle we will wait for all bikes to get through before moving on.
It will be nothing serious and Transnet tell me the sand road is compact and fine for bikes after the rains.
There wil be two trains to watch out for, but they have never been more than a curisousity for us.
This will not be a bike breaker, nor a way to measure manhood. Just a challenging ride to the edge of the Sandveld and back.
I want to test my radio/sr10/zumo setup in preparation for the Wild Coast next month. And I really need a break from sitting at a computer...
So far only four of us adveturous able to make a Saturday excursion, we ride regardless.
2-way coms - Arno, Andy, Charles.
Eric if you'd like to try- borrow a radio, and Bluetooth interface then let me know, I'll loan you the kit for the day.
would have loved to join the ride but will be enroute to Knysna with my son to collect his very own R1200GSA.
Next time perhaps there will be two from the Schlee clan - double the fun 
.
Anymore takers for tomorrow's ride to the Sandveld, Railway Line day outing with Andy?? Come on ...... where are the boys with their toys? Anymore takers, pls contact me on 082 8991169 as we would like to finalise the ride.
Have a fab, sunny Friday.
Anna-Marie
Remember to send me the GPX please.
Hi there, sorry I'm late to join. Only just managed to organise some crash-bars today. (Thank you very much to Mike from Rockfox for assisting me!!). I have phoned Anne-marie and will email her too, but will post here as well. I am on a 1200GS LC. My cell is 0727968201. I don't have comms, and as far as back-up kit goes I have a tubeless repair kit. I am not a paying member of the club.
Looking forward to it!
Peter
No worries Peter - comms not needed. And we are a small group and we always stick together anyway.
Andy, I'm not sure if you got my WhatsApp message. The bike wouldn't start today and according to Chris at Donford it sounds like a battery problem. When i switch the bike on everything lights up but on pressing the start button she makes a clicking sound and then does a reset. It was too late to start running around so I may not be able to join in the morning. The trickle charger has been on for about two hours now but still no luck.
We have unfinished business on that road Eric. I hope you can make it. On the other hand, having an excuse to do it again is also OK.
Looking forward to tomorrow.
Eric, I hope you make it.
This is the unfinished busines trip.
I sent you all the GPS route in .gpx format.
So, some housekeeping tips..........
Bike Settings.
- Zero your odometers now, you will forget tomorrow in all the rush to get ready.
- Set your dampers (shock absorbers) to HARD
- Set your pre-load to a higher setting to give more ground clearance.
If you are on an R1200GSA with a Twalcom Raid box set your pre-load to highest or you WILL damage the Twalcom Raid box.
GARMIN GPS SETTINGS
RESET your GPS settings for trip, odo and maximum speed. all to zero
MAP View - go to Tools, Settings, MAP, 'Mapview', and select NORTH UP so that you will have perspective of the general directions we take. On TRACK UP, then you are always going North.
RECALCULATION MODE - Tools, Settings, Navigation, Recalculation mode- set to "Prompted", on Auto, you will never know if you missed a turn as the unit will just recalc and you can be separated, lost and alone- and in the Kak!
On 'prompted' you will have an opportunity to know you missed and to go back.
AUTOZOOM - Tools, settings, MAP, 'Autozoom', and select OFF. This will stop the unit auto zooming 3 seconds after you have set the zoom range so that you have the field of view your prefer.
(This is purely personal preference).
Fill your bike up as soon as you arrive tomorrow.
And set your tyre pressures for you preferred setting. I am setting to 1.7 bar front and 1.9 bar rear.
(tip, do not switch of ignition after riding off the pump apron to set your tyre. When you have the tyre readings up on the screen, use the side stand or the 'kill' switch to stop the engine, ignoition remains ON. Now you can see tyre pressure while deflating and you do not require a tyre gauge. Viola!
I will take off ABS and traction control before we leave Swartland.
I will keep my rain suite near top of top box.
Arno and I are fitting snorkels for the day.
Reciovery straps in top of topbox too.
Lets ride......!!!!
- 13 km to Kalbas kraal on the N7
- 5.5 km on the side road to Greater Chatsworth Hamlet and the gravel road along the railway line
- 30 km alongside the railroad track, this is where we have several water crossings, mud, granite chip ballast and multiple dips and twists, fallen trees and all on tweespoor.
- 2 km through Darling
- 40km all along the railway through the koring lande from Darling to Hopefield via Platteklip, Kiskoesvlei, Soutriver and the MBK silos.
- 25km from Hopefield to Langebaanweg railway siding
- 5.5 km on good service road along railway to the R45 underpass bridge and tar.
- 5.0km last part on tar to Juffroushoogte.
Order quick as soon as you arrive, they can be lekker stadig – dus mos velledrif mense.
Bike washed and time to reflect on a great ride. Riding was superb. Company was great. As a small group we made quick progress and were home by 3pm.
Thanks Andy for putting this together.
The full trip report with 65 photos can be viewed here:
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