Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

Corne 650 GS Robin 250 Honda Chris 1200 Adventure Renette 1200 GS We met at the Swartland One Stop at 7h30 for 8. I am pleased to see Chris who I had met in the Sutherland Hotel last week , he was in Rony's group . The 4th rider is Corne's partner Taryn's father .I had had a bad night of food poisoning and excruciating stomach cramps, so was relieved to be able to make the trip today . As per Corne's advice I didn't even bother to put on my rain suit as we were going to be wet anyway . I did put on a rainproof top underneath my jacket, but took the padding out of my gear ,as I knew this trip was going to be hard work and we were going to get hot and sweaty . Just a few km's after the Winelands Stop we trurned left and then right ,and we soon see the Darling tracks .We stop to deflate and I mistakenly took out too much air and am left with only one bar in the back and 1,3 bar in the front. But Corne's "father-in -law" Robin who is an amazing dirt rider assures me this is great for mud and turns out he was right. Not for the first time I wonder why God made me so mad about bikes and such a scarity cat at the same time, which results in me spending too much time wrestling my mind . The one half of me wants to go, go, go, but my mind wants to freeze up, and go home and crawl under my blankies .Anyway today the hooligan part has the upper hand, but only by a hair's breath, and I will have to fight to keep myself brave. The weather is perfect . It is not raining hard, but it drizzles constantly and there is mud everywhere. I soon realise that my worst wobblies occur when I try to avoid the puddles. It is often more slippery around the immediate edges of the puddles, and sometimes even worse going off the track trying to go wide around the puddle. That's the thick mud innocently looking like friendly grass. So as Charles says it is indeed a trade -off .I mostly choose to ride straight through the centre of the puddles as the Darling tracks is quite a well traveled dirt biker's route , so there shouldn't be any obstacles lying in wait in the puddles. Corne ,who I would follow to the ends of the earth on a bike trip, is leading . His calmness is contagious ,and I keep telling myself to breathe ,as I know I have to stay calm and collected to be ready to dance on those pegs ,when the mud monster stars dragging me down. I also get a macabre satisfaction that we are pitting our wits and strength agains mother mud . My nerves settle as I realise that slipping and sliding does not equate falling . I stay calm enough to ride my way out of all the slipping and sliding . In fact we don't have any falls or side stand incidents the whole day. There are dozens and dozens of puddles, but only 5 or so deepish ponds that we have to cross . The one which nearly gets me has deep ruts going into the water. I think to myself: "this looks bad, very bad" and "I am going to fall". I am not sure if I jinxed myself, or whether this was indeed a difficult puddle, but I slide all the way to the far right of the pond , kiss the trees, and seconds before I go down , I decide that I don't have to fall .I have nothing to lose so I go for it even if it is hopeless. I look up, open up, and to my greatest delight and astonishment I manage to rev my way out of the fall and toward the exit. I make it to the exit of the pond , then slip and slide again in the ruts coming out, onto the centre island , then over to the left track and then all the way into the right track , where I manage to calm the frisky bike to a stop . I stop for a quick session of hyper -ventilation. Once I get my breath back I realise that I am on a high and proud of myself for conquering my fear and just doing it. The other particularly problematic puddle lies at the bottom of a very suddenly steep decline ,but hey I feel that just for today I cracked the code and I cross this one no problem. What scares me most about riding through the deeper ponds, besides the entrances and the exits , is that somewhere in the middle of the pond the bike starts to slow down. I don't know if that is the water slowing down the bike ,or whether it is loss of traction. But I recall Charles saying to rev it up which I do ever so slightly and that seems to work . But it is very disconcerting when it feels that both my bike and my heart wants to stand still in the middle of the ponds . One endlessly long muddy section goes into the water and out the water for nearly a hundred metres . This one is hard for me ,as the sections between the water are very slippery , but we all do swimmingly well . Now it starts to rain harder and the track becomes puppy slush , all of it, there is mud everywhere, including on me ,on my clothes and on the bike . But more importantly my bike handles surprisingy well, and I am even smiling a little and remembering to breathe. We arrive at the outskirts of Darling. We are of course all of us wet, all over . Corne and I have inches of water in our boots, and I am soaked to the skin from rain , mud and sweat . Lekker. I am already contemplating a hot bath when Corne informs us that we are actually not returning on tar, but on some little route planned for us over Bok- something- or- other. My heart sinks . I guess , correctly as it turns out that the route back is far worse than the Darling tracks , well for me at least. We are not even over the first hill ,when I spy a long winding down hill. I am thankful that Doc Pete ( Pete O ) invited me to join them ,when he trained some of the the Biker Life Savers yesterday. We did cones ,but more importantly, we did my one big weakness on dirt which is braking , in fact we practised both front and back emergency braking and on wettish ground. This, together with all the ladies training PeteO has given us this year and my training with Lourens, helps me butt my way around the corners, and even braking occasionally . Then my heart sinks . Around a corner I witness a particularly bad down-hill . Yes it is mud and sand and ruts and dongas and and and but most of all it is very steep . I will simply have to brake , I cannot only rely on first gear engine braking and I am simply to chicken yet to activate my ABS back on , like Rony suggested. So heart in my thoat and very slowly I go for it . It is hard as there are obstacles and ruts and in between I have to brake. Thank God yesterday Pete also showed us how to decelerate just before an obstacle and then to accelerate over it. I now have plenty of time to practise this brand new skill, and this whilst going down a steep very muddy hill-side!!. Yes I am here to learn, but did it have to be all my fears in one go ? But I make it , braking and sliding and all. Here I have to force myself to look around at the scenery to try and calm myself down as I am scared that I might go into panic mode and I know that the sand is coming. I look up and see a beautiful pastoral sight , a whole field full of ewes and freshly born lambs , and even more poetic the whole lot of them are painted pink . Every one from small to big has a big splash of shocking pink on the right side of their cuddly bodies. I smile when I think of how much Neil would have enjoyed this sight. Suitably calm again I am ready to do battle with the sand. The last difficult obstacle is the dreaded sand , a fairly longish piece, but it is fortunately hard sand, and surprisingly I make it quite easily. I think that after all that mud I feel like I can conquer anything , well at least till next time ! In fact I quite enjoy this section and I enjoy gassing it out of the snakes. At one stage I had a choice of sand in the left spoor and mud in the right . I choose the mud . I will choose mud over sand any day. And so we make our way onto the Darling road that ends at the entrance to Grotto Bay at the crossing with the R27. To my surprise I am disappointed that we are back on tar and that the fun is over . I thoroughly enjoyed the day, every minute of it, and can't wait to go ride with Corne again. We stop at the Bush pub where I innocently ask if they serve Rooibos Tea, and have to witness the bartender throwing a huge tantrum . He started ranting and raving about how this is a pub ,and yes there is a kitchen ,but only his staff can have coffee , this is a pub how dare I ask for tea and on and on. I was so astonished and fascinated at his rage that I forgot to feel insulted. I decided to not order anything as the other options were just too cold. We have a quick chat, but we are all chilly so pack it up real quick . We do manage to get one or two photos in the parking lot , as previously it was simply raining too much to take photos. I am sure Corne will post some photos. This is the second most tired I have been on a ride this year, the other time was when Corne took me up to the Kleinmond Reservoir. I am still convinced that that time he played a cruel practical joke on me, as that was not a road at all , not even a track. But I know I will ride with Corne again , he is gutsy , enterprising, yet safe. I do enjoy my hot bath and can't wait to write down my thoughts to amuse myself, and hopefully others as well, with regards to our glorious wet and muddy and lekker trip all along the Darling tracks .