Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

Saturday morning, 05H00, alarm goes off and the usual question is asked still half asleep, “Morning Love, are …….. hang on, that was last week. Are we really doing this again, getting up at an extreme hour on a weekend to go and meet Andy for a ride, surely not, the mind says nooooo but the body has no problem this time and so here we are again, dragging on bike kit before its light that has thankfully being washed since last weekend’s amazing ride to Oudtshoorn.

 Actually I’ve been up and gone back to bed already after making sure the DVD recorder was getting the first world superbike race of the year on disk. “Do you have any thing you’d like to say before the superbike season starts dear……….” That’s how I am, never miss a race, ever.

When our 4x4 trip was cancelled at the last hour and I said to Nats lets go with on Sunday’s ride, she said as long as it was with Andy, she jokingly says Geoff’s trips scare her. Geoff jokingly says he doesn’t blame her. I somehow think they are both serious and I haven’t got the heart to tell her this trip is Geoff’s planning but anyway, Andy’s group it is.

As we ride to the meeting point at Joostenberg Vlakte it’s nice and cool, which led me to my first mistake of thinking the weather would actually be quite nice today. I still ponder though, they said it would get hot, do we have enough water, and then relax, the minister of bringing water is just behind me. Natalie is a very thirsty girl on normal days.

 At the briefing, Natalie tells me that as it is our first ‘intermediate” ride, she wants to be at the back, so when Andy asks for a sweeper, I get an elbow in the ribs and her hand goes up, until mine takes its place. Deal done, we ride sweep.

 We set off for Malmesbury along the tar and a little later my weather prediction falls by the wayside as it becomes oven like suddenly, not quite as bad as Oudtshoorn, but still visor down hot.

 Outside of Malmesbury we stop to deflate, but not long and we are off, riding next to the N7 on what is still fairly decent dirt. Not much further down here and we are back onto tar and into Moorreesburg.

 Our back up ladies

Marita waiting

Andy and that darned GPS

Deflating tyres

We get back onto what is still fairly good dirt (where’s the intermediate stuff) and meander through the countryside. I haven’t really explored this part of the Swartland before and it is very pretty. Suddenly as we come over a rise we see the group parked on a bridge. It turns out to be the Berg River. It looked really inviting but I eventually didn’t get in, unlike Megan who with Andy’s help went for a quick swim. While we are resting I try to pick up on some of the names in my group, I don’t personally know anyone and Andy’s “say your name” introduction in the morning is long forgotten, the only one I can remember is Nico. I’m really bad with names unfortunately.

 Natalie over the Berg River

Andy insisted he take our picture

A rest at the Berg

They say forewarned is forearmed but I am quite glad that while Noeline is chatting to Natalie during this break she refrains from spilling the beans about what the road gets like after the next few corners. Especially as Natalie’s wrist is giving her problems again, it’s sore and her fingers keep going numb. It began giving problems on the way to Oudtshoorn and a week of weightlifting in-between hasn’t exactly helped.

 It’s almost like a rule; the more you move off the “main drags” the worse the condition of these backs roads become. In this case we get sand. As it turns out, it’s not really the sand monster, just sand. Hours spent on the enduro bikes at Melkbos 4x4, some pointers from Rony on his sand course, and some time spent riding our BMW’s round my mates quarry make sure we don’t buy any plots and as one gets used to the bike wiggling and moving it becomes somewhat easier as the kilometers go on. But it is definitely a different kettle of fish from the KDX which is about 110kg lighter.

What doesn’t get easier is riding behind Natalie. I usually ride in front so I don’t get to see her ride and my heart goes to my mouth a few times before she seems to relax and get her groove. I also find I am watching her and not what I am doing and have my own moment or two. But eventually the welcome sight of a rider with his hand in the air announces that we have reached the end of this little stretch and we turn right again back onto the tar. I know how Charlie felt in the Long Way Round when he lay down and kissed the black stuff.

 Not for long though as before I have got through the gearbox we turn right again onto what Andy called the Paluishewel Road. This road in not in bad condition and also takes us through some stunning scenery. But it also eventually levels out and becomes full of sandy plots waiting for a buyer. Some of these are quite long and I turn too the old look up thing and find it works even sitting, when the bike starts to move too much I gently squeeze the throttle and suddenly get full control back.

 Paluishewel somewhere here

As this roads ends, Natalie almost has a huge off, she hits a deep sand patch at speed and the bike lurches wildly, but she hangs on and we reach the tar and turn left, wait for the back up vehicle and head towards Eendekuil where we find the broken down bike drama going on in the heat of midday.

Broken bike in the back ground 

Once we resolve the situation and the non starting bike is on the trailer we head off over Piekernierskloof Pass to Citrusdal. Now I know this is Natalie’s favorite piece of road in the world but the fact is I cannot catch her going over here. I am pushing the Dakar as much as I dare but make no inroads into the distance between us, so it seems as if the “almost accident” is already forgotten and this is confirmed when I ride up to the garage in Citrusdal to find a beaming wife, despite the heat.

 Citrusdal refuel

We refuel at a the Engen as it is the only garage offering some shade, but no water as the owner turns off the taps on weekends. WTF. “Mense steel die water” we are told. Small town problems?

 After this we head out next to the N7 again and although the road is pretty boring at first, the closer one gets to the Algeria road the prettier it becomes as you pick up the Oliphants River and all the lovely sparkling white sand “pools” along this stretch.

At the intersection we wait again for the back up vehicle and then turn right to head up the pass towards the Algeria forest station.  This road is quite busy and after the top quite narrow which makes it tricky getting by cars if you get them at a bad place on the road as there is quite a drop off on our side. We stop briefly to regroup under the shade of some trees at the entrance to the Algeria campsite and then off again up the Uitkyk Pass, which I’d read somewhere was not in good condition. It’s not good, but then again not that bad either.

 Then the sh………. started. GPS says 49 km to the Oasis.

 The sand monster is no more. The pebble monster is now in charge. Small stones, round stones, small round stones, pebbles, gravel, call it what you want, it is not nice to ride over. Mixed in with sand traps, wash aways and some moto X whoop sized corrugations and you’re in for an exciting time.

 I quote from a very well know DS web-site:

“This road has no such polished surface. This means that the entire surface is covered in loose sand and small stones. Look up, look ahead!! Look to the area of A and pick out those patches that offer a better surface - keep the throttle open and ride towards them! If the bike snakes around a bit, keep the throttle open and stand up. Once you hit the harder surface the bike will steady up! Allow the motorcycle to follow the channels and ruts in the road and do not fight t the bike out of them.”

What do you mean if the bike snakes around a little, the bike felt like it had a puncture and in fact I stopped to verify this only to find myself looking at a normal tyre. Steer the bike towards ……. sometimes the bike was steering me, like I was a passenger on a run away horse. I wish I had more time there and will go back to experiment as when you’re chasing the pack there is no time to figure out the best way to handle these little menaces. We settle into some sort of rhythm, broken only by cars either coming towards us or that we need to pass, and then thank fully I can see Monkey Plum, the turn off the Wuppertal and I know the road is about to get way better. And best of all, still no plots bought. We put in an offer to purchase on one or two, but thank fully they just weren’t what we were looking for.

I cannot tell which was better, jumping into the pool at Kleinplasie in Oudtshoorn or jumping into the pool at the Oasis in the Cederberg. Both were equally as rejuvenating for mind body and soul. I suppose Oudtshoorn might have the edge as there we were done for the day, no more pulling on bike kit after that, only cold Windhoek’s.

Thanks Noeline

Lunch was fantastic and the bit of relaxation afterwards, in and out of the pool was as welcome as winning the lotto. Our neighbor is actually Gerrit’s sister so we have a quick chat about what a small place the world is.

Serious lunch?

Then we have to put the kit back on, as we do this I find I have de-robed and am trying to re-robe right on top of a huge ants nest. Really nasty red things that bite like hell. Anyway, after killing 50 or so (sorry but they attacked first) I am done and ready to leave, belly full and camel pack full.

 Truly an Oasis

From the Oasis to where the road eventually becomes tar again has got to be one of the nicest pieces of dirt in our province, through one of the prettiest areas. Just magnificent. We have a bit of a hic up when we find Marita standing thankfully in some shade with an over heating bike, which takes more than a liter of water to fill, but other than that we have a splendid ride into Ceres. Another area or road I want to go ride again as if I were on my own I would have stopped often to enjoy the surroundings.

The road from Oasis - splendid

We stop at a garage in Ceres to refuel and pump tyres. More drama ensues at Nico has his bike pumped full of diesel. Isn’t a Dakar like an Isuzu, can’t it run on anything? Whilst Andy helps out and seems to have things under control, we decide to hit the road as my GPS is already saying we are getting home at 19H45. Didn’t Geoff say at the meeting we should be home by 17H00 or something?

Déjà vu again as here we are, just the two of us smacking it to get home in the very late afternoon. Baines Kloof Pass is usually enjoyable but now the sun is directly in our eyes, we are tired, our backsides are sore and I have visions of some ad where the car makes the road nice and straight. I wish. Heaving the bike over from side to side to go round corners is actually an effort now.

Down the other side and onto the road to Durbanville. Again fast as we dare as our vision is severely limited in the setting sun. As we eventually get past Fisantekraal and turn left onto Wellington Road some guy with small parts and a big Range Rover tries to take both of us out by overtaking us whilst we are overtaking, only to turn off 800 meters up the road. I am so cross I give him my best GS glove clad middle finger and hope he’ll stop, because if he is not built like Arnold Schwarzenegger or can fight like Jet Li, he is going down. But he doesn’t and by the next robot my anger has subsided somewhat, not that he is forgiven or anything.

Then we are over the Durbanville Hills, across the N7 and onto Plattekloof Road. It is almost dark now but we can start to relax as three more turns and we are home. We stop at 19H50 outside the house, tired but once again happy. I’m puzzled, why is it when the trip is at an end you suddenly feel like you could ride another couple of 100 km’s.  

Anyway, we do the pack away thing and hold our customary debriefing in the jacuzzi. We are so bushed by now that only one favorite drink goes down the hatch, and we get to use our new tripod as Andy told us there must be a jacuzzi photograph. Then inside, Natalie goes to bed but I have recorded races to watch, and weren’t they bloody good.

The end ... again

Besides all the usual thanks, to Andy and Geoff  and all the folks on this trip, I’d like to thank a bloke called Bill Phillips. He wrote a book about getting in shape, I read it and it made sense, and although we are probably only 25% into this journey, being fit and full of energy has really helped enjoy these last two rides immensely. I cannot tell folks enough how it has changed our lives. In his words “if you’re not dead or bleeding profusely, there’s no real reason not to exercise”. These days I think it’s true.

Well, what’s next has happened and now Natalie says she wants to go on Brian’s mystery tour, so we have plans for next weekend already. Might be a bit rough for me as I have a meeting with a certain artist the day before, but we’ll see…………………………… I'll just have to tough it out.