Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

Oudtshoorn Dual Ride : Advanced group : Geoff

The Burn Out

Bikes : 18

Pillions : 1

After months of planning the almost "Anti-Climax" of all the preparations finally culminating on Saturday morning 20th February.

After the normal last minute cancellations that always create extra work for me the Ride was finally upon us. Friday night was the normal pattern of : drop our daughter in Paarl with the "outlaws" waste time making small talk with them knowing fully that lots of work still awaits us at home.

Drive from Paarl home at around 2200 and start getting ready :

• The previous night Neels had collected the back up vehicle.
• GPS : Check routes - again.
• Lay out tomorrows clothes.
• Camel packs full of water and in the freezer.
• Check that the bikes start and tyres are hard. (poor neighbours)
• Check that cell, helmet head set and two way radios are fully charged.
• Pack in top box, snacks (biltong, nuts, energy bars) into both bikes.
• Double check tools.
• Double check first aid kit.
• Check jacket pockets for sun screen, lip ice, pressure gauge, GPS locking tool, bent valve attachment for the 650's, zambuck, pen, etc.

2330 Slump into bed..........to tired to take a sleeping pill. Sleep solidly for about two hours........then off and on until 0500.

Up and both bikes out of the garage.

Noelene leaves at 0555 and I leave home at 0615.

As I leave I do a mental check..............I hope I have everything.

As I pull onto the N1 PistonPete (Doveton) comes flying past us on his KTM I doubt he even saw us!

Arrive at the meeting place and slowly tick off the arrivals as they come in for breakfast.

The nerves make certain of the riders slightly forgetful as all the info has been sent out more than once............

• What is our route?
• Must we refuel in Touwsriver?
• Where to from there?
• Can I fill up in Laingsburg?....we are not going there!!!!!
• What time is dinner?
• Etc, Etc!

We are finally all present and correct and after a short briefing we are all ready to rock.

We leave the garage and head for DuToits Kloof pass. As we start the ascent I see the group is badly spread out????? I stop and wait. Once we are all together again I find the problem.............we have a 650 X Challenge in the group, a first time rider with us.......he is only comfortable at 110-115kph. I send him off ahead as at this speed we will arrive in Oudtshoorn on Sunday.

He picks up speed and riding in the front of the convoy manages to keep up.

I am horrified to see that he is also riding without gloves ..........so shocked in fact that I forget to take him to task about this breaking of the cardinal rule of bike riding.

We  pull into the Total Garage in Touwsriver for a refuel and tyre deflation. It is getting HOT and there is no breeze to mention.

This done we head out of Touwsriver towards the Anysberg reserve on some good dirt roads where very reasonable speeds are maintained. We enter the Reserve and encounter the first of many gates..................Aaaarrrggghhhhhhhh how I hate gates and this ride has lots of them...........it is getting hotter.......upper 30's. We are consuming fluids at an alarming rate.

We ride past the old Allemorgans farm house and the old Station on the Makadat railway line between Touwsriver and Ladismith that was running up until the Laingsburg floods. Nice easy dirt tracks with lots of twisty turnies to keep you on your toes.

On route some of the riders have some close shaves with mother earth and a small plot or two are purchased.

On our arrival at VREDE the Reserve main office we pull up amongst the tree's and relax for a while dipping our heads into the cold water of the Reserve reservoir! One of the ladies buys a plot right here, not a bad place for a plot I thought. No damage!

Marius the Reserve Manager pops over and introduces himself to us and we have a great chat. He is happy to have us through his Reserve but asks that we ride slowly and don't rev the bikes excessively!

After a short rest we push on out of the Reserve on the Elandskloof road direction the "Witteberge" road.

This road is a lot more tricky than what we have ridden so far with lots of rocks and in places soft sand. There are also quite a few dry river/stream crossings.

About 6kms in I find some shade and wait for the group to catch up, it is VERY hot with not a breeze and the shade is not really shade. One of the ladies pulls up and in the soft sand her bike falls over.......pick her and the bike up, drink water....lots of it!

After about 20 minutes Phillip H arrives to say that Noeline T has fallen and her ankle/foot is very sore, she can not continue.

I take the satellite phone from the top box and call the back up vehicle, they are about 1 hour+ away. I direct them to where the problem is. I turn my bike around and back track to the accident scene. A tiny river crossing not more than 1m wide with a drop off into it and out the other side. Noeline can not have been doing more than 10kph when she fell with the bike on her ankle.

It is over 40 degrees. I am drenched in perspiration.

Park the bike check the patient....................she is laying in the shade with an ice pack on her ankle, she is as comfortable as possible under the circumstances with all the rocks and thorn trees around. I thank Hennie, Gunter & Phillip for getting her comfortable

Amid the searing heat and exhaustion I need a "pick me up"! My mind wanders to the days of the Neanderthal man when men looked for woman carrying a "club", where when he found one he bashed her on the head and dragged her home with him.

I imagined myself as one of them.....walking in this dry, barren, deserted, excruciatingly hot area.......and here I come upon a woman laying down next to a dry river. I don't even need to Club her as she is already laying down......all I need do is grab her by the hair and drag her back to my cave with me......................

A reality check.

I feel Noeline's ankle she just about goes through the roof, I don't feel her any more..........here's trouble! Broken ankle I guess.

We need to get Noeline to a more comfortable area and I need to get the rest of the group to an area where there is at least some breeze in the sweltering heat.

I swop GPS's with Hennie Botha and ask him to go and take the group up to the Witteberge Road a distance of about 20kms. I ask Gunter to stay put while I race back to Vrede and Marius the Reserve Manager.

I get there in no time all the while scolding myself for riding fast. I normally whistle to myself when the terrain get's tough, the tougher the terrain the more I whistle. Always the same tune but don't ask me what it is.

I am too hot to whistle!

At the Reserve Marius hops in his Land Rover and I call Neels again to find out where he is and to inform him that by the time he gets to Vrede Noeline will already be there, he must just collect her bike along the way the keys are in the ignition.

I rush back to Noeline and get there at the same time as Marius. We (Gunter,myself & Marius) load her into the Landie and she is off to the comfort of the Reserve offices. I ask Gunter to follow her and wait there for Neels. They can then reroute themselves to Oudtshoorn.

Hennie and the rest of their group are now about 1 hour ahead of me.

Off I go to catch up, sand, more sand, sand, rocks, lots of rocks, gates, big gates, drink, force yourself to drink, thorn trees that throw you off line.................after about the 4th gate I open and close I find that I am too exhausted to pull the bike upright off the side stand............my tank is empty, I am riding on adrenalin only, the stamina is finished.

I push on and come into an S bend under some steam, I make the right hander no problem but overcook the leftie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the split second that I decide I will not make it I realize................................................Oh sh*t...................................If I fall here I will never be able to pick up this Adventure of mine. I go straight onto another track and instantly sink up to the spokes in very soft sand. I have been standing, I don't sit down I literally jump off the pegs with my bum hitting the saddle and feet hitting the soft sand simultaneously. I manage by the Grace of God to keep the bike upright.

Now to turn it.......................

After a gesukkel I get the bike turned I am absolutely wiped out, drenched with perspiration, sweat running into my eyes, my heart pumping and my lungs screaming out for air, preferably cold! My chest feels like a fireball.

I get back onto the main track, knees wobbly.

Another gate.

You guessed it I said something like "Oh darn it there is another gate up ahead, no problem................" yea right!!!!!!!!!!!!

Park the bike so that I don't have to lift it off the stand when I get on it again. Open the gate and push the bike through using the gears and engine. Close it. Drink deeply on my rapidly diminishing water supply.

Off I go again, laughing out loud as I see the "drunken cockroach" tracks of the riders in front of me.............how do they manage to zig zag like that and still keep going.

Eventually I see the the back up vehicle approaching me. What a site for sore eyes. Help is close at hand for Noeline and I am close to the Witteberge Road.

It is over 40 degrees.

I reach the road and see that Hennie has pushed on with the group to get them out of the searing heat.

I high tail it after them. Riding the Adventure with gay abandon, sliding the corners, jumping the culverts, like a race horse with it's reins released. The bike loves it, shaking it's head occasionally if I do something naughty as if to say "watch it you are now getting beyond your means"..........pop the clutch and momentarily raise the front wheel and the shaking stops.

Far in the distance I see the clouds of dust about 3kms ahead of me. Ahhh my group. I stop and dig in my top box for something to eat. I ride after the group with one hand while eating with the other. I catch up to the group at the Tar road just outside Laingsburg.

I know what awaits us on the next stretch so ask all riders if they are OK. All are ready to go.

It is now 44 degrees, the hot air feels like a furnace fire as we ride along.

There are lots of gates on this section................BIG ones, big ones, sliding ones, easy ones, difficult ones, then there's sand, lots of sand, not deep but deep enough to catch you out if you do not concentrate 100% all the time. Water is becoming an issue, the bikes are ready to overheat, some do. We have punctures, many punctures. We plug them and pump them.

The only conversation is "how far to Prince Albert", I lie, not wanting to tell them the truth for fear that they may throw in the towel, a very dry one at that!

Finally the hot, dry, dusty Karoo spits us out onto the Tar road 20kms from PA. The temperature is over 44 degrees.

We fill up and visit the Bush Pub, they have an outside garden roof sprinkler system we stand under it until we are drenched. My beer shandy goes down without touching sides.

Swartberg pass awaits us.

After about an hour I drag the group away and we tackle the beautiful Pass stopping at the top to admire the view in the setting sun and to regroup.

Tired, hot as hell, and gatvol...
The descent of the pass and the tar road into Oudtshoorn was a doddle in the fading light.

We arrived at Kleinplaas just before dark and in time for a swim before dinner.

It was 47 degrees.

The braai done for us by the Kleinplaas caterers was absolutely fantastic and was accompanied by some delicious Ostrich steak starters, nummies.

But for the regular die hards the rest of the groups were all in bed very early. Most unfortunately did not sleep well. A mixture I suggest of exhaustion, dehydration and the prevailing heat!

Sunday dawned with a few clouds around and my group left back towards the Cango Caves and along the "garden route" of the Karoo to Calitzdorp.

While riding here my oil light came on forcing me to cut the dirt loop short and head for the tar and Calitzdorp where I filled up with oil.

We exited Calitzdorp going out towards the Spa and then on to Van Wyksdorp. Here we had the pleasure of temperatures around the mid 30's and as low as the mid 20's as we had an uneventful trip heading on dirt to Barrydale for petrol and air then to the Karoo Saloon for some well deserved drinks and Pizzas.

Feeling rather bloated and with the effects of the previous days still very evident we headed for home. We only had one incident when Sean had a flat front tyre. This he remedied with "tyre fix" and this lasted until he arrived home.

I was home at 1600.

What a trip,

What a group, including 6 then 5 ladies.

Kleinplaas, what a value for money place.

Thanks go to Gunter, Hennie & Phillip for stabilizing Noeline after her fall. To Gunter for then staying with her until the back up vehicle arrived. A big thanks to Neels & Anna-Marie for all the "back up" work you did in getting Noeline sorted out on the road and especially again to Anna-Marie for hanging in for all those hours at the Oudtshoorn provincial hospital while they waited and waited and waited for her to be seen by a Dr. then the X Rays then to get the Dr. to analise them, and, and, and!

Diagnosis, broken ankle and a broken bone in her foot.

Anna-Marie you deserve a medal for not murdering all (or most) of the "don't care less" staff at the hospital..........Oh and don't forget, "we cant help you now as we are going off duty, you will have to wait for the night shift"!!!!!! Yea right!

Till next time, keep those bikes on their wheels.

Geoff