Weekend ride to Tzaneen 29/01 to 31/01
 

Hi all you XT'ers South Africa- (ALL WELCOME!!)
We have finally come to the end of 2009 and 2010 is around the corner. January in SA is the best time for riding...lots of rain, mud , river crossings, green grasslands, Souf Afrikan sun etc...all the fun stuff to share with your beloved bike and friends.

Here is a trip we try to do once a year...
Friday 29th January 06:00 start in Pta. From there we follow dirt roads as much as possible in direction Marble Hall. On and on, hours of fun in the saddle for the whole day to Tzaneen (Limpopo).
Will be sleeping over at back packers just outside town.
Saturday morning set out on circle route of 400-500km depending on skills level of group.
Sunday 31/01/2010 back to Pta, more dirt, more fun.

What you will see:
incredible mountain passes
SA nature at it's best
lots of smiles from fellow riders!!!
dust if you ride in the back
miles and miles of dirt roads ---120km/hr qaulity

What you need:
1) a day leave for the friday
2) you must send me PM with your details, then i will mail you info
3) a bike, any adventure bike <1000cc with range of approx 200+km.
4) spirit of adventure...that comes natural for most South Africans :-)
5) RSVP 25th Jan.
6) own kit - tip: travel light, you will need to take your own sleeping bag...no tents and camping gear required. Backpackers have everything incl pizza delivery 6 clock at night...

Hope to hear from you soon.
Cheers
Gerhard Beukes

Ek gaan saam!, ek gaan saam!:bounce016:

so far...
 

Thanx Novice, that will make 5 of us then so far.
2 x XT's
1 x KTM 990 Adv
2 x KTM Super Enduro's

Better pack in that XT heart of yours:060:, those orange guys have a stong mind to convert us....think they are just jealous...don't worry, you will have lots of fun...as always...

Ek ga ook saam, my new tyres is on its way

Seems that the group grew overnight.
Currently we are standing on 9 riders. Good enough for me.
Going to be fun in the sun!!!

Ek's bly Johan!
Kan nie wag nie!

Would have loved to join you guys, but unfortunatly have a Golf league match that weekend. Get dirty and enjoy!

Next time, Catchy. It is worth the while. Just a matter of interest, and Gerhard can correct me in this.... For now we are 3 x XT's, 1 x HP1200, 1 GS1200, 2 x 950 Super Enduro's and 1 x XR650...a good mix

Anyway...good luck with your golf!

mmm...and there was only 1....only 1 XT between 4 KTM's...

3 day trip was awesome, will not stop talking about it for a very long time.
Will be doing it closer to winter again to avoid the 150meter river crossing we could not do due to heavy rains over past 2 weeks, had to do 185km detour.

Will be posting some pics / videos pretty soon.

Looking forword seeing your pics of the trip.:applause:Will definitely try to make the trip closer to winter!!!

Ek is definitief in vir die winter trip, wou baie graag saam gegaan het die naweek maar die vrou is hoogs swanger.

...toe was ek nie saam nie......my eie skuld! :088:

Maar::needpics[1]:!

Relax Novice, some of us work for a living, and have to catch up with a week's work that i missed last week....

OK, so here we go:

Friday morning 06:30 leaving from Pretoria. 4 x KTM's (the racehorses) and 1 XTR (faithfull donkey) ready for a weekend of fun. The one KTM got to the filling station, our start point with no problems, and then did not want to start (5km from home). Faultfinding lead us to the fuelpump that packed up, right there and then. Had to wait for first available repair shop to open, luckily Conrad at Offroad Cycles assisted with pump.
On the road by 8:15, and started off with misty, cloudy and wet weather. First day route is long and rough. +_ 640km with about 80% of that on gravel.

Getting over the Olifants river (approx 50km) from final destination was impossible, and we had to take 185km detour to Polokwane to reach our destination in Tzaneen. Fixing a puncture of one of the KTM's in Polokwane took away some valueble daylight time. Riding in the mist in the dark was not fun, and we reached backpackers just outside Tzaneen around 19:30 that night.
Next morning we were greeted by the sounds of dripping water on the roof of the little cabin, and a rainy wet day expected.

South Africa have a wide variety of mud....and let me tell you we had all of them in the next 430km that awaited us.
You get the type where you first stick, and then slip. Then you get the type where you slip first, then stick to it. Then you get the wet, splashy type that assures your visor to get dirty in the inside. Then you get the type that assures the guy behind you to get some in the face even when he is 20m behind. And then last but not least, you get the combo of all of the above. Fun fun fun.
Circle route of 430km (95%dirt) all packed into a single day, following the fence line along the Kruger National Park and various other rural parts of this beautiifull country. Luckily the rain did not come down on us too hard, high humidity and wet surroundings was the only moisture we had to deal with.
Plenty river crossings, deep ones and few not so deep was part of the fun....and yes the donkey was carrying the camera man, so in most of the cases, the donkey was the first one to put it's feet in the water, crossing it without hesitation.

Riding through the most beautifull part (Modjadji kloof) 30km from the end of the days ride was breathtaking experience.

Sunday morning time to wake up early and leave with clear skies and good weather. 520km lying ahead of us for the day, 70% of that being dirt. Some technican sections with thick sand kept the adrenalin of the race horses and the donkey in the red line, and made sure that the riders get their fair share of sand training. Ending the day with a 30km dirt section full of water, humps and bumps, and anything inbetween was the highlight of the trip.
It was here where the donkey (XT) decided to take a dip a few times to cool off. But i am convinced it was done on purpose by the driver to show the race horses how to get rid of all the mud on it's back....
Thank you for everybody who went along to make this trip a unforgetable experience.

We will be doing a follow up trip later this year outside the monsoon season to get through that Olifants river and up Oribaragwanath pass.
Enjoy some of the pics, resolution is not high, most of it is taken from my helmit cam on the back of the faithfull donkey.

GB (the donkye jockey)

O yes, and i forgot to mention there was a local guy at one of our pitstops coming along with his orange VW polo...he fitted in so nicely with the race horses...joke of the day was that he was the official KTM support vehicle....luckily the donkey did not need any of that...
:-))
GB

i am sick with envy!! :sick[1]:

Gret picks Gerhard...incredible ride!

Sorry i could't make it.

Lyk awesome!! Net te pics van die XT Gerhard (hahaha)
Ek wens ek kon dit maak!!! :076:

There will be more pics soon, and working on a video clip. Have to sort and edit 3 hours of video into something of 5 minutes.
Sorry for all the KTM pics, the camera man was on the XT, and he was on his bike most of the time.

So Novice, why don;t you tell us all what happened with you on the way???...
GB

a pic or 2 of the donkey....

....my header tank plug came out....50k's from home....looked like an aerobatic plane...Smoke on!

Looks like fun was had by all, nice ride.

What the moer is a header tank plug?
Where is that? and how did it come out....is this something that comes out normally?
And the smoke? Was that from oil on the exhaust?
GB

..it's that thingy that screws into the whatsesname where all the oil lives when its not in the engine....you know!

Hey, i tell you Gerhard, a lot of oil on you headers makes a lot of smoke!

I'm honestly very p!$$&d off i didn't make it. It was one of those rides nobody should miss!

That's a fact Novice!!
Looks like awesome fun!!