Ruby River - GS ride - pics

Thanks for a great ride Drix! And thanks to Bruno the sweep! There was bit of everything: a bit of tweespoor (with sand, watery bits, little donga's,) and a bit of dirt highway through that lovely valley.
Just to confuse people - Marnus on the xChallenge

Knop-kop on the GSA...

Nice !!!

Hi all,
Thanks to Dani for helping me with the knee-pads (need a manual to operate BMW pants - fancy that)
Thanks to Drix for the awesome route, Bruno for the sweeping & all the gallant gents for helping me up after some close-up cow dung investigations
Thanks to everybody for a most enjoyable trip

Thanks Drix for a great day out, some great new tracks!!!!

Thanks to Bruno for being sweep, you did a great job, if only you stayed in SA you could have been on the GS Rides Committee next year!

And lastly, a HUUUUUUUGE thank you Marnus for the use of his mothership for the ride to Loskop. It is funny how we discuss things at the Friday night social, under the influence of a few Captains. In April we invited the bar ladies to join the ride, and this time Marnus made a suggestion that I ride his bike on Sunday. So be it.

I have never ridden a 1200Adv before, I have also never ridden a normal 1200 off-road before, apart from paddling Wahl's bike through a muddy patch. I once rode Pieter's 1150GSA for a few meters in sand, that was the full extent of my experience on a Boxer engine. So I was a bit nervous at first.

But oh boy was I surprised!!! That bike is awesome, it handles so easily and I never, not even once had a "moment'. I made a big deal out of the sheer size of the bike before I got onto it , but not once did I even notice the size. Even in the thick sandy patches, I felt the bike moving around, but all under control. The best was chasing Andre on his HP2 at well over 135kph on the dirt, a sixth gear is so sweet!! I now understand why Leo loves that kind of riding.

I now love the 1200Adv, but still love my BMX, but one thing this ride has taught me is that I am very comfortable on a big bike, in both technical bits (there were a few, but nothing to really worry anyone), and high speed dirt riding. I now know what my next bike will be, as I know I can handle a big bike.

My future bike was on the ride as well


I like cookies.................

Ooooh, citrus cookies!

Look, 90% of the time GS riders (including Honda's and KTM's - the spirit, not the brand...) have an automatic bond when riding off-road in a group due to the shared risks and joy we are going through, but there was just something special today.

Tx peeps, I think I enjoyed it the most! Awesome to see the newer faces having fun. Even nicer to do some of it again on the way back with almost everyone back in the group.

Bruno, fantastic to have trust in a trusty sweeper, great job! We already miss you... and Jens can't take over your spot as he leaves the country at the same time... ;(

Ruby is a great spot, will be back - next time for breakfast... and maybe some non-GS company...

Glad the route variations worked out well, I even threw in an untested bit that worked fine... no serious mishaps, just the sand patches causing a few minor spills. We started with 9 in Centurion, picked up another 9 in Rayton, and even a lonely Kawa joined us for a bit. Tell you what, some okes and their HP's can fly, and some bikes just can't pass a car when you are almost 1100cc's short of a 1200 and you leave the slipstream... hehe, love seeing Jaco throttling that 125!

Some phone pics...































Lovely pic of Mr Henrico on his freak HP2...




Knopkop wondering where the 1200 power has gone...

Lekkerte!! Seems like a great ride and a lot of fun!! Kind of sad that we missed out on this one!! Thanks for sharing though!!

Nice one!

Sorry we missed out again! The trip with the overnighter S-riders were also lots of fun, but it took MUCH longer to warm up than when going off-road. Will defnitely join again soon.

Hey, you guys made it on the Wilddog forum with this ride

http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=51007.0

Great report guys I saw you at the breakfast place and it looked like you had a great trip.

OliveOil wrote:.. Thanks to Dani for helping me with the knee-pads ..

Glad I could help!

OliveOil wrote:.. .Thanks to Drix for the awesome route **, Bruno for the sweeping ... Thanks to everybody for a most enjoyable trip

DITTO!!

Neither do I have action pictures...
but here are a few pics of relative new faces:

In Rayton: Bossie & Johan Strydom


Handré and our KTM-friend


Irma & Yolandie (wow this girl can ride!)
Hope to see you again on our rides and at the Clubhouse?!


Bossie and André with Ride leader Drix and his one-of-its-kind red 800GS.


Pity I had to turn around by 10h30 (family was waiting at home to celebrate
the arrival of my daughter from Stellenbosch and also Marius's B-day
)
but a little bit of GS-fun is always better than nothing!

** Great to have you on the Ride Comm, Drix!
Taking us on routes like this, you have no option of even thinking of retirement!
Thanks again!

Stop making me jealous.

I could not make it as planned as I was riding the stones of the kidneys this weekend gone by.

GSlady wrote:
Handré and our KTM-friend

Actually it's Handre and Dawie - both of them on Dakars

I'll post my couple of pictures a couple of moments, but first I have to say:

Drix, thank you very much for an awesome ride! If you were forks, you would have been WhitePowers!!!!

Bruno, thanks for being the patient sweep. Always difficult on such dusty rides, but you took it like a man

Oh dear.. my bad!
Forgive me Dawie! (Was that an insult!?)

Thanks Marnus

Some pictures from my side. I didn't stop to take pics of all the technical bits, because the XChallenge didn't want to! Knopkop - it was really fun riding over those sections like it wasn't even there! Like I said - it was like riding a grow-up 450 And I'm glad you rode the GSA - now you know what you want:



But back to the ride - On these roads, you have an option of mud or dust - we were served the latter - and generous helpings too! But it was awesome going to the same place on a different route - thanks again Drix - I know a lot of effort goes into planning your rides!

Meeting up in Silver Lakes to meet the rest of the group in Rayton.
Olive Oil's 650, Dani's 800, Andre's High Performance Twin, Jens on the 800, Knopkop's ride to Loskop and Tankgirl on the XC - Rockstar rider



Knopkop on the GSA - doesn't a big twin fit him like a glove???


Mario


Handre - nice form!!!


Jaco


Jens - Serendipity makes any other gravel roads seem tame, hey!


Dani, after realizing that the other track was occupied by a GSA and a cameraman! Thanks for joining us despite your other commitments!


Jarred - with a new windscreen!


Dawie - colleague and fellow Wilddog - he will be back for more clubrides!


In true fashion I couldn't only get a rear shot of the KTM990Adv


Hans?


Johan doing the ride with one busted fork seal!


Olive Oil and Bruno. Olive Oil had an interesting 'incident' and approaching the scene to assist, I notice a pile of 'stuff'. She confirmed that it was indeed COW dung

Marnus, where is this veld located?

Uhmmmm... you'll have to ask Drix. If I have to take a guess, it's probably 20 - 50km east of Rayton? Not sure though!