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Welcome to my blog, these are the ramblings and musings of an (upper) middle aged biker and if you enjoy braais, (barbeques) beers and motorbikes then hopefully you will enjoy what Janet and I do; we do lots of braais, we drink lots of beer and we tour South Africa on our motorbike, which at the moment is a BMW R1200RT. Join us, read about what we do and please leave us your comments.



Thursday, October 21, 2010

Change of plans - what a blow!

We had such a good weekend organised but the weather has intervened, I had planned a Return to "Pakhuis Pass". That almost sounds like a Spaghetti Western starring Clint Eastwood! I had booked a chalet at the West Coast Hacienda, just outside of "Graafwater", some 28kms from Clanwilliam for two nights and we were going to do some exploring, but because I do not want to be walking amongst those majestic rock formations in the rain we have decided to postpone the trip.
I know what's going to happen, I need to make a front gate and now I will not have any excuse not to get busy with it. I have bought all of the materials so I'll just have to get on with it.
Everytime I have a ride planned and I have to cancel I end up imagining future rides, re-living the past rides and remembering particularly good sections of road that we regularly ride. Here I was on my way home from the Freedom Road rally at Stilbaai, this was taken fairly early on Sunday morning, with still nearly two hours to get home.
I am usually pretty grubby after a rally I must admit, it's usually just a case of running tap water over my head and brushing my teeth for the two days, who has time to take a shower? And anyway more often than not the facilities leave a lot to be desired! I also use deodorant so no-one would really notice, except maybe Janet when I greet her after a two day absence but she is diplomatic; "Go and have a nice shower dear!"
I always carry a couple of changes of clothing with me but very rarely use much of it!
Talking about rallies, Frank and I are going to the "Beaver Rally" at Heidelberg from the 12th to the 14th November. We have not been to one of these before so this is something to look forward to, about a 350km ride on the Friday so I will have to see how early I can get off work.
This "Beaver" is the little furry aquatic creature that builds dams, not that other kind of Beaver!
So anyway on Friday afternoon I will be back at the Phoenix bar playing pool with Frank and the boys, and I will be hoping that there will be at least a big enough gap in the weather to go for a ride, even if it is just to go somewhere for lunch.
Have a great one, keep the rubber side down and stay on two wheels, it's the best way to go!

4 comments:

Geoff James said...

Brilliant Andrew!

We call deodorant "Shower in a bottle" for exactly your reasons. For guy riders, underpants can last 4 days - forwards, backwards then inside out in both directions (never tried it though). If you want to travel light, try Icebreaker brand merino shirts. They are the best brand available and are guaranteed not to smell for up to 15 days. I've done 8 on a ride and it was fine!

the rider said...

Yeah Geoff, I was also told that if you throw your socks against the wall and they stick there, then it's time for a clean pair! I usually take only one tee shirt because we get a new one at the rally as part of the pre entry, so that's my clean shirt for the rest of the weekend.

SonjaM said...

I certainly understand the concept of traveling light, since my bike doesn't carry much. But what has happened to facilities like a laundry, or simply washing your stuff in a sink? Must be a guy thing... ;-)

the rider said...

Hi Sonja - yeah I guess it is pretty much a guy thing, although certainly if we are on the road for any time longer than just a weekend then we make use of laundries etc., It's only when I'm on a weekend rally that I get a bit grubby! And I love it!