Well today turned out to be a day of mixed fortunes! I had said to Janet that if the weather turns out decent we should go for a ride, she was as usual up for that and so this morning I opened the curtains and gazed expectantly through the window. It looked clear although there was a rather heavy fog.
I tend to forget that I can use this computer to access the weather sites to find out beforehand what the day is going to be like. Note to self; check the long range forecasts for the Polar Bear run, but on the other hand do I really want to know? We are going anyway, maybe it will be better just to ride with the wet weather gear easily accessible if it's not already raining on Saturday morning.
We rode out of Saldanha this morning in patchy fog, sometimes thick enough to reduce my speed to 80kmh in places but we could see that it was burning off and the sky was a clear blue, no wind and the promise of a lovely day. Great stuff, we hadn't ridden anywhere for a while and I suggested that we head out towards Piketburg because that is my intended breakfast stop next weekend and I wanted to get the distance.
Saldanha to Mooreesburg is by now so familiar, a nice fast run along the R45 to the Mooreesburg turnoff and then a slow cruise for about 20kms to avoid the bumps and potholes before riding into the town, quiet on a Sunday morning.
I see that the new road is under construction, that will make things a lot more pleasant when that is completed.
I behaved myself cruising through Mooreesburg and out towards the N7, I took a left and then accelerated up to 120kmh forgetting that that area has an 80kmh restriction and there ahead of me I saw a traffic cop stride out onto the road to stop me - bugger!
We were one of several other dejected looking groups that had been stopped, the only bikers (so far) but I must admit that the female traffic officer was very polite and courteous and far nicer to deal with than her male counterparts have been on my previous dealings with them. Not that I often have dealings with traffic cops, you understand - just occasionally.
After receiving my fine for R1,400 we proceeded on towards Piketburg, this was going to make it an expensive lunch! We hit more fog patches, some very thick,
but still it was an enjoyable ride. I kept to the speed limit - because of the fog and slowed down at the outskirts of Piketburg and sure enough there was another traffic vehicle on the side of the road with a laser camera, alright he wouldn't have been able to get me because I don't have a front number plate but still I felt like the traffic cops were ganging up on me!
There were several bikers at the Spur restaurant when we pulled in, this always raises my spirits and I felt much better when I recognised some friends,
Steven and Carmen from the Meeulanders were riding with a few guys from the newly formed "Knights of the skies" out of the airforce base near Langebaan, the club had only just been registered but the guys had obviously been riding for a while and there were some nice bikes,
like this very good looking K6 GSXR. We had a very pleasant lunch at the Spur, I didn't bother to photograph any of it because Spur meals are Spur meals, usually good value for money.
While we were finishing up another group of bikers arrived, it is a popular venue for the Sunday riders so you'll always see bikers there which is a good recommendation as far as I'm concerned,
and we will be here for breakfast next Saturday.
Our ride home was very pleasant, we cruised along the very bumpy Velddrif road at 80 - 100kmh and were in the little town roughly an hour later. From there I was able to speed up through to Vredenburg where I checked the pubs to see if there were any other bikers around, none - so we headed home. 201 kms for the day, not very much by our standards but lovely to be out on the bike again and I'm looking forward to next weekend.
