Piketberg Church fete

Last Saturday we gathered at the usual meeting point, the Engen One Stop on the R27 for the run through to Piketberg. We were fairly early and bought a cup of coffee while we waited for the others to arrive. Eventually eleven motorbikes and thirteen people set off at 09h00 in perfect calm and sunny weather and settled into a staggered formation along the R45, there was a light breeze to keep the temperature down but we could feel that it was going to be hot.

Div took the lead on his Harley Road King and immediately set up a good pace, blasting along at 140kmh. I was behind him and the others in formation behind me, with Frank the Road Captain bringing up the rear.

It was a lovely ride, I settled myself into it straight away and Janet was relaxed behind me, I consciously relaxed my shoulders leaving the stresses and worries of the previous work week to fall behind me and get blown away by the melodious growl of my exhaust, I was out on the road and loving it!

Our first stop was in Mooreesburg for the smokers and after about 45 minutes we lined the bikes up in the shade outside the service station.

From there it is a short hop onto the N7 and we turned north and again set up a lively pace, the road wasn't too busy and the few cars that there were did not get in or way. How wonderful it is to sweep past slow moving traffic, to leave the ordinary people far behind; "Bikers have more fun than people".

It's only about 30kms from Mooreesburg to Piketberg but it's a lovely stretch of road, being mindful of the ever present speed traps we enjoyed ourselves at a reasonable speed, well reasonable for us that is, and soon we were pulling into the picturesque town nestled at the foot of the Piketberge mountain range.

It is not difficult to find the Dutch Reformed Church in any of the small towns around South Africa, they are the most beautiful, ornate buildings and can be seen from miles away and this was no exception. What I was not expecting though, was the hundred or more motorbikes that were already lined up out side;

We wandered into the church grounds, towards the almost "Karaoke style" singing of gospel music over a sound system that had way too much base, to the busy breakfast area where the young people were bravely singing to an enthusiastic audience.

The church ladies were doing a sterling job catering for the huge crowd and were obviously well prepared, it wasn't long before we were tucking into a very reasonable breakfast which went down "singing hymns!"

We wandered around the farm stalls and gardens but soon decided that it was time to go off in search of a cold beer to counteract the baking heat, on the way out I admired this early Audi, a DKW, one of which I owned as a young man;

we are afterall, petrolheads by nature! From there it was a short ride down to the Mountain Creek Spur restaurant where we went in search of cold beer, and sure enough there was plenty.

We settled into the shade of the cool veranda to partake of our favourite libation and soon our entire group was gathered again;

From there, after refreshment, it was back along the N7 to Mooreesburg and another stop on the shady balcony at "De Oude Stoep" on the main road,

where the pretty young waitress cheerfully handled the teasing banter from the bunch of bikers, we spent a pleasant half hour or so there and then saddled up for the forty-five minute ride back to Vredenburg where we agreed to stop for an A.B.F.
By then it was mid afternoon and pretty hot, I saw 35,5celsius on my dashboard as we blasted back down the R45. Close to Vredenburg we encountered strong southerly winds which caused us to lean in to the left a bit but nothing could dampen the high spirits after a great day out on the bike.

The next ride for me seems to be the Swallow's Rally on the weekend of the 23rd to the 25th of March, I am not able to make it to the Buffalo Rally next weekend unfortunately. Ride safe brothers and sisters, keep the rubber side down and next I will write about a visit to the Strand Kombuis Seafood restaurant in Yzerfontein.

We go to the Capetown Bike Show

Sunday morning I was up bright and early, 06h30 to be precise, which is quite a long sleep in for me seeing as how I am normally up at 04h45. Plenty of time to get a cup of coffee and get ready for the day's ride and I saddled up at about 07h20 and headed out to the Engen One stop on the R27. It was a cool and crisp morning, partly cloudy and I could see that it had rained during the night as there were puddles of water and wet patches all over the roads. Hopefully that was all the rain we would get for the day.

Janet had elected not to accompany me, she had all manner of important things planned for the day, girly things that I didn't want to get involved with.

I bought a cup of Wimpy's famous coffee and chatted to the riders who were already there, gradually more and more arrived.

Lots of people like the coffee, eventually the group was 17 motorbikes and some 22 people that set out south towards Capetown and we planned the first stop at the Viper lounge so that those who needed to smoke could do so and those who needed to drink beer could also do so.

Willie, Div (El Presidente of the Meeulanders MCC) and Mike have a serious discussion outside the Viper lounge.

I featured this chopper on my last visit, the owner was riding it through to the Bike Show venue at Kommetjie, quite a long ride for a bike like that, rather him than me!

After a brief refreshment stop we headed out and as there was no way that we would all be able to stay together from there we set up a meeting place on the M3 freeway.

"Ou Kaapse Weg" (Old Cape Road) goes up and over that mountain in the background, a lovely ride to Kommetjie on the other side and the site of the Capetown Bike Show.

We were greeted at the gate by quite a few American girls, don't ask me why! We paid our money to get into the venue and started wandering around greeting old friends and checking out the trade and food stalls. Things started to go a bit "pear shaped"....

I felt a bit peckish and this was the portion of chips that I got for R15! They should have used a smaller box. It was shortly after that that I discovered there was no beer tent! They weren't going to keep bikers around for long without a beer tent, especially as it was very hot by then.

Dieter was there with a selection of Harleys and Victorys from the Viper Lounge,

Is it true what they say about pretty girls and fancy motorbikes?
Some of the nicest motorbikes were the ones that the visitors rode in on;

Very nice vintage sidecar rig, note the gear lever on the side of the tank.

A very impressive and clean looking Honda GL1800 Goldwing.

This couple arrived on a great looking Honda ST1300,

A really nice looking bike, but then maybe it's just that I've got thing for red motorbikes.

A pretty rugged looking air force themed bike.
We wandered around for an hour or so, chatted to old friends and had a good look around the trade stalls but then we decided that it was time to head off and get some lunch, the guys decided on "Doodles" in Blaauwberg and as it was right across the other side of the Peninsula we all agreed that we would make our own way over.

We settled in on the enclosed veranda and placed our orders, everyone gradually arrived, we hadn't been that far spread out on the ride through from Kommetjie.

My hake in crispy batter with chips wasn't too bad, the garlic butter sauce was great and at R59 it was a bargain, I finished up and said my goodbyes, took one last look at the beautiful view...

and headed for home, only an hour to Saldanha. It had been a good day out on the bike, I had ridden with a good bunch of people and had thoroughly enjoyed myself.
The Capetown Bike Show needs more work, there was not much to see as far as bikes were concerned, maybe more of the dealers need to get involved as well as suppliers of apparel and accessories and my goodness, a beer tent would make a huge difference but I suspect there are licensing issues there.
I hope that they made some money from the bikers coming and going, let's see what happens next year.

Local is Lekker!

The weather was quite strange this past weekend, hot but windy and I was keen to do some riding, I met Frank at the bike shop; West Coast Yamaha on Friday afternoon and after a bit of a chat and a cup of coffee with Craig and Monica we walked over to the "Rooikraans Pub" for a couple of games of pool. Frank's game is definitely improving and I only just managed to scrape a win, last week he beat me!

We did just about nothing on Saturday, which can also be a good thing but then I start getting antsy about Sunday, I really have to get out on the bike.

Sunday morning the wind was definitely a factor so I said to Janet; "Let's just do a local cruise, go and see Des in Velddrif and then end up somewhere for lunch."

She was cool with that so after the spa bath and bottle of bubbly, which is where we relax and discuss all sorts of things, which also resulted in me having to drive through to the mall to buy a new iron for Pumi, our maid who had managed to break the last one, we were good to go.

I realy enjoy Des' shop at No 1 Bokkom Boulevard, there is always something new to see and now there are two ladies; "Die Bokkom Susters" on the front veranda. We took a bit of a long detour on the way out; up past the Langebaan Weg airforce base and back down to the R27 for a high speed run through to Velddrif. Then the wind was behind us so we didn't notice it, but any run heading west we had to lean into the gusts coming in from the ocean.

It was good to be out on the road and the big red machine was performing extremely well, it is not a very fast bike, it is a comfortable long distance tourer but it will do more than 220kmh (just), which is quite fast enough for me now, I'm not interested in going any faster than that anymore.

We sat on the pleasant, colourful veranda and had a beer which we had taken along with us/had left in the fridge the last time (delete inapplicable) because Des doesn't have a liquor licence so he may not sell beer, and admired the view while we chatted.

Des had his lovely Suzuki side car rig parked next to the river for passers-by to admire and he has completed the very inviting looking jetty area where his customers can relax with their meals.

Des and I discussed the upcoming fifth annual Polar Bear run and tentatively set the date for the last weekend in July again and then we took our leave, it was time to ride some more.

Perhaps if the wind had not been so strong we would have ridden further but as it was we ended up in Langebaan and after cruising around the beach front restaurants which were already full to overflowing we settled into a comfortable booth at the Cattle Baron, which was already pretty crowded anyway.

They have a buffet lunch on Sunday, but thankfully they also have their a' la carte menu, I prefer to be served my food than have to walk through the tables with a plate full to overflowing with all of the other diners craning to get a look at what I have chosen.

My Pork rib and Prawn Combo at R103 was absolutely delicious, the ribs were tender, the prawns were fresh and the garlic butter sauce was dripping off my elbows at the end. Definitely something that I will have again.

Janet went for crumbed chicken breast on mashed potatoes with a creamy sauce which she also declared to be delicious and as it turns out I will be eating that on a sandwhich tomorrow at work, I just love the way she can't finish these meals most of the time. In fact I feel a bit hard done by if she does eat all of her food at a restaurant!

We cruised back home and took it easy, a very pleasant day all withing a 60km radius but sometimes you don't have to go far to have a good time, just being out on the bike makes it all worthwhile.

Next I will be writing about the Capetown Bike Show on Sunday, I'll tell you all about it - by the way, what do you think of the new look for this blog? I've still got some tweaking to do but your comments would be appreciated, is it better to read with black on a white background?

Capetown Bike Show

I recently received a request from the organisers to promote the upcoming CAPETOWN BIKE SHOW which will be taking place on Sunday 4th March between 10h00 and 16h00 and I really feel that this is something that we bikers need to support.

Apart from the fact that the event, which was launched successfully in December 2010, has been planned as an annual fundraiser for "Living Way", I feel that we have to support any event of this kind that takes place in Capetown.

We have very little in the way of motorcycle related events to attend here in the Cape, the second annual "Ink and Iron Show" was at Timor Hall earlier, which I thoroughly enjoyed and I hope that it will grow from strength to strength. We unfortunately lost out on the "Capetown Bike Festival" in early December for various reasons, otherwise all of the big events go to Johannesburg or Pretoria - we need to support whatever may be planned for the Cape!

The CAPETOWN BIKE SHOW will start at 10h00 on Sunday 4th March at the "Living Hope Campus" on Kommetjie Road, Kommetjie, there will be onsite parking for motorcycles (cagers will have to find their own spots!) and entrance will be R35 per person which will include a metal badge.
There will be outdoor motorcycle exhibits and displays from manufacturers and suppliers, the usual biker related stalls as well as food and refreshments and all funds raised will be going to "Living Way" which works to provide opportunities for people to earn their way out of poverty, this sounds like a very worthwhile beneficiary to me.

Check out the websites; www.capetownbikeshow.co.za and www.livingway.co.za for more details.

Hopefully I will be riding down with a contingent from the Meeulanders Motorcycle Club and I hope to see you there, this event is not only for bikers but would also be good for those of you who are unenlightened to the joys of two wheels. Come along and meet, mingle with and hug some bikers.

I don't think Janet will be going, when I suggested the ride to her she asked "How long are you going to be there?" All she wants to do is walk quickly around, have a look at the stalls and exhibits and then leave, she is not into the whole chill, meet and greet scene. She will probably stay home and chill.

Curiouser and curiouser

What I didn't tell you about last weekend was that our friend Janet had come up for the weekend to visit with wife Janet, so I was now stuck with the two women! Saturday's weather eventually cleared up, I was still very worried about my bike but when I went into the garage later she started without any problem, curiouser and curiouser!

Sunday we decided to have a braai and I had been saving this lovely big slab of lamb rib for just such an occasion.

Soon it was sizzling and browning over the coals, I then cut it into individual ribs, seasoned them with Aromat and lemon pepper and put them back on the grid to crisp up;

One of our favourite braai "starters"; crispy lamb ribs - delicious! For our lunch course I braaied some A grade lamb loin chops and some lovely "Spek" boerewors from my mate Steve's butchery, he has unfortunately since closed his business so it doesn't look like we're going to get any more of his wonderful meat!

Here's friend Janet helping herself to the salad and creamy Aromat potatoes, it was a good lunch.

This weekend we had occasion to attend a wedding in Capetown so it was with a certain amount of trepidation that we set out on the big red machine yesterday morning. We were feeling pretty relaxed because we started our day in the spa bath with a bottle of bubbly but I still wasn't sure how the bike was going to behave. It started at the first touch of the button and the new "Scorch" pipe blatted loudly as I turned the throttle, it was just around 10h00 as we accelerated happily out of Saldanha and took the all too familiar R27 headed south.

It was a warm and calm mid-summer's day, the temperature in the mid 20's already and not a breath of wind, actually perfect weather for riding and the bike was performing beautifully. I took it up to 140kmh, a very easy cruise for the 1200cc mill which at that speed was only running at about 4500rpm. Cages moved aside for me all the way down and within an easy and enjoyable hour we were cruising into the outskirts of Capetown.

Sunday morning, not feeling too bad at all after the wedding we took Dave out for breakfast at the Viper lounge,

The place was buzzing with bikers coming and going all the time, we wandered around looking at the bikes while we waited for our breakfast.

This rolling work of art is priced at R195,000, not my cup-of-tea but if you like this sort of thing go and have a look.

Dave and I both liked this rather understated Victory cruiser, matt black with white detail and very cool white-wall tyres - nice!

The R49 breakfast was perfectly adequate; two eggs, two bacon, boerewors, baked beans with toast and coffee (and cold Castle!) after which we said our goodbyes and headed home. Another enjoyable hour on the R27 where some guy in a Jag thought he could stay with me - Hah! 

The big red machine performed flawlessly, started up without hesitation every time and was smooth and powerful, as I said earlier; curiouser and curiouser!

There's a couple of things coming up soon, like the 2nd annual Capetown bike show on the 4th March which I will talk about next, also Africa Bike week in Margate which I am sorely tempted to attend this year, I have heard something disturbing about this though which I have to confirm first and that is that the organisers don't allow "other makes" into the town, that there is a designated parking area for those of us who don't ride Harleys - can this be true? I can't believe that, can I have comments from locals who have been there please? Cheers for now my brothers and sisters, stay safe!

Something wierd

I was up at about 06h00 after the cat jumped on the bed but seeing as how my alarm goes off at 04h45 every weekday, that was a long sleep-in. I was excited and keen to get going and by 07h00 I was showered dressed and ready to go.

The sky was partly cloudy, the sun was already shining and I thought that it looked like a great day for the bike, not too hot, a relief from the heat wave we had endured for the past six weeks or so.

Jan came outside with me to see me off and to take a couple of photos, there's hardly ever any photos of me in my blog entries!

Colours jacket on, engine warming up, say goodbye to the little woman and get out on the road.

And he's off!

The first thing I noticed, which I should have taken care of before I left, was that my helmet visor was filthy! I couldn't see very well, not what you want for a four hour trip. In beautiful conditions I rode through to the Engen One-stop on the R27 and washed the visor, started up and headed off again and what a difference being able to see makes!

I pulled out of the garage and blasted up to the R45 towards Malmesbury with the intention of going along to Mooreesburg and through to Riebeek. While I was cruising that old saying came to mind; "Don't ride faster than your Angel can fly." and I thought well my Angel's gonna have to do 140kmh because that's where I wanted to be, I wasn't going to do any low-flying today.

As I was riding east, really starting to enjoy myself, I became aware of quite a heavy, dark cloud ahead of me and soon the sun was gone and it felt like rain, then I rode into the edges of the storm. For the past few kilometres I could see that the road was wet, so I was catching up to it.

Rain?! For the past six weeks or so we had been complaining of heat-wave and now on the day that I want to go to a rally it starts to rain!

I pulled over, switched off and got my rain suit out of the pannier, one thing that experience has taught us is to get the rain suit on before you really need it!

I got back on the bike turned it on and thumbed the starter button and it dragged and wouldn't start! Shit now what? I tried again, worse, flat battery! Can't be, I tried again, now it just clicked! I couldn't believe it, what do I do now? It was 07h45, too early to phone the bike shop. I got off the bike and walked around it, got back on and tried again, no that didn't help, still wouldn't start.

Eventually at about 08h00 I managed to get hold of Monica from the bike shop and told her of my predicament, "Could Craig maybe come out here with a new battery for me?" She told me he would phone me back in a few minutes.

By then it was really raining and I thought if I could only get it started I would ride home and get the battery sorted out later, one more try; I switched on and thumbed the button and it fired up! I phoned Monica back and told her I was on my way. I had a very wet ride back to the bike shop in Vredenburg where Craig tested my battery, there was no problem, it was fully charged and showing a good reading - WTF??!!

Back at home Janet said to me "You were not supposed to go on this trip!" Was this intervention? It has happened to us before, on more than one occasion, makes you think doesn't it? 

Rally fever

It's late Friday night, tomorrow I am riding alone some 400kms to Stillbay to join up with some friends at the Freedom Road rally. I am so looking forward to this ride, I have already loaded the big red machine with all that I will need, (hopefully) but I think that I need a permanent checklist posted on my garage wall so that I don't forget something important.

I write out a list, starting with the obvious items like; tent, groundsheet, inflatable mattress, pump and sleeping bag so that I have a place to crawl into after a day's debauchery, and obviously I set all this up immediately on arrival because there's no way it will be done later, either by me or by my friends!

Next on the list is not so important; spare clothing  etc., I don't care if I stay in the same jeans and tee shirt for the whole weekend.

Toiletries are next, my toothpaste, deodorant and a towel are usually all that is needed for a fresh up in the morning because usually the showers are either inadequate or crowded so we wet our hair and brush our teeth under a nearby tap.

I always carry a toilet roll because I found out long ago that small rally ablution blocks are not always that well maintained.

Whisky flask, very important because I cannot drink beer all night.

My chair, which I wrote about some time ago, and which I haven't been able to use yet, and various clothing items for comfort depending on the weather conditions.

I think I've got it all covered.

This is the exciting part of the trip for me; the planning, loading and organising. I have my ride worked out and it's not going to be the shortest route, I am planning to avoid the N2 for as long as I can, I will ride through Montagu along the the R62, through Barrydale towards Ladismith and then cut down through Garcia's Pass into Riversdale. Then it's along the N2 for a bit, unavoidable I'm afraid.

It's after 10, I'm tired but most of the day I have been pre-viewing or imagining parts of tomorrow's ride and I am really looking forward to it, speak soon.

Back on line? (I hope!)

For quite a while now it appears that my blog was un-readable and I had no idea why, actually I still do not know what happened. Blogger pulled my adverts for some reason, it's not like I was making a fortune from them anyway! Trying to find out what happened is virtually impossible and very frustrating because you can't just phone someone and ask W.T.F.?! It seems like ever since then my blog went haywire.

I am not a computer boffin and every time I logged in to blogger my blog appeared just the way it always has done so for quite a while I had no idea that people couldn't read it, it wasn't until friends and family started talking that I found out. Hell I'm still going to have to phone around to find out if you can read this!

Anyway all of this resulted in me not doing any new posts until I could get it sorted, I have loaded a new template and it still needs a bit of fine tuning but I'm really hoping that you can read my stuff again, I really would appreciate comments on this people.

Not much has happened lately, it has been a very busy time but the silly season is over now and I am off on my first rally for the year. This weekend is the 31st anniversary of the Freedom Road rally in Stillbay and a lot of the local bikers are heading over there on Friday morning, I can't get away until Saturday but I am looking forward to a nice long ride on my own.

I intend taking the long way along the R62 through Barrydale and via the beautiful "Garcia's pass" into Riversdale, then along the N2 to Stillbay. I should be there by lunchtime when I will hopefully set up my tent with my friends.

I will let you know all about it later, stay with me friends and let's have those comments. 

Lunch in Capetown and we check out the Beach Club

Saturday it was still hot and humid, the past two weeks have seen a debilitating heatwave over the western cape, heat that saps your energy and keeps you continously damp and bad tempered. We saw temperatures in the high 30's celsius but I believe further north and inland there were recordings of close to 50!

We are lucky in Saldanha Bay in that the southerly wind blows in off the sea and over the bay itself, this tends to keep temperatures down slightly, but move away from the bay and you soon feel the temperature rise.

Luckily Sunday was forcast as the beginning of a slight relief from the heat as we were going to Capetown to meet up with Janet's sister Lesley and Leon for lunch and I desparately did not want to drive down, I wanted to ride! Sure enough Sunday morning it was considerably cooler as we saddled up, some 8 degrees cooler than the same time the previous Sunday.

It was a happy boy who guided the big red machine onto the R27 and powered south into the light south easterly which went some way to keeping things cool. It took us just about an hour to get to "Ons huisie" (Our house) restaurant in Blauwbergstrand and the weather was so pleasant that we found a nice table outside where we enjoyed a good lunch and two hours of pleasant company and conversation.

Before heading home I wanted to check in at the Viper lounge to see what was new in the "Victory" line of motorcycles they are selling;

This very nice looking Victory Vegas Jackpot was priced at R220,000, Janet wasn't too keen on the tiny little pad that she would have to perch on though.

This was a bit more to Janet's liking, priced at R269,000 - talk about a big red machine!

I liked the look of this one, priced at nearly R300,000 it has a lot of Arlen Ness custom parts as well as diamond cut engine fins and a really good looking paint job, but there was no top case/ back rest for Janet so I didn't buy it. Nice looking machines though.

The ride home was fast, enjoyable and uneventful with the BMW performing perfectly as usual, we both really enjoyed it and as we cruised into Saldanha the welcome cool breeze over the bay made us feel at home.

I had heard about a new pub that had opened up called the Beach Club so of course I wanted to check it out;

Our friend Ryno, who quite a few years ago started the "Captain's Cabin" has taken over the old beach sailing club which had never been very successful, and has made it into a casual beach pub/restaurant and I must say there is a lot of potential here.

There is a limited, light meal menu with items such as burgers, pizzas, fish and chips and calamari and chips etc., all at very reasonable prices.

Ryno's plan is to build a wooden deck outside in an "L" shape around the front of the building with shade, even though the facilities are quite casual at the moment, there were a good few people there.

Water sports are encouraged and the bay and the lagoon are popular areas for kite surfing in particular,

I'm not much into water sports but I'll certainly be back!