Riding Heaven


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Africa » South Africa
March 1st 2007
Published: March 17th 2007
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Riding on a SidewalkRiding on a SidewalkRiding on a Sidewalk

Single lane concrete road on the way to Willowmore
Today we ride from Graaff-Reinet to Prince Albert.

As I’m packing up this morning I found another large cockroach (size of my thumb), dead and on the bed sheet next to me. . I’m jealous of Bon Bon’s pet rock (refer to "Bloemfontein on Fumes") and for a moment I thought about mounting it to the front of my bike. I thought better and promptly disposed of my uninvited bedmate.

Today I’m riding with Ellen and Murray. After a week of riding in different groups I decided that Ellen and Murray suit my riding needs the best. They ride quickly, pick secondary roads, stop to take pictures and like to sleep in!

We ride secondary roads to Jansenville, Wolwefontein, Steytlerville and Willowmore before connecting to the N9 (support truck route). Along the way there’s discussion whether the road between Steytlerville and Willowmore is paved the last 30km. There are discrepancies between the maps but we resign ourselves that there’s no easy way around it so we go for it. Opposing traffic starts to dwindle as
we approach the “unpaved” section and I soon realize why the discrepancy.

The road is single lane concrete, one of the few cement roads left in South Africa. This is a hoot! It’s like riding on the sidewalk at 160 (disclaimer: I don’t condone speeding just safe, brisk riding). The shoulders are gravel and wide enough for cars to pull mostly off the road and allow us to pass on pavement. I can’t stop giggling.

The road to Prince Albert splits off the N9 onto R341 to De Rust. The route is changing from flat valley bottoms to mountain passes. During a high speed sweeper I lean my bike far enough to scrape the centre stand. I checked the chicken strip (the untreaded portion on a tire between the outer most rideable edge and the normal wear strip) on the rear tire and sure enough it’s not there! This is a high mark in my riding career since I never had the courage to lean the bike over to the max.

From De Rust we ride to Klaarstroom through Meiringspoort Pass which is spectacular! It’s like the Fraser Canyon back home except bigger. I hope the pictures do it justice.

We arrive in Prince Albert and already some of the other riders have turned around to re-ride Meiringspoort Pass several times. I’m so tired I’ve resigned to sit by the pool and take in some sun.

Dave K. and John V. arrive later raving about a gravel road through Swartberg Pass. They rode it several times but warned it’s only for experience riders. Several other riders jump on their bikes to check it out. They come back grinning ear to ear and I know I will have to ride it tomorrow.


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