Adventure Bike Riding

This weekend a couple of my buddies and I went riding with our adventure bikes. We ride a range of different bikes. This is often the subject of some bantering between us. Especially when something goes wrong with someone’s bike. After a bit of trail riding we got to our coffee and biscuit stop next to a dam and wetland. Here one of our friends got very intense when he talked about some TV program that portrait his bike brand as an incapable bike that breaks down. So if something was going to happen to someone, it had to happen to him, and it did! Immediately after the coffee, we all got on our bikes to continue with the trail, but our friends bike wouldn’t start. One of the guys grabbed his camera to capture us trying to push start our friend. You can imagine the bantering after this incident.

I wanted to findr some new dirt roads in our area that would be fun, technical and have scenery. Going through my maps and Google earth, I found some good trails that would fit these criteria, but they were closed of by selfish land owners. I say selfish because we would have loved to see these areas. There were some great mountain trails. Some went through rivers. These were roads that were open not to long ago, but the land owners have changed or they just decided to close them off. I understand that some of these properties needs to be secured, but then I would like to still have the option to arrange for us to pass through the gates. We would also like to enjoy these beautiful parts of our country. We are very echo friendly bikers. We enjoy and cherish nature and respect other people’s property.

It wasn't all bad. We had a great time, because we still found a new road that took us in another direction. We had a delicious breakfast, which is a requirement after a good offroad trip. And after the breakfast we headed home, but not before finding another fun and very technical trail over some koppies. What another great breakfast trip, with a great group of friends.

Sunset over Barberton

 

 Riding near Verena to Loskop Dam

Riding near Verena to Loskop Dam - HD Video

Unexpected surprises while on an adventure bike trip

One thing I have learned while exploring in South Africa is, you never know what is around the next corner. It is quite astounding to me how little is known about our beautiful country. And I don’t mean foreigners or tourists. I refer to local South Africans, and I include myself in there. I love the diversity that is available to us in SA. Whether it is nature, adventure, adrenalin or culture that excites you, we have it all. Many of my friends in Europe don’t have the freedom to take the nearest dirt road and just see were it leads. I use every opportunity I get to enjoy and explore the dirt roads or more unknown areas of our country. That said - in most instances we go to the popular places and then explore in those regions.

Four of us did a trip from Johannesburg to Barberton in Mpumalanga a while ago. My wife and I went down on my BMW R1200 GS on the Friday. There we met up with family and got to see the little town and its history in the local museum. My friend and his wife came down on his BMW R1150 GS Adventure on the Saturday. Because they had more time on the Saturday to ride down to Barberton, they took many interesting dirt roads. They arrived the Saturday afternoon at the hotel where we enjoyed the local hospitality. The Sunday we set off on our adventure ride to the Swaziland border, and a little known track that runs along side the boarder with Swaziland.

Riding on these amazing winding roads in the mountains, really makes you appreciate the blessing of SA.

The adrenalin starts to pump when you realize where you need to go down the mountains into the valleys bellow. We traveled on this one particular dirt road in the valley, when suddenly things changed!

Here in the middle of nowhere we came across a beautiful golf course. Then the dirt road changed into a narrow tar road, and then…

 There it was, a small ghost town.

There was not one person in this beautiful little town in the middle of nowhere. You can see how beautiful this place was in its heydays. No more than 500 meters on, you drive through a open boom gate and back on to a dirt road.

What an amazing discovery for us. This is an example of what awaits us if we are will to go off the beaten track.

I dare you to go out there and find some of these unexpected surprises, and then share them with me and others. Lets enjoy the blessings we have!!