You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
So, early… definitely too early for a post winter solstice frikkin’<br />
cold morning, we donned all our warmest riding kit we could and<br />
saddled up with the sun just barely peeking over the horizon and<br />
the winters mist or smog still hanging low to the ground. Aiming at<br />
said ball of fire and the hope of warmer climes in that direction we<br />
set off down the highway to our first stop deep in the coal mining<br />
communities on the edge of the highveld.<br />
Quick stop at Bike City Middelburg<br />
The Ride<br />
Rolling down the highway at this time of the morning, with no<br />
protection from the wind on super nakeds is cold enough to freeze<br />
the balls off a brass monkey, (a phrase coined in the days of the<br />
old wooden warships, the cast iron cannon balls were stored next<br />
to the cannons on a tray called a monkey, in severely cold weather<br />
the brass would contract and spill the balls onto the deck, thus<br />
‘Freezing the balls off a brass monkey’ …go ‘fact check’ that).<br />
Even with a couple of layers and thermals under the riding kit,<br />
I was particularly grateful for the heated grips on the Beemer…<br />
Even though the freeway is fairly straight and uneventful,<br />
perfect for cruise control and sticking your gloved hands on<br />
the engine, it is still so lekker to ride with a couple of mates, all<br />
experiencing the same thing and watching their antics trying to<br />
stave off hypothermia and occasionally challenging each other<br />
to impromptu ‘roll-on’ drag races when the roads clear up a bit.<br />
Riding into coal country, (Middelburg, Mpumalanga to be exact),<br />
with the morning sun still quite low and seeing the headlights<br />
appearing out of the smog and mist emitting vapours from their<br />
exhausts is a strange and eery kind of beauty, faceless and<br />
anonymous slipping back into the same with a bright red glow<br />
trailing them.<br />
The most interesting characters are found in these hamlets, we<br />
stopped in at a dealer that has a particular fetish with building<br />
madly powerful superbike engines into ATV’s. After drooling all<br />
over his showroom and workshop floors and making arrangements<br />
to come to a proper ride on said beasties, (read about that this<br />
magazine and our sister magazine Dirt And Trail), it was off into the<br />
yonder mountains through the town of Middelburg and out along<br />
the main road for a fuel stop in Stofberg.
Change language