Ridefast Sept 21

AVOID THIS ROAD AT ALL COSTS, which is a great
shame because it does ruin an otherwise epic riding route.
At Bambi Hotel it was left onto Schoemanskloof, over De
Beers Nek and some of the most glorious countryside
you can ever imagine. Schoemanskloof is God’s own
front garden where he shows off how green his fingers
really are. This is even more apparent once you whip over
PatataNek and into the citrus valleys below. The tar is
new, smooth and sweeps through the mountains like the
river of life. Full of them triangular signs with squiggly lines
warning motorist of impending doom and letting bikers
know that the fun is about to get real. Other than just living
our best life on these roads the other bit of excitement we
had was watching a helicopter with a bucket scooping up
water from a nearby dam and dumping it over a mountain
fire. Not something us Stadsjapies see every day and
listening to the beat of the rotors and the chopper flying in
low over the mountains brought back memories of days
in the military waiting for the relief brought in by or a ride
home in these beautiful machines.
A quick refuel and a cheeseburger and milkshake for lunch
at the Kami restaurant have down Schoemanskloof was in
order before our ride through “The Bom (Mbombela)” and
down one of the most spectacular passes to Barberton.
Fire Season
The ‘Hill Top’ pass on the R40 just outside Nelspruit has
some of the tightest sweeping bends you have ever come
across and is heaven for any track rider. It is undulating,
with some bends dropping away as you come around the
mountain or rising up to meet you as you get on the gas
coming out the other side. You can really get your knee
down here properly. It is a bit busy depending on the time
of day, but we spent an inordinate amount of time doing
U-turns and attacking the corners again and again and
again and … before heading off towards Barberton on a
brilliant section of tarmac for testing a bikes top end. Just
before Barberton we hooked a right onto the Badplaas/
Carolina road … and if you think that the roads couldn’t
get any better, well you would be mistaken. At this
point I swapped onto the Africa Twin to give Stefan, our
photographer a chance to ride the two super nakeds and
if you recall from last month’s issue, I took said Twin to a
cornering school at RedStar, so needless to say, despite
the hour and riding into the setting sun it was game on.
Nelshoogte Pass, sometimes known simply as Nelshoogte
or Nelsberg Pass, lies on the R38 between Barberton and
Badplaas directly north of the Nkomazi Wilderness area.
The pass is at once steep and dominated by the dense
pine forests of the Nelshoogte State Forest, which add to
the enchantment of the ride, (thanks for that description
www.sa-venues.com, really couldn’t have said it better
myself). The pass twists and turns around the mountains
with long open sweeping bends before descending
down into the lowlands in long flowing curves that saw
us running north of 200km/h before stopping for a final
refuel in Carolina and aiming at the setting sun to head for
home. After almost 11 hours in the saddle with
the temperature dropping faster than the setting sun
and truck traffic increasing, this bit of the road was in
okay condition but still a bit of a chore in the fading light.
Turning left onto the N4/N12 at ‘Generaals Draai’ and
whipping down the Freeway was very welcomed. Then
it was a burn down the highway, dodge the toll gate
between Middelburg and Witbank, and hang cable home.
And yes, even this was fun albeit incredibly hypothermic
running at speed on a well maintained highway in the dark
with your mates at your side.