Biting the dust

I wasn't planning on doing any riding yesterday except for a ride with a friend of mine who wanted to have a go on my other bike. He had a bike years ago and was thinking of getting one to beat the morning traffic, so the idea of getting some refresher experience sounded like a good idea to him. I was expecting his call around two.  My wife and son was taking a nap around noon and I was getting bored, so I decided to take my bike and go to Yzerfontein. I headed in that direction but got sidetracked when I stopped to refuel and saw another gravel road that I have never been on. One thing led to another and soon I found myself in a area called Morning Star. There were a few smallholdings in Southfork Ranch style like from the TV series Dallas, just on a smaller scale. It seems like everyone was breeding or doing something with horses. I was more interested in the gravel road and finding out where it was leading to, so I was heading on. I was thinking of returning here one day because learning to properly ride a horse is on my to-do list for 2010.

Anyway, I am starting to realize that riding on gravel and sand is not as easy as what Ewan McGreggor and Charlie Boorman form The Long Way Down made it look like. I am definitely very inexperienced when it comes to gravel riding. On a small section of the road I hit sand. I could feel how the bike was getting all wobbly underneath me. I don't have a problem with falling of a bike at that speed onto sand, but when your bike is 3 weeks old that idea becomes less favourable. Then the sand turned into something that I would refer to as powder rather than sand. At this point I was nearly standing still. I guess the more experienced riders would tell me never to stop and just to throttle through, but I made the mistake and stopped. When I put my feet down on what I thought was firm ground, it turned out to be nothing more than fluffed powder. I couldn't hold the bike and we both fell into the powdered sand, my bike nicely on her side, and me face first into the white powdered dust. I got up and all I could think of was my bike. I would not have been able to handle another dent in the fuel tank. The bike's engine was still runnning while it was lying on its side, so I killed the engine and with power that I don't know where I got from, I picked up the bike. There was no-one around at that time and I was stuck in the powdered sand. Then I remembered how Ewan and Charlie did it when they got stuck. I switched on the engine while standing beside the bike and rode it our while allowing it to rest against my body, making sure it does not fall again.

Well, to make a long story short, I eventually managed to get it to firmer soil. I checked the bike for any damage, but apart from my damaged ego the only other damage I found was the bracket holding the clutch lever that was broken. I managed to tighten it to a point where I could use it again and covered in white dust I decided to head home. I was thinking that the image of a ghost on a bike might unsettle some of the locals along the road so I headed straight home, not wanting to upset the children. Once home I washed the bike to look for more damage, but fortunately there wasn't any. The soft powder turned out to be a better choice for falling than concrete.

I will not stop exploring dirt roads, but I will definitely be much more careful when I hit sand again, but I am now thinking of dishing the horse riding lessons and rather go for proper offroad biking lessons....