Taylored Trips – MADMAX 1I got an invitation to join MADMAX 1 and it read like this.

“Vir die met are van staal”

turned out to be more to the point than anyone thought. Apparently Pierre locked the bar at 2.40am. This is what it looked like at a more respectable hour.

K'Buku Pub, Friday night

The route

looks like this.

MADMAX 1 Route

The rain gods blessed us with a bit of rain early on Saturday morning especially for the people in tents.

Early morning rain at K'Buku

We all headed west to Noll, taking detours to stay on the gravel and regrouped at the Ko-op to fill up with fuel. Unfortunately one bike, a BMW GS 1200 was

filled up with diesel by mistake so that needed to be drained and refilled before we got going again.

Noll's Halte Ko-op

Neither the fuel blunder or the rain dampened the spirits though and everyone was in high spirit and having fun.

Jan

Rassie

Jan had gone the extra mile and tricked out his vehicle in true Mad Max style.

Innovative packing, pretty impressive for a woman

We got going again and had a brief tar section on the N9. Here Cavert and Jan were making sure everyone behaved

getting onto the tar section.

Hard disciplinarian task-masters

The tar didn’t last too long and we were back on gravel again at Eenzaamheid. Yet another re-group and a few new additions to the

group. Lots of chirping and jibing was the order of the day.

Eenzaamheid re-group

Somebody did mention that at

this rate we would not make it to Willowmore by night-fall so we pressed on. Beautiful rolling hills and valleys with the Kammanassie Mountains in the background made a perfect backdrop for this epic first edition of MADMAX.

Rolling hills and valleys

All too soon the hydraulic sandwiches began to take their toll.

Nick and Ricky

The dreaded gravel road curse had to have its say and the Renault Duster was the unfortunate recipient, shod with virtually brand new tyres, I might add. We were able to plug it and pretty soon we were on our way again.

Puncture time

The historic missionary town of Dysselsdorp came into view which we by-passed as Jan did some wicked doughnuts to the delight of some onlookers. We hugged the railway line going

past the town steeped in religious history and came onto the tar road just above the quaint little town of De Rust. Meiringspoort followed with its majestic Swartberg Mountains looming high above us as we crossed and re-crossed the river for the umpteenth time before pulling into a rest spot near the northern part of

the poort for a brunch break.

Meiringspoort

Brunch Break

A fairly long tar section followed after Klaarstroom as we headed north on the N12. The total change

in terrain with long stretches of nothing, reminiscent of a Mad Max sequel, complete with a dusty whirlwind, gave some people a sudden rush of galloping gong-gaucas wanting to take wrong turns and U-turns. But Ian in the double-cab VW T2 bakkie didn’t falter one bit and he led us on the correct gravel road to

the buzzing metropolis of Rietbron.

True Mad Max scenes

Rietbron - this way

I don’t think Rietbron got the memo, because they weren’t expecting us. We hit town around 2.00pm and there

wasn’t a sole in sight, so we partied on without them.

Rietbron Party

Ian set the wheels in motion again as Jan continued to play. We didn’t want to leave but Willowmore was

calling so we said our goodbyes to Rietbron.We all got into Willowmore safely and started setting up camp. It was bitterly cold with an icy wind which must have come straight from Antarctica.

Everyone setting up camp

As the sun started going down it turned from bitterly cold to bitterly freezing cold. We lit fires and tried to

keep warm but that wind went right through you.Western Province beating the Blue Bulls in extra time at Newlands for the Currie Cup semi-final, together with some delicious food helped to warm us up.

Reason to celebrate

Sunday morning, still very cold and windy, we had to sit inside the tent to have our coffee. We were unfortu

nately unable to continue the rest of the ride due to work restraints so we packed up and set off early for Uniondale and K’Buku.

Aaah, coffee Willowmore Town Hall

Potjiesberg Pass K’Buku – this way

Huistoe!

And so ended MADMAX 1. A slick and well-oiled run through some amazing country-side with some

amazing people. Thanks Mark for the invite and thanks Pierre, Cavert, Ian and Antonie for the organising and for giving me the opportunity to join in on the fun. It was truly memorable.Be sure to watch this space next year this time for MADMAX 2.Until next time, “Keep on Tripping!”