On air!

This morning, we had the privilege of being invited to be on air on The Living Room 938 Live with Stanley and Pamela. Both great hosts, we had a wonderful time chatting about the trip and even managed to put in a short spiel about the wonderful sponsors we found within the Singapore community!

Repeat broadcast will be tonight from 11pm till midnight.

Done & Dusted

18 strangers brought together by a common cause. Here we were, the Orange Team at the end of the 2000km enduro, not just any ordinary tour, but one with bumps & bruises. Temporary scars but permanent friendships.

The journey wouldn't have been possible without the helping hands of fellow team members, stepping forward to help the other fallen biker through the ruts, rivers & ravines. It wasn't about getting to the end first by yourself, but more to get the whole team to the endpoint safely.

On our final dinner together, contacts where exchanged, momentos signed & a plan to meet up again soon.

Muddy Cakes!

25 Oct - Mansfield Game Reserve to Port Elizabeth

200km day. We rode out of Mansfield going through gravelly roads & some good tarmac. Lunch was at Schotia Game Reserve, where we went for a 4x4 ride through to see the animals. Warthog stew was served during lunch.

The last leg of the day was a police escorted convoy of all the teams into Port Elizabeth. We were expecting an uneventful highway ride when we were let to turn off a final off road section! A surprise planned by the organisers to let us all have a go at the sandy motorcross trail. All hell broke loose. There was so much sliding & wheel spins amidst the jumps ... All agreed it was the sting in the tail for this event. Ros managed to do a few jumps & was getting the hang of it with a big smile when she misjudged a landing & fell hard on on the side just a short distance from the end point.

With that section cleared & sand in our boots, we got to the final hotel for our stay. The night of celebration & final pictures with the friends that we've all made in the last gruelling week together.

24 Oct - Katberg Inn to Mansfield Game Reserve

260km today. Climbed a mountain pass outside the hotel, ascending a rock strewn jeep track, with loose cabbage sized rocks causing the bike to bounce violently. On the descent, the trail reminds of Camerons backroad. Riding was almost at max speed of the bike, sun shining but wind chill sufficient for everyone to put on raincoats. Even the Dainese D-Dry was zipped up to the top and that was barely enough. A free lunch at Grahamstown KFC as the manager thought the British royals were with the orange team!

After lunch, Red team attempted to filter thru our group and Seung stuck onto the tail of Prince William. Turns out he is an excellent rider, Seung having to use the mountain bike racing skills and max revs a couple gears to keep up. At the end of the 10 minutes, we came to the regroup point and William was looking thrilled for the ride. He was also suitably impressed by the speed at which the Johnson girls were riding at. Descending the roads, Kirsty had a spill just minutes from the resort... Evening at Mansfield private reserve, on an open air platform in 12 degrees temp with 10 other people in double deck beds.

During dinner, made it a point to have a short chat with William, just talking about bikes and riding in our respective countries. Turns out he owns a Ducati 1098 and rides in the UK with just two body guards in tow. "i'm not like the President of America with 1000 body guards.", he said matter of factly and with a regal smile.

23 Oct - Morgans Bay to Katberg Inn

290km on a scrambler on country roads! Leave Morgan Bay in the morning, cross country riding on 30km of super muddy jeep tracks. What a waste of freshly laundered riding gear.

Stopped by The Internal Combustion Museum. This place showcases various i/c engines, especially a single cylinder diesel engine with displacement of 27 litres! Then we headed to Thomas River historical village for lunch. At this place, there was also a small museum of antique cars & vans. Unlike anything we've seen. The day rolled on and Seung managed to try out Eddie's CRF250. So much more power, lighter, longer suspension! Ironically it would be less tiring to ride that bike. Last 1 hour to the Katberg nature reservce was a bad combination of sun in our eyes and dust plumes in glowing orange. Ros went too fast in a left corner, headed into the bushes instead.

More riding

22 Oct - Morgan Bay
Non riding day today at Morgan Bay. Bikes all got serviced with new oil, cleaned up air filter & lubed chains. The group visited a creche & painted their walls, donated mattresses, blankets, colouring books & made a huge swing for the kids! Mid day was a charity soccer match....Prince Harry & William also on the field with the boys. The final score was 6-2 with the local team trashing the tired bikers. Mike Glover from Red Cherry Adventures donated 10,000 Rand per goal.

21 Oct - Mazeppa Bay Hotel to Morgan Bay
only the low road option is offered today, but it was planned to be a short day. so we did a beautiful day in the saddle! Blue skies, scattering on white clouds and a trail that wound it's way from hill crest to valleys with occasional shallow streams to cross.

20 Oct - Hole In The Wall to Mazeppa Bay Hotel
Seung was now nursing some facial scars & a swollen palm. Ros also wanted a easy day as she was having aches in her arms & shoulders. So we both chose the high road option. Turned out to be an excellent choice and we travelled 150km on country tracks.

Full day on the bike

19 Oct - Mbotyi River Lodge to Hole In The Wall
The day starts off with two groups being formed, the high road & the low road.
Ros, arms still sore from yesterday's hard ride, went for the high road. The group rode through scenic tarmac road, with long sweeping curves. Smooth debris-less road felt like such luxury! And time to take pics too.

For the morning low road, Seung went thru single track in the forest, while having more chances to try out stream crossings and managing to simply ride to the crest of any nearby hill. There was a forest section with tight single track climb, culminating in shallow plateau.

We converged for lunch & continued the day together on the technical route. Then the drama....
Having made his way successfully up steep rocky steps, Seung was so relieved, got off the bike & took off his helmet to help the rest of the riders up, only to step forward & miss his footing falling flat on his face! Battle scars now marked. ;(

News spread fast & Seung was nominated as "spirit of the day" award. All 90 riders heard of his infamous story...


18 Oct - Durban to Mbotyi River Lodge
7am breakfast, 8am ride off! After 5km of tarmac section, we head straight into off road with river crossings, steep downhills, off camber traverse on grassy slopes. At times we felt like kids riding thru a monster sized playground with no rules! Choose where u want to go and just whack! Somemore got spare bike by the organiser.


Then came the tough bit! We were made to ride up a 30% incline that was strewn with cabbage sized rocks. Ros fell three times while i fell once... All falls were at low speed, so we flopped harmlessly onto the thick grass, while fellow bikers came to rescue. Followed by a whole afternoon of roaming the rolling hills with grassy plains, horses, cows, and villagers strewn all over the slopes. What do they do for a living? Lining the tracks were scatterings of villagers and the kids waving hello. Where were the adults? Surreal... We ended by a scenic stop at Magwa Gorge and spent the night at Mboyti River Lodge .

Johannesburg & Durban

17 Oct - Johannesburg to Durban
Made it to the airport on time! Hook up with the rest of Enduro Africa group of guys, turns out we are definitely the only two Asians in the group! we are also in the Orange group and Ros quickly makes friends with three British sisters. All of them are signed up on this ride because their dad is also doing it!

16 Oct
We do a day tour of J'burg, Soweto, Pretoria and take in some sights.

15 Oct
We touchdown in Johannesburg & the hotel that we originally booked is FULL!
So they organised for us to stay at a nearby b&b Thyssen House, run by Johan & Myra...

SMSA - not just for the elitists !!!

Running the Enduro Africa project has shown us there are more good Singaporeans out there. And perhaps we are truly on the way to becoming a gracious society in a First World economy...

Discussions with the Singapore Motor Sport Association have confirmed that we are eligible for support from the Association as we are (1) taking part in a motorsport event, (2) representing Singapore. Thus, negotiations have resulted in their agreement to assist us with the airfare for Enduro Africa.

We are planning to put their sponsorship into the cash sum being paid towards Enduro Africa, thereby ensuring their contribution gets the maximum mileage.

Sponsorship from SASOL

Another piece of good news!

Sasol - a global brand for chemicals & fuels, has kindly sponsored our petrol expenses in South Africa. Incidently, they're a South African company but has an office in Singapore!

Looks like SA & S'pore are linked in more ways than one. :)

WOW! We might get to meet Royalty!

News has it that Princes William & Harry will be going for Enduro Africa too!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/3160737/Royal-Princes-William-and-Harry-to-take-part-in-Enduro-Africa-motorcycle-rally.html

I'm speechless.

Goggles... by Smith

So... here's a little intro for non-bikers.

Motocross or scrambler riders have a specific type of helmet that give them that look. Pointy chin guard & an obvious peak on top of the helmet + aggressive graphics.

And motocross helmets don't have visors like normal helmets cos the dust & dirt just get thrown up in the trails & visors can't keep all the dust off your eyes. So in place of visors, there're goggles. Strapped firmly on your face so that there's little chance of dust blinding you.


Testing our these Smith goggles for the first time, they were very comfy & moulded well to our faces. Best part was, Jameson, the importer was happy to sponsor them for our ride!


Mine in fuschia :)

One week to go. Kit list - check.

Surreal as it feels, next week this time, we will be in the plane flying to Johannesburg. Our flight is at 2.20am on 15th Oct, so we need to get to T2 by midnight on 14th.

Packing for a trip has not been this complicated before. The organiser's kit list printed out & pinned up. We scan it thoroughly to make sure we have everything.

Helmet
Goggles (need to get!)
Upper Body Armour (need to borrow!)
Jacket
Elbow Protection
Protective Trousers
Knee Protection
Enduro boots
Gloves 2 pairs
Hydration Pack
Emergency rations/energy bars
Waterproof oversuit
Money (duh??)
First aid kit
scarf/bandana
towel
sleeping bag & roll mat -- confirm got camping
swimming kit
ear plugs
sunglasses
torch
sunblock
fleece
trainers/sandals
casual trousers
toiletries bag
mosquito repellent & mosquito net
magnetic map carrier

Personal list:
Canon G9 - lots of pics!
Nokia N82 - more pics!
Nokia E90 communicator - to blog on the move
SD memory cards
Malaria medication
Air eTicket
Copy of insurance papers

An excellent gentleman

Last night, we met the most excellent gentleman with his head firmly screwed on his shoulders. He is none other than CK Lim, the humble & down to earth guy behind the KBC helmets in Singapore.

He had airflown in two pieces of KBC Motorcross helmets for us, just to meet the deadline for Enduro Africa. In the bag were a pair of blue/silver helmets, 100% matching the Dainese jackets that we had received earlier.