No, Rallye it is
the Pilanesberg.
The Exclusive handles like a dream and there is only one microsecond of anxiety… being from the Western Cape, I’m not completely used to being confronted by 2m long, 8cm deep potholes at a speed of about 140km/h.
However, instinct kicked in and I lifted the front wheel so it returned to the tar on the other side of the obstacle.
The first rule, said our ride leader later, don’t brake – something (or a variation thereof) which I hear a lot over the next 24 hours – because if you put a 244kg GS down, you’re going to struggle to get it back up again.
Instead, he said, keep your head and rely on its power to get you out of trouble.
We headed out relatively early the next morning (this time I had snaffled a Rallye and would not give it up for the rest of the day) and it was with a small amount of trepidation that I took on the first section of gravel.
I ride a BMW F 650 GS and am usually very comfortable in the grit.
However, some time ago a very experienced rider friend and I, he on an R1200GS, took on Seweweekspoort in the Karoo and the weight of his bike made him very uncomfortable.
It was all very well telling riders to hang back out of their fellows’ dust but that was easier said than done when some of the riders spent more time off-road than others.
For this section I am near the head of the field (less dust), however I’m preceded by a nervous Nellie, which means that I’m constantly having to tap off or gear down to avoid riding up his tail.
Of course, it doesn’t help that we’re both passed by Kleinbergen, who promptly had fun with us for several kilometres, playing “rooster”, showering us with dust and stones whenever he possibly could.
Apart from a couple of sweaty palm moments when hitting thick patches of gravel and feeling the back of the bike begin to drift, it was all a lot of fun.
Then there was another stretch of gravel, and another and another – each one getting progressively more difficult despite earlier assurances that we were not here to test our riding abilities.
Naturally, those who had started off down the field quickly realised that it was not such fun being in everyone else’s dust and bulled their ways to the front on every stretch of tar.
I think it was when we were turning on to the fourth stretch of dirt after lunch – with Zwartkops virtually on the horizon – that I remembered Charley’s assertion.
This was one stretch too many and with it nearly came disaster.
Suddenly the dust cloud just ahead became a storm and without warning I hit a deep and long stretch of sand.
How I and none of the others didn’t go down, we later couldn’t tell you.
All I know was that I turned up the throttle and was immensely relieved when I felt both wheels grip and the bike pull me clear.
I suppose that if it wasn’t for those last 20 minutes, you’d never know what you’re capable of overcoming. ● Base price for the BMW R 1200GS ranges from R238 990 for the standard variant to R241 990 for the Exclusive and Rallye.