Willem van de Putte

“THEY’RE selling postcards of the hanging, they’re painting the passports brown…” the words of Bob Dylan’s Desolation Row kept running through my mind as we cruised through the Tankwa Karoo, Cederberg and Koue Bokkeveld.

Not because someone was about to die, although given why we were there that was always a remote possibility, but the stark beauty of the area had desolation written all over it, made even worse by the recent fires that had destroyed thousands of hectares.

We were there for the launch of the Honda CRF 250 Rally dualpurpose motorcycle, and not having twisted a throttle in anger for almost two years, never mind long stretches of dirt road, rocky two-spoor paths and deep sand, my reintroduction to dirt-terrain riding was somewhat nerveracking, but thankfully relatively uneventful.

Keeping in mind that my area of expertise is tackling obstacles in a 4x4, the roads and challenges we encountered weren’t as daunting as the prospect of facing them on two wheels.

In a twist of fate, I took over a bike at one of the more difficult sections covered in what is affectionately known as “marbles” – lots of loose round stones – designed to make anyone on two wheels a little nervous.

It wasn’t exactly like getting on a bicycle; in fact it was nothing like getting on to a bicycle again, particularly because I hadn’t had the chance to get used to the Rally on tar or smooth dirt, made worse because some of the guys in the group were legends on two wheels as well.

In true biking fashion, though, advice was plentiful and friendly; but when your helmet covers your face, it’s just you and your machine trying your level-best not to plough into the bushes.

I took it slowly at first, trying to get a feel for how the bike responds, but deep sand and loose rocks had me digging deep into the memory banks in an effort not to take a tumble. Turns out my brain still functions relatively well, helped a lot by the forgiving nature of the bike.

Focused on bottom-end torque, ideal for its purpose, it pushes out 18.2kW and 22.6Nm of torque, which when you’re a novice or still a little nervous, is just enough.

Once we had traversed the worst