Planning lengthy biking roadtrips

• Real bikers invest in thermal underwear and bungee cords.
• Don’t make your daily rides uniformly long or tiring.
• If you’re alone, do most of your riding on roads where there’s someone to spot you.

Temperatures on the ride up to the Eastern Cape reached 42o C but, on the way back, they never exceeded 19o C. A thousand kilometres is a long way when your nether regions are painfully cold and pulling on a pair of thermals under your jeans takes seconds. The same goes for bungee cords … they take up no space whatsoever and there’s always something that won’t fit in your topbox or panniers and needs to be lashed on securely.

While I don’t over-plan a long day’s riding in where I’m going to stop to fill up and/or stretch, I do like to run a few scenarios in my head before setting out. Knowing that I wanted to reach Kenton-on-Sea by late afternoon on day two, I left home relatively early with a full tank on day one and stopped for breakfast at Tredici Bakery at Swellendam (200km).

I got to my friends at Gamtoos River Mouth before dusk, having refuelled* and grabbed a pie in Sedgefield (SwellendamSedgefield 250km, SedgefieldGamtoos 240km). This gave us time for a beer before driving (in his vehicle, thank heavens) to Jeffrey’s Bay for dinner at Catch of the Day (www.catchoftheday. webs.com).

A post-breakfast start allowed me to take the R102 “scenic” route into Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth (75km) to the harbour where I joined Raggy Charters (www.raggycharters. co.za) for a few hours watching a super-pod of over 600 bottlenose dolphins in Algoa Bay. I was in Kenton by mid-afternoon, quaffing beer at Intaka. The road home was more challenging because of the cold and because I decided to take a “shortcut” between Kariega and Alexandria.

It was a dirt road of only about 30km but featured steep climbs and descents. A night of rain turned the clay road into a skidpan and, had I not been on a bike as suited for such conditions as the BMW, I think the day might not have had a happy ending. I was knackered but exhilarated when I reached Oaksrest Vineyards (www.oaksrest.com) in Ladismith as the last rays of sun caught the Klein Swartberg mountains. I had done nearly 700km on – generally – very good roads but in conditions that also included showers, numerous stop-go interruptions along the R62 and an hour of riding into the setting sun.

I swallowed a glass of Oaksrest Pinotage before offloading my gear into the luxurious little “farmworker’s cottage”. I was surprised when a bakkie drew up outside and farm owner Phillip Pretorius emerged with a tray in his hands. “I thought you might be hungry,” he said, before presenting an enormous piece of sirloin slathered in pepper sauce, roast spuds and veggies.

Also on the tray were a green salad, bowl of malva pudding and custard, and another bottle of Pinotage. “I’m a biker, too.” * The BMW R1250 GS HP has a 30 litre fuel tank. The entire trip consumed about 130 litres.

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