Ntumeni guided outride

Date : 17 Feb 2007
Venue : Ntumeni, Pedlar's Farm, near eShowe

Riders : Aroon, Thaven, Jerome, Gary, Peter (guide), Dean (guide)
Bikes : Polaris Hawkeye, Yamaha Raptor 700R, Yamaha Raptor 700R SE2, Yamaha 250 Big Bear, Honda 400EX, Honda 450 2-wheeler

Distance : Around 30kms of technical riding

We met Peter and his son Dean of Zululand Bike Adventures at the Khamba Pot Club, where we had a hearty breakfast prepared by the lovely Hayley, which set us up for a good start to a great days' riding.

Thaven, Jerome and Gary drove up from Richards Bay, leaving at around 6AM and reaching the spot about 1.5hrs later, while my family and I had booked in at the Old Mill cottages for the weekend, having arrived the night before.

Excitement was high as we offloaded the various bikes, and confirmed that all prescribed pre-ride checks had been carried out, and before long we were off, with Peter on point and Dean on flank.

The trail Peter guided us through was the most technical we had experienced to date, with a great mix of mud (ask Thaven!), uphills, river crossings (Jerome's favourite), hill climbs and cane field tracks....every bike, except Gary's, had to be assisted at some point during the ride....

In total, the trip was about 3hrs long, but ended too soon for some of us, who were having grand fun in spectacular surroundings.



Check out all the pictures in the new online photo album under the "Gallery" link....


A scenic photo shoot, just before we turned for home, very satisfied and much more trail-experienced than when we started out!

Gary's left rear wheel had stripped all 4 studs during the ride ! We only noticed this on loading the quad onto the bakkie, for the trip back to Richards Bay !
Who can say what could have happened if the wheel came off along the trail ?!!!

The dam at the Khamba Pot Old Mill Cottages is a tranquil place, filled with bass that periodically leap out of the water to catch hovering insects.

5 minutes into the ride, Thaven and his Rappie became very muddied! They spent the rest of the trail ride trying to get clean again....

Trying to use the river crossings as a bike-wash....

Jerome very nearly tested the submarine qualities of his Raptor on this river crossing - that bike is definitely FLOATING! At least this manouver helped get rid of SOME of the mud he had also accumulated earlier...