Branded Blog

In early January the barefoot man and I set off on his new V-Strom 1000 (that’s a very big Suzuki motorbike, for the uninformed amongst us!) and headed out for ten days of cell-phones off, as many dirt roads as possible, and new views around every corner. Heaven, in short.

Of course this is not our first jaunt on the bike – or rather a bike , the previous one was a BMW off/on road that also kept up to the barefoot man’s predilection for dirt roads over precipitous passes!

We set out from the city to the most gorgeous, secluded house just outside McGregor in the Succulent Karoo and spent a few days in the pool, running through the fynbos, bathing under the stars and then watching the storm come in.  And storm it did. More than 3 times the averages across a wide swath of the Karoo and surrounds – rivers overflowed, bridges were closed and roads washed away. Especially the dirt ones….. So the rest of our trip across to Riebeek Kasteel, up through Clanwilliam to the Biedouw Valley north of the Cederberg, and then down to the Karoo around Touws River was wonderful, but not at all as planned! By the time we got onto the bike to leave McGregor half the roads that were slated for adventuring on were non-existent; two dry-river bed crossings were raging at ten year flood levels; and the temperature hovered in the early teens under cloud despite it being January!

Near the end of the trip I said to the barefoot man that I really like being on the bike – I find it relaxing and quite zen-like. He raised an eye-brow and replied evenly “Well that’s because it’s just about the only place that you have absolutely no way of controlling anything”. Really, the cheek. But it’s probably true. And quite funny. And it also means that I had plenty of control-free time to ponder things and make some lists.

And so, this is what I’ve learnt so far on the back of a bike….

1. There is always an alternate route…

– and sometimes it’s prettier than the one you planned to take! And sometimes it’s scarier but has an awesome view. And sometimes it’s more boring, but safer. And sometimes it’s the long way round…but even if you’re riding on the same road, you’re never really back-tracking because you’ve changed ever so slightly since you were there last.

2. Sometimes it’s good to stand and stare…

…and have no agenda but appreciating where you are and how you got there. You only learn and grow, I’m reliably informed, on reflection, not while doing.  Often you’ll realise how far you’ve actually come.

3. There are far more birds of prey around than you notice on a day to day basis.

And they’re gorgeous….unless you’re a field mouse or, say, a tortoise? It’s always a good idea to know who’s actually out there and what they’re up to, whether they’re scary or cute!

4. The world we live in is an awesome and ruthless place, and spending some time on the bike reminded me how little we notice of it on most days.

You have a far better (read: wetter, colder, muddier) understanding of the weather & the world you live in when you’re not in a mobile bubble of habit (aka. a car), and you appreciate it’s power far more!

5. Sometimes it’s better to take a day off…

…put your feet up, read a book, and watch the rain blow by rather than stick to your schedule and be miserable. Discretion, after all, is still valour. And there will be better days for being on the bike!

6. It’s possible to get stuck in the mud on the shortest leg of your trip…

…and  even though it’s heavy to pick up the bike again, and it takes effort to build a platform for it to stand on, and it gets really very very mucky, it’s the most awesome feeling in the world to rescue yourself and keep on moving! And if you’re as advanced a creature as the (generally) barefoot man, then you can actually enjoy every second of the hiccup in the moment and in the re-telling, but that’s an advanced life skill that most of us mere mortals (who got muddy) are not yet as good at!

7. You have to be equipped for every eventuality.

Not only does the otherwise militantly barefoot man wear serious protective boots on the bike, he also won’t let anyone on it without all the kit – helmet (regardless of hair-do), jacket, gloves, proper boots – and over and above that comes all the paraphernalia for fixing tyres and deflating and inflating and tweaking and wrenching things back into shape when they get out of it. If you’re not prepared, you’re not going to get very far and you’re not going to see very much and you’ll never really know what it’s all about . And then what’s the point really? And if you’re a pillion and just along for the ride, it’s much easier: just choose the rider well!

8.Small towns all have big churches and weird cars.

That’s it, no wisdom here, just curiosity. Which is, I guess, it’s own form of wisdom.

9. Some places have cats with personality…

 some have good cake…

some have baby animals (I’m informed they are kids, not lambs by the maternal unit!)…

some have frogs in the shower…

some have ridiculous views…

and some just have awesome roads….

But everywhere has something, you just have to find it.

10. What matters most is who else is on the bike.

In the end that is what makes the most difference, and then even if the roads are not as exciting as they could have been or the places you stop are odd, you’ll still love being on the back of the bike, wherever it may be taking you. And you’ll find magic, wherever you end up for the day, mud and all.