Somewhere between Ladismith and Laingsburg

Photo by Jean Cooper

This photo was taken 10 minutes before I got a puncture in the back tyre. I had just bought the bike in Riversdale and was on my way back to Pretoria. Suddenly the bike started to move under me as if I was riding through thick sand, which I wasn't. When I stopped to check and saw that the tyre was flat, I knew: everything has just changed. There was no way I was going to go all the way to Loxton as planned - depending on how quickly I could fix the tyre, of course.

It was the first time I ever rode a non-tubeless-tyre bike. Luckily I bought tyre levers and spare tubes the day before in Paarl, and the guy whom I bought the bike from, also gave me an extra tyre lever with the correct spanner to take off the back wheel. Problem was the bike didn't have a centre stand, so after struggling forever in the heat to try and get the bike standing on rocks that I carried from the veld, I decided to let it lie down on its side against the little gravel ridge alongside the road. I then had to take off the back wheel, wiggle it free from the chain, be careful with the disc brake, in order to be able to take the tube out, which was easier said than done. And a back wheel is heavy when the bike is on its side!

There wasn't any cellphone signal, so I couldn't use youtube or google for advice on how to do all of this. But I had the original Honda XR650L manual with me, so I just followed the instructions step by step. Another luck befell me when a couple on a BMW R1200GS came along and assisted me. The extra hands and weight and motivation were crucial for getting the tyre off and back on again without pinching the tube - not to mention the compressor he had to top up the pressure I could get from the tyre-kit's mini air-cylinders.

In the four hours it took me to get back on the bike again, not one single car or bakkie passed, which underlined for me the risk of riding off-the-beaten-track gravel roads on one's own. I decided to turn back to sleep in Oudtshoorn that night to get the bike checked by a mechanic the next day to see if I had put the wheel and brake and chain back properly. All was well (I felt very proud) and from there I travelled through Willowmore, Aberdeen and Victoria West towards Hopetown. What an experience - and now I know I can fix a flat in the middle of nowhere!

When I think back I remember the woman in the bike shop in Paarl who sold me the tyre levers and tubes. She was horrified when I told her I am planning to ride to Pretoria on my own. "Hulle sal, hulle sal jou oorval!" "They will, they will attack you!", she exclaimed. Not sure whom she was referring to. Most people were very friendly and helpful. Many, especially in the small dorpies with no roads and with sewage in the streets, must see this guy on a motorbike, wishing they could also escape, even if just for a moment.