Yet another economy run was concluded successfully during the weekend 17 + 18 August 2013.

Twenty four riders and sixteen pillions gathered at the Masakhane Caltex Service Station, Bosmansdam Road, Montague Gardens at around 08H15 on a chilly Saturday morning. After a lot of rain the previous evening and early hours of the morning one could forgive those that believed the economy run might rain out completely. It turns out however that all the wishes and silent prayers and lots of good fortune prevailed because the weather turned out quite good. Apart from no rain, there was also no wind to speak of when we departed on the first leg of our journey.

After ablutions, coffee and muffins, kindly sponsored by the Masakhane Caltex Garage, Montague Gardens as arranged by Kevin Farrow, filling of the tanks, meeting of the Marshals and idle chatter about the route instructions, we started departing.

Our departure went off smoothly with the regulatory two minute intervals under the watchful control of Rob and Lizl. Roy and Patty set off for their marshal point at Wellington, while Jonathan, Katy, Portia, Sharon and Sandy set off for the Douvoordag Garage, Moorreesburg to do duty at the stop over.

The rest of us took to the prescribed route and as the nature of any economy ride dictates it was an extremely boring affair riding at close to the prescribed speed limits. Fortunately the good weather held up and we were able to at least enjoy the scenery! From Montague Gardens we got onto the N7 and rode towards Malmesbury. At Philadelphia we got onto the R304 and headed towards Paarl through Klipheuwel and Agter Paarl. We were waved on by Roy, Pat, Paul and Marcelle at the marshal point at Wellington and preceded to Hermon, Riebeek Kasteel, Riebeek West and arrived at the Douvoordag Service Station where our distance, time and fuel was taken and logged by Jonathan, Katy and Portia. At this stage a couple of riders lost their way a little bit while on route but their penalties were not to serious.

From Moorreesburg we set off past Hopefield onto the R27 (Thanks to Sharon and Sandy for keeping the riders off the other (R27)) and headed to Velddrif, and onto Piketberg, where we had our last Marshal Point. All the details were logged once again by Rob, Roy, Pat and Lizl. After that we gathered at the Spur next to the Service station where everybody had refreshments. We also found that Wesley had other plans and changed the route somewhat but he managed to join us just in time for refreshments before we set off to the venue.

We departed at 14h45 in formation and really hit a good downpour on the last stretch of our journey! We all arrived safely at Piekeniersklooof Mountain View Resort, got settled into our rooms and off to the conference room for more refreshments and working out the results. The venue was great!

At 18h45 we had the results sorted and the prize giving got under way! Congratulations to all the winners of the different categories and to the overall winner Susan James.

Once again a big thank you to all the members who attended the ride, especially the guys and girls who took part in the event. Thanks to our Marshals.

Thank you to the Management at the Masahkane Caltex Service Station on Bosmansdam Road for the coffees and muffins.

To Kevin Farrow for organizing the prize from Suzuki South and providing the prizes for all the riders. Once again thanks to Luderick and John for a very welcome subsidy!

Thank you to Lizl for handing over the prizes and last but not least thanks to the personnel at the Resort. Their service was of a very high standard, their food was great and the rooms were beautiful.

Saturday finally arrived cloudy and threatening to rain at any given time, but Nomads being Nomads, were not put off by this.

On arrival at the Masakhane’s Petrol Station, Sanddrift, we were met by quite a few Nomads enjoying hot coffee and sandwiches very kindly sponsored by Masakhane. Everyone seemed excited and rearing to go.

The route consisted of two legs, the first one to Moorreesburg and the second one to Piketberg. The general route was the N7, Philadelphia, Agter Paarl, Wellington, Riebeek Kasteel, Riebeek West, Moorreesburg, the distance 152.7kms. From there it was past Hopefield, Velddrif, Piketberg, distance 149,9kms, total distance 302.6kms.

Alex was the first victim and off he went. When it was James’s and my turn, a few minutes before it was time for us to leave, John Lee told us he would wave to us when passing us. Well John, we are still waiting for you to pass us and wave!! John must have got confused and waved at another Blackbird when he got lost!

On the first leg of the trip we passed Heather Blackie decked out in her orange rain suit, making sure she was very visible on the road. Unfortunately Heather’s Bike got a puncture just before Moorreesburg and she had to leave her bike there at the Garage for collection the next day, which Mike Hair very kindly loaded up on his Bakkie and transported back home to Cape Town for Heather. You are a true gentleman Mike!

I think quite a few Nomads were a little confused regarding the directions, Kevin Farrow and Wesley Todd got a little lost but Kevin eventually made it to  Moorreesburg. If we didn’t see Glen (alias top cop) on the road on a regular basis, we might also have got lost, don’t always trust a GPS, it also lies!

Johan and Suzaan Burger had a fight with a bird and Johan won as the bird flew against his helmet and the rest went against Suzaan’s rain suit pants! Ew!

As Moorreesburg was the first pit stop, and the next one, also being the last one being Piketberg Spur, everyone filled up on fuel, coffee, sandwiches and chocolates.

The road en route to Piketberg was full of potholes and very bumpy and just seemed endless.  We eventually reached the Piketberg Spur where most of us opted to have lunch as supper was a long way off. Our fearless leader, Captain H informed us that we all needed to leave at 2.45pm as we still needed to check into the hotel. We got a bit of rain on the way to the Hotel but everyone was still in good spirits.

On arrival at the Piekenierskloof Hotel we were met by the friendly, courteous staff and given our access cards to our rooms. The Hotel room was absolutely stunning, having everything you could possibly want, even heated flooring. It felt like we were on honeymoon! I am sure so did Marcelle and Paul!!

Everyone congregated at the venue where prize giving and supper would be served and watched the rugby and supported the bar. Wesley eventually found the venue after calling Rob for directions. Congratulations to Susan James on being the overall economy run winner and to everyone else who also won prizes.

Paul Barber (alias little red riding hood) kept on telling me that he had seen the results and that James and I were last. We were never in it to win it! But now “little red riding hood” might be giving that speech to someone else if you look at the published results. The supper was great, real” boerekos” and plenty of it.

I think most of us had a reasonably early night although looking at some of the faces on Sunday morning I had my doubts! Sunday morning breakfast was a variety of cereals, cold meats, cheeses, croissants’ and of course the usual bacon and eggs/sausages. Luderick complained that his sausage was cold and Helewese told him to ask the Waiter to microwave it!!

A big thank you to the Nomads Committee for their kind sponsorship of the weekend and for the choice of venue which was absolutely stunning. Thank you also to our fellow Nomads for making it such an enjoyable weekend.

Till next time

Be safe

Delrae

Editor’s Note: The highlight at the morning’s breakfast was the “Happy Birthday” song for the Vice Chairman, Kevin Farrow.