Dirty Girls Scooter Run 2010
By: Jacqueline Mortlock

In January this year I approached Jonway Scooters with an absurd idea – would a small 150cc scooter handle a distance of 2200km, punished by off-road challenges like being ridden over pebble beaches and dirt roads. Could these little machines cope with a lot of mistreatment and get from Cape Town to Durban safely and without incident? Quinton Prinsloo Marketing manager of the Jonway brand in South Africa was in no doubt that we could make the journey without occurrence and he gave us five bikes to prove it.

A popular definition of a scooter is a motorcycle engine put into a cute frame designed for housewives and students to go shopping in their pencil skirts and pumps. Designed for short commutes like milk runs and getting to lectures.
Dirty Girls decided to gauge the bikes capacity by tormenting them in every possible way with a view to redefining a common conception – that a scooter would never survive the punishment we were about to dole out. We packed up and left Jhb to commence our journey on the 03 May.

Day 1
Cape Town to Cape Aughulas -295 kms.

Its 8am outside Cape Town’s splendid Graden Court and I’m staring down at my cammo sneakers and jeans and bearing in mind that I’m about to get on a scooter, joined by 4 girl friends and journey 2200kms starting in Cape Town, ending in Durban six days later. We are all excited and adrenalin is running high among us. The manager of Garden Court and his staff come out to wish us well and we have a police escort to guide us through Cape Town’s bustling rush hour traffic to where our journey will begin at Greenpoint stadium.

The girls are thrilled; we are grinning at each other and hooting madly while cars and people cheer us on. My first thoughts: “What a lovely little bike!” I was riding a Jonway Nippi, true to form, my little pink machine was twisting and powering around bends very comfortably, keyed up to show me what else she could do.

After filming and an interview at Greenpoint the team left for our first challenge – tobogganing down a hill at Cool Runnings in Cape Town. The path to the challenge was a 3km stretch of dirt road – rocks, loose sand and small pot holes. The scooters handled the terrain beautifully and I felt a surge of confidence about how I could expect us to fare later on.

We reached Cape Augulhas just after 6pm on the first day. Almost 300km and we were all still smiling. We joined some folk from the backpackers round a fire and spoke about our experiences during the day.

Day 2
Aughulus to Mossel Bay -290kms

Cape Agulhas is the southernmost point in the continent of Africa, 170 kilometres southeast of Cape Town. The cape was named by Portuguese navigators, who called it Cabo das Agulhas — Portuguese for “Cape of Needles” — after noticing that around the year 1500 the direction of magnetic north coincided with true north in the region. The cape marks the official dividing point between the Indian and Atlantic oceans. We reached the site on our bikes, riding them right onto the sand pebble beach where the warm Benguela current meets the cold Agulhas.

After putting our bikes through their paces as scramblers we cruised comfortably between 90 and 100km to Hermanus, twisting around corners smoothly, cruising past yellow fields speckled with grazing cows, sheep, and occasional stray ostrich.
We arrive in Mossel Bay at twilight. The town is very hilly and pretty and the bay peeps out occasionally when we reach the top of a rise in the road, lights shimmering off the still, dark waters and the sound of dockside vessel bells clanging sleepily.
We reach Protea Hotel Mossel Bay and are greeted with champagne glasses of orange juice and the warmest of welcomes. Our rooms are gorgeous loft apartments overlooking the bay, and we have enormous bath tubs – no surprise then that every one of us took at least an hour to pamper ourselves in a fragrant bath – you can separate a girl and untamed indulgence for only so long!

Day 3
Mossel Bay to Cape St Francis -314kms

We are visiting the Knysna Elephant sanctuary this morning about 61kms from Mossel Bay, and in the middle of the Garden Route. When we get to the enterance we have another dirt road to traverse, Mignon, Roxanne and I stand up like we do on our dirt bikes and have some fun ‘off-roading’. Roxanne actually manages to get her scooter airborne over a mound in the road.

Knysna elephant park’s resident African elephants and well-informed guides taught us the sad and mystical story of the Knysna Elephants – the world’s Southern most elephants. We had a rare opportunity to get close, riding them and feeding them. Four elephants were presented to us, with their guides, one of them named ‘Lost’. ‘Who would like to get Lost?” they joked. Linlee and I stepped up, and were rewarded with an opportunity to see the world from elephant eye-level. Our elephant reached back with her trunk and caressed my hand, it was a profound and moving experience.

We now have to face the biggest challenge of the trip – 1997 caused great excitement in the Bungy jumping fraternity worldwide with the opening of the Face Adrenalin Bloukrans Bungy Jump. Bloukrans is officially recognized by Guinness World Records as being the World’s highest commercial bungy jump at an astonishing 216 from the highest single span arch bridge in the world.
Roxanne, Lebo and Mignon signed up for the jump immediately, keyed up to plunge into the mouth of madness, while Linlee and I settled for the flying fox, a 200m cable slide zip wire out onto the archway of the bridge to watch them take the plunge.

We have a lot of distance to cover – its 7 pm by the time we get off the bikes! We gratefully arrive at our lodgings Lyngenfjord Guest House in Cape St Francis. The house is filled with antique cape dutch furniture from the 1800’s, family pictures and a lot of warmth for weary travellers.

Day 4
Cape St Francis to East London – 411kms

With over 400km to cover we set out on our Jonway scooters with throttles wide open at 9am. Leaving Cape St Francis, we eventually realized that we were in the Eastern Cape and that things work differently on the roads – much, much differently. We passed through Grahamstown and got horribly lost.I know what you’re thinking – how on earth does one get lost in a small town?! To that I would answer: with a GPS. We arrived in East London at 7pm and found relief in our accommodation and food at the Garden Court hotel East London. Finally, the longest stretch is over, and the bikes are still motoring along comfortably.

Day 5
East London to Port St Johns 320kms

It’s a beautiful morning with an interesting inland ride up ahead. Breakfast is pleasantly served at Garden Court hotel and now it’s time to hit some tar.

East London is known as the ‘Buffalo City’ – long before written history the banks of the Buffalo River and the seashore were inhabited by early man; Nahoon footprints found in this area have been dated at been 200,000 years old, and the oldest fossilized human footprints found in the world. In more recent history the area was home to the Khoisan Bushman tribes.

East London is also the abode the original Coelacanth specimen – a prehistoric fish that has lived in the Indian Ocean for 400 million years, thought to be extinct until it was re-discovered in 1938. The discovery of a live Coelacanth in the East London harbour was regarded internationally as the most significant zoological find of the century.

Both Nelson Mandela and the fellow former president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, have their roots in the Eastern Cape, and its occurred to me as we are travelling what an incredible country we live in – every town we pass through has its own history and the land we are riding in between keeps changing – from the untamed coastline and jagged mountains of the cape, to the emerald Tsitsikamma Forest, lagoons of Knysna and rolling gold hills of the eastern cape. We are truly blessed.

We arrive at Port St Johns at nightfall and check into a local backpacker’s resort. Mignon is amused to find cows strolling on the beach, and after sitting around a gorgeous bonfire we fall asleep to the sound of guests drumming and singing.

Day 6
Port St Johns to Durban -360kms

Our last stretch to our destination, and I’m sure everyone is thinking the same thought- We’ve done it! The home stretch lies right ahead and the bikes have come through for us. We are all attached to our bikes and I believe we are all silently contemplating buying a scooter soon!

For the most part, the scooters have been so much fun. Cheaper to run than cars, speedy and effortless to ride. Apart from cost efficiency there is an environmental element to observe, women especially feel a need to ‘tread lightly on the earth’.

As this journey ends I’m certainly feeling a sense of accomplishment and I couldn’t be prouder of the girls – they have covered enough distance to qualify our run as one of the longest ride-for-charity challenges in South Africa ever.

The bikes pass under the gigantic arches of the Moses Mabida Stadium and the crew are jubilant. The bikes are parked in the afternoon sun and we are interviewed for SABC television.

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“Dirty Girls” Dirtbike and Adventure Group
Introduction
By: Jacqueline Mortlock

It’s early morning on a dusty offroad track and a lone 4-stroke 250cc motocross bike is powering its way over jumps and railing gracefully around berms – not an unusual sight at a motocross track – until the rider turns off for a break. As the helmet is pulled off long hair tumbles out to reveal a girl’s dusty face. Seeing women at a motocross track in South Africa is a fairly rare sight – but the numbers are growing.

In 2006 Dirty Girls Dirtbike group was founded to create awareness for, and support girls wanting to become involved in dirtbike riding. In 2010 the group membership is 2300 strong and on the rise. In 2008 we introduced a men’s division of DG – “Zero Authority”. The aim of both groups is to create a platform for new riders – the support of a group, regular training and fun events makes the introduction to riding more accessible and enjoyable.

At present we are in the process of expanding the group to include a mountain biking and bmx section for cyclists, climbers, Dirty Girls Rock! (girl bands), kiteboarding, skateboarding, fire poi, and a dive and surf school.

Our biggest objective is to create awareness and build an improved support base for current SA alternative sports talent which is underrepresented (and poorly sponsored) at present. We focus strongly on creating observing social outreach efforts, environmental groups and charities in South Africa. Our official charity is the Trail of Hope Foundation, a non-profit foundation that rehabilitates street children and supports underdeveloped communities.

Our group culture is about social lifestyle. We want to get more people outdoors to really experience the beautiful country we live in. (For example: some of our organized challenges might include a group hare-scramble, bouldering and abseiling challenge followed by a bonfire and social evening – we love to mix it up).

Dirty Girls are in their teens, in their eighties, and every age in between. Our focus is on the members and the outdoor lifestyle of adventure sports. We’re for beginners and veterans; we’re for people from all walks of life; we support recreational weekend warriors and women who compete at competitive level (or wish to).

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TourByTwo.com is looking for new amateur writers to become contributors to the site. Have you ever dreamed of having your motorcycle travel stories published? Now is your chance to enter the world of motorcycle and travel journalism.

TourByTwo’s Founder and Chief Editor, will review and judge potential candidates. Submit your 300-word (or 5min video) travel piece by January 31st, 2010 to be one of five new motorcycle travel journalists.

We’re looking for inspired riders with a desire to write about their adventures, who can mix multimedia savvy with an engaging writing style. Our emphasis is on riding related stories and adventures. Video documentaries will also be acceptable for online story submissions.

The right candidates will know how to recognize and tell a story, write or record and edit it, clean and get it up on our site fast. You will of course be credited for your contributions and will have an online profile established on the site.

Please send a brief cover letter, clips or writing samples and a resume to info@tourbytwo.com. Links to your stories are acceptable as well as video submissions.

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By: TheLonelyRider

Earlier this year BMW Durham invited me to join a special offroading event. Designed for individuals who wish to improve their Adventure Riding Skills on back roads and light trails, we also had Lawrence Hacking as our guide and instructor. Lawrence is not only a professional rider but also the author of “To Dakar and Back”, has over 30 years of off road experience, and was the first Canadian to complete the fabled Paris-Dakar Rally in 2001.

In addition to being a great day of riding, Lawrence was to teach us some hands on techniques of Adventure Riding on larger dual-purpose machines (depending on what we rode to the event). My ride for this event was my personal BMW 650GS and I was certainly apprehensive about how well I would do considering my worn chain, sprockets and very worn tires. Oh well…we only live once and I wasn’t going to pass up this chance to learn a few things from Lawrence. Good thing I’m not afraid of failure!

My day started pretty early since I had to ride out to the rendezvous point at Haugen’s Chicken just outside of Port Perry. I was on the road around 8am to ensure that I would arrive early for the meeting time of 9am. I wanted to talk to a mechanic about my bike, which was in need of some service but no mechanic was arranged for this event. I was hoping a mechanic would be available should I throw my chain during the ride. Oh well…good thing I’m not afraid of failure!

Yes…failure was a bit of concern at this point. My bike wasn’t in the greatest condition and I was in the company of some reasonably experienced off-road riders, including the very accomplished Lawrence Hacking. Personally I had virtually zero off-road experience (I don’t consider gravel fire roads and dirt trails proper “off-roading” and that was all the experience I had prior to today). All of the other riders were astride either 800GS or 1200GS machines and most of them had proper knobby tires. At this point I was expecting to be dealt a lesson in humility. There were 18 of us and I was on the smallest BMW there. Sigh…once again, good thing I’m not afraid of failure.

Our first section was on backcountry roads as we made our way to the first “challenge”. We stopped briefly and Lawrence gave a quick warning about riding in the sand ahead. He didn’t actually instruct us on how to tackle it though! As we tackled this sandy road, I remembered back to the riders meeting where he discussed “rake” angles and how adding more throttle allowed the front wheel to better flow over rough terrain. Basically…when in doubt…more throttle! Although a very counter-intuitive concept, adding speed extends the front fork and helps prevent the front wheel from slipping out from under you, which would result in a humbling low-side crash or prevent the front wheel from hooking a rut, which may result in the more dramatic and serious high-side crash that pitches a rider over and off the bike (often leading to a trip to the hospital).

Ok…lets go! We headed off and I was mid-pack as we approached the “sand trap”. Up ahead I observed riders being pitched and thrown around on their bikes as they tried their best to stay upright. Of course things got really interesting for me as riders crashed in the loose sand. Great…not only did I have to tackle the sand but I also had to find a way to avoid fallen riders and bikes as they blocked my path. Although I reached the end of that section of sandy road without falling, many of my fellow riders didn’t fair as well and arrived at the end of the stage covered in sand.

It was at this point that Lawrence actually gave us a demonstration of how to tackle sandy conditions. I was thinking though that this would of come in handy prior to attempting the sandy stage we just completed. I also realized that although my tires were worn, I was still on par with the riders on their 1200GS bikes with their knobby tires. Sure they had more grip in these conditions but my bike was considerably lighter.

Next up…ruts and mud! For me this was more of a lesson in common sense. Sure our bikes could easily tackle ruts full of water and mud but I wanted to avoid it. I knew that my worn tires would not offer me the grip that knobby tires would offer so my strategy was to ride on top of the ruts and avoid the mud and water altogether. This turned out be the proper choice as once again several riders fell and got covered in gunk and once again Lawrence advised us to avoid water and mud if at all possible since they can not only make the riding more difficult but could also affect our brakes. This just made sense to me but thanks for the heads up!

What’s next? More bloody sand! Ok…I wasn’t liking this but I was dealing with it. Before long I found that I was flying at nearly 100km/hr in sand that was rather deep. I did have to stop several times to help out other riders in my group who crashed and got a helmet full of sand. In this rather large sandy stretch, nearly everyone crashed at least once, including one of our guides from BMW who went headlong into the trees. Everyone was looking pretty dirty and somewhat beaten and although I hadn’t fallen yet, I was beginning to feel the fatigue of riding hard in those conditions.

From here we tackled several back roads towards our lunch stop in Bethany and although most of the roads were riddled with loose gravel, this was the only section that didn’t have someone crashing. By the time we stopped for lunch, we all very much needed a break. Of the 18 riders who started the day, 12 had crashed at some point and several had fallen many times. Most of us were speckled in mud and dirt and some were simply covered in it from their numerous falls. At this point I was one of only a handful of riders who hadn’t fallen. To be honest, I was surprised but I knew that there was more riding yet to come. However, I figured that considering the conditions…it was only a matter of time.

After lunch we headed off for more punishment and good times but several riders bailed out during the lunch stop. They had enough. One had other plans, although I can’t imagine what he would rather do than ride through dirt, sand and mud! As for the other bail-outs…they were simply beaten. After the crashes, the pain, the mental and physical fatigue, it was simply too much for some riders (not to mention a couple riders had some bent foot levers making riding that much more difficult).

Once again we headed off on some small side roads towards our next series of challenges. I was soon faced with thickly wooded areas with rutted trails that were either mixed mud trails or trails of sand. Great…more bloody sand. Well eventually I screwed up and dumped my bike. It wasn’t on an especially challenging section (compared to what we had already tackled) but I was getting tired and lost focus. When in doubt, more gas right? Well I didn’t and to make things worse I looked down and that’s where I ended up…me and my bike inches deep in the sand with me thinking “what the hell?!”. Ok…I finally failed. It happens and much like stepping in poop, all you can do is scrap it off and keep going.

I didn’t feel all that bad though. Out of 18 riders that started, there was only about five who hadn’t crashed by this point and those who had fallen had done so more than once. So onward we went. The trails certainly got more interesting as we did our best to negotiate the narrowly spaced trees, deep ruts, mud, sand, rocks and other loose surfaces, both uphill and down (including large piles of deer crap but luckily nobody was too close behind me to get sprayed with the flying pellets). I was well aware by this point that I wasn’t a fan of deep sand but I also realized that riding up or down hills with large rocks (some as large as basket balls) was also nerve wracking. How I didn’t crash on those hills, I have no idea but I’m glad I didn’t since it would of been rather painful.

Eventually we cleared the brush and returned to paved roads to head back to our original starting point. All in all it was a great day! We all learned a lot, not only about some of the essentials of off-road riding, but also about our limits (both personal and mechanical).

I am very much looking forward to next year and joining Lawrence Hacking and the guys from BMW Durham once again.

As I’ve said several times before: Ride hard…Ride dirty…Ride a GS!

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