The trip down was not so bad, the K7 was running smoothly as always. I did have nervous incidents since the national highways were pretty congested with all the holiday goers. Some idiot nearly killed himself by trying to be polite and staying in the oncoming traffic lane waiting for me to pass BETWEEN him and the truck in front of me. I waved at him to get back into our lane since a car was about to hit him head on. Luckily he looked in front of him and jumped back into our lane.
So got safely to my destination of Brandfort after about 2:45 riding time. The next day was the wedding, went as most weddings. Got home probably at 12:30 that morning knowing I have to get up in 6 hours to ride back home.
The original plan was to ride back on Sunday, but since my parents are also acting as the support vehicle and that my father had to fly to Sweden Saturday night I pretty much did not have much of a choice. I did check the weather reports last Wednesday, and weather was basically set to cloudy for the most of the northern Free State province.
I left Brandfort, only to be greeted by rain about 30km later.... and for almost 250km afterwards. Every now and then when I think back on it, I reckon I must have been barking mad. The K7 was basically in 'C' mode the whole time, definitely making the bike much more manageable on the wet roads and compensating for any slipping. About an hour into this trip and my clothes were soaking wet. Not to mention the wind chill factor working in as well. Finally after Kroonstad, about 180km from Johannesburg, did the rain stop and pockets of sun was shining thru. But it came to late I think, was shaking so much that later I could not tell the difference if it was me or the bumpy road.
Upon finally and gratefully arriving home, I took of my gear and my arms were blue. First I thought must have been some ink or die that imprinted itself on my skin. I tried to quickly wash it off when I realized it was my actual muscles. Only when standing underneath the hot shower could I see the color slowly disappearing.
This was probably one of the greatest introduction of the hardship of motorcycle riding (apart from falling off of course) and I hope it does not get repeated soon.
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