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august 2011
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Oman Mountain Rally October 2010
THIS EXPERIENCE SHARED WITH OUR MEMBERS BY RONNIE JACKSON "BIG JACK" .
Oman is a Middle-East country which is surrounded by Persian Gulf, The Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea. Muscat is the capital city of the country. Arabic is used as the official language of Oman although many of the Omani speak English as they are educated in the Western World. The Mountain Rally takes you over the mountains, very steep hills and unbelievable sharp curves with the Ocean on one side covering approximate 400 kilometers every day.
This rally is not for the faint hearted and the Chapters of following Country’s take part Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai and Oman request that only experience riders take part. The mountain Rally is organised by the Muscat Chapter who in turn send invitation to the above chapters to take part. The Oman Mountain Rally is over four days covering a distance of about 1500 kilometres of mountain.
One must take cognisance of the fact that from Riyadh to the Omani border is approximately 1600 kilometres each way and a very hard days riding. Most of the guys trailer their bikes to the United Arab Emirate Border and then ride their bikes 600 kilometres into Oman. The reason for this is not only the distance but because of the Sand Storms experienced in that part of the country especially when crossing the Rub ’al Khali (meaning Empty Quarter in Arabic).
The first days ride is in mountains of Salalah, the second and third days are in the mountains where even experienced riders prefer not to have a pillion on the back because of the topography, many of the little villages only have Arabic names. The village folk and children come running out and waive at the riders when they hear the rolling thunder of the motor bikes. All the Harley Chapters book into at the same Hotel and a festive party is held every night after good days ride. This rally is scheduled for October as this is the start of the Northern Hemisphere winter riding is still in the upper 40º Celsius.
There are about 300 riders who take part in this event, because some of the roads are very windy and narrow groups are split up into groups of 10 to 15 riders including a Road Captain and Sweeper. The group rides are rotated on the various routes and are set off 30 minutes apart.
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july 2011
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BLISTER BUTT 2011
colesberg for THE BRAVE
Gathering at Harley-Davidson Johannesburg in the early hours of the morning, dressed in their finest leathers and thermal undies... 20 plus riders and their Harley's enjoyed hot coffee and cheese toasties prepared by Linda and Pierre.
They then set off down Rivonia Road at 06h00 onto the N1 on route to Colesberg via Potchefstroom, Klerksdorp, Wolmeranstad, Kimberley, Hopetown, De Aar, Hanover and finally on to Colesberg.
The freezing below zero weather took its toll on route to Potch and the fingertips took the brunt of the biting winter frost. The rest they say is history.....
Feedback
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Guys, even though I am not a member of the chapter, i felt very welcome and had a lot of fun at the Blister Butt 2011. Thank you for this and congratulations on what I perceived as a flawless execution of the event. I am sure there was a humongous amount of planning, effort and arrangement behind the scenes, something that a lot of people just take for granted. Every time that I am going to look at the pin I will be thinking of the art of herding snails (as explained to us by Haggy) and smile again................. I will do my planning better next year so that I can stay for the second night as well. - Frik Weldhagen
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Just a short note of thanks to all who were involved in the organisation of this event, the organisation was awesome, it was a fantastic ride which I personally thoroughly enjoyed. To all the other riders who participated my family would also like to extend their thank you for the friendship shown. Well done Kobus and his team - I am a candidate for next year again. To the Harley Chapter seeing those poor people really touched our hearts. I must agree with what Johan said lets encourage ten time as many guys for next year. - Ronnie Jackson
Congratulations to Avril Wallace, the only brave lady to ride the Blister Butt on her own. You go gir!! Well done.
