Warning!

Wow, half the year is gone already and I haven't even posted anything. Oh better start rectifying this. Anyway this post below is from our embedded Poser in Mozambique.

Forget to let you guys on this stickers that I found deep down in the engine bay of my beloved Vespa. Was drying things after a good wash, and came across this sticker. Mmmm…interesting.

Warning!

Floor mats will scratch your floor. Top cases are huge and offensive but you might want them anyway. Don’t expect Harley riders to return a wave. Don’t ride with flip flops or sandals on your feet. But riding with flip flops or sandals on your feet is still safer than riding with flip flops or sandals on your feet combined with white socks. Stop asking what oil to use. It is in the manual. You may mentioned something about the Wooden Vespa as soon as Justin Bieber enters puberty. Which is to say never. Read the original post before you add your own post. And before you post, consider just walking away.

Euroyeyé XX and the Scooter Cruzada

Every first weekend of August in Gijó, Spain, for the last 20 years in scooter enthusiasts get together for Euroyeyé, a weekend of live bands playing mod and 60s music, 60s cult movies, and as you guessed it the Scooter Cruzada, one of the most iconic classic scooter rallies in Europe.

Dakar Vespa Challenge

While doing research on the 1980 Paris-Dakar Rally, I came across the Vespa Dakar Challenge and it instantly went onto my wish list as it reminded me of our own Poser adventures of the Breedsneck Pass Bootcamp in the mud, the Sani Pass Adventure in the snow, and the Baviaanskloof Expedition in the wilderness, that I want more.

This group our adventurers did the Vespa Dakar Challenge in 2012 and will be doing it again this month, 30 Vespas are leaving Barcelona on the 21 September 2014, so please follow their 20 day adventure, 4000km to Dakar across Morocco, Mauritania, and Senegal. In the shadow of the high peaks of the Atlas Mountains, through royal cities, from to oasis to oasis through the Mauritanian desert dunes, to finally arriving at the legendary sub Saharan city of Dakar. These adventurers are not professional factory riders, Paris-Dakar racers, nor freaks, but ordinary people who have one thing in common, a passion for Vespa and adventure in the purest form. I agree, like our poser adventures of the past this what it is all about, now I want in.

The Dakar Rally by Vespa

The Dakar Rally is probably one of the most punishing off road motor races of all time if not the most dangerous. It started way back in 1979 from Paris to Dakar then later in 2009 the continent was changed from Europe-Africa to South America because of terrorist intimidations. In the motorcycle category, most people are aware of the dominance of the KTM off road bikes but few even know that this race had already being conquered by the Vespa.

Way back in 1980, 4 Vespa PX200 entered the 2nd Paris-Dakar Rally, although only 2 reached the finish line. Okay that was before the KTM came to power but that was a 2 out of 4 finish which was a 50% compare that to the overall stats 79 out of 211 vehicles crossed the finished line making that only 37%. Yes mad but reliable so there you go to all those BMW and KTM riders out there.

 

Antur Fawr Cymraeg

Yes the adventure bug bites again, this time it is the Antur Fawr Cymraeg or the Great Welsh Adventure. Thanks to Tim Fielding making this video about their adventure in Wales this past May with Jaques Renault's Pianos on the Beach as backing music.

Sani Epilogue

Jerome - We woke up at the end of a epic week at Camelroc Guest Farm after crossing over Lesotho the day before as if the last few days were just a dream. But we were sore and tired.

Magda -  Although I had slept extremely well every night during and after the trip, colleagues commented that I simply looked exhausted. Mentally I also strangely felt a bit like a deflated party balloon. I wondered if this was being experienced only by me and decided to phone Charlie to hear her whole family was quite ill and recovering in bed post the Sani-expedition. Marlene was living it up in the Cape with her sister with good helpings of pasta and red wine. Jerome was as usual blogging with fervour and disseminating the trip information he had gathered into various facebook, photobucket , twitter and e-mail accounts. 

Life had moved on and away from Sani. As the days post Sani lengthened I felt my energy levels soar and return back to normal. Only then did I start registering what we actually had accomplished. Vespa , friends, family and colleagues all wanted to hear about the great adventure. E-mails from far and wide started coming in saying well done. I realized we had done something quite unique and admirable.

Jerome - Now who do you call the Posers and who has the bigger balls...

Magda - Ag how wonderful, now we have done the impossible! What a feeling!  Must say us three chicks had the biggest balls , Jerome naturally has balls already so it his doesn't count! 

Ha-Ha!!! Charlie's was made of titanium for sure! Marlene thank you for a wonderful trip-you are the greatest! I take my hat off to Charlie who refused to give up and after falling not once, not twice, but three times she was still ready to try again, unfortunately her bike's ratkas  had taken on some damage from some previous flying activities. Charlie by the way wore wings, which you will see when Marlene posts the pics. Hell if that 300 of mine wasn't so heavy i would have made it all the way, she was just to heavy at 151kg for me to control on ice.

Just wanted to recommend to all that the Duro HF03 tire, it is a 60% road and 40% off road tire. What an awesome tire, I was tearing up the top of Lesotho with it. What fun!!!!! Can't wait to do it again.

Special thanks to Marlene's husband who was so supportive and loaded and off loaded and strapped and unstrapped and has amazing 4x4 skills + also to Gys -what a great bunch!

After we did Sani the big ball story stuck and Paulo phoned me up one day telling me he is going to buy me those blue balls that the Bulls supporters favour so much and which they tend to suspend form towing hooks. Paulo made me promise if he buys me a pair then I have to hook it uder the seat of my Vespa. LOL! I think i'll be embarrassed to open my seat and there they dangle!!!! A promise is a promise and I am still waiting for my balls. If I ever get them, I will post you guys a pic! Paulo recently said he has seen a pair of miniature blue balls which he might get. 

The Great Sani Pass Adventure made it into the Woema, SA Bike, and the Offroad Adventure magazines in the months that followed.

Vespas take on the Roof of Africa

Magda - I highly recommend the highest pub in Africa, the Gluhwein are warm, the beers cold and the food hearty. The accommodation at Sani Top Chalets was fundamentally very basic. A few beds in a house and no running water as the water had frozen in the pipes. Flushing the toilets were done by dunking a bucket in a water filled drum. Not knowing where the water had come from I took a chance to brush teeth with it and tried my very best to not swallow a drop. The beautiful winter tale outside was worth giving up a few luxuries for.

Sharing the house with us were 3 x intrepid Jehova witnesses on BMW bikes. One of them had made it to the top with his bike and apparently had a spectacular fall right in front of the house by way of some sort of bad ass introduction. The other two had to abandon their steeds on the last bends due to nightfall and the minor irritation that they could not, try as they might succeed in getting them up the slippery slopes.

Tip: Don’t go to bed with socks damp from perspiration. Woke up at 4 am with frozen toes. Yikes! The next morning after a quick breakfast Marlene, Tinus, Gys and myself went down to rescue the 2 stranded BMW bikes. With a BMW rider saddled on we wrestled with the sheer weight and bulky size of the bikes up the steep slippery slopes. Tinus and the other BMW rider were steadying the bike on either side whilst pushing it and I made up the rear steadying and pushing. With the assistance of one of the 4x4’s and a towing rope as well we managed to get those two bikes up and out. Needless to say afterwards I was quite a sight. The spinning backwheels had beaten me with mud from toe to top, I had black raccoon eyes from sleeping with makeup on and my hair was standing at a rakish angle. Thank God for beanies, lipgloss and sunglasses!

As we travelled deeper into Lesotho we kept a concerned eye out for the 3 x intrepid BMW bikers, which made for witnessing some awesomely spectacular falls. Later one of them named Terence wrote me a mail and said he had in total fallen 7 times. For some people 7 is obviously NOT a lucky number. OUCH and hats off!

As soon as we dropped below the snow line Jerome said let’s roll.Gys also offloaded his BMW and we had a wonderful time riding over the roof of Africa.

After Jerome flew through a pothole as big as a bathtub he and Marlene decided to load up again. By this time I was having a ball and was dead intent on carrying on. Gys and I chose to continue and I proceeded to have the sweetest ride EVER, side stepping potholes, driving then on and then off road, passing through muddy and icy patches at times as we climbed back up in altitude and dipped down again.

Gys must have covered about twice the distance as I did, as he would shoot off and ahead only to rejoin again some odd 10 minutes later, this became a pattern as we rode on. I saw Gys coming and disappearing on the horizon.

Later Jerome informed me that I had driven the highest pass in Lesotho alone on my Vespa. As darkness approached we had to stop and load up and proceeded to drive past Afri-Ski and Oxbow Lodge in darkness, racing towards the border as we weren’t sure what time they closed it. Camelroc guest lodge was the best ever, great accommodation at a great price to the weary bunch of us. By then we all desperately needed to wash! The electric blanket on the bed made me feel like royalty and having roughed it the previous two nights we all truly appreciated such luxurious digs.