Next morning I ride an hour and a half North and the country
continues to become more and more arid till, at the Namibia border there are
only occasional tussocks of grass and sage lke bushes… Its become something of
a moon-scape. This country reminds me very much of the Atacama regions of South
America, and indeed, both areas are at the same latitudes and on the West
Coasts of their respective continents… And Im told that both areas also vie for
being the oldest and driest geographical regions on earth!
Soon after crossing into Namibia (which took about half an hour and seemed to go without any difficulties... the bike is now exported from SA), I head off the main highway and Im now on dirt roads… It seems however that they are pretty good quality and while I’m cautious, I find its pretty easy to cruise along at 80Kmh. Im also very pleased with my new suspension modifications to the bike…
I added “inertia activated” fork valves and about 2.5cm of preload to the forks with spacers too. In highway riding these changes really change the suspension from being very soft and soggy to being quite firm and I have lots more feedback from the road (more like the feel of a street bike). I was concerned that the changes may destroy the very good rough-road riding behavior of the bike that allowed me to ride over 10 – 15cm curbs with barely a noticeable bump…
There were lots and lots of corrugations on the dirt roads, and the new suspension worked fine… It’s a bit more bumpy at low speeds but after you reach about 65Kmh things really smooth out and the bike rides very well… I should be good for lots more dirt roads now, which is good because I have a suspicion that there will be lots more J
Now for some desert escapades I guess...
