Indi, Pierre, Axel, Gill, Henesia and myself participated in the first annual CMA economy run organised by the Strand/Gordons Bay/Somerset West chapter of the CMA on Sunday.The weather was OK, if a bit windy. We met at the Firlands Service station and as we were a bit late we had to fill up and set off almost immediately. I was bike 63 and I later found out there were 64 entries, not a bad turn-out, and the guys from CMA was delighted. We first saw all the bikes together when we finished.
We started off together and I was told to ride in front as I knew the area and had some idea of the route. I also did some calculations which suggested our average speed should be around 88 km/h so I was clearly the best prepared and therefore a worthy front rider. Well,
at that stage we thought so at least.
We rode into Gordons Bay and was immediately tempted by about 10 sportsbikes clearly out on a morning scratching session down Clarence Drive. At this point most of us still felt we’ll give the economy run a go. It would have been typically IUB to turn an economy run into a race at the first opportunity! We were strong and resisted the temptation, however.
We rode at a leasurely pace into Rooi-els, then proceeded to Betties Bay and Kleinmond, where we started passing some of the previous groups. I was a bit worried we were going to fast but my stopwatch (we had target times for about 5 points along the way and the first
one was the only one I could remember) confirmed we’re still bang on time, so we kept to that speed - whatever it was but my wrists are still sore.
There was a fuel stop on the Hermanus road and we stopped to see if anyone needed fuel but all declined so we pushed on. Time was an issue and I was worried about the smokers in the group pulling out sigarettes and us losing time so I started off immediately. To my
surprise and delight everyone followed - IUB was still committed to the cause. Then we joined the N2 for about 5 km/s. As we were running about 4 minutes off the target time, I decided it was a good place to make up some time (my excuse anyway) and set off at a somewhat faster pace. No-one followed - obviously more concerned about fuel consumption that time! On the R43 I went slower again when I was requisted by Henesia to pull over. Her jacket came undone and we had to work on the zipper. The rest of IUB zoomed past (still committed). We fixed her jacket and tied her shoe laces and set off to catch the group so I could reclaim my position in front and see that no-one got lost. Obviously this necessitated some uneconomical progress to be made but hey, it was for the group. We ran them down one by one and just before the Theewaterskloof dam we were in front again. That is a great road. Last time I rode it was just me and Axel on our way to
Still Bay and we had a wonderful time as we could really wind it up. Come to think of it that entire trip was an IUB classic. I still remember Axel almost high-siding himself right in front ogf me!! Bahahahah. But I digress.
In Villiersdorp we re-grouped and set off on the last leg. It was clear we’re still running a bit behind time and it was even more difficult to work out how fast we should be going as I couldn’t remember how far it was to Grabouw. So I pushed on a bit - figuring the downwind part would be a good place to make up for lost time. The rest of IUB was still committed and before to long there was no more headlights in my mirrors.
From Grabouw to Sir Lowrys Pass and Firlands was a short run down the N2.
We made it back to Firlands inside the allotted time. There were no penalties for coming in sooner but you were penalised for running over the time, so we figured we were safe, with our times ranging from 4 minutes under to 2 minutes over or so.
The bikes were scrutinised before the start. You got handicap points for things like carrying a passenger, fairings, panniers, top-boxes, age of bike, standard pipes and class of bike, amongst other things. Then, at the finish, the bikes were filled up again and all this info
was fed into a computor and after it crashed a couple of times (forcing the guy with the mic to ask for help from the bikers) it started spitting out the information.
Heres what I can remember:
Pierres bike (BMW1150GS) was best of our lot with 8,3 litres used over the 170 k’s
Indy’s Super Blackbird was second - I think on 8,9 L
My TLR used 9,8 L
Axels FZR used 14,8 L
Axel and myself had Gill and Henesia as pillions
The bike that turned in the best consumption (3,3 L/100 km) was a VFR800 ridden by a guy that must weigh 60 kgs and he rode like he was driving miss Daisy (we passed him outside Villiersdorp). He didn’t win on handicap though - ba.
Sportsbike class was won by a FJ1200 (cheers Brutus). Superbikes had to compete in this class.
Cruiser class was won by a 800 Intruder
Overall winner was a, taaaadaaadaaaaa you guessed it BMW 1150GS but infortunately not Pierres. He must have been close though.
Some bikes present were a Cagiva Rator, Truimph 955i, old BMW 75, various VFR’s (800’s and 400’s), more than one Pre-sling (Johan’s pre-sling turned in 8,9 L over the 170 km’s even though he stopped for a beer along the way and had to make up this time!), a newish GSXR-1000, various ZZR’s and 3 Honda Shadows and a 1400 Intruder.
IUB was the best represented club with 6 members. Gill and Henesia also put their stamp on procedings by beating most of the wimmen present to the table where they were giving away free bubble-bath
Tags: Trip reports
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