Something is stirring at the back of my mind!

Knysna Oyster Festival - 3rd July 2011

During July 2011 Thea and I visited Kathleen and Ferdi (Thea's daughter and son-in-law) in Wilderness, during our visit we went to the Oyster Festival in Knysna. Harley-Davidson had a display (their huge truck and all their motorcycles) and this is where it began. Harley's bring out the "little boy" in one, the yearning for lost youth, but say what you may, they are beautiful motorcycles and look like a motorcycle should. 

Over time we have come to discover that you either love Harley's or hate them - I love them, I have heard it all, poor brakes, unreliable, heavy and a bevy of other criticisms but they remain beautiful and one day I will have one, or maybe even two.

Well at the Oyster Festival I fell in love with motorcycles all over again. What to buy was the question, Thea's son-in-law Ferdi said don't buy a Harley? James (Thea's son) and I spent hours browsing through the Harley brochure trying to decide which one to buy, never an easy decision. On the way back to Cape Town we stopped off at Lynn Schroeder BMW Motorrad in George, great people, very helpful and the decision was made - let's buy a 1200GS Adventure.

The decision was made, Thea and I were now going to become motorcyclists deep into our fifties, some will say crazy, but now with hindsight "what great fun and what a brilliant decision." For Thea's birthday in July 2011 her gift was "An Introduction to Motorcycling at the BMW Academy at the Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria (for two, her and I)."

Motorcycle Boot Camp

We stayed with Barry and Elsie and had two wonderful days of learning, riding and absorbing. Our thanks to Chez Van Dijk (a motorcycling guru and a great teacher) and to Fran Blofield of the BMW Motorrad Academy for their patience, their knowledge and their sharing, what a wonderful experience.

Armed with our new found learning, practise and with a wonderful evening behind us with the Harley Chapter of Pretoria it was back to Cape Town.

Cold feet. After much thought it was decided that the "1200 Adventure" was too big, too powerful and too heavy, I decided to cancel the order and instead we bought a BMW 650GS (lets call it training wheels).

BMW 650GS (Training Wheels)

There it is - our first motorcycle in forty years, a motorcycle for Thea and I to learn (and re-learn) on. What a great motorcycle, but more about that later. First we have to talk about K53, getting Learner's Licences and thereafter a full Licence. So it was off to Robertson (and Ashton) to get our Learner's Licences. Then it was a race for me to get a full licence so that Thea could ride on the pillion legally. We signed up for K53 training with the delightful Mr. Billy De Beer of the Biker Safe Academy in Bellville.

Clive and Billy of Biker Safe Academy

Thea and Andre at Biker Safe Academy

After many a training session both Thea and I successfully passed our licences at the Somerset West Testing Station and now we were ready for the "Open Road."









In the next episode I will begin sharing our riding experiences with you. From nervous "Greenhorns" to the two "Oldies" who just do not have enough time to just ride and ride and ride .....!