BUFFALO RALLY 2010

This year’s Buff was again held at the Santos/De Bakke Municipal Resorts in Mossel Bay. The rally officially opened at 08h00 on Friday 19th March and closed on Sunday 21st March 2010. 

After a lot of bike problems it was decided we would trailer down to Mosselbay. Loaded and packed, off we went in a relaxed mood, ready for a good weekend. We left from Grahamstown early on Friday morning. Our first stop was at Storms River, where we had a breakfast overlooking the deep gorge. Here we bumped into the Road Sultans from Grahamstown: Pierre, Miggie and Piet. It was good to see them, also being keen on having some good fun.

For once, I had my directions right, not having to waste time driving around like I did in Mthatha… On arrival it was already a huge hive of activity. It was good that NO cars or bakkies were allowed in the camp site and transport was arranged to deliver our camping gear to a very crowded camping site. It seemed as if 80% of the bikers had arrived a week early to get the best spots, overlooking the beach and ocean.  And what a view!

There was no shortage of food stalls, trinket tents, tattoo artists, photographers, biking gear, wheelie machine, dyno machine and the several booze tents, all well used.

Good loud music and the huge buzz of thousands of people moving around sober, drunk and elated. How tents were found in the massive maze with hundreds of tents all looking the same, was a nightmare for even the sober. I had feelings for the poor hammered hundreds. Bikes growled all night, as sleep is never an issue on the fist party night.

Saturday morning came and with very little kip a small breakfast and yes; that all needed CMA cup of coffee.  Little life savers!  A good start to the day was an energizing shower. Fantastic! They were the cleanest I have seen in a long time at a rally, even though there were so many people.

On our bikes we went for the mass ride out of the camp site down to the beachfront up through town to the location and back to the camp. There was a good response and a warm welcome from locals and holiday makers alike.

After lunch, we had an awesome swim in the sea. Beer in hand, amongst the docile waves letting the water soothe away the heat. Ellen took this in her stride.  Both Nowellin (Wolverine) and I (Geoff) were riding in the parking lot on our way back to camp and we got “fined” for riding without helmets. Those never resulted in any payment or conviction.

After another wonderful day, darkness and festivities started all over again. Wolverine and I decided to brave the local hangouts.  We were quite disappointed that most of them were closed. One or two pubs we skipped as the local traffic heroes harassed all who were leaving. Finally, we stopped at Trawlers and met some of the home town boys.  We sat there having a few more than we anticipated, due to the fact we had to wait for a gap to avoid the men with blue lights. We were fortunate not to be stopped entering the camp, we would have failed the blood test. What was good though, was the traffic officials stopping any sloshed lads from trying to drive home before hitting the road.

Sunday morning saw people leaving before sunrise and some very heavy heads. You could see the babalas being a very painful thing to experience. After packing and hitting the road, we decided to stop over for lunch at the waterfront in Knysna, thoroughly enjoyed.  We then took the rest of the trip home.

We arrived home tired, but it was a good trip with lots of fun.