Why I Ride
- Greg Bergh
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Why I Ride is written by Greg Bergh, co-founder of the Pangea Rally - a handcrafted adventure motorcycle rally across South Africa’s Sea, Berg, and Karoo.
What began as a boyhood obsession with dirt roads and Yamaha thumpers has grown into a life built around exploration, connection, and the pure joy of riding. This story is where it all started - the spark that shaped both Greg’s journey and the spirit behind the Pangea Rally.
If you’ve ever wondered what drives riders to cross continents or chase horizons for no reason other than to feel alive, this is it.
Where It All Began
My dad had a timber house on a hill outside Wilderness, surrounded by pine trees and old logging roads that ran for miles. No neighbours. No traffic. Just open space and the sound of wind through the trees. That’s where I learned to ride.
We both had Yamaha XT250s - big, simple thumpers. No gloves, no boots, just jeans and T-shirts. My hands smelled like petrol from turning the little tap on the tank. I can still smell it now. The road ahead was loose and dusty, and my dad’s taillight was always just out in front of me.
There’s one moment I always think about. He stopped up ahead, turned toward me, and with that mischievous grin he had, he revved hard and dropped the clutch. The back wheel sprayed me full of dirt. I was completely covered, and we both just burst out laughing. It was stupid, simple and unforgetable.
Those rides were the start of something bigger for me. They planted this deep curiosity, a need to see what’s over the next rise, to find the road that disappears around the corner. I still chase that. The hidden mountain pass. The lost jeep track no one’s ridden in years. The gravel road that looks like it might go nowhere - those are the ones I want.
Freedom on Two Wheels
Riding became about exploration. It’s not about how far or how fast. It’s about what’s out there.
There’s nothing quite like coming across a mountain stream on a hot day, covered in dust and sweat, stripping off your gear and jumping straight in. Or finding a pool under a bridge that’s completely your own. Those moments when it’s quiet, when it’s just you, the bike, and the land - they’re priceless.
Riding Together
But there’s also something about connection and sharing the road with someone else. Back then, it was my dad. Later, it was my friends. That feeling of exploring together and seeing the same horizon open up at the same moment - that’s hard to describe. There’s magic in riding alone, but there’s a different kind of magic in riding side by side. In shouting through your helmet because you’ve just seen something incredible, and knowing the guy next to you is doing exactly the same thing. That shared excitement is one of life’s great highs.
And then there are the small things that stick with you - the things that almost shouldn’t happen. Like cracking open a cold Coke in the middle of nowhere. No shop, no sound, no one around, just that hiss of the can, the dust, and the silence. Somehow, it tastes better there than anywhere else. Maybe because you’ve earned it.
The sound of the bikes gets into your body too. It’s visceral. You feel it in your chest. That thump of the engine, the vibration through the bars, the pull of the throttle - it’s power at your fingertips. And for a fifteen-year-old kid, that’s freedom in its purest form. It still is.
Riding was how I connected with my dad, and as a young man, that meant everything. Most boys spend a lifetime trying to find that common ground with their fathers. I found mine on a dirt road in the middle of a forest unnamed on a map. Later in life, I found it again with friends. When I’m on a bike, whether it’s with my dad in memory or with my mates now, it’s the same feeling. Connection, freedom, peace. All at once.
Why I Ride
That’s why I ride.
To explore. To connect. To feel alive.
It started with those rides in the forest with my dad on my Yamaha. It’s grown into a lifetime of chasing horizons and now, creating a way to share them with others.
For me, it’s one of the greatest joys of life.
And that’s why I ride.
Always has been. Always will be.
About Greg Bergh
Greg is the Co-founder and vision and strategy behind the Pangea Rally, a premium adventure motorcycle rally crossing South Africa’s Sea, Berg, and Karoo. A lifelong rider and explorer, he believes the best rides are found off the map, where the land still feels wild and the roads still tell stories.
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