Tubehunter

Even if the conditions are perfect between now and next week, the effect of 4 days of raging fire will still be ongoing come Sunday and there is no way it will be safe for 35 000 people to ride through the heart of the areas the fire has unloaded its wrath.

But the real issues from the fire making it not possible to run across OKW only happened on Tuesday. Til then it would certainly have been noticeable but manageable. How could they have predicted that on Monday and given the early annoucement??

The hold off in the annoucement was to see if OKW was a viable option with the fire services having the opportunity at putting it out. We all know that did not happen and the fire gained in ferocity and then went on it's real rampage through homes in both Monkey Valley and Tokia and shutting down both Boyes Drive and OKW. That essentially forced the organisers to look at what part of the route they could still ask access for and this is the 47kms we will ride with not a single vehicle to share our road space with! VIVA cycling! Thank you CTCTT

Gonna make a day of it. Dressing up in superhero outfits for the better half and myself. Have purchased toy fireman hats to fix to the handlebars of the bike! Stopping just shy of face paint, as that stuff is not sweatproof! Tempted to bring some with to help paint a smile on for most of the distance delirious alternative route brawlers trying to confuse themselves for cyclists..

Dude go join the Cycle Tour Trust and you give it a bash then. Clearly they are desperately in need of someone with your analytical acumen! What could they possibly be thinking, it's only been 38 times they've run it without these kinds of issues before...

M3 = MOTORWAY number 3. Managed by the local authorities. N1, N2, N7 = National Highway number 1, 2 and 7. Manged by the National authorities. Work with us Smimby, or is this just deliberate obstinance?

The route will be too congested for people to do a second lap. Because it's so short the volume of riders making it back in time to consider doing this will make it a non option for everyone. Especially when the temptation to do it twice and get closer to a full distance will be such an option for most of the first half of the field! Send the organisers a mail and ask them if they'll refund your 2nd lap entry. I don't see any reason they wont do this, if they are the one's stopping this add on feature to the event.

Cap, the fire, she is still burning. How can the Organisers ask the fire fighting services to move out of the way so that they can deploy waterstations, EVEN IF THE CATCHNETS ARE IN PERFECT WORKING ORDER? The reaction to Chappies is based on the fact that there was enough heat generated by the fire to cause significant expansion of the rock structure on the top of the mountain. What the impact of that will turn out to be is unknown and certainly will not be determined within the next 3 days. How many lives would be put at risk, attempting to push the race through is original route? What are the chances the city will sign off on plans like these??? Is this really that much of a stretch for people to grasp????????????????

Hey, I enjoy debating on this platform with all of you ous, checking out all your diverse opinions on whatever we bring up for discussion but you know when you get to that point where you feel you have thrashed a topic to death and you arrive at that place where the common sense required to grasp what is actually going on, will just forever seem to escape some of the people adding new flames to a burnt situation. Those of you who cannot see beyond your own emotional ouburst at invested time and resources to come down and race for their PB this year and would somehow like to justify this investment as a dig at the Organisers for not offering you some other form of race opportunity for a second Sunday in March somewhere in Cape Town, should really consider whether lining up on Sunday is a good idea. I would suggest it is probably not your year for participating then. The rest of us, that want to ride in the area the race ALWAYS goes through, that is close enough yet safe enough for us, to see what has happened on this Mountain we care about AND STILL SHOW some form of collective appreciation to the communities directly affected by this natural disaster, will try to make a day of this from the joy of our bicycle seats!

How much chaos would this be in comparison to 35 000 cyclists who would try and do a ride of their own without any form of cohesion whatsoever? Have you seen what 1 000 cyclists with their own ideas on a stretch of road look like???? Without any marshals or road closures? Whilst emergency services are still trying to get to some areas and probably be putting out fires? Ja, cancelling the event would have been so much better...

More nought dude! Read the last few pages and you'll see that all your points have been debated already. Do it. I dare you...

Yep, sitting in Randburg you can make a comment like that! IF you were in Cape Town and saw even a little bit of what was actually going on at the ground level, your entertainment area with its thatch roof laps would be about as popular as this post! The fire has no predetermined areas it is picking and there are a couple of hundred people sleeping in makeshift camps as they have been evacuated from their homes with nothing more than their wallet and their phones!

Nice one dude! Dropping back to somewhere near mid pack to ride with some mates in honor of my mate who passed away in Jan. Heather and I will be wearing some red superhero outfits for the Firemen too! We should be easy to spot! Banana milkshake for breakfast sounds like the bomb!

Understand Slowbbbbzzz, that you will never make EVERYONE happy all of the time. If you moved the ride into a different part of the Cape there would be people complaining about transport issues getting to and from the new start and finish venues, before you got the first approval from local government about a route change. How many community members would disregard marshals and traffic when trying to get out of landlocked areas because they made plans for the weekend and only now have found out they are confined to their homes for the day. Just one of those eeedjits pulling out into a road into oncoming racing groups? Picture the scene then! I woulda loved to see a new route myself, but then I have over 15 of the events completed. Some new comers would probably not want to ride it if it went somewhere else, just cause it's not the CTCT then... You have been given a gift my man. You now have to ride twice as slow to still take as long as you normally would! Enjoy the day sucker!

Shorthand speak for - Not Quite Our Class Darling Us old toppies need to research this...

Alternative route plans around the South Peninsula. There is no way of getting there, let alone back with both Boyes and OKW out of commission. Any other alternative routes would have had to be advertised with the local communities in the area weeks, if not months in advance to ensure the City took into account any valid reasons not to grant a permit to the Cycle Tour Trust. Is your expectation that the Organisers really had a completely separate and backup route ready to roll in 3 days given they have never ever needed this in the history of the event before?

It should still count as long as you ride with your chip and you get timed. The event will be official, so your finish should be too! Follow same procedure and get to line up twice and sing HHHHHHOOOOOOOOOPPLAA a second time, savouring the joy klapping it twice. The route is too short for any meaningful seeding I think.

It's at the bottom of Boyes Drive, so literally almost at the halfway point! Toad on the Road it's called I believe...

Yes, there used to be defined shifts as the racer crew came and went, then the semi serious guys taking the baton and finally the social crew arriving to wonder what all was on offer at the start of the day... Now it's quite likely they'll all be there at the same time at some point!

365 days ago when the planning for 2015 CTCT started they did not picture a scenario where every access road to the South Peninsula would be closed due to a natural disaster. This is the 37th (I think) running of the event and the FIRST time something like this has happened. I have some disaster management responsibilities and given that track record I would also not have factored in a complete deviation of the route as another instance of the Argus\CTCT. Doing that would essentially make it a different race altogether.... But hindsight is 20-20 vision. Heck, even I speculated on a different route earlier on this thread, fully well knowing it was pie in the sky, as all the events permissions and tabled requirements, would have been based around using the Southern Peninsula. We're effectively being given whatever the City will allow us to use of that route! Thank you Cycle Tour Trust for getting us somewhere to ride without any cars on Sunday, WHILE the mountain is still burning! FULLY APPRECIATED!

Eishhh, sorry! My bad! Collateral fire aimed at the moaning crew...

No worries Warren. Any time you're ready to organise the road closures with all these new burbs and communities affected and make sure the trouble intersections are effectively closed for 7 hours of the day with adequate support from traffic department and marshals and somehow pull this all off with approvals from the various authority groups in 3 days, you let us know and we'll line up with you!

Ride through the finish area on to Hout Bay and back. Add the Glen and Signal Hill if the legs are looking for more climbing miles!

Where's the start and finish venue that can host 35000 riders plus their families and supporters? Hands up ANY Events Company who would take this on and have it ready for 3 days time...

Why cancel if there's already so much sunk cost to the event and many people are already in Cape Town? What do you think 30 000+ people trying to find a ride of their own on a Sunday in Cape Town will look like???? Kudos to the Organisers for managing to get the City's approvals given the circumstances! Looking forward to riding with people who remember the simple joy of why we started riding a bike in the first place! HHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPLLLAAAAAA!