River Rat

I see JD arrived at WP4 just ahead of JS but rested up for about an hour while JS rode on. I see that JS has a 17k gap, this women's race is going to get interesting soon. If recall from last year's race JD only started featuring in the second half of the race so I'm not discounting her chances in terms of line honours but that mechanical seems to have upset her rhythm a bit. In the meantime my man Pieter Strobos is going great he had at least 6 hours kip at RV1 and for a father of one year old twins he must be thinking he's on holiday!

Some names from last year that I'll be rooting for, Rafeeq needs to stay on course and he'll be a contender. Then I have a number of non finishers Neville Higgs who if I recall correctly got to about 700km. While Geroge van Maanen and Dirk Griesel appeared to have finsihed but were DQed for going off course. If the first two years are anything to go by there'll be all sorts of heartbreak stories all starting 12h00 on the 29th November. Good luck to all and I think Jeanne will win!

Might be Mike Woolnough he often trains out there.

The rice paddies in Kep, Cambodia.

This was a tour of 40km through the jungles of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. A mixture of road and single track. Unforgettable birthday for my wife.

The Killing Gate at Angkor Thom

A monster ride today.

A monster ride today.

Just finished the Sabie X and a wet day 2 has left me with a cold otherwise I would have been keen.

Klapperkop is currently patrolled by Nature Conservation personnel so if you're on the road you would be safer than outside of the reserve. The trails are getting safer but until we can close off the reserve at night I am less certain of your safety. Depending on what time you intend go through the reserve it can be quite busy which makes the off road trails a bit safer, normally between 7-9 am it's a bit like Eloff street, beware of the runners. If you want to go off road I would recommend Groenkloof as we haven't had any attacks since June last year thanks to the patrols

Happens to be the week after Sabie Experience, the Lowveld is going to be busy!

Just an update from the above NC personnel will be on patrol from 6am to 6pm on weekends and holidays but only from 6am to 3 pm during the week. They are busy sorting out some shifts so expect this to change for the better.

Copied from my other thread Klapperkop Safety Update After this week's ordeal in the reserve I am pleased to report that the City of Tshwane have taken action. This morning there were 6 Nature Conservation employees patrolling the reserve and this will continue until the access control kicks in. The target date for this is 7th April, after this the full security plan as tabled by the Council is expected to take effect and you can expect that access to the reserve will be controlled and the reserve will be closed off after dark. I will inform you once the entry process has been finalized, this will also be explained by signage to erected at the two entry points. We can thank Thinus Prinsloo of Nature Conservation for pulling out all stops and for dealing with my rather uncompromising attitude in a professional manner to give effect to this. Of course the obvious question is whether Klapperkop is currently safe to ride or run in. Well I rode there this morning and pointed out the hotspots to the patrols. When I returned some 2 hours later they were diligent in making their presence felt at these areas. However, their current focus is on the road and viewpoints 1 and 2 in particular, which means that the off road trails are not being monitored to the same extent. It is reasonable to expect that their mere presence might deter any criminal trying their luck but there are no guarantees Further, these are not trained security personnel but they are effectively the eyes and ears of what is happening in the reserve. This has proven to be extremely successful in the Groenkloof reserve and I see no reason why it should not work in Klapperkop once the access control is in place. In the meantime the best I can say is that the reserve is safer than it was on Friday. On a personal note I would ask that if you do see the NC personnel in the reserve that we try and make them feel part of the community. It's not an easy task and I believe that a simple greeting and thank you will go a long way in terms of motivation

Thanks Paul but I did manage to get the post in yesterday. Now we need to get the victims of the previous attacks to ID this guy.

Man this just so sad, my condolences to all.

Hey glad you could enjoy the ride again, trails are in need of a little TLC but as you say still a great place to ride. In fact we're on the trails tomorrow morning hopefully we see all six giraffe again!

From Friends of Groenkloof Nature Reserve's Facebook page Klapperkop solutions 18 Jan 2017. Crime in Klapperkop Nature Reserve has escalated substantially and there were 8 attacks on people in the past 3 weeks. Friends of Groenkloof Nature Reserve (FGNR) had in the past week, together with other community leaders, urgent meetings with CityCouncil representatives to discuss measures to make Klapperkop safer. A combination of measures have been agreed on: - The Council's Nature Conservation (NC) dept will provide the staff for patrols and access control. - FGNR will provide the required R60 000 for the installation of gates, access control, etc. at the two entrances. - NC and FGNR will provide for signage - Improve collaboration and efficiencies with NC, Metro Police and local security companies like Hi-Risk Unit. - NC to inspect and repair the boundary game fence on a daily basis. - Future steps will be implemented once funds at the City Council are available: ie. strengthening of the fences and improvement of the lighting near Fountains circle. - In the long term the upgrading of the whole Precinct is necessary. The development of a Nature and Culture precinct with a specific focus on coordinated and integrated safety, including the roads and open spaces. Once the security improvements have been done and Klapperkop Nature Reserve is safer, FGNR and NC would like to recommence with conservation work on Klapperkop, the improvement of the MTB and hiking trails, tree tags, etc. During the past 15 years FGNR and NC have together created Klapperkop Nature Reserve. This included the erection of the game fences, game grids, introduction of zebra, wildebeest, rooihartbeest and impala. FGNR is totally dependent on donations for its projects to improve Klapperkop. Any size contribution is welcomed. Friends of Groenkloof Nature Reserve, acc no: 620 4620 4830, First National Bank, Brooklyn 251345. Ref: Klapperkop and your surname. Confirmation email (optional) to rtryhou@icon.co.za With all the combined efforts we can make Klapperkop Nature Reserve, and eventually the whole precinct, one of the great assets of our city. Robrecht Tryhou. Friends of Groenkloof Nature Reserve.

Also not sure about this, I used to do the Marathon on the Saturday and ride the Half with my wife on the Sunday. I know of a number of families where Dad rode on Saturday and babysat the kids while Mom rode on Sunday. Surely, all it needs is a little bit of tweaking to make one half marathon available on the Sunday?

Klapperkop Safety Update Last nights meeting revealed a number of problems have arisen preventing council from implementing the undertakings given over numerous meeting that The Friends of Groenkloof Nature Reserve (FGNR) and I have had with the executive of the council since our May meeting last year. The main cause of this was the implementation of the decision made prior to the August elections to move the responsibility for the reserves from the district to the Department of Environment. So while we have a solid commitment from the Regional Director to put access control in place at both entrances to the Klapperkop reserve, this change in responsibility meant that this obligation ended up with the department which has no budget available for this project. While the councilors present tried to justify the delays based on what can only be described as an admin problem we were having none of it. To their credit they agreed to find a way of still delivering within the confines of the council regulations and to this end it was agreed that Councilor Shaun Wilkinson of ward 59 would take the responsibility for resolving this. Today, I attended an informal meeting with the Dept, FGNR and Shaun where we discussed various interim solutions to address the crime situation in the reserve. I am pleased to announce that the Dept has committed to tasking their own employees to patrol the fence line of the reserve and effect repairs to the fence where necessary. This process has borne fruit in Groenkloof and I can see no reason as to why it won't have a positive effect in Klapperkop as well. You can expect to see these guys on the ground during the course of next week. As for access control there are two options being explored namely the sourcing of funds from either district or elsewhere in the city's budget or a collaboration between the Dept and FGNR to put the necessary infrastructure in place. I have an undertaking from Shaun that we should have an indication of the next steps within the next couple of weeks. Previous collaborations between the Dept and FGNR in the past has led to the fencing off of Klapperkop, the removal of the wattle and the building of the trails which has effectively brought about the reserve as we know it today. Something for which the Dept and FGNR deserve all the credit with a particular mention of the Chairman of FGNR Robrecht Tryhou who once again offered to help without hesitation at today's meeting. Further, the Executive Mayor will be doing a visit to the area tomorrow and I hope he'll commit to quad bike patrols along the R21and George Storrar Drive fence lines. There are a number of other security related initiatives that could be confirmed within the next couple of weeks which will further enhance the security within the reserve. I leave these for Shaun to elaborate on when appropriate. It feels like the project has the right impetus and commitment but, I will be keeping close to it to make sure that the implementation doesn't slip as it did last year.

A public meeting has been arranged by Councillor Shaun Wilkinson, for Wednesday 11th at 18:00, at CBC old boys club George Storrar road, Groenkloof, to discuss the way forward with regards to safety in Klapperkop.

I spoke to one of the cyclists who was attacked just before Christmas and it occurred at around midday on the off road climb from the reservoirs to the tower ( arguably the toughest climb in Pretoria). The guy was hiding on the north side of the tower and waited for him to be at his slowest before robbing him of his watch and cellphone. As for the other two cyclists I don't have details perhaps Spinnekop can share the details of their incident. It would appear that no bikes were stolen and they were uninjured. As for the sightseers it would appear that viewpoint ! is indeed the hotspot with the first attack on a tour vehicle who collected the Doctor to the French Embassy and wanted to show them the view of the city. Unfortunately their were injuries. Regarding the last two incidents I'm afraid to say that I have sketchy details but this mornings was before 7:00am which has always been considered safe due to the amount of cyclists and runners on the road.

Yip this is a blow but not unexpected, as we knew would displace the criminals out of Groenkloof and into Klapperkop. The only good news is that thanks to our previous efforts we have good traction with council so I expect some quick action but let's see.

Unfortunately I can confirm that another attack has taken place on Klapperkop at Viewpoint 1 (first from R21 entrance) this morning. Two cars stopped for a bit of sightseeing and they were assaulted and stabbed. I got there about 30minutes after it happened and spoke to the police who responded a call (I believe it was a cyclist that assisted them). SAPS had very little information on the details so even mine are a bit sketchy. What I can confirm is that we have had six attacks in the reserve, in three of the incidents cyclists were involved and the other three were sightseers. I have had numerous discussions with Council regarding these attacks and these have been escalated to the MMC and expecting a statement on a plan of action any moment now. In particular we need a firm commitment on the timing on the installation of the access control and the permanent patrols for the area. I'm also pushing him for immediate security patrols during peak times. Please ignore the reports from the Record who are reporting that these incidents took place in Groenkloof reserve these reports are incorrect and the good news is that we have had no incidents in Groenkloof since May last year. This indicates that the security plan is working in Groenkloof which suggests that we should be able to sort out Klapperkop if council simply execute their plan. In the meantime don't ride in Klapperkop on your own, I will keep you informed as to any progress made in terms of addressing the issue.

Unfortunately I can confirm that another attack has taken place on Klapperkop at Viewpoint 1 (first from R21 entrance) this morning. Two cars stopped for a bit of sightseeing and they were assaulted and stabbed. I got there about 30minutes after it happened and spoke to the police who responded a call (I believe it was a cyclist that assisted them). SAPS had very little information on the details so even mine are a bit sketchy. What I can confirm is that we have had six attacks in the reserve, in three of the incidents cyclists were involved and the other three were sightseers. I have had numerous discussions with Council regarding these attacks and these have been escalated to the MMC and expecting a statement on a plan of action any moment now. In particular we need a firm commitment on the timing on the installation of the access control and the permanent patrols for the area. I'm also pushing him for immediate security patrols during peak times. Please ignore the reports from the Record who are reporting that these incidents took place in Groenkloof reserve these reports are incorrect and the good news is that we have had no incidents in Groenkloof since May last year. This indicates that the security plan is working in Groenkloof which suggests that we should be able to sort out Klapperkop if council simply execute their plan. In the meantime don't ride in Klapperkop on your own, I will keep you informed as to any progress made in terms of addressing the issue.