SeanMort

The Seven Passes route between George and Kynsna is one of the cycling gems in that area. The N2 is very rideable, with a generous shoulder, for the section between Wilderness and Sedgefield. The N2 between the Goukamma River and Knysna is dicey, and the same between Wilderness and George along the N2 (I've done both these sections and personally wouldn't again - the climbing doesn't scare me, but the traffic safety does !). Getting to the Seven Passes route from Wilderness via Whites Road is a worthwhile climb though ! Eugene Roux of Cycleworx in Sedgefield is most knowledgeable about the routes and road conditions in that neck of the woods. Very friendly and helpful with information.

Very sad to hear this outcome. Heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

I came across the accident scene after it happened, and it got me thinking as to what could be done to minimise this type of unfortunate accident. Just some ideas ... - a prominent Warning Sign for cyclists at the top of Suikerbossie (possibly sighted where most everyone stops to have a drink etc), and well before they are prone to building up speed, warning them of the traffic light danger down the hill. - a prominent Warning Sign for motorists at the relevant traffic lights, warning them of cyclists and other traffic dangers to their right. - remove or trim the bushes that obscure the view of both cyclists and motorists at this point, and/or install a two-way traffic mirror. - adjust the traffic light timing appropriately to give cyclists and motorists a reasonable amount of time to take action.

Our club (City Cycling Club) used this route, and variations, a few times as an annual mid-year tour event over a week. We initially did it as a MTB event, starting in Sedgefield, and then a road event. The last road tour we did was along the length of the R62 over 7 days, which we called the Tour De Route 62, which was as follows: Stormsriver - Joubertina - Herold - Oudtshoorn - Caltizdorp - Barrydale - Worcester - Slanghoek - Bainskloof - Wellington - Cape Town (Edgemead). We had our support Kombi with, for the drive up from Cape Town to the start point (Sedgefield etc), and pre-organised the stop overs at various B&B's. The one year we had no-one to drive the Kombi, so we took turns every hour or so to drive ! I would say that your best route option would be heading out via Northern Suburbs: one way to get going out the Southern Suburbs is via Palmyra - Rondebosch - Ob's - Salt River - Woodstock - bike path through Paarden Eiland (or into town and then back on the highway shoulder to Paarden Eiland if not with a significant number of riders) - Milnerton - Bosmansdam Road (or through Sandrif) - Bothasig bike path through to Burgundy Estate - up and over Tiekiedraai into Durbanville. From there, there are several routes further North avoiding the highways, each with their issues and safety concerns, especially if riding alone. Just an idea .....

It's positively insane as to how the organiser's come to a decision to seed only the top 30 tandems into # group ?? I really don't understand the rationale as to how this happens. Why not put the top 60/70 - 100 tandems into this one group, like practically every other race in SA, and then the rest into a social tandems group further down the starting order as they used to ? They will pretty quickly self-seed from the start, and it will be safer for all concerned with no fuss. It's pretty hair raising on a tandem in the 1's and 2's groups among the single bikes, which they don't seem to understand at all. We petitioned to be granted a spot into # as per last year, but they blah blahed about the top 30 seeding ad-naseum, and then yesterday didn't we just catch and pass 2 # tandems who didn't look anything like # form (or shape). Even my blind stoker could spot this a mile away. Ugottawonder !!

I am aware of the organisers efforts, and do sincerely hope that said communities embrace the efforts they are making, but this is flip-flop politics at play. So far all I have seen from their original grievances are just words. Here's hoping the situation is addressed and appeased.

Possible protests are my only concern. The protesters had a light-bulb moment last year and the light-bulb is still burning ......

The road surface has settled and, to me, is perfectly good for racing on, but there is that damn pothole in the road just coming into Hout Bay. It's been there for months and nobody 'official' seems keen to sort it out. Choice of wheels will probably come down to wind conditions in my opinion.

Unless you are competing in a licenced group, nobody cares what brakes you have. Perfectly good to go from A - Z.

We didn't have many issues with others drafting off our team, and for the most part we rode them off. There were the usual sections where we got stuck in the shoal, but it wasn't for km's on end. Our team also had some frequent unscheduled stops, due to a recurring mechanical (pilot/stoker chain on one of tandems came off about 30 times), which cost us at least 20min, but we finished as a complete tandem team in 6H32. There was one slightly hairy moment when some of us were blasting down the hill shortly after Op De Tradouw, and split some of the Pure Savages at the back, and then a car came up the hill while we were all a 'little' over the white line !! This caused much excitement with a pedestrian walking on the side of the road. Too much fun we had :-)

It's Friday and everyone is still kicking the Sagan/Cavendish ball to death .. this ball (topic) is more deserving of some Friday kicks to see what the status quo is. What news has anyone on where matters lay ?

CSA have recently made a new appointment in the form of a Coaching Commission Chair, who's first aim is to ".... identify untapped talent (as there are many more World and Olympic champions in our midst)." Now, I'm not sure if the appointment is a salaried position, and I won't detract from the new incumbents' aspirations and abilities, but surely in light of CSA's recent communication on selected riders having to pay their own way, this appointment is a little insincere to them ??

As they should, CSA is simply following the current ruling status from UCI as regards this matter. This issue should have been dealt with promptly a long time ago when the road bike disc brake issue first appeared, and then suddenly local bike shops had them displayed front and center for maximum sales effect. Too late unfortunately for those aspirant racers who dropped a lot of dough on the bike shop counter for the latest technology, and then got booted out of licenced races, such as Tour of Good Hope, for not making themselves informed about the fuzziness of the rules. I put the blame squarely at the door of the CSA for their tardiness in not informing all their members timeously of this matter. Yet, there are still disc brake road bikes in the shop windows ... As regards applying the rule to specifically league road races; for Western Province Cycling leagues (I would imagine other regions would be similar), no matter the licence category, the prevailing UCI rule for disc-brake road bikes will be applied. Depending on the racing category different licence grades are applicable - CAT1 & 2 require a full racing licence, CAT3 only requires CSA membership. More info is on this link - http://www.wpcycling.com/uncategorized/autumn-and-winter-league-2016-criteria/

If I recall correctly CSA is still looking for an appointed treasurer some 2 years or so later. Mike Bradley is currently caretaking this role in an acting capacity. Surely there are more than enough capable candidates willing and able to fill this most important position ?? Someone to manage and oversee the financial dashboard of the organisation .... ??

Point 8 of last years CSA AGM minutes seemingly starts to highlight some of the financial problems - https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53f5fb7ce4b0cab4a7fe8561/t/58416dc620099e0b6012f12c/1480682953426/20161119_Minutes+AGM+November+2016+Final.pdf