tubed

I seldom get irritated enough to say negative stuff on this forum, but jeepers Cavendish is an egotistical, ungrateful pr*ck. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it ends in big tears with Lefevere, of course it will be all Lefevere's fault, just as it was Doug's, then Illingworth....... What will really piss me off more is if he uses mental illness again to excuse what is just at times pure prat behaviour when playing to the crowd no longer works.

I think you might be surprised what Covid has done to all of those who relied on freebie marketing budgets or MC duties. The go to athletes mopping up at the moment are TatjanaS, GregM and some of the rugby folk. For the rest it is very slim pickings.

Epic has always had a fascination with SA 'celebs' - one would have thought it would have grown up by now - even an ex doper with some insight would offer better questions. Maybe it is a question of budget. Would love to hear Hermida behind that mike. Matt's thousand yard stare straight ahead when she asks him a question says it all.

Actually not a bad idea, I use a pair of Reef diving gloves, neoprene on top and thick leather on the grip. Toasty warm and tough as anything to withstand the barbed wire fences and thorns. Relatively inexpensive.

Had -5 there a few weeks ago and that was where the sun was about to come up, been bitterly cold winter in that area. Layers work for me as I heat up quickly. The essentials for me are waterproof socks for the river crossings as there is quite a bit of water in the crosings and you are likely to get wet shoes/ socks. Gloves which are waterproof/ windproof and an inner glove to add an extra layer. Buffs to keep the ears and nose warm. Cape Union Mart seem to have a good selection at their Century City store. Some good local online shops now too, but I prefer trying on gloves and socks. Enjoy your ride.

???? "The Pavé segment" . Strictly speaking they are 'Pavé sectors' . Whereas I believe Stava has segments. What was I thinking calling it a brick road. Seriously though you have got me all excited now remembering that we still have a Paris Roubaix still in October......hoping for an early Euro winter.

If you enter from the top at the estate main entrance the guards will lift the boom for you and wave you through on down the bricks and down what looks like a bricked driveway to the left of the old white homestead, you will then see the trail in front of you and follow the tracks. If you are heading past World of Birds up Victorskloof road, you go as far as you can up the brick road and track to the estate fence/ gate, on the left pillar is an intercom, buzz that and the security will buzz the gate open for you, then just follow the tracks up.

Was interesting to see first hand how Chris and Julia staged the Freedom Challenge events, most of the riders were 100% supportive of whatever they required the riders to do and extra expense the riders were asked to incur. The race office itself made a lot of expensive adjustments as they went, so from everyone involved there was an appreciation that we were lucky to be just riding bikes when many others in society were making/ suffering real sacrifices in their normal lives. Notwithstanding these challenges the races went ahead and there were no incidents, but it takes a co-operative approach which recognises that these are extraordinary times and we are just riding bikes. The gravity of it was brought home when a small nature reserve manager tells you of the sacrifices they are willing to make to host the riders, for without the riders they would not have seen a paying client for 2 years, this on the back of already challenging economic fortunes pre Covid.

Good luck to Eddie! bike looks solid. Go for it Tony- wishing you all the best! Will be following all the saffas.

If you dont come right, take it to the guys at Knipe Racing, I'd back them to either resolve the issue or give you an honest opinion.

this is great advice - just go - part of the adventure is figuring it out as you explore

Agree with this, I am about the same height - I have a Vango Soul 100, reckon most times I have slept with my head out of the tent under the flysheet, unless the mozzies are about then you need to keep it closed. I'd go for a two person rating or something at least a bit longer than 2m to be safe.

Back to touring - looks like a wonderful flower season ahead - so many opportunities up the West Coast. Enjoying this couples posts at the moment when they find signal. https://www.instagram.com/a.whale.away/?hl=en

Thank you. I thought 2012 was cold, this was another level, the morning out of Romansfontein I stood on the N6 near Jamestown waiting for sunbeam at 7:30, everything frozen solid. As soon as the sun set each day it became cold. Even Trouthaven close to home was bitterly cold. My night on top of Die Leer was a proper test of equipment and willpower. It is a ride where you get opportunities to really test yourself in a variety of ways - in that sense it is quite unique and has a lot of appeal to the SA psyche of endurance as it is an individual event and you get to choose exactly how tough you want to make it and you get a sense that we are really capable of so much more than we think.

Murray saddles for the win! I have one of these too, just finished my third RASA on it, bought it in 2012, rode with Casper Venter who also bought one - they were a thing at the time - Casper's collapsed and was swapped out by Johann Rissik in Prince Albert and sent away to Graeme for repairs, mine got to Cape Town and went to Graeme for repairs - both got some heavy treatment of some indestructible epoxy and were sent back to us refurbished. Casper and I both finished this year on the same saddles. Comfort is unsurpassed and durable as hell. I did cut the back of mine down a bit to make it look a bit more normal and to stop it chaffing on my saddle bag. Otherwise as soon as I head off somewhere its the first piece of equipment which gets put on my bike. Hopefully Johann and Graeme are swapping stories somewhere today.

Cant go wrong with getting a spoke if you know the length and bend, Caledonian should be a good bet. I can vouch for these guys, Ian knows his stuff, probably closer to you, Cranx.co.za * just checked they may not be open on a Sat, call first

Cav = Jekyll and Hyde personality. Loves to play up for the cameras and knows how to self promote when the going is good. When the going gets tough for him personally he cant hide his nature and the prat comes out. Multiple winner, but a true champion is judged by when the times are tough and the cameras are not looking. Or how you exit a team that gave you a fair shake, but you didnt deliver.

I think he can choose exactly who he wants to sit next to him. Enjoy it. The term 'legend' is thrown around carelessly these days - one of the true hard men of that era, an inspiring fighter.

Nice to see your name on the official team sheet next to Alan Peiper - onwards and upwards.

The person who did this, did it intentionally and with enough time to contemplate their actions. Edit: on reflection - my calling for prosecution of somebody so clearly out of touch with their place in the environment could do better with some education and a commitment to stewardship of the trails. I am pretty sure someone here knows who did it, I'd suggest the person be encouraged to come clean ASAP (before it gets out of hand, as I doubt this is going to go away quietly) and make a considerable contribution to TokaiMTB and TMBikers - that would make the best of a sad event. Hopefully SANPARKS step up too and send a clear message to anyone else stupid enough to do something similar. ????

I can understand a servitude for traversing a property in respect of services, ie you can use a property for other purposes if it has bulk water, sewage etc running underneath it. So in that instance you could put a park or walkway over the top of it. But for a road it seems like it's a much higher level of exclusive use required, ie a main road such as the one which was envisaged would not be compatible with private use as well, hence the expropriation option. It may well be that the entire length of the proposed bypass road was not expropriated hence the owners exerting a right to fence it off. I still think a property attorney should take a look at it. I am not unsympathetic to the challenges facing owners of vacant land, but something here doesn't add up to me and it would be nice to know what the title deeds say.

Yes, just buzz the security on the intercom located on side of the gate, they will open for you, the track is easy to follow and the guards at the exit gate will lift the boom for you as you exit at Suikerbossie. So far everyone is lekker to the residents and security so keep up the 'smile and wave' and the historic Bains route and public right of access will remain. Welcome to not having to do Suikerbossie again.

Spoke to my dad. As far as he recalls they (Council) expropriated (with compensation) the entire length of the proposed Hout Bay bypass road starting at about 400m passed the graveyard and up to opposite the Houtkapperspoort entrance where the new fence is being erected, This encompasses the bulk water supply underground to the reservoir above IY as well, the road and water supply sharing the route in part where the erf in question is located. The road never got off the ground due to other development needs in the community and a lot of opposition from the property owners who own properties abutting the road reserve. That is as memory serves BUT its decades ago and my dad is elderly. Like Is said in the above post, it should be a matter of fact and law - somebody will need the City to confirm the actual status quo. The landowners erecting the fence do indeed have rights, (unless the expropriation split their erf), so if they are doing the erection of the fence legally, then the City has authorisation regarding their development should seek to balance the needs of the community (access) and their development (security), a deal can be struck as it was at Ruyterplaats. Experience shows that the community will have to be vigilant and make sure that the City regards the needs of the community when dealing with the developers, otherwise the City currently sees an increase in coffers via rates and can be pro development. In my view the best way would be to work via the councilor and TMB who have proven very effective at negotiating access. (Sanparks are an abutting owner - but the less said of any reliance on them the better).

I'll have a chat to my dad, he was responsible for a number of the access points in Hout Bay when it was being developed years ago - Ruyterplaats, Myburghs Ravine, Tierboskloof, Valley Road Weir. As a mountaineer, cyclist and lawyer he tried to make it a condition of the City's development approval was the retained public access to the mountain and historical footpaths - developers disliked him as it infringed on their security estate selling point - the MCSA strongly supported it. Nowadays its trail runners and gravel bikes that thrive on the access. The Constantia Nek pipetrack and road servitude was included in the above. Lets see what the facts and law says - and hopefully the memory.

My guess would be Table Mountain Bikers, seems like some initial work has also been done on the Ruyterplaats Estate link and a TMB request for trail support small notice has been placed. Love the way they/ Rob just get stuff done on the Table Mountain trails north of Constantia Nek. If you aren't a member or haven't contributed they are really worth giving some cash to.