Dibles

Very easy and mostly non-technical. There's farm roads, jeep track and singletrack. There's also a river crossing or two. Don't worry, you will definitely be able to cope with the route. This is going to be an easy laidback ride.

I checked the weather reports and it doesn't look like it will rain but you never know. Have added you as a "maybe" to the list.

Take note, the ride will go ahead even if it rains tomorrow morning.

R20 per single entry or R200 for 20 entries. If you join us you should be safe as we are 16 or so in the group. Read here for the latest on the security: https://www.bikehub.co.za/forum_posts.asp?TID=72478 Take note that it is not recommended that you ride on your own.

Yayyyyy!

See you all tomorrow in the parking lot.

Email from northernfarm: Dear Mandy, <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Further to my previous e mails on the crime problems we have experienced recently. We have put a car guard on patrol in the car park and have arranged with farm management to clear up the grass and trees between the farm and the outside road. The problems have taken place on the outer perimeter road which runs parallel to the hills and dales road. We have set up three teams of two from the Diepsloot development project(older boys) and will provide them with pepper spray and radios. They will patrol this road, one team starting at the far end of the road, one in the middle and one at the beginning.The patrols will start at 6.30 a.m on Saturdays and Sundays. We are also negotiating with two companies to provide armed patrols along this section, and others and will have finalised something by this weekend. We advise people to ride in groups and not on their own. We also advise against riding on the roads outside of the farm. We are confident that these steps will encourage the criminal element to take their activities elsewhere. Regards Simon Nash Northern Farm MTB Representative

Thanks northernfarm for all your effort. Received this last night: Dear Mandy, <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Further to my previous e mails on the crime problems we have experienced recently. We have put a car guard on patrol in the car park and have arranged with farm management to clear up the grass and trees between the farm and the outside road. The problems have taken place on the outer perimeter road which runs parallel to the hills and dales road. We have set up three teams of two from the Diepsloot development project(older boys) and will provide them with pepper spray and radios. They will patrol this road, one team starting at the far end of the road, one in the middle and one at the beginning.The patrols will start at 6.30 a.m on Saturdays and Sundays. We are also negotiating with two companies to provide armed patrols along this section, and others and will have finalised something by this weekend. We advise people to ride in groups and not on their own. We also advise against riding on the roads outside of the farm. We are confident that these steps will encourage the criminal element to take their activities elsewhere. Regards Simon Nash Northern Farm MTB Representative

I received this email last night. Well done to northernfarm for the effort he has put in. Dear Mandy, <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> Further to my previous e mails on the crime problems we have experienced recently. We have put a car guard on patrol in the car park and have arranged with farm management to clear up the grass and trees between the farm and the outside road. The problems have taken place on the outer perimeter road which runs parallel to the hills and dales road. We have set up three teams of two from the Diepsloot development project(older boys) and will provide them with pepper spray and radios. They will patrol this road, one team starting at the far end of the road, one in the middle and one at the beginning.The patrols will start at 6.30 a.m on Saturdays and Sundays. We are also negotiating with two companies to provide armed patrols along this section, and others and will have finalised something by this weekend. We advise people to ride in groups and not on their own. We also advise against riding on the roads outside of the farm. We are confident that these steps will encourage the criminal element to take their activities elsewhere. Regards Simon Nash Northern Farm MTB Representative

Up nope, down yes.

13 confirmed riders and 5 potential riders. Anyone else keen?

Geoff (the unicyclist riding the tour) had a look at this thread and is most grateful for all your posts of encouragement.

Day 10: http://fredhatman.co.za/?p=2300 The 36" unicycle looks huge!

CLEVER! I forgot to mention that FNB responds to the Twitter messages weekends and public holidays too! I sent my message on a Sunday and got a response within 5 minutes.

I battled for 12 days and never got an answer to my banking problem. I then sent a message via Twitter to my bank's representative and they sorted it within 24 hrs. FNB: http://twitter.com/Rbjacobs Standard Bank: http://twitter.com/StandardBankGrp

Cyclesport, is it possible to send me the skeleton format that you are going to capture it in e.g. blank Excel spreadsheet with your columns etc? It will save you having to convert the data I plan on giving you. My email address is HubberMandy at gmail dot com. I will send through the Pretoria stats either today or tomorrow and will send the rest of the stats once I'm done with that.

Bump

I received this mail below from an adventure racing forum. Notice of Stolen Bikes The following bikes were stolen in the Vaal Dam Region on the 16th of December 2009. Both bikes are unique as they are possibly one of a kind in the country and thus possibly making them more identifiable. - The first was a Pegoretti (Marcello) Road bike, green with cream flashes on the top tube, the bike had Campagnolo Record group set, Polar speed and cadence sensors attached, as well as pump and tool bag it was also fitted with Vuelta Carbon Chrome Corsa wheels. - The second was a green Kirk MTB. What makes it unique is the cast magnesium alloy frame, it is a hard tail, shock up front with Shimano group set. Further uniqueness is the frame does not consist of tubes, but as mentioned a die cast magnesium frame, it is a T-frame casting, with cut outs all along the frame to reduce the weight. There is a R. 1,000.00 reward offered to the first person who supplies information leading to the return of the bikes. Please contact or forward any relevant information to Jackie at (011) 465-9635

This email below was sent by Simon yesterday. As you can see he is trying to improve the situation. "Dear Mandy, <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><?: PREFIX = O /> I refer to my previous e mail in December regarding an increase in crime in the area surrounding the farm and the farm itself. Over the December period, there were two incidents of bike jackings outside of the farm, I can not comment about these as I have no specific information. A vehicle was stolen from the car park in December and three intruders were chased off of the farm two weekends ago, one of whom was subsequently arrested. This Sunday someone was unfortunately bike jacked while riding on the outer perimiter road next to the mielie fields and on the way to the cemetry. The rumours that are flying around are obviously blowing the incident out of proportion, there was only one actual incident, which I agree is one too many. I will be meeting with farm management to discuss ways in which we can mitigate against these risks in the future and will send out a further e mail within the next few days. Rest assured we shall take all reasonable steps to protect the farm users against these criminal elements. In the meantime, may I suggest that should you have any queries in this regard you address them to either myself or another member of the NFRUG committee. Regards Simon Nash Northern Farm MTB Representative simon at northernfarm dot co dot za "

Thanks jagwil. I have found five posts about attacks in the Pretoria area since July and I am busy entering the info into a spreadsheet. I still need to contact a couple of Hubbers to obtain some missing info to complete this task. I am going to start keeping a spreadsheet of all attacks I read about on the Hub from now on regardless of the area. I will then make this available to anyone who wants it. Not everyone knows about the Cycling Safety forum and only two out of the five attacks were posted under the correct forum.