kandui

Perfect weather conditions for the August KOM & QOM race on the Mountain Goat this morning. By 8am we had 14 riders in attendance, ready to go flat box on the route. The Goat starts in Deer Park where everyone set off in 30sec intervals, Strava switched on. I had set the route and created the segment last night, making it a little different from the usual Mountain Goat. The finish was down some rough single track, keeping away from the dog walkers. The times were fast and the pace furious, with the winner clocking 27min16sec for the 10,3km loop which climbs 278m. The final km is a long descent with a very technical finish, testing the riders that are by now blowing seriously. Only 2 riders stayed under 30 minutes. Only one lady in attendance, but she still rode well to finish in 45:39 , leaving 3 men in her wake. Thanks to our sponsors for the morning: Devil's Peak Brewery, Darling Brew & Cape Brewing Company for the ample beer supplies. Stoke Suspension Works for the 2 suspension service vouchers. Powerbar for the free nutrition, bars & gels to sustain the energy levels throughout the time trial. Final Results: KOM: Pieter Calitz 27:16 QOM: Melanie Vogel 45:39 Lanterne Rouge: Ross MacEwan 1:03:34 The jerseys are sponsored by Enjoy Fitness and the winners get their time printed on the jersey. These jerseys are only given out 3 times a year and you can only win the jersey once. They are rare as hen's teeth! Fastest through the Tecky Rock Descent won a Stoke Suspension Works , full suspension service for their bike. Male: Jeremy Crowder 1:34 Female: Melanie Vogel 2:31

The cameras are the kind that are used to monitor or capture images of animals in the bush. they have 3 sensors which when disturbed will activate the camera. The ones I have can also be used at night as they have an invisible infrared flash. the picture quality is excellent (12mp stored on the SD card and 1,3mp images sent as MMS). You can set the camera to photo, video or both. It sends images to 2 pre-determined mobile numbers and/or email address. The camera has a small, fold out LCD screen which allows you to check the footage and input settings. You can also plug it into your laptop and download the images in situ. They run on 14 AA batteries or solar and can stay in the field for up to a year. Cost, with a steel cage and solar charger: R7500 (give or take). You can buy them locally, but not all stockists have the steel cage or solar panel. I started with 3 cameras of which one was stolen while in place on the mountain. We tracked the SIM card to UCT campus, but at that point the camera was either switched off or the SIM card removed as we lost the signal. I now have 5 cameras again, but not all of them are out in the field at any one time. I see a problem with using one of these cameras around Kayamandi, because someone will inevitably see you installing it and/or you won't be able to camouflage it enough in an urban environment. It also can't be too far off the the ground , otherwise the beam won't trigger. The beam reaches about 12m. If you're monitoring a busy road, you need to consider the trigger gaps. If you set the camera to trigger every 5 minutes, which is reasonable, you're going to get a lot of pics of motor vehicles. Each MMS will cost you about R2 if it's sent to another network and you'll be recharging the SIM a lot. Fortunately you can recharge remotely. I'll gladly loan a camera, but i would want a deposit for the replacement value.

I still think that there is a role here for Songo.info as a charity with cycling at it's core, operating in Khayamandi. These informal communities are tight and everybody knows everyone's business. If bikes are being stolen in the area, my guess is there are a number of people who: know who some of the thieves are, know where the bikes are being sold or hidden and know whether this a random, opportunistic act or a planned operation, run by a syndicate. I will email Songo.info and ask the same questions and encourage them to use their network in the area to get some information to SAPS. It can only end up hurting their reputation, so I would encourage them to keep their own backyard clean.

Kayamandi is the home of the Songo.info . The criminals seem to originate from Kayamandi and duck back into the community after they attack a cyclist. I would assume there are a reasonable number of community members that cycle or are sensitized to the sport. Do they not know who the scumbags are and think that it's in their best interest, not to mention the right thing to do, to intercept the criminals and alert SAPS? Should Songo.info not get involved in cycle safety in the area? It seems like a pro-active thing to do. After all, they are entrenched in the community. Just a thought I had.

A friend of our's is part of a DC team and 2 girls in her team were the victims. I didn't get more info on location, etc. will know more later. It was a short What's App with no detail

How's this for irony: a body was found on Signal Hill Rd today. Police are investigating a murder case. Seems the body might have been dumped there.

Cool. Strange that outside of the Hub everyone got the sentiment behind the slogan exactly as I had intended. We don't need to debate semantics, I think you get the gist of what I am saying.

Where in my post I made a call for vigilantism I am not sure. Please point it out to me so that I become more educated in the use of the English language. The mountain is our recreational space, not a playground for criminals. The mountain is not a place for people to bed down for the night either, there are shelters in town for the homeless. To me "Occupy Table Mountain" means one thing: We stay and keep using the mountain as we see fit. Run,hike,ride,walk,play. More of us on the mountain, means less space for the criminal to operate. As for someone saying that I shouldn't use this incident to call for more access for cyclists. Interpret it as you like. The attack was random. It could have happened in Newlands, Deer Park, Signal Hill or anywhere else on the mountain. My point was that by restricting access , San Parks are also reducing the potential number of eyes and ears in an area. As a cyclist I don't want unfettered access and I most certainly am not asking for access to "remote areas", which I will call areas where there are hiking footpaths only or the back table, as 2 examples. Cyclists tend to ride early in the morning, when less users are out on the mountain. An area like Newlands Forest at 6am would only have a few people on foot going about their business. What if Newlands was opened to cyclists? You'd have another user group bolstering the numbers at that time of the morning. More eyes and ears. A cycle patrol is nothing more than someone on his or her bike, being aware of their surroundings and having the ability to communicate suspicious activity to the relevant authority. Same as a hiker or walker would be able dial Parks on his phone and report suspicious activity or an incident. Eyes & ears open- ability to communicate with an authority: that's what I call a patrol. More people in certain areas of the park is what I think make sense. Why should cyclists not be part of that? Unless someone invents a powder that takes away the drive to commit crime (and it's fed into our water system), there is no silver bullet for our crime problem. Crime on the mountain will happen again, that's guaranteed. But, in my uneducated opinion, there are certain interventions which can lower the odds of a crime happening: More rangers on active patrol, roaming the mountain. Removal of people using the mountain as a place to live. Open channels of communication with the public (or at least those making an effort to come up with solutions) Accept outside help, if the offer has merit and will make a difference Don't downplay the problem at hand.

My perspective on this: Just to let you know that a 72 year old hiker was murdered on a trail above Kalk Bay this morning. A very sad incident. The suspect is still at large, but the motive was robbery. Why murder someone for what this poor man might have carried with him on his hike? A cellphone, day pack, snacks, a warm jacket and a water bottle! The incident occurred on San Parks land, but because of it being a murder, SAPS will most likely have jurisdiction. Still, this happened in broad daylight inside Table Mountain National Park. The hiking groups have been galvanised into action and Table Mountain Bikers will be involved as well. We will gladly offer some of our camera's to monitor potential danger areas, but with rangers so thin on the ground and the park being pretty much open everywhere, where do we start? As cyclists , we can only assist where we are allowed to ride. Cycle patrols are ideal to cover large areas in a short time. TMB has offered to this before, but it was rejected. We can of course band together as civilians, individual or in an organised group, and assist the authorities, but this is unsustainable in the long run. Crime patterns are unpredictable,so nobody can expect San Parks from preventing this from happening again. What we think is a sustainable solution is to populate the mountain and allow wider access to certain user groups.More eyes and ears on the ground is how we can help and reduce the space for criminals to operate in. We refuse to be held to ransom on our mountain! This should be a safe environment to enjoy while running, hiking, cycling, climbing, gliding or playing with our children. We never expected that someone would lose their life due to a crime while enjoying the splendour of Table Mountain. We express our condolences to the victim's spouse and family and wish them strength in this terrible time. It's time for action! Talk shops are just a lot of blah, blah and hot air! We know what happened. We know the park will never be fenced in. We know San Parks are under resourced. We know that civilians are prepared to help. San Parks, take up our offer to assist you and let us help where we can. Don't see us as a threat and accept that we have a lot to offer. We are prepared to give, but we don't want you to just take. This is a sad day, but it offers an opportunity to go forward together. We are the good guys and respect your authority as the land manager. But, you can't do it alone. We are the people on who's behalf you manage this precious resource. We have a say in this and now we say,"Let's keep the mountain safe together". I don't want to be the next person murdered on Table Mountain!!

If you read the article, you will see what all the 50 bar has been allocated for. Unless I missed it, no mention of mtb trail maintenance anywhere. On another point: there will be no change in the current permit system in the foreseeable future. No plans to introduce a day permit purchase facility on the front face of Table Mountain. So, if you want to ride around Deer Park for the morning, you will need to drive to Tokai for the day permit and drive back to town to go and ride. Paying R430 to ride once (thinking of an out of towner or tourist) doesn't make sense to me, but that's essentially how it stands at the moment.. Don't shoot me, just passing on the essence of the info I got from SP. What I find curious is that if SP manage Table Mountain on behalf of the City of Cape Town, why the City has no say in where the money gets spent. Just saying.

Enjoyed the race.

will try

Sent a picture with comments to Tune in Germany. Let's see what they have to say.

Here is my broken hub.

Will post a pic tomorrow. By the way, a guy I know cracked an AX Lightness rim at the Knysna 200 today.

Not bad. Only rode it today and I am comparing it to my Scalpel. One thing I must say is that the SLX brakes don't need to hide from their XTR cousin.Excellent dosing and stopping power. The head tube angle is slacker than my Scalpel which felt like I could let the bike go a bit more. The Scalpel is definitely more twitchy and a race machine. The lighter Scalpel climbs better and is faster on the flats. If you're a guy or gal that likes a good all round , versatile Fully with a bit of a fun factor, the Element 950 is a bike to consider. I can't fault the RM and am just relieved to have a bike to ride. Will be interesting to see what the guys from Tune have to say about my hub. It looks like someone took a bite out of it!

Sorted. Rocky Mountain have given me a bike to ride. Thanks Eugene , Jarryd and Martin!

At the Knysna 200. Broke my Tune hub on the Lefty and don't have a spare wheel. I am looking for anyone who has a Lefty and can give me a wheel to finish the race. Asked all over , but no luck. Anyone on the Hub that can help? Contact me on 0836319796. Regards Robert

I read that. It's a general warning, not based on any specific incidents.

Like I was the only one! At least Table Mountain Bikers gets some coverage !

Maybe

I rode it all. Up and down. Took it slow down the rocky and off camber bits. The rear wheel was tubeless and I had no issues with it at all. Had the front also been tubeless, the CX would have been ideal . My ass was fine.

I had a bit of a mare of a ride yesterday. But, just wanted to say thank you to the 2 guys who gave me a tube & a bomb respectively. The guy who gave me bomb also reminded us (my mate stayed with me) that there was a halfway cut-off.After 3 tubes,repeated stops, patches, pumping & bombing we got into halfway with 90 seconds to spare. GC239 of 242 at 81km. The last tube held and I made it home , finishing Pos 129. Thanks guys, I'll pay it forward. I did thank you on the road, but I just wanted to say it here as well, in case you're on The Hub Next time I'll think twice before borrowing my friend's cyclocross bike the night before and not checking that both Tyres are tubeless! Oh, and to the guy in the bunch my mate and I passed just before the last water point. Please don't call me a "damn roadie " again! Didn't appreciate your tone.

got the same. You also pay R1100?

Where in Tygervalley? CWC?