Oli4

Thanks for sharing this great, inspiring adventure, I now want to do that route... 👏

It took place on the left side of the road? I was same level on the right, just heard the screams and beginning of a pile up.

I witnessed a crash with 1B, entering Muizenberg, no idea how bad it got? Really struggled once I got dropped in the little bump before Boulder's beach. Chappies was way harder than usual for me (descent included...), I had probably burnt to many matches by then.

Family member gave some news this morning on social media. "ICU unresponsive and not in good shape".

So when you hear 6 idiots racing up and down Chappies, other motorists cyclists runners, busses and caracals for good measure should go have a cup of coffee? You're part of the problem.

A lot of comments about how dangerous Chappies is or isn't.. My 2 cents as a cyclist and motorist who lives next to it... Some segments are dangerous for cyclists when it is windy. No way around that. It is not especially dangerous when all road users respect the 40km/h limit (the 20km/h limit on a segment of the South side is a bit extreme in my opinion). Cyclists and runners have to be quite conscious that there are many rental cars driven by tourists who can be distracted when they get out of their parking spot. A few bad apples (cyclists, cars and bikers) make it very dangerous for everybody, especially on Sunday mornings. Those have to be stopped - a few speed traps and cameras can sort it out, if there is a will.

I read your entire post. I am not sure what you wanted me to do - let you "pass on information that [you] find factual" when it directly contradicts what I witnessed? You were not by the scene. You have nothing "factual". I was there. And I know speeding & reckless driving when I see it. When you write "I hear the cyclist was concused and is now in icu for standard check ups", it also contradicts all the information given so far (family and Stay Wider of the Rider). And no - I don't trust "authorities to sort it out" in SA, especially when the victim is unconscious in ICU and certainly not in a position to lay charges.

I was 1 or 2 minutes behind the accident yesterday morning. Your group of bikers are talking utter sh!t and there is nothing factual about their story. They were speeding BIG BIG time when they passed us, swerving across the lanes. Accident absolutely bound to happen - and it happened a few minutes later. They all belong to jail - no exception. Chappies is a narrow road - but if everybody adheres to the speed limits, runners, cyclists, cars and motorbikes can safely co-exist. If d!pshits are allowed to use it as a race track, you can close it down for all other road users.

I thought it was a great route! For my first gravel event, I actually loved it. Yes, it should start earlier though, I started melting by 10:00...

I did that exact change a few months ago, had a (low-end) 3x9 changed for a Shimano deore 1x11. I made the change because my front derailleur was touching my new (wider) tyres when the chain was on my smallest chainring, climbing up hard. I am actually very happy I made the change of drivetrain. The 1x11 is great for climbing and on the flat, only when riding downhill on a road do I miss a large chainring. Feels way more responsive. I also like the fact that I could keep the freehub, crankset and crank arms.

Was this incident on Main Road between the Disa river turnoff and the township? Or higher up towards Constantia Neck?

This was me last year. 1. I understood I would be riding alone most of the time and used the time-split excel doc that is on this page https://www.capetowncycletour.com/lifecycle-week/ctct/route-information/ to determine my times for a 4-hour finish: it helped a lot until Cape Point. Afterwards, I lost my little paper with my split-times in the pocket where I put the used-up jellies and didn't dare look for it... 2. I expected to waste less time in the early climbs (M3) but it was very crowded. Smitswinkel, Chappies and Suikerbossie were fine as long as you stuck to the right and repeated "passing right" every 20 seconds like a broken record. 3. It's very difficult to gauge your effort as your are basically overtaking MTBs and slow riders all the time. I actually had some gas left from Suikerbossie onwards and managed to go faster than expected on the last 20km: I should have pushed harder starting in Chappies, probably. 4. I found it impossible to find other riders to form a group, except for a stretch between Kalk Bay and Simonstown - there were a few riders from groups 1x-4x who started late for some reasons. This group disintegrated before Smitswinkel. Good luck!