Madala

Something is seriously wrong because the reality of the situation is that the recent attacks have all occurred within the boundaries of the "Johannesburg Botanical Gardens" which is a "fenced" area with restricted access times and is "patrolled" by a private security company which I assume is employed by City Parks. This is about as good as one can hope for and better than we have or can hope to achieve anywhere else along the entire length of the Spruit. I don't have an explanation as to why this secured area has become a hot spot but would welcome some discussion. Any ideas?

Any update on this?

Just some comments on the land ownership and security points that have been raised. While you are on the service roads you are on Transnet property and not on any farmers land. The rail reserve is always fenced on both sides and includes the service road and the track. This means that you will typically have farmland - fence - service road - track - fence - farmland. Access to the service road will usually be just outside of a town and usually from a public road. There is/was usually a gate at this point. Nowadays the gate is often open so no issue. If it is closed it may also be locked but this is not common. As for security I have never had any issues. With the bigger towns there are usually townships surrounding the town so one needs to be careful. Sometimes if I see this in Google earth I will get onto a public road before the town and avoid the township. However the people have always been friendly and wave and greet you enthusiastically. Out in the country I feel completely at ease and have also done a lot of solo riding at night without any incidents. The danger zones are in towns and the bigger the town the bigger the problem. Its a simple rule. Not sure if this pic will be viewable but if it is it gives a good idea of how the servitude works. Looking at top of the hill you can see the two fences with the service road and track between them.

Hi again As there does seem to be general interest in this sort of adventure I will reply with all the general info on the forum and privately to Tim and Johan as needed. My Beit Bridge to Cape Augulhas trip was started in early March last year with the idea of riding from the Northernmost point of South Africa to the Southernmost point. My name for the trip was therefore N2S. It also conveniently avoided the problem of trying to find an off-road route through Cape Town if one aims for Cape Point. I do not enjoy riding on busy tar roads and go to great lengths to avoid it if at all possible. The Northernmost Point is about 40km to the west of Beit Bridge and there is a border patrol road that runs along adjacent to the border/Limpopo River. It made sense to start from beit bridge, I decided to do the trip solo and unsupported but staying in BnBs along the way. The plan was for 3wks and the initial route was to be :- https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12361409 That gave a daily average of about 110km/day. As there were a number of public holidays in this period I was a bit concerned about finding accommodation in the stretch after Prince Albert so had this as an alternate route for that section:- https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12154206 As it turned out I did use the alternate route. As I was travelling alone I decided to get a Spot tracker for peace of mind. The Spot trackers are satellite based for their communication and therefore independent of the cell phone coverage. If you have a clear view of the sky the messages will get through. It also gives friends an family a website where they can track your progress in real time. Great device, works well and highly recommended. My research showed that I could expect good weather and favorable winds for most of the route. I could expect headwinds for the last 4 or 5 days and that is exactly how it worked out. I had some light rain near Groot Marico and again around Montague but never enough to bother with a rain jacket. Temperatures were often in the high thirties during the day and the coldest was around -3 or -4 early one morning in the Karoo. I wore the same kit from start to finish and never added anything or removed anything. Helmet, bandana, arm protectors, short finger gloves, regular short sleeve top, First Ascent shorts, socks and shoes. I did manage to wash and dry my kit every day although sometimes this required a bit of ingenuity. I had shorts, a T shirt and Crocs for evening wear. Although I had a decent saddle bag with a full second set of cycling and casual kit as well as a warm jacket, leg warmers, rain jacket etc. I never opened it throughout the trip. Moral of the story is "travel light". I did not take a tent or sleeping bag as the plan was to stay in accommodation. I decided that if I did have to sleep out it would be "very rough". I decided that if the weather forecast was really bad for the following day I would stay where I was until it looked viable. I did not book accommodation in advance other than the first two nights as I was not confident that I would be able to keep to my schedule due to weather or any other issues. My bike was a stock 2015 Specialized Epic Carbon Comp bought at the end of Jan 2015 so just over a year old and had done about 8000km. Prior to the ride I replaced gear cables, chain cassette, big chain ring and did an oil service on the fork. Also fitted new Conti X-King Protection 2.4 front and Race King Protection 2,2 rear. These are my Strava files for each day. Unfortunately the day 1 file got corrupted so the info was entered manually for that. Day 1. https://www.strava.com/activities/507459809 Day 2. https://www.strava.com/activities/525377881 Day 3. https://www.strava.com/activities/525378895 Day 4. https://www.strava.com/activities/525379784 Day 5. https://www.strava.com/activities/529577156 Day 6. https://www.strava.com/activities/529578907 Day 7. https://www.strava.com/activities/529582051 Day 8. https://www.strava.com/activities/529583690 Day 9. https://www.strava.com/activities/529588086 Day 10. https://www.strava.com/activities/529591357 Day 11. https://www.strava.com/activities/529593785 Day 12. https://www.strava.com/activities/529595037 Day 13. https://www.strava.com/activities/529598238 Day 14. https://www.strava.com/activities/529598210 Day 15. https://www.strava.com/activities/529598230 Day 16. https://www.strava.com/activities/529598232 Day 17. https://www.strava.com/activities/529598198 Day 18. https://www.strava.com/activities/529598184 Day 19. https://www.strava.com/activities/529598177 Day 20. https://www.strava.com/activities/529598195 Day 21. https://www.strava.com/activities/529598107 I am going to post this now and will add some more info and hopefully some pics over the next couple of days. I have a broken collarbone at the moment so this has to be typed with one finger which makes for painfully slow progress. To be continued.............

Hi Johan I have cycled extensively on these service roads and they are a great way to travel long distances off road and with little or no traffic. Most of the electrified lines have service roads that are generally quite well maintained. There may be the odd gate to climb over but I have only had positive encounters with Transnet staff along the way. You do need to check the route in Google earth beforehand or you can end up in dead-ends at tunnels or bridges, Last year I did a trip from Beit Bridge to Cape Augulhas with about half of it on service roads. If you would like any info on that or anything else just drop me a PM.

Hi. I used one of these SPOT Gen 3 trackers on a Beit Bridge to Cape Augulhas Ride earlier this year. As I was travelling alone and mostly on roads/tracks with little or no traffic I felt it was worth having for the peace of mind. It worked flawlessly and is a very rugged device. Battery life is exceptional so it becomes a "carry and forget" device. I also used a cell based tracking app on my phone but coverage is a very real problem. We have a very false sense of the coverage as most of the major towns and freeways are covered but you will be amazed at how quickly you get out of coverage if you travel off the major routes. With the SPOT tracker if you can see the sky you will have coverage. If you are wanting to be sure of getting help if you need it then there is only one choice.

There appear to be a lot of incorrect times at this stage. People who changed distance to the 22 or started in a different group have some very unrealistic times. There are 4 in the top 15 that look very suspicious. Hope it can get sorted as otherwise the event was fantastic and a real improvement over the first one. Congratulations to the organisers for putting on an outstanding event. Also much appreciation for the "legacy builds" that we get to enjoy for the rest of the year.

And what would happen if the route marker fell over after A ,B and C batches were already on the longer route and the rest of the field then followed the route as marked and did the much shorter route. Would all the A batch riders be happy to finish in positions 300 to 400 overall?

Looking at the results for the Half Marathon and then picking random names and looking at their Strava rides it is obvious that the first few groups all did a somewhat shorter route of around 28km and missed out the loop to the north after the second water point. It will be nteresting to see how that mess gets sorted out as they should all be excluded. I sympathise as it was not intentional but it does screw up the seeding for those that did the full route.

Are the XL carbon frames still guaranteed to break at the bottom of the seat tube?

It would be really useful if the organizers could post a .gpx file for these events on the web site. This would go a long way toards solving problems with route marking. It is very easy for a marker to get knocked over, go missing or be interfered with. It would also give competitors the opportunity to practice navigating using a GPS as is becoming more common in the stage races.

Apologies. It seems that .gpx files are not allowed to be uploaded. Here is a link to the gpx file in Drop Box:- https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/65232156/EastCanal.gpx Right click and then save the file.

Hi The GPX file for the 130km ride along the Brits irrigation canals is attached. Starts and ends at the Engen/Wimpy at Hartebeespoort. I recommend that you load this on a GPS and use that for navigation. There is a convenient Coke stop at the halfway point at "Greens" on the R511. When you leave Greens you need to cross the R511 and then ride next to the railway line (do not cross it). Track is a little vague to start with but soon improves. Enjoy.

For Shimano about 20 000km, 2yrs or the first wash with a high pressure hose. Whichever comes first! The reason that the left side bearing fails first is that the right side bearing is protected to some extent by the chain-rings and does not get a direct hit from the pressure washing.

This is from the Kulula web site Bicycle inflation pumps filled with division 2.2 carbon dioxide non-flammable gas will be accepted for transportation as checked baggage only. The maximum amount per customer is limited to four 16 gram cartridges. Cartridges larger than 16 grams will not be permitted for carriage. Please declare this when checking in for your flight.