HomerSimpson

Interesting how many people had bad experiences on the 99er....the 2009 99er used to be my worst ride ever..until this year's Argus cycle tour. Came down with bronchitis 3 weeks before the ride. Thought I was fully recovered, started quite late (09:04), had a good first half, then hit the wall. Walked for the first time ever on the ride (halfway up Chappies. 40+ °C in the shade (maximum measured by my Polar was 50 °C). Not really sure how I managed to get to the finish, but I have photographs to prove that I did.....

I was one of those....first long road ride since the Argus. Woke up at 3 a.m with a sore throat but decided to ride anyway, I had psyched myself for the ride. Maybe not my brightest moment. Finished at around 11:30. Polar gave maximum temperature on the road as 43 °C. Then I still needed to cycle home after the event (at around 12:30). Fortunately I had lots of beer around the house to speed up recovery. The sore throat has since resolved itself into full blown tonsilitis. Hope it clears before the Bay City.

Must say it is a pity that the ride was canceled. This is a ride that originated in the era of free traffic assistance, and that really acted as a fundraiser for the school. Unfortunately it now costs a small fortune to have traffic control for a funride, and the numbers for this ride has really declined over the past four or so years. Around 2008 there were typically about 1000 cyclists who did the ride, this has steadily declined (around 700 in 2010 and just about 500 in 2011). There have, unfortunately, also been some safety issues with the finish of this ride (as some hubbers will be able to attest to) which lead to the finish being moved. As far as I know (but I may be completely wrong), the route for all the funrides is determined by the organisers, and the funride coordinator(s) from the PPA, in conjunction with the traffic authorities. I think it may be somewhat unfair to lay the blame for the cancelation of the ride on the PPA alone.

+1 on all of the Bornman above....

My (somewhat delayed) 2 cents worth here...I frequently ride that route, on both MTB and road bike. As rpedro said, the gravel section is quite smooth, just the short section where the dirt road joins with the tarred section, there are sometimes a few potholes and loose gravel. Take note of this, as it is at the bottom of the hill when you come from the golf club side. This section coincides with a sharp left hand turn and a steep little drop. I regularly ride from home via Polkadraai through Kuils River and then back via Bottelary and then over Devon Hill and back home. Cuts out the section on the R310 past Kayamandi. As was mentioned before, there is a gate across the road at JC le Roux, but there is a rideable (with MTB) or walkable (with roadbike) bypass on the uphill side of the gate.

You are allowed to cycle on the N2; it is not a freeway anywhere along that section. You can stop in Riviersonderend for a pie at Die Ou Meul bakery. Or you can turn off through Caledon and do the 50-odd k's to Napier. Good road, nice shoulder not all that busy. Or turn of that road at Van Brakel's and cycle towards Stanford (not sure what you will do once you get there, the road from there to Hermanus is pretty narrow and busy).

It was noticeable that there are far fewer bicycle tyre tracks going up the steep (difficult) option than most of the rest of the route. I noticed that when walking up there the only time I tried that option... I was not able to ride there this weekend. On Friday I was bitten by a spider. I waited all weekend for my superpowers to appear, but nothing happened. So I'll ride the Yellow/Purple option this afternoon as a mere mortal.

A few pics I took on the Yellow Loop late-ish yesterday:

My feedback for the weekend's riding is all good. As Mountain Lion said, we met up on the Yellow Loop on Saturday, whilst looking for the missing turn marker near the dam. Hving ridden these areas before, it was not a question of being lost, we just did not want to stray off the marked track...anyhow, ML pointed out the right way and it was all good. We had a very leisurely ride on Saturday, made even more leisurely by a plethora of punctures. We met three ladies at the exit point of the Yellow Loop-Middelvlei link onto the Devon Valley road wanting to know if this was the Bottelary road...they missed a turnoff somewhere. If you are coming down the brick road near the end of the Yellow Loop at speed you could quite easily miss the turn back into the farm and end up going towards Middelvlei. Yesterday late afternoon I did the Middelvlei/Yellow loop ride (from home), and it was quite just amazing; the views in the late afternoon sunlight were just great. Near the top (highest point) of the loop you get this panoramic view of Stellenbosch against the backdrop of the surrounding mountains, and barely 1 km later you exit a section between a vineyard on one side and an orchard on the other to be treated to a great view of the plains past Klipheuwel and surroundings. Oh and the missing marker at the dam was now in place. I am sure there will be some teething problems, but these will surely be sorted in due course. Once again, a big thank you for all hard work that has gone into setting up these trails for us to enjoy!

I occasionally still ride there. The adrenalin rush you get when going onto the "wrong" side of the hill adds a few km/h to the average speed! Since the fires erosion has really started ruining even the jeep tracks in places, but I am actually planning on resurrecting the orginal ST that was on the section of the mountain just above the edge of the suburb (eastern side of the hill). This area was completely covered with fallen trees and dead wood after the orginal fires, which obliterated the tracks that were there some years ago. After the latest round of fires all the deadwood and fallen trees, as well as some of the remaining live trees were basically reduced to ash and cinders, and when I walked there a couple of weeks ago I found the remnants of about 60 - 70 % of the old ST still there. Should not take more than a couple of days with a spade to rebuild a large portion of the track. I'll wait for the first decent rains, though.

To add to my earlier reply to Tankman: This is the Google Earth Image of the road from Distell to Middelvlei

Take a right at Distell traffic lights (towards Oude Libertas Amphitheatre). Then (pay attention now) you go straight on (the road turns to the left at the top of the first little hill, if you turn right here you wll go to Bosman's Crossing). Once past that turnoff, you just keep going straight on. No turning off into any streets, right or left. Less than a 1 km and you will drive through Middelvlei's gates. Oh, and I am now the proud owner of a few Bottelary Hills MTB bike boards

Could not agree more. I am very excited about having this formalised and controlled. As far as i am concerned, I am not too fussed about sticking to the marked trails....at least I won't get lost so often. I have also had a few interesting encounters with some rather large dogs on a couple of the farms. Hopefully sticking the marked trails will minimize these meetings... And you can compare these trails to Tokai, Eselfontein, Welvanpas, whatever...the Bottelary Hills trails have one quality none of the others have...not one of the other trails are right on my doorstep. OK, so now I am REALLY going to go buy my permits at Flandria. See you on the trails on Saturday!

Figuratively speaking I was rushing off, just figuratively speaking......reality is that I am probably only going to be able to do this on Friday (working for a living sometimes really sucks). Seriously though, Hellwarp, I cannot begin to explain what this initiative will mean to me personally; I have long thought that having trails in this area would be just perfect; now it's a reality. Great stuff, guys!

Oh boy! I live a full 1.1 km away from one of the starting points! This is just great. While I have always had permission to ride on some of the farms included in the trails, this is a great initiative, and I am running off now to get my annual permits (for self, wife and son). I have always been a little worried when riding in this area that I might be straying onto land that I am not supposed to be on. Having marked trails will be great! In addition it will now be possible to string together some decent (for me at least) distances (off-road) on the MTB (with some more than enough climbs thrown in) and I can do this starting from home.....