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marko35s

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Everything posted by marko35s

  1. That would be me, I just roll up to the exit and wait to be let out. It may be because I am in and out quickly most of the time that I seem to get away with it. I think the paid/gated parking became a thing there because people were just parking there and not using any of the facilities and a couple of years back the restaurant there was held up when the staff arrived one morning.
  2. Pretty sure the 'they' there is not the bikepark, I would be very surprised if any of the parking charge went to them.
  3. Just to add to the anxiety you can add two Puff Adders spotted on Snake Eyes a few days back, one on the big right hand corner and the other handily placed at exactly where you land if you do the rock drop near the exit. Lot's of others spotted mostly on the trails above level three.
  4. Not a route but the Bikepark at Uitsig would be fun for him.
  5. I'm not sure why you are quoting me here. Go back to my earlier posts where I specifically state the problem comes from above the heads of the local staff, who as I said for the most part do their best in trying circumstances.
  6. Specific to the highlighted part of your post - in discussions with park management it appears that they try to bring in external contractors or put in place an outside company for any role that they do not see as part of their core skill set. The argument being that they want to concentrate on their core tasks and not spend time and money learning how to run a restaurant for instance. As far as I am aware the company with the concession pays a rental to parks rather than parks paying them. Whether this is a good thing or not is open to debate.
  7. TMNP has more than enough self generated revenue to fund itself properly, the fact that the revenue does not get sufficiently reinvested into the park is what leads to the poor condition of much of the infrastructure. Using that revenue elsewhere pretty much points to it being a cash cow. That said maybe they are starting to realise it is a problem - https://www.news24.com/news24/community-newspaper/peoples-post/r36-million-set-aside-to-address-decay-in-table-mountain-national-park-20230620
  8. It's not just mountain bikers feeling ignored or pushed out, there are quite a few user groups up in arms pretty much all the time. Someone a while back called TMNP a cash cow and they have a reasonable point when Cape Point alone brings in hundreds of millions each year but user groups (be they MTB, horse riders, hikers or whatever) as often as not end up with the responsibility of maintaining or making safe large chunks of the facility. We are talking about a group who try not to drive at the end of the month because their fuel budget is too small (and yes I have personal experience of that). What we do tend to miss is that as often as not the local management are generally decent people who do their best to do a good job in circumstances beyond their control thanks to decisions made way above them in Pretoria. They do, however, have quite the ability to frustrate when you try and engage with them. For example when chasing them about the activity card revenue being used for trail upgrades I was told that it was essential to their operation but in a separate conversation when I pointed out that MTB earned them a lot through activity card sales I was told it is an insignificant portion of their budget... You can't win.
  9. Basically exactly what it sounds like, stripping bark from an otherwise healthy tree mainly for use in traditional remedies. It often means the targeted tree dies and is quite a big issue in Cape Town.
  10. Different sections? Oh good grief... Same section, different department which as far as I can tell means they are under some sort of legal obligation not to talk to each other. Or they can't be arsed. I know where I would place my bet.
  11. Go through the Tokaimtb accounts here - https://tokaimtb.com/tokaimtb-admin/ You will not find a cent from parks. Every bit of work on those trails (and in some cases jeep tracks too) is paid for by memberships, donations and trail sponsors.
  12. You spelt bold wrong. If I was to write what appears to be your thought process I would end up with a massive ban here.
  13. This. No excuses for hurting someone but also failing to comply with a lawful instruction is just asking for trouble.
  14. No he wasn't, SANParks looked into the whole saga and the outcome was he was reinstated. I don't know how they reached that decision but can only guess that they must have been pretty confident in their position to do so.
  15. There was an attempted bikejacking near Peddlers on the Bend section of the greenbelt yesterday at roughly 07.45hrs. Luckily it sounds like the thieves were the reincarnation of the three stooges and it ended up with the bike recovered and two of them arrested. I wasn't there so this isn't a first hand account but but what transpired was roughly - Female cyclist was cornered when a car drove straight at her down the dirt road that passes the stables. Three pieces of human excrement got out and one grabbed her bike and tried to ride off. It was an ebike and it wasn't charged... He was going nowhere slowly at this point, and from this point on their elaborate plan began to unravel somewhat. The rider screamed her lungs out and POS 2 & 3 promptly jumped back in their car only to stall it. The car then refused to start so they panicked and got out. At this point another rider grabbed the car keys. Around this point the guy on the bike was discovering just how heavy an uncharged ebike was and gave up trying to ride it away and attempted to hide it in a hedge, which he was apparently too weak to manage so he gave up and ran away. In the meantime the cops and security had arrived and they found and arrested the two that abandoned the car. The bike was returned to the rider and by all accounts she is completely fine. A win for the good guys for once.
  16. Really? Just about every section of the park is free for runners, with one or two exceptions, not one section is free for cycling. Idiotic is cyclists having to pay in all the park when other user groups are allowed free access. And it's not like the funds raised go towards improving the trails or mitigating any impact cycling has on the environment.
  17. Yes and no. Sort of. In Tokai they take their vehicle to the trailhead and are met by Tokaimtb volunteers who take the paramedics to the scene of the accident. The paramedics then make a call as to the best way to remove the patient (this is often just a case of travelling down with Tokaimtb but has led to 4x4 recovery vehicles being brought in once or twice and on the odd occasion a helicopter is called in). So far this has worked well and improves response times greatly.
  18. Tokaimtb. As a small sample - since 20th December four injured riders have been recovered and assisted after calling the emergency number (0870 590 000). Last year around forty riders were assisted.
  19. Try - https://www.eselfontein.co.za/ May be as close as you will get to what you are looking for.
  20. That number has changed to 087 133 1438 since Euphoria Telkom offered to sponsor the emergency call costs.
  21. The simple answer is yes it should be okay, there are lots of lone riders around during the day. The biggest danger is possibly crashing when alone. Tokaimtb has an emergency number to call if you have any problems or see something that worries you - 087 133 1438 - and help is normally only a few minutes away.
  22. Tokai isn't really blessed with clay, it's mostly sandy soil. There are one or two bands of clay and any that ends up as run off or clogging drainage on the jeep track gets gathered up and used to line the trails in high wear areas. Areas of trail that take a lot of strain are mostly rock lined or a combination of rock and clay is used. I honestly can't say that e-bikes have added to the wear and tear in any significant way,
  23. What a strange post, you couldn't find the cycling related posts because all the off topic posts in a completely separate area of the site got in the way? What a weird little post.
  24. And it's baiting like this that is the reason we no longer have a place to discuss these things here.
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