Dirkitech

Is anyone commuting from the South of Johannesburg CBD through/past/over/under/around it, to the North of the JHB CBD? If you are, which roads do you take? Which do you avoid? How do you get around/across the M2 and M1 highways? Note, the attached google map shows 23.6km although the distance I personally drive (to within 1km of the randburg mark) is 27.5km. Currently, other than the highway where we may not cycle, the worst part by far is the entire stretch from empire to republic. Reckless taxi's and busses and the usual speedfreak wreak havoc on that road. in almost a year of driving that route, I've only ever seen 2 cyclists (clear cyclists, not a guy pushing a bike up a hill wearing overalls or whatever) and both where on the same week during july 2014.

I had the exact same concern. I cycled exclusively offroad MTB until it became too expensive to drive out 50km to the nearest track. Eventually (I waited a really long time for Coimbra to get stock of the tyres), I bought a pair of CST Traveller's (26x1.5 mtb slicks) and they make a huge difference to riding pace on the road in addition to not destroying my panaracer xc's. The only issue I would mention in swopping between mtb and road tyres is that it is a right pain and mission to mount the stiff wire bead road tyres. seriously. Took me 45 minutes yesterday- maybe the rubber shrinks in the cold as well. EDIT: should probably add, why would you buy a second bike for such a short distance? Even if you didn't go with the mtb road slick option, there are shallow profile mtb tyres available which won't cost an arm and a leg, or even a nail!

I can relate somewhat. The ratio of pedestrians that shuffle left and right and left and right when I approach in a straight line (heading in opposite directions) is 1:1. They ALWAYS move in front of me in an attempt to get out of the way. Its really annoying. I really want to slap them as I pass and say "move straight". *sigh*

why not? 1 of 2 things will happen: 1. he hates cyclists more and aims for the next one he sees (didn't he already?) 2. he realises that selfish and dangerous driving is going to cost him time (since money is plentiful, and time is money, so his time > his money, right?)

that "whatever else a bottle may collect" can very easily include cowdung, as was the case with the recent Slipperfields Inaugural race. For what it's worth, i've also noticed that cycling on a wet road produces rainbow coloured relections i.e. oil and other pollution stuff spraying up onto the bottle nozzles. It would suck big time if you encounter sewage water flowing across your path... My point is, whether you cycle on the road or off, there's many nasty stuff just waiting to cling onto that tiny nozzle. I would prefer a backpack in spite of the discomfort and additional climbing weight.