Gansbay

Leon Prak at Hermanus Cycles can tell you about group rides, or else contact Rene Duiker at Precision Cycles

I wonder It's a girl!

Wonder what's in it??

Ride in Gordonia - 40km below Orange river (Keimoes area) campsite heading to the mountains in the background the photo above was taken from a ridge we crossed, below on the pan below, swartberg just visible! Swartberg in Gordonia on the way to Upington Sunset back at the camp

This post was prompted by two incidents and I wonder if the suggestion on the attached map might be workeable. Two weeks ago we rode the red trail in Lebanon and on the way down the singletrack we met two guys cycling up. In this section you are travelling between 35 and 40 k's with very little margin of error between the trees, corners and roots. I asked the guys whether they knew that this was a unidirectional route and they said yes, laughed and continued up the trail. Then this last weekend we visited Tokai (thanks Cobus and team for all the graft and excellent trails - that is why we drive 2 1/2 hours on the odd occasion to enjoy what you guys are building) On the map are 3 exclamation marks that wil help with the discussion: !1 Coming down here you drop onto the road and fly off the lip on the other side for about 2 meters before landing what I feel is sometimes quite a tricky section (muddy and can be rutty). This time though a xc rider was pushing his bike up the steep little incline. No head on this time but I a seriously tricky situation that could result in serious injuries. !2 Guys riding up this berm seriously disrupt the flow of guys riding down - this berm also often sets the tone for the rest of the section (for me anyway). Having to stop, push back up and restart is not fun. I always thought berms wre for fast dh turns. !3 This is a very popular up ride I know - but then why put in biggish and small jumps on the way down. It is also a very fast section and with the fynbos growing higher we did not see the xc guys coming round the corner and ended up in the bushes with a seriously banged knee. Unfortunately it will always be the down rider who has to bail. I know we don't ride Tokai often - and we can't get there early, so I know when we go it will be crowded. I normally wouldn't make suggestions about something so far away - but the Lebanon incident prompted a posting. As mtb'ing is growing and more pressure is put on trails - maybe there needs to be some code, and not just the up rider having the right of way. On most of the Tokai trails you can restart easily. I would suggest that some of the trails are designated down only, and some bidirectional where the up rider has right of way. So my suggestion would be the following: Blue downhill only, green both but with up having right of way. If blue is bidirectional, then the up rider should move aside before the down rider gets to them. The map below is a little dated - but will do for the suggestion. So what do hubbers think - is it a workable idea?

Is that by Powerade BTW a friend of mine worked on Sao Tome a few years back and brought back some shots of a never ending wave - hope you surf as well!

If you can get hold of the video Live to ride you'll see Hans and Steve Peat riding some crazy stuff in Ireland - including the cliffs!! The visited 60 pubs in 3 days and the soundtrack was Selfish Man by Floggy Molly (if you like this kind of stuff)

At our race we had two guys who changed the minds during the race - we had a marshall take down numbers at the split and they phoned the numbers through to the finish (we used different colours for the two routes). Both guys came and informed us that they changed routes! At the Hoekwil race a few years back there was someone who did the shorter route but still claimed his prize (2nd or 3rd? can't remember the detail) in the longer route. We debated whether we should lodge a complaint or not, but as we needed to get back we opted not to - something we should have done. So if the riders let the organisers know no problem - maybe give them an adjusted time, but if they don't then definite disqualification.

Hi wheelz We are about 2 hours from stellenbosch. what kind of rides do you like. We don't have jonkershoek/oakvalley or lebanon singletrack, but we do have long rides, and long rides that can include hectic climbs! The short loops start at about 40km, then 65km, then 105km, and lastly a 120+ killer. Some of the routes are along the stanford race route (happening on the 4th and 5th of september) which inlcudes the tough climb. The Gansbaai race route which includes two nice climbs is 50km (20km on fantastic jeep track). Give us a shout and we'll show you where to go if you are in the area.

I've clocked 86 going down that hill. Its so steep you only see the runout from the top, you don't see the middle section. Might be going to GBay next week, will probably go check out the skills track. Good work Gansbay! Let us know if you are in the area. we are only back on sunday the 2nd, but would be nice to meet some hubbers from out of town. How well do you know the area muddy p? Also let us know if you are going to ride that hill again, would be good to slip somebody down and see if we can improve on that speed!

Some expressions - and the lack of helmets! - working on it.

Thanks Fanie, will do that. We need to contact them for our race and we'll talk helmets. I'll pm you re bottles when I get back from leave. In the meantime some photos to show local riders at the track (we are trying hard to address the no helmet issue. we have made a few available but would rather give away or charge a nominal fee. BEFORE (this little guy had been riding for about 2 weeks on the bike above before one of the local guys using the track helped him and he entered our race (30km) AFTER!!

Two pics of the new section in progress

This is the new section - the last jump will be changed once the berm is finished (will be a left then right rurn berms), then we will join it with the other section lower down.

Had some help with the track, thanks Calla - been going slow as so much time went into the Gansbaai race and now in the wilderness area for two weeks. Here are some more pics of a recent session as well as progress. Hope to have it finished for december!

Thats me alright... weird there was a pic of some other guy in the same shirt when I first looked' date=' then I made the comment, and when I got back to the thread It was gone and these were in their place? very weird This is me, thanks Ronelle. I grew up in knysna, my house is about 100m from the bottom of the singletrack at the end. But I have been staying in capetown for the last 10 odd years. Friends of mine Jacques Brink and Stuard Lightly own businesses advertised on the shirts (and im local at heart) thats why I raced in the colours.[/quote'] Hey Bos - did you do the Petrus ride after the race - keen to it with my children when it dries out a bit here - raining cats and dogs at the moment!!

Hey, we can learn from this! Communication is the key. Tiger made his point, very little from DCM in reply. The subcontract was not the issue. If there was honest communication all round it would have been solved much earlier. Still think the apology by Tiger was the right thing because he feels it was the right thing. How about an apology from DCM? Well done Tiger

it took him crashing in beijing to get on the front page of the star last year! This heading towards you showing off again ? nah' date=' it was going to happen one way or the other. on specific days we planned the front pages of the afternoon editions around medal hopefuls - ok, maybe we were being over-hopeful on most days - but in skizo we saw a real chance. the best reportage - and my boet, who was in beijing, is gonna hate me for this - was sean's analysis here on the hub immediately after the race. [/quote'] Holy - do you have a link to that? took a while, but i found it. takes a while to get to the finals: https://www.bikehub.co.za/forum_posts.asp?TID=31312&KW=sifiso&PN=3 Thanks