this is from pinkbike . go read the comments about how unsafe tourists feel in SA at http://www.pinkbike.com/news/trail-daze-paarl-south-africa-2015.html . So sad. "Just got back from a 3 month trip to Cape Town a couple of days ago. I've traveled a lot before, and Cape Town was by far the most beautiful place I have ever been. But I disliked the mountainbiking possiblities coming there as an outsider. Since it is too dangerous to ride the mountains alone or with only a couple of people, and it was nearly impossible to find people to ride with. So my only options were to pay for expensive tours or not to ride any trails. The tours might be nice, but since they are so expensive, it just doesn't give you the freedom of riding outside every week, since that is not affordable. Mountainbiking in the Cape Town area must be perfect when you're a local who's part of a big group of riders who meet up regularly. But coming as an outsider it is very hard to get into this and you have pretty much no possibilities to ride when you come alone. Not even speaking that if you don't own a car there is no possible way to get to any of the trails. Trains are too dangerous, and so is riding to the trails alone (since you always have to go through sketchy areas). Even if it's just 20-25km away like Tokai and Contermanskloof. Even though my trip to Cape Town was probably my most amazing trip, I'm really happy to be back in Europe and have my safety again."
