First Tokai MTB AGM

[Flowta]

@ Kelly & Oldflow. This is perhaps you ONE opportunity to have an input into the success (or failure) of the Tokai Trail network by choosing a representative committee for TokaiMTB.

 

It's critical that the correct people with the correct motives and abilities are nominated and selected to represent us. The riders.

 

So with this in mind please fill in your nominations for the 5 posts and mail to the address given above. Then critically join us for the AGM on the 18th where a new committee will be selected. This is your opportunity to have a say in how good or bad the trails are at Tokai. If you don't partake in the process then I'm afraid you cannot expect an improvement.

 

I know Oldflow will be there

[Guest Omega Man]

I know Oldflow will be there

I think each and every single person that rides Tokai should be there.

 

Oh. Please spread the word guys. So if you have a friend or friends who aren't on this forum or the various facebook groups let them know about the AGM.

 

Let's all get together and let's all have our say.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Omega Man

[Hilton.]

I'll be there.

 

I've only just moved back to Cape Town, just purchased my Activity Card the other day, and have only cycled Tokai 2 or 3 times. But I'll be there to hear what's going on.

[DJR]

Come on, all of you, be open and frank in your talk. What is going on here beneath the surface? Don't make like it is all business as usual. From nearly every comment it is clear that there are some hidden or personal agendas here. Out with it! Or shall I make my own guesses?

[Capricorn]

Come on, all of you, be open and frank in your talk. What is going on here beneath the surface? Don't make like it is all business as usual. From nearly every comment it is clear that there are some hidden or personal agendas here. Out with it! Or shall I make my own guesses?

 

you gonna start guessing, or you gonna keep my popcorn waiting??

 

you won't have to guess hard, its been handbags at dawn for a silly long time now.. but me thinks you already know this

Edited January 31, 2014 by Capricorn

[marko35s]

Come on, all of you, be open and frank in your talk. What is going on here beneath the surface? Don't make like it is all business as usual. From nearly every comment it is clear that there are some hidden or personal agendas here. Out with it! Or shall I make my own guesses?

Not exactly subtle is it.

[Guest OldFlow]

I think most of us have been open and frank? The only reply you've had which could really be described as making it all sound like "business as usual" was the reply you got to your questions from Pain or shine. Vince, kellyslater and I have all said it like we see it. Business faaar from usual - we want change. As for agendas? Nothing hidden - it's very simple. Our agendas all seem to have one thing in common - we want premium trails back in Tokai, not the amateurish stuff we have seen haphazardly spreading across the mountain. Now we have the opportunity to make it happen. Vince is 100% correct - this is not happening as a matter of course, but as a direct result of a group of tenacious people determined to get Tokai's trails up to the same standards as we see other trails currently being built to.

 

What is going on (and it's not beneath the surface) is that we are not happy with how things have been going at Tokai for way too long. We're not interested in hearing that "2014 is the year of talking". We feel strongly that there are more suitable candidates with far more drive and acumen who are way more likely to bring about positive, more immediate change than the incumbent lot.

[mikethebike234]

I think I should buy a popcorn machine and sell popcorn at the door to this AGM....

[mikethebike234]

maybe a stall with some handbags to???

[mikethebike234]

is there a list of people eligable for nomination somewhere?

[Redlight]

Again R40 per entry x all the weekend wooligans x all the months and years.

Explain again exactly wot you built...

[Guest OldFlow]

You can nominate anyone you feel may be the most suitable person for each seat. I think Vince has put it sensibly:

 

"Hopefully the members elected to the new Tokai MTB committee will be experienced,knowledgeable riders and be respected in the local MTB community"

 

 

I feel strongly that that's not what we have presently.... I would add to Vince's criteria "regular Tokai riders who have considerable and ongoing exposure to high standards of trail, such as those rapidly appearing elsewhere around the WC"

 

A few of us have pretty strong convictions as to who we would trust to get the job done in a much more effective manner. I'm sure that in due course, some suggestions will start being made.

[Guest OldFlow]

Again R40 per entry x all the weekend wooligans x all the months and years.

Explain again exactly wot you built...

 

Make that R45!

 

Then someone will invariably point out that it works out much cheaper if you buy an activity card. I was reluctant to renew mine but did it anyway. These are now R430 p.a. In hindsight, based on my declining use of Tokai, it might not be the cheaper option anymore. In the past, I'd typically ride Tokai around 80 times a year. This past year it has left me feeling so bleak, I rather drive to Stellies or elsewhere for fun trails. My Tokai rides numbered less than 20 in 2013.

[DJR]

OK, I'll swing my handbag. (A full 12 gauge shotgun ammo bag)

 

It seems to me that the small downhill fraternity got tired and frustrated with the slow pace of things in Tokai and they then decided to walk away from Tokai. Their contributions to building days stopped dead and they stopped riding in Tokai in any numbers. I understand that. They went elsewhere and on private property started building what they wanted, until that relationship soured. they decided that they wanted back in at Tokai.

 

But the ordinary Tokai riders, those that ride up and down, the kids, the wives, the beginners, meanwhile got on with it.They re-built trails that were totally destroyed by the logging operations, trails that suited the few thousand ordinary souls that come through Tokai every weekend. They raised money, paid for labour, contributed sweat, negotiated and built bridges with other stakeholders. They managed with great difficulty to get permission, within a framework of near impossible restrictions placed on them by SANParks, to build legal trails in a National Park (something you should not underestimate). In fact, if it wasn't for the diehards, Tokai would have had nothing left, no unfinished Snake Trails even. The downhill track would have been permanently closed because it was not approved and not justifiable from a conservation and erosion point of view. The new AM trail off Boulders would never have been approved or built. All that is thanks to the intervention of some of these people that now get called incompetent

 

Unfortunately the trails are not to the liking of the hardcore downhill dudes, many of whom are now also riding the latest craze, enduro! They want to build what they want to build. Great stuff, I support that. However, in Tokai, they have to do it legally, and their track record in that regard is a bit tarnished with ongoing illegal trails getting opened and jumps built outside of the official approved areas. That is the stuff that will get all of us banned from Table Mountain forever! Somewhat like some private landowners put a stop to uncontrolled building on their land.

 

So, now we have some disgruntled riders that would like a bigger say in how things are done in Tokai because they feel excluded. They of course have the right to vote people of their choice onto a committee that will hopefully look after their interests. All fine and well, except that in the process some rather negative things get said about Tokai and the regulars that have stood by the place through thick and thin. I don't like that. If you have to belittle someone else, it says something about your own stature.

 

I will support change if it will be for the better. Prove to me that you will be able to get a better relationship with SANParks (essential stuff), better trails within legal and environmental guidelines, that you will look after all mountainbikers and their needs and that you won't destroy the very most precious thing about Tokai: The mere fact that we are allowed to ride there in the first place.

 

Then I'll vote for you!

Edited February 5, 2014 by DJR

[Guest OldFlow]

Give us a clue DJR. Is that long rant aimed at any person or group in particular? You talk in broad terms referring to "they" and "them" (both the villains and the heroes in your tale) and then ask questions of "you". Bit of a misguided and at the same time, unguided missile that whole speech..... What's the real story here?

Edited January 31, 2014 by OldFlow

[marko35s]

Give us a clue DJR. Is that long rant aimed at any person or group in particular? You talk in broad terms referring to "they" and "them" (both the villains and the heroes in your tale) and then ask questions of "you". Bit of a misguided and at the same time, unguided missile that whole speech..... What's the real story here?

That its not as easy as people think, that there is no need for the nasty comments, that people stopped helping when things didnt go their way. And that nobody has made a convincing case that they would make positive changes to the trails given the difficulties and complexities of it being a national park.

Thats what I took from that.