kilodan Posted January 31, 2018 Share The wife and I are heading down to Cape Town in May to bike, probably a couple of days in Tokai and then out to Franschhoek and Stellenbosch way probably about a week or so in total. The question my wife is now asking is how bad is the drought and will it make the trip a bit too grim? We're looking to stay in decent hotels not camping or any of that hardship. Any advice gratefully received, cheers. Edited January 31, 2018 by kilodan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milky4130 Posted January 31, 2018 Share In terms of your riding it will Not Ben effected at all. "Decent Hotels" will/should have contingency plans in place that shouldn't effect you really. The tourist drink bottled water any way & the worse I can imagine is 90 seconds showers ???? there will be no long bubble baths ???? that's for sure. Danger Dassie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonus Posted January 31, 2018 Share If the drought is still going by May then cycling might be the least of your problems. Robbie Stewart, Tabula Rasa and BigDL 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karman de Lange Posted January 31, 2018 Share Stellenbosch and franshoek has enough water at moment. (own supply) There no plans for "day zero" here yet. But May is long time away , might even rain early and have no issues. Edited January 31, 2018 by Karman de Lange BigDL 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milky4130 Posted January 31, 2018 Share Stellenbosch and franshoek has enough water at moment. (own supply) There no plans for "day zero" here yet. But May is long time away , might even rain early and have no issues.add Hermanus to that list of no drought issues too, and there are endless mtb trail options in the surrounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shebeen Posted January 31, 2018 Share Stellenbosch and franshoek has enough water at moment. (own supply) There no plans for "day zero" here yet. But May is long time away , might even rain early and have no issues. actually same dams as cape town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooterza Posted January 31, 2018 Share You must wring out your bandana into the toilet cistern after every ride. Brush your teeth every other day. Put wine in your camelpack! Sorted... BuffsVintageBikes and Tabula Rasa 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie Stewart Posted January 31, 2018 Share Welcome to the mother city. You will enjoy your stay, and the rides more so. Yes, it is dry, and yes, we are coping, but still that's not reason enough to skip a visit you would love. The food, the vibe, the places and people all make it worth the visit. And then there is the scenery you get to enjoy during a ride.My advice would be to scope out the routes you want to ride and get people to ride along as guides so you 2 to see the good scenes and avoid the rough spots. Cape Town has had its share of misery with fires ravaging our mountains to poverty, drugs and gangs. Now we face a drought. Every time this beautiful city rises from the ashes and yet again astounds the locals and tourists alike. 2 minute showers are not reason to stay away. Bonus, Danger Dassie, BigDL and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJR Posted February 1, 2018 Share Hi Kilodan Welcome on The Bikehub. I agree with the above sentiments. The water shortage is not going to be an issue as the hotels will have contingency plans. What you may have to accept is that even in your top class hotel you may be asked to please use the minimum water possible. By May we should have had our first winter rains, so hopefully the drought will be less severe, although our dams will take a lot longer to fill up. Also, it is really only the Cape metro area that has this problem, most of the surrounding areas have enough potable water. As far as the riding is concerned, consider getting a guide for an outing or two. iRideAfrica is a Hub member and offers fantastic trips as well as great quality bikes for hire. The owner is Daniel Dobinson, himself an excellent rider and a great guy. http://www.irideafrica.com/ Dan Dob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karman de Lange Posted February 1, 2018 Share actually same dams as cape town. Off topic but: From march they will be cutting the last bit of supply of the CPT water network and have 100% own supply from local dams and local boreholes. (As far as we been told) Edited February 1, 2018 by Karman de Lange Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilodan Posted February 1, 2018 Share Many thanks for the replies much appreciated and should allay the wife's concerns. It will be our second trip to the area for biking so we have guides sorted and I'm sure it will be every bit as good as all the other biking trips we've had to RSA . You seem to be our default location for good weather biking, 5th year visiting now (3x Sani2c and then just holidays)! Headshot, Wannabe, Halfdoesyn and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porqui Posted February 1, 2018 Share May - that is after April We may just not be around. You'll have the trails all to yourself. Come and have fun! Edited February 1, 2018 by porqui Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddy Posted February 1, 2018 Share Bring me a couple of bottles of Romanee Conti and you can have my 25 lt/day...... Tabula Rasa and DJR 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Dob Posted February 1, 2018 Share Hi Kilodan Welcome on The Bikehub. I agree with the above sentiments. The water shortage is not going to be an issue as the hotels will have contingency plans. What you may have to accept is that even in your top class hotel you may be asked to please use the minimum water possible. By May we should have had our first winter rains, so hopefully the drought will be less severe, although our dams will take a lot longer to fill up. Also, it is really only the Cape metro area that has this problem, most of the surrounding areas have enough potable water. As far as the riding is concerned, consider getting a guide for an outing or two. iRideAfrica is a Hub member and offers fantastic trips as well as great quality bikes for hire. The owner is Daniel Dobinson, himself an excellent rider and a great guy. http://www.irideafrica.com/Thanks for the mention DJR! Our trail might be riding a bit rough due to lack of water (trailbuilders can't fix much without water!) so a trail bike will be your best bet to smooth out the roughness but there are plenty of different trail for all levels here so don't let it put you off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox3 Posted February 1, 2018 Share You can ride free everywhere if you bring water...some legendary UK rain would be great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie Stewart Posted February 1, 2018 Share Many thanks for the replies much appreciated and should allay the wife's concerns. It will be our second trip to the area for biking so we have guides sorted and I'm sure it will be every bit as good as all the other biking trips we've had to RSA . You seem to be our default location for good weather biking, 5th year visiting now (3x Sani2c and then just holidays)! Aaah the joys of getting many ZAR's when you spend a crisp Pound Sterling...I too would spend my vac's in a place with good biking. Oh wait, I already do... Tabula Rasa and Duane_Bosch 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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