Tygerberg MTB Trails

[Robbie Stewart]

4 hours ago, Bub Marley said:

Sounds like cheating to me😂. 
 

I think I should maybe test one out proper before I comment on it but yeah I dunno I’m still old school I think. Wont be buying one anytime soon as well. Bikes are so blady expensive as it stands just maintaining 3 of them is enough for now. 

Look, I'm also in the "real men ride analogue, e-bike riding is mechanical doping" camp. Two observations stand out having actually ridden on one; 

1. I tell myself whatever I need to hear so that I can sleep better at night.

2. My eyes are open to the potential that those bikes bring to a ride.

BUT . . .

I will also just say the bit that few people mention. E-bikes absolutely CHEW through consumable parts. Tyres, brake rotors, brake pads, cassettes, chains, chain rings need replacing much more frequently due to the torque they put out. That is a major deterrent.

[Bub Marley]

So anyways following on from my initial question regarding trail conditions. I went out and did Bloemendaaler this morning as recommended and then back down Rooikat. 
 

It’s been a while since I’ve been down the ‘daaler but can I just say that trail after the refurb is absolutely brilliant now. Basically bone dry as well, so much grip and with the refurb it’s been completely flattened and redone so no ruts or anything. You can really have fun down there now. 
 

Rooikat, if anyone is interested, also pretty much completely dry. They were also busy flattening out the second rooikat descent so once that’s done it should ride quite nicely as well. 

[ChrisF]

Meerendal seems decent.

 

Protea Corridor .... uhmmm ...

 

 

Patric's elves has some repairs to do ...

 

 

A good number of cyclists came through that mud .... some trying to carry their bikes while their legs were sinking into the mud ...

 

 

 

7 weeks of record rainfall ....

[ChrisF]

Trail guides .... riding "off" trails ....

 

Swak voorbeeld manne 👎

[MORNE]

On 8/30/2024 at 1:44 PM, Robbie Stewart said:

Take the trail we were riding as an example. About a third of the way down I was still on the group, but then the trail has a slightly upwards trend, just enough to make it so that you need to take some pedal strokes to keep your speed. Throw in some not so efficient jumps at some odd places that require speed, which is lost because of the ascending nature of the track at that point, and the assisted bikes were able to accelerate away, hit and clear the jumps, and leave me in their proverbial dust just trying to hold on to the train, never mind attack the jumps. I faltered on both objectives. I could not clear any of the jumps nor keep up with the group.

E-bikes make trail riding more fun in that way, to me at least. It's not about needing all the power in the world, its about having some extra kilowatts available when the legs say NO!

Take solace…The fastest times down there are on analog bikes😉. 

[Jbr]

Hard to miss all the work being done around zone7 during our ride in hoogekraal this morning. Did some digging and found interesting info, so looks like berkshire rd will go all the way to the n7 and then towards vissershoek. Seems unclear for now where exactly it will connect (malans ? Or vissers somewhere around that gate they installed ?) Anyone has info ?

[Robbie Stewart]

14 hours ago, Jbr said:

Hard to miss all the work being done around zone7 during our ride in hoogekraal this morning. Did some digging and found interesting info, so looks like berkshire rd will go all the way to the n7 and then towards vissershoek. Seems unclear for now where exactly it will connect (malans ? Or vissers somewhere around that gate they installed ?) Anyone has info ?

I recall seeing a plan for this a few years back, but can't find it anywhere now. From what I recall, the plan was to extend from the R27 just below Blouberg Hill to the N7 by the landfill, and then to cross over beneath Zone 7 and then link up with Vissershok in the quarry road that runs beneath Hoogekraal. Not sure what that will mean for the trails around there though.

Also doesn't help I just moved into a new house literally on the border to where that road will be built above Table Bay Mall. I might be selling in the not too distant future again. 

[Jbr]

31 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

I recall seeing a plan for this a few years back, but can't find it anywhere now. From what I recall, the plan was to extend from the R27 just below Blouberg Hill to the N7 by the landfill, and then to cross over beneath Zone 7 and then link up with Vissershok in the quarry road that runs beneath Hoogekraal. Not sure what that will mean for the trails around there though.

Also doesn't help I just moved into a new house literally on the border to where that road will be built above Table Bay Mall. I might be selling in the not too distant future again. 

Thanks, yes also a bit of a concern for thay berkshire road that at the moment is really too small to accomodate such trafic, I’m taking my kids to Rallim in the morning and that four way stop gets sometimes a bit jammed, surely they’ll have to make it a 2 lanes road with robots in the near future.

in a way this project is excited coz it means access to the trails without riding through dunoon now that they closed access from the n7 to visserhoek and that the guys at the gate aren’t always keen to open it for cyclists. On the other hand while looking at the map I wondered where that road would go and what it means for hoogies trails, there is a possibility that it rejoins vissershoek where that gate is at the moment or like you say that quary road (hopefully), but if it connects to malans instead then it could be bad news for hoogies, at least for a part of it

Edited October 27 by Jbr

[Jbr]

P96, interesting stuff hey

One road seems to go straight to vissershoek through the farm, another one goes all the way around to malans.

green circle seems to be the current work being done at zone7, but looks like there a massive hub planned just a little up north from it as well, seems a bit redundant considering the melkboss hub is just a couple k up north… 🤷‍♂️

[ChrisF]

That road from Zone 7 to Philladelphia is totally messed up now ....

 

Surprised the farmers havent put a grader to it yet .... legal se dinges .... that road is downright dangerous at the moment.

[Anthem24]

https://www.westerncape.gov.za/department-of-infrastructure/news/minister-simmers-visits-van-schoorsdrift-interchange-roads-project-site

[Robbie Stewart]

1 hour ago, Jbr said:

green circle seems to be the current work being done at zone7, but looks like there a massive hub planned just a little up north from it as well, seems a bit redundant considering the melkboss hub is just a couple k up north…

The green circle is essentially an extension of Berkshire Blvd and the red circle is the new East - West Arterial that will be constructed, which looks like it will literally be right above my house I just bought (red X). On the upside according to this document it may still be a while before I have cars zooming up and down past my braai area 😤

['Dale]

It’s about that serpent time 🫥

[Robbie Stewart]

1 hour ago, 'Dale said:

It’s about that serpent time 🫥

I see they forgot to add DO NOT - get bitten. 

There is a serious snake bite antivenom shortage in SA for the last two or so years, and one of the main guys providing snake venom for antivenom production, Dingo Dinkelman, passed away on 26 October from complications brought on after being bitten by a green mamba. He was allergic to snake venom after he got bitten by a black mamba a couple years earlier.

This antivenom shortage means that the likelihood of treatment by means of antivenom in SA is slim, and no pets are being treated for snake bite because of it, so if your beloved labradoodle gets bitten they will likely be euthanised. 

In short, be careful out there and look where you step.

[Skubarra]

47 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

I see they forgot to add DO NOT - get bitten. 

There is a serious snake bite antivenom shortage in SA for the last two or so years, and one of the main guys providing snake venom for antivenom production, Dingo Dinkelman, passed away on 26 October from complications brought on after being bitten by a green mamba. He was allergic to snake venom after he got bitten by a black mamba a couple years earlier.

This antivenom shortage means that the likelihood of treatment by means of antivenom in SA is slim, and no pets are being treated for snake bite because of it, so if your beloved labradoodle gets bitten they will likely be euthanised. 

In short, be careful out there and look where you step.

Now you made me learn something today - had to google why there is a shortage of snake venom and why you can't just speed up the production
 

You basically take the venom of the 10 snakes and inject it into a horse in very small quantities – just enough to trigger its immune system, not enough to harm the horse in any way.

Week by week you increase these dosages, and it takes the horse about nine months to become immune to the snake venom.

At that stage you can draw about nine litres of blood every second month, and the serum is removed from the blood, purified. That pretty much is the antivenom.

So you’re injecting patients with horse serum, and that horse serum finds the venom and neutralises it.

['Dale]

3 hours ago, Robbie Stewart said:

I see they forgot to add DO NOT - get bitten. 

There is a serious snake bite antivenom shortage in SA for the last two or so years, and one of the main guys providing snake venom for antivenom production, Dingo Dinkelman, passed away on 26 October from complications brought on after being bitten by a green mamba. He was allergic to snake venom after he got bitten by a black mamba a couple years earlier.

This antivenom shortage means that the likelihood of treatment by means of antivenom in SA is slim, and no pets are being treated for snake bite because of it, so if your beloved labradoodle gets bitten they will likely be euthanised. 

In short, be careful out there and look where you step.

I am pretty sure that 'do not get bitten' is implied, Sweetie.💋

Edited November 7 by 'Dale