Ride Routes: Western Cape's famed Four Passes

[Nick]

16 hours ago, capediver said:

Besides, not mentioned here, last I heard, cyclists are not allowed on freeways like the M3, M5, N1 and N2 in and near Cape Town...true/not true?

True, many of these roads are off limits to pedal cycles, as they are designated as freeways in some parts. But it depends on the below signs indicating where the freeway restrictions begin and end, not just the name of the road.

   

[ChrisF]

5 hours ago, ouzo said:

Its not just this thread though, it gets mentioned often enough in other threads to.

But, on your points above, no different to GP (if we look past the freeway argument)

Other roads in the Western Cape have its normal risks .... much the same as most busy cities...

 

Going up Sir Louwries Pass .... this is a different thing all together.  Host of sharp blind turns. Scary mix of boy-racers in cars and on motorcycles, all manner of vehicle drivers, and many large trucks idling up the pass ....

 

Few years back I came around one of those blind turns to find a broken down truck in the left lane .... I was slow enough to find a gap and join the right hand lane traffic.  Few minutes later another driver rear ended the truck, driver died on the scene.

 

Add some very strong gusts of wind at certain spots that move most cars about ....

 

Nope, Main Road on a Saturday morning may be a safer bet ....

 

 

As for using car to protect the cyclists .... coming around a blind turn to find a car crawling at 10km/h in a 80km/h lane .... ????

[bleedToWin]

Did the route this morning for the first time.
N2 wasn't quiet, but a lot better than it would be on most weekends.  Going up Sir Lowry's I was almost never passed by two cars at once so they all had the option to drift into the right hand lane if they were not there already. Don't think think I'd want a follow car crawling behind me around some of those left hand bends... Would also not want to do this in a group bigger than 4 or 5.
Didn't feel unsafe riding solo on any sections of the route, but this might just my perspective. I feel the need for vigilance when cycling through Stellies hijacking hotspots, but don't feel unsafe... ????‍♂️

All in all a good ride, and I can see why it's an icon of the Cape, but I wouldn't call it a must-do ride.
I actually think doing a four passes ride where you go over Helshoogte and Franschhoek pass both sides is more enjoyable. I know some people don't enjoy out-and-back routes though.

[Jbr]

not sure why you all moan about sir lawry's pass... we did it not so long ago and it was surprisingly chilled (except we had 4 punctures by the time we reached the top), and it wasn't even that early in the morning, I see we started 1:30 hour into the ride (after fixing all the punctures) and we started at 6:13 so say around 8 ish.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4523390859

The dodgiest part of this ride was the slum we went through right before... lots of broken glass there, wasn't great sitting in that neighbourhood...

Viljoenspas and all the McLaren's and Porsches owners racing was also probably more dangerous than Sir Lawry's.

Unfortunately riding on the road always is dangerous and will always be. I feel way more at risk between Paarden Eiland and the city on the N1 or even doing intervals on Kloof than when I did the 4 passes. I wish I could ride my MTB more often but I have to either drive (and waste riding time) or go through kaker areas that Sir Lawry's to get to the trails.

[Tomik]

45 minutes ago, bleedToWin said:

Did the route this morning for the first time.
N2 wasn't quiet, but a lot better than it would be on most weekends.  Going up Sir Lowry's I was almost never passed by two cars at once so they all had the option to drift into the right hand lane if they were not there already. Don't think think I'd want a follow car crawling behind me around some of those left hand bends... Would also not want to do this in a group bigger than 4 or 5.
Didn't feel unsafe riding solo on any sections of the route, but this might just my perspective. I feel the need for vigilance when cycling through Stellies hijacking hotspots, but don't feel unsafe... ????‍♂️

All in all a good ride, and I can see why it's an icon of the Cape, but I wouldn't call it a must-do ride.
I actually think doing a four passes ride where you go over Helshoogte and Franschhoek pass both sides is more enjoyable. I know some people don't enjoy out-and-back routes though.

What if they didn't have the option to drift into the other lane?

My point is that just because many survive the pass doesn't make it a good idea in general.

Speeds, even in the slow lane, are usually far higher than many other passes (like Bains or Du Toit's which I have no problem cycling on) and many of the corners are relatively blind corners. 

But to each their own. Be safe out there.

 

 

[bleedToWin]

7 minutes ago, Tomik said:

What if they didn't have the option to drift into the other lane?

I feel like there would have ample space to safely pass me nonetheless. The lanes are wide and I was on or to the left of the yellow. Point of including that tidbit was just to note that I did not get one single close pass.