Road Cycle - CT to St Helena - advice ?

[Max Headroom]

Going to road cycle to St Helena Bay. Looks like the R27 is the only sensible direct route.

Did a ride out to Yzerfontein some years ago, and seamed to be ok.

Any advice on safety or any other thoughts ?

Thanks.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Leave early, that road gets busy on the weekend.

[Shebeen]

50 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

Going to road cycle to St Helena Bay. Looks like the R27 is the only sensible direct route.

Did a ride out to Yzerfontein some years ago, and seamed to be ok.

Any advice on safety or any other thoughts ?

Thanks.

We have a house at yzers, so have done some riding to/from there before. assuming you are leaving from milnerton/blouberg area.

R27 is not bad with a nice shoulder, it's a bit bumpy as a road surface.

It has become quite busy, but average speed trap camera seems to have helped the crazy speeding mostly. You will get a lot of yellow lane driving so I would have very bright clothing and bright red flashers.

incidentally it can be great angle in a south easter. some madman set an unofficial world hour record in a busting gale not that long ago on it.

[Andro]

Lekker.

 

Take little detour  through West Coast Nationalpark..  be prepared to pay full entry fee  if you don't have Wildcard 

 

Enjoy. ( did it about 6 years back on my own.. )

[lechatnoir]

Certainly doable... Pick a nice SE-er day, and you'll be doing world tour speeds.

A small challenge you'll face will be long uphill drags and a few long rollers. 

The bigger challenge and danger will be vehicles driving in the emergency lane to allow faster vehicles to pass. This one gives me the heebie jeebies.

If you feel the risk is worth taking, it'll be a great ride

If you do plan on hitting the road for St Helena, your best option would be to take R27 up to the R45, then cut across to Vredenburg, pass through there (mind the wonky pedestrians) and head up to Stompneusbaai. The other route past Laingville is tight, under repairs and filled with drivers that bought their license on a 'buy one, get one free' special

[pbp2007]

We holidayed in Britannia Bay in February. The last few kilometres of road had several stop-gos, the surface was bad and it was too narrow to ride safely. My bike didn’t venture out. 

[Mamil]

I avoid the R27 like the plague - feels like a death trap imho - not enjoyable at all

If your road bike is gravel capable there are much safer options.

[RaeTrewBrowne]

3 hours ago, Andro said:

Lekker.

 

Take little detour  through West Coast Nationalpark..  be prepared to pay full entry fee  if you don't have Wildcard 

 

Enjoy. ( did it about 6 years back on my own.. )

Yes, a detour through the park is a must!

Ridden it a few times, nice and wide shoulder, ride with a bright flashing rear light and drivers are mostly courteous. Vehicles come past pretty fast but you get used to it.

Go on a day with a strong SE, it's a blast! 

[Andreas_187]

The R27 road surface is absolutely awful and cars pull over into the yellow lane at 120km/h to allow others to overtake. No thanks 

[tinmug]

The R27 – from a road safety perspective – is a lot better with the speed cameras in place (it used to be mayhem with people driving north of 160 km/h, meaning more driving inside the yellow line).

Lots of truck traffic (although nowhere near as bad as an N road or the route to Namibia), and I'd avoid cycling it on Fridays and Sundays.

Cannot comment on road surface – ride a MTB and don't ride the R27.

Another vote for ducking into the West Coast National Park: (gets you off the R27 sooner and) great meandering route along the southern lagoon and spits you out into Langebaan, with a pretty safe passage on north towards the Saldanha airport where you can turn right towards Vredenburg and then on to St Helena (all pretty safe I think, with a narrow stretch as you come up to Slipper Bay again).

Another option is to Malmesbury, then west to Darling, continue towards Yzerfontein, short stretch on R27 to West Coast National Park gate. Pretty scenic riding and avoids the get-there-as-fast-as-possible types and fewer trucks from Malmesbury onwards.

Enjoy the ride. 

[Max Headroom]

Thanks Guys !

Great suggestions, thank you.

I think the Malmesbury, Hopefield, Vredenburg, Stompneusbaai - basically the R45 looks like an alternative to the busy coast R27 road.

I like the suggestion of going via Malmesbury, Darling and West Coast Park - but I ...time/distance makes this a maybe.

[Mamil]

I'm amazed at how many of us are willing to ride the r27. Yes the yellow lane is wide but very often when driving that road I find myself shaking my head at a vehicle in that yellow lane on a blind ride as 110kmph getting out of the way of some Muppet doing 130 or 140 who's overtaking. A cyclist on the other side of that rise doing 30kmph does not stand a chance.

I've ridden it once. Was harrowing. Won't do it again.

[Mook]

On 4/15/2024 at 11:47 AM, Shebeen said:

We have a house at yzers, so have done some riding to/from there before. assuming you are leaving from milnerton/blouberg area.

R27 is not bad with a nice shoulder, it's a bit bumpy as a road surface.

It has become quite busy, but average speed trap camera seems to have helped the crazy speeding mostly. You will get a lot of yellow lane driving so I would have very bright clothing and bright red flashers.

incidentally it can be great angle in a south easter. some madman set an unofficial world hour record in a busting gale not that long ago on it.

Oh yes, I recall this dude blitzing down the Westcoast road 😳

If I recall the news article, the NSRI had to rescue him 3km offshore from Paternoster. He was on a rim brake setup 😜

[Skubarra]

15 hours ago, Mamil said:

I'm amazed at how many of us are willing to ride the r27. Yes the yellow lane is wide but very often when driving that road I find myself shaking my head at a vehicle in that yellow lane on a blind ride as 110kmph getting out of the way of some Muppet doing 130 or 140 who's overtaking. A cyclist on the other side of that rise doing 30kmph does not stand a chance.

I've ridden it once. Was harrowing. Won't do it again.

Even if there is a proper yellow lane I find it more than a little disconcerting trying to enjoy my ride when huge hunks of metal constantly blast past me at 120km/h+ on a busy road. Same reason I generally avoid some of the other roads around Malmesbury, Wellington at busy times or if I'm on my own.

+1 on the alternative route around Malmesbury and Darling, but yes there are people who do the downwind dash on the R27 on occasions.

[Shebeen]

33 minutes ago, Skubarra said:

Even if there is a proper yellow lane I find it more than a little disconcerting trying to enjoy my ride when huge hunks of metal constantly blast past me at 120km/h+ on a busy road. Same reason I generally avoid some of the other roads around Malmesbury, Wellington at busy times or if I'm on my own.

+1 on the alternative route around Malmesbury and Darling, but yes there are people who do the downwind dash on the R27 on occasions.

depending on where you're starting from, Marremsboerie is going to add on some extra distance.

atlantis=>darling=>hopefield is your alternative but it's not a great ride either. the tar section has f0k0l shoulder and is windy in places. the dirt from darling is full of sinkplaat during summer too.

 

 

[Skubarra]

34 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

depending on where you're starting from, Marremsboerie is going to add on some extra distance.

atlantis=>darling=>hopefield is your alternative but it's not a great ride either. the tar section has f0k0l shoulder and is windy in places. the dirt from darling is full of sinkplaat during summer too.

 

 

True - I was thinking along the lines of Malmesbury -> Darling -> Yzerfontein -> West Coast National Park which would still include a short stretch on the R27 but at least not all the way.