braamfontein sptuit

[mrmed]

I'm sueing too! My better half fell of there and broke her ankle. How much do you think I'm going to get from her, for pain and suffering as I had to push her home (uphill) back to our house in Milpark.

 

Actually, I'm sure the family will finally see it was an accident and there was no ill intent on the part of the builders.

 

I've ridden those see-saws, plenty, and they are / were perfectly safe. Even if the see-saw didn't come down, it would be perfectly easy to ramp off the edge without any problems.

 

In my opinion, the Spruit would be nicer without cyclists putting up man made obstacles / crossings. I like the fact that the river crossings change with the seasons and enjoy the challenge of finding a new line. Almost every race has a portage section and as far as I'm concerned if you can't ride an obstacle / section, pick up your damn bike and carry it over.

 

To the family of the person that was hurt, I'm sorry you feel the way you do, but he made a decision to do what he did without anyone forcing him to do so.

[Baaisikilist]

Hmm, i wonder, if there was a nice safe flat bridge next to the see saw, would evel kanievel have opted to ride that instead...? I think he'd probably still have ridden the see saw. I also see that it's his wife who's all about burning somebody at the stake, not necessarily him, i'm pretty sure if he's still in ICU then he's possibly not conscious, and when he is he may have a different idea on the whole sueing thing...

[CycleJunkie]

 

Can anyone tell me if the see-saw is still operational' date=' wherever it is now? Was it broken after he rode it? I remember them claiming that it got stuck?

[/quote']

 

The only thing that happened to Peter is what happened to me the day before. I managed the upstream side ok, but "that damn rock" slowed me a bit. Result: no speed = 3m dive into donga. I sprained my neck, and Have lost the feeling in my left arm. However, I had already read some articles about some previous guy who had fallen off and wanted to sue (see supercycling website) and still rode it. At my OWN risk.

 

The point  is that even extremely skilled mountain bikers are injuring themselves on this. Despite the good intentions of improving the original, the engineering went wrong. The central truss is too high leaving the approach very steep. This requires a fair speed on approach, sufficient to reach the tip point. However, if you go too fast ,the weight of the planks smacks down and can flip a rider off as the end bounces back up. This is obviously far less serious than my option. My point is that another, better thought out one could be ridden by lesser skilled riders like myself. An earlier post suggested a chicken run also. My 2 cents

 

[CycleJunkie]

Another 1/2 cent......

 

The spruit is public land, for members of the population, not just mtb'ers. All these "unnatural" obstacles being put are ruining the NATURAL state of the spruit for other users, and the fastest way to get cyclists banned from using the spruit is to start pee'ing off the other users. Keep it natural, be polite, give walkers, the elderly and dogs a wide berth, especially the elderly when coming past. They cannot always hear you, and you have no right to expect them to move off the path just because you are riding at 25 km /h

 

[The Crazy German]

Dude' date=' I've broken collar bones in 2 different races and I broke my back in a race. It happens.

As a not very wise man once said: "You give, you take, you don't complain"

[/quote']

 

the missing part:

 

You get up and try again

[Daft Vader]

I doubt you will see any further developments on the Spruit, as those that are willing to sacrifice their time, money and effort are hung out to dry and criticised etc all the time.  Alot of people suggest building an alternative "chicken run" etc, but that is where their support usually ends.

 

ALL trail development activities without permission on the Spruit are illegal, (even trying to arrest erosion) which was an additional reason for the alternate lines.  (Have a look at how the entrance (DHL side) to the offending part of the line has degenerated.  This is not sustainable for the trail and I can tell you that it will be 100% worse after a year's worth of traffic.  This is notwithstanding the raw sewerage flowing freely into the Spruit at this point.

[#Pete#]

 

I doubt you will see any further developments on the Spruit' date=' as those that are willing to sacrifice their time, money and effort are hung out to dry and criticised etc all the time.  [/quote']

 

In a way this was always going to happen. In the UK and NZ they went through the exact same stages of 'North Shore' development. I helped built trails in Glentress forest in Scotland long before the 'Seven Stanes' centres opened:

 

Firsts some enthusiasists build some bits. The someone gets injured and council gets worried re beeing sued (not the builders), so the structures get pulled down. They get rebuilt but eventually it's not worth the effort anymore.

 

Two things then happen:

North shore gets 'hidden' - built in woods etc where:

1. No official knows they're there.

2. Mostly MTBers who helped build them and want to ride them know where they are.

 

and/or

 

MTBerts advocacy groups start fighting for their rights and eventually bike parks get built with council approval.

 

Unfortunately option two seems very unlilely to happen on public space like the Spruit and ther's no easy money form council/others to support this.

 

Maybe in SA it would be worth 'fighting' to keep some of the bits along the Spruit, adding obvious chicken runs and 'official signage'. This needs to be done in a structured manner with large numbers of people represented by some club/advocacy group. (wishful thinking I guess?)

 

[ukethi]

? This is notwithstanding the raw sewerage flowing freely into the Spruit at this point.

 

 

 

Was This picture taken this morning ? if so has it been reported to Joburg Water yet ?

 

 

 

 

[TNT1]

mtbaaisikle dude, your avatar scares the bejesus out of me.

[supavan]

Damn... I just lost the entire reply I typed.

Well the short of it is this:

 

If we want  to keep the Spruit as a MTB have in the city we need to step up and form a formal group that can interact with city parks and find a way forward together.

 

Yes it will take time

Yes it will take effort

yes it will most need money

 

I've enjoyed the riding along the Spruit. I'm willing to help in any way I can.

[Daft Vader]

I think we're going to spend more of our time and energy building stuff in secluded private places away from Joe Public.  The residents and hackers on Spruit can have it's crime and squatters back.

[Dirtbreath]

Damn... I just lost the entire reply I typed.

Well the short of it is this:

 

If we want  to keep the Spruit as a MTB have in the city we need to step up and form a formal group that can interact with city parks and find a way forward together.

 

Yes it will take time

Yes it will take effort

yes it will most need money

 

I've enjoyed the riding along the Spruit. I'm willing to help in any way I can.

 

I have been trying to get hold of someone responsible at City Parks the last few days. They are moving offices and my contact in facilities has been unable to get me a cell number of the environment person.

 

Doing a ride on the weekend to check the state of the bridges.

 

I am not sure what we can achieve but I think the first step would be to acknowledge that structures have been built. It is important that these structures are safe from both a structural and operational point of view.

 

Next step would be to identify needs of all users and with Parks try to establish a framework where these needs can be met. Yes, it will take time and effort but there are so many people usig the spruit that there is a voice that needs to be heard.

[Daft Vader]

We have already done that.  The guy that is responsible is Oscar Olifants.  We have had discussions with CP and we know exactly what the process is.

We have to put together a proposal to City Parks outlining exactly what we intend to do.  This needs to be communicated to the Councillors of each jurisdiction (for example, Councillor Earp is for Bryanston East.)  We will need to ID all the jurisdictions as well as the councillors respectively.  We will need to involve the community and collate all notices of support and objections from the community.  So we will have to hold community meetings in all of the jurisdictions.

We will also need to get an environmental impact assessment of the proposed improvements.

 

Only once we have done all of this, can we submit the application which will be scrutinised by CP and then notes in support or against will be formulated as a recommendation, and then the abjudication committee will consider our request.

 

Still keen to get involved.  The way we see it, it's a 6 month project to get a decent proposal prepared.  Only then can we start building.

 

I must admit, the Spruit is losing it's appeal to me fast...

 

 

[Danger Dassie]

Having read through this thread, it seems that everything that needs to be said has pretty much been said.

Although I cannot agree with the statement about the 'general skill/mentality of the Za Mtb community'

Think that applys more to Jhb than SA as a whole.

 

Would just like to echoe the sentiment that using these obstacles is pretty much fair game and at your own risk. Even without signage up it really does boil down to common sense.

Out of the thousands of riders who have been over this obstacle, how many fatalities have there been?

Especially with comparison to the carnage on our roads.

 

Other users of the Spruit need to be more informed and get themselves more informed as well more involved with the Spruit.

Not just use the facility and start the blame game!

 

Common sense seems to so rare these days that it could be a super power.

 

[Baaisikilist]

mtbaaisikle dude' date=' your avatar scares the bejesus out of me. [/quote']

 

Step away from the samurai sword bru...

[Tumbleweed]

We have already done that.? The guy that is responsible is Oscar Olifants.? We have had discussions with CP and we know exactly what the process is.

 

We have to put together a proposal to City Parks outlining exactly what we intend to do.? This needs to be communicated to the Councillors of each jurisdiction (for example' date=' Councillor Earp is for Bryanston East.)? We will need to ID all the jurisdictions as well as the councillors respectively.? We will need to involve the community and collate all notices of support and objections from the community.? So we will have to hold community meetings in all of the jurisdictions.

 

We will also need to get an environmental impact assessment of the proposed improvements.

 

?

 

Only once we have done all of this, can we submit the application which will be scrutinised by CP and then notes in support or against will be formulated as a recommendation, and then the abjudication committee will consider our request.

 

?

 

Still keen to get involved.? The way we see it, it's a 6 month project to get a decent proposal prepared.? Only then can we start building.

 

?

 

I must admit, the Spruit is losing it's appeal to me fast...

 

?

 

?

[/quote']

 

 

 

pm me some contact details and i'll see what i can do to get a joburg daily to cover this.