Cape Town danger areas

[lechatnoir]

21 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

Garmin Varia

 

Followed a gent up Hellshoogte with a Varia on his bike.  Was interesting to see this technology at work.

 

Solid red light.  And not too bright, even when I was right on his back wheel.

 

The Varia started flashing when a vehicle approached, about 5 to 10 seconds before the vehicle actually passed us.  Light would go back to a solid red.

 

Even when I was almost touching his rear wheel did the Varia see oncoming cars.

 

 

Was interesting to SEE the Varia at work 

 

 

Not sure what he saw on his screen, or how the Varia alersts him.

 

 

As nice as it is, I have to wonder about the constant alert, and at what point it becomes too much information.  

If it's a constant alert, then it's not helpful in that case. It's most helpful for cars with reasonable gaps in between, otherwise it'd Defcon1 all the time.

FWIW, I was passed by a few double interlink trucks yeterday, and twice, and my Varia picked up the second trailer as a seperate vehicle... You must know what it's like being passed on a railway service road by a 4km long train

@ChrisF, there's a GarminIQ app that provides a data screen that gives a car count as well as last closing speed and last absolute speed... the corresponding FIT file can be loaded on a map somewhere to show where the passes were and the relevant data

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, lechatnoir said:

If it's a constant alert, then it's not helpful in that case. It's most helpful for cars with reasonable gaps in between, otherwise it'd Defcon1 all the time.

FWIW, I was passed by a few double interlink trucks yeterday, and twice, and my Varia picked up the second trailer as a seperate vehicle... You must know what it's like being passed on a railway service road by a 4km long train

@ChrisF, there's a GarminIQ app that provides a data screen that gives a car count as well as last closing speed and last absolute speed... the corresponding FIT file can be loaded on a map somewhere to show where the passes were and the relevant data

 

Is there a quick way to toggle the alerts ?

 

Thinking being that I would prefer to not get constant alerts along Bottelary - I know it is a busy road, and I do keep well left in the yellow.  BUT, once I get on the road from Klipheuwel to Philladelphia, or even Adderly, it may be very handy - less traffic and very much narrower road.

 

Of Sunday's 133km route I would have used it along Kromme Rhee only .... possibly up the pass as well.  Come to think of it, would be really handy coming down the pass !

[wolver]

12 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Is there a quick way to toggle the alerts ?

 

Thinking being that I would prefer to not get constant alerts along Bottelary - I know it is a busy road, and I do keep well left in the yellow.  BUT, once I get on the road from Klipheuwel to Philladelphia, or even Adderly, it may be very handy - less traffic and very much narrower road.

 

Of Sunday's 133km route I would have used it along Kromme Rhee only .... possibly up the pass as well.  Come to think of it, would be really handy coming down the pass !

Yes, if you have a Garmin Edge you can change any of the settings from there on the fly.

[lechatnoir]

3 minutes ago, wolver said:

Yes, if you have a Garmin Edge you can change any of the settings from there on the fly.

^^^ This, but on Bottleray, it may be safer to pull over to do... I was fiddling with my Garmin settings and rode into a bush... But since no one saw, it probably didn't happen. If I ended up under a car, it probably did

[ChrisF]

1 minute ago, lechatnoir said:

^^^ This, but on Bottleray, it may be safer to pull over to do... I was fiddling with my Garmin settings and rode into a bush... But since no one saw, it probably didn't happen. If I ended up under a car, it probably did

 

Near Toeka, I was going full taps down hill .... pressed the button to snap the screen data .... for the first time ever the Garmin decided to twist 45-degrees and climb off its mount !!  Did I mention I was going FULL speed ....

 

Best to fiddle with these buttons when SAFE to do so ...

[Shebeen]

On 11/26/2023 at 2:21 PM, splat said:

That wasn't the end of it.
3 runners (and even a marshal apparently) were mugged during the event itself

https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/three-ultra-trail-runners-mugged-during-100-mile-race-in-cape-town-20231125

No marshalls were mugged. crazy world were journalism now uses facebook keyboard warriors as their news sources.

in other news, this also off facetwit so may be made up. looks legit though!

The TMNP is paid for by National Govt. JP Smith in a written question this week asking how much the TMNP which funds SANParks maeks in revenue. The answer was R300m and it said its outgoings were R97m so the profit is R203m - which is not reinvested into security but goes to National Govt. JP said that if only half the revenue TMNP earned - R100m - was paid into security of the mountain it would pay for 400 extra rangers to support the present 70 rangers many of whom are diverted to the south of the mountain on anti-poaching duties. Out of that R100m would come the vehicles needed, drones, cameras etc and give us 500 pairs of boots in total on that mountain 24/7. JP is asking why the National Govt will not finance SANParks out of the R300m a year it makes out of Cape Town tourists and locals on the mountains....

 

 

 

 

[Mamil]

1 hour ago, ChrisF said:

 

Is there a quick way to toggle the alerts ?

 

Thinking being that I would prefer to not get constant alerts along Bottelary - I know it is a busy road, and I do keep well left in the yellow.  BUT, once I get on the road from Klipheuwel to Philladelphia, or even Adderly, it may be very handy - less traffic and very much narrower road.

 

Of Sunday's 133km route I would have used it along Kromme Rhee only .... possibly up the pass as well.  Come to think of it, would be really handy coming down the pass !

Everyone who has one that I've spoken to including myself thought "meh - I'm not sure if this is a useful thing" before getting it and after a week was saying "This is brilliant"

Put it on your Christmas list.

[Skubarra]

1 hour ago, Shebeen said:

No marshalls were mugged. crazy world were journalism now uses facebook keyboard warriors as their news sources.

in other news, this also off facetwit so may be made up. looks legit though!

The TMNP is paid for by National Govt. JP Smith in a written question this week asking how much the TMNP which funds SANParks maeks in revenue. The answer was R300m and it said its outgoings were R97m so the profit is R203m - which is not reinvested into security but goes to National Govt. JP said that if only half the revenue TMNP earned - R100m - was paid into security of the mountain it would pay for 400 extra rangers to support the present 70 rangers many of whom are diverted to the south of the mountain on anti-poaching duties. Out of that R100m would come the vehicles needed, drones, cameras etc and give us 500 pairs of boots in total on that mountain 24/7. JP is asking why the National Govt will not finance SANParks out of the R300m a year it makes out of Cape Town tourists and locals on the mountains....

 

Not sure the R200m profit just goes to government. afaik TMNP and Kruger park are the only profitable entities in the SANparks group (who knows, possibly Kgalagadi also) - so the profits from TMNP subsidises other parks in the rest of the country. So yes there is a good argument that more of that money should be use to protect the goose that lays the golden eggs but issue is not as straightforward as Facebook would like us to believe. 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Skubarra

[ChrisF]

28 minutes ago, Skubarra said:

Not sure the R200m profit just goes to government. afaik TMNP and Kruger park are the only profitable entities in the SANparks group (who knows, possibly Kgalagadi also) - so the profits from TMNP subsidises other parks in the rest of the country. So yes there is a good argument that more of that money should be use to protect the goose that lays the golden eggs but issue is not as straightforward as Facebook would like us to believe. 

 

Actually a very convoluted business model, when looking at ALL SANS Parks.

 

As an example - Augrabies has to cover diesel for generators out of their operating budget ... thus less money for other operational issues.  While they still have to hand over a fixed percentage to SANS/Government.

 

2023 their diesel bill is more than R1M.

 

 

At Trans Augrabies we see what these staff do for "their park" ... but they dont get to use that profit to address needed maintenance items ....

 

 

 

Back to Silvermine - my limited exposure to this staff has been very pleasant.  My only gripe being that I need cash, no tapping ...

[Shebeen]

19 hours ago, Skubarra said:

Not sure the R200m profit just goes to government. afaik TMNP and Kruger park are the only profitable entities in the SANparks group (who knows, possibly Kgalagadi also) - so the profits from TMNP subsidises other parks in the rest of the country. So yes there is a good argument that more of that money should be use to protect the goose that lays the golden eggs but issue is not as straightforward as Facebook would like us to believe. 

Ja, well. As an entity for the citizens does sanparks need to operate as a business and turn a profit? It should be run on efficient means, but just like health and education it doesn;t need to pay for itself.

 

but ja, the cross subsidizing of other parks is a problem if minimal is spent on TMNP. especially since sanparks has only owned this one for 25years now.

 

we know this whole story from TokaiMTB getting zip out of the permit the trails that they generate the funds from. it's a crap situation.

 

 

 

[Robbie Stewart]

21 hours ago, Shebeen said:

Out of that R100m would come the vehicles needed, drones, cameras etc and give us 500 pairs of boots in total on that mountain 24/7.

and if you do the conservative math and take R75m and allocate that to salaries for the additional 400 proposed rangers, they work in a high risk environment for still what is considered a rubbish salary of around R15.6k per month.

I guess when you look at it objectively TMNP has an uphill battle w.r.t. funding and that becomes evident in the crime spree that is taking place. And with our decrepit state of SAPS and the utter inability to be of any value, I suppose it comes as no surprise and should in fact be expected that things are the way they are.

[Shebeen]

1 hour ago, Robbie Stewart said:

and if you do the conservative math and take R75m and allocate that to salaries for the additional 400 proposed rangers, they work in a high risk environment for still what is considered a rubbish salary of around R15.6k per month.

I guess when you look at it objectively TMNP has an uphill battle w.r.t. funding and that becomes evident in the crime spree that is taking place. And with our decrepit state of SAPS and the utter inability to be of any value, I suppose it comes as no surprise and should in fact be expected that things are the way they are.

Not sure what a ranger's salary is.

What TMNP needs is not game rangers, they need security guards.

but hey, thought i'd go and see what is going there, and they posted this on friday

 

https://www.sanparks.org/about/jobs/default.php?id=58965

 

[nonky]

7 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

Not sure what a ranger's salary is.

What TMNP needs is not game rangers, they need security guards.

but hey, thought i'd go and see what is going there, and they posted this on friday

 

https://www.sanparks.org/about/jobs/default.php?id=58965

 

"The total remuneration package is a basic salary as per the Expanded Public Works Programme rates of R208.00 per day".

 

That's R4.4k gross a month - no accommodation, no food, no travel allowance... 

[Robbie Stewart]

35 minutes ago, nonky said:

"The total remuneration package is a basic salary as per the Expanded Public Works Programme rates of R208.00 per day".

 

That's R4.4k gross a month - no accommodation, no food, no travel allowance... 

Our char earns more than that. And on top of her salary we pay for her Golden Arrow / MyCiti bus ticket to and from Kayalitsha / Sunningdale each month. This explains a ton. That is shocking to say the least. 

And considering they are asking for R100M then I'd love to know what the remaining R79M is being employed for. 

[Shebeen]

1 hour ago, nonky said:

"The total remuneration package is a basic salary as per the Expanded Public Works Programme rates of R208.00 per day".

 

That's R4.4k gross a month - no accommodation, no food, no travel allowance... 

I wasn't looking at the figure here, but that they are presumably employing more eyes on the mountain. one of the responsibilities hidden in there is patrolling. and the physical requirements are going to make sure only fit people get in - 

• Passing of fitness trial which includes: (dependent on the deployment activities)
  • 2,4 km run in 12 minutes or less
  • Ability to do 30 pushups and 30 sit-ups in under a minute
  • Successful candidates are then granted an interview

 

 

this is not from Sanparks budget, EPWP is a work placement program for unemployed people to get into the game. show some initiative and it's a stepping stone into the labour pool.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Shebeen

[ChrisF]

On 11/27/2023 at 4:36 PM, Mamil said:

Everyone who has one that I've spoken to including myself thought "meh - I'm not sure if this is a useful thing" before getting it and after a week was saying "This is brilliant"

Put it on your Christmas list.

 

What are the real user experience differences between the Garmin Varia RTL 515 and RCT715 ?

 

Any leads for good specials .... 

 

 

EDIT - https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.cyclistshub.com/garmin-varia-rtl515-vs-rct715/&ved=2ahUKEwjym9_jgeeCAxXOQUEAHd4pAe8QFnoECBYQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3qkdU3TFoXbaMGW0yg7Wrq

 

The battery life of the RCT715 is a hurdle for my longer rides .... (my bank manager breaths again)

Edited November 28, 2023 by ChrisF