Cape Town Roadies - an observation

[zula dude]

Greetings from the city with a hole

 

Had a quick visit to Cape Town the weekend, and on the way for breakfast at Olympia Cafe at Saturday morning, noticed the strange phenomenon of roadies cycling (individually and in groups) the wrong way down the one way along the coast.

 

I know the mountain and stuff does cause some distraction to peoples mental functioning down there - but, hmmmm, how to phrase this?

 

HAVE PEOPLE GONE STARK RAVING MAD DOWN THERE?

 

from the sane city with a hole

 

Neil

[Wannabe]

Huh, explain a bit more.

Where is this "one way along the Coast". The Peninsula is big, there is a lot of coast and one way's.

[Wannabe]

This is at kalk Bay under the current road works.

 

It's a whole nother kettle of fish... in the normal road between the lights and the road works it's still wide enough for two cars to drive side by side, but you dare ride your bike the wrong way and the cars aim right for you leaving enough space on their left for a bus.

Ok, aware of this. A nightmare there on weekends and peak hours during the week. Give that place a WIDE berth. Rather go over Boyes Drive, lot less hassle.

[Wannabe]

I see it two ways: Ok it's not Ideal to ride up the wrong way but...

 

Now that it's a one way, ALL the traffic goes over boyes drive. There is very little/no shoulder. There are some roots grown into the road which you have to ride down the centre of the lane to avoid, plus the cars drive faster than the main road all the way.

 

So which is safer?

 

That's why I hop on/off the pavement until the end of the road works and enjoy a traffic free zone until the muizenberg robots and even then only deal with half the traffic from then on to lakeside.

Catch 22. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Luckily I don't drive there very often in my car, and even less on the bike.

Does'nt look like the roadworks will be finished any time soon.

[splat]

I hate Boyes drive at the best of times.

It sucks even more with all the extra traffic.

 

Pavement hopping down the one way on Main Rd is tempting.

[MRT1]

The safest is just to use Ou Kaapse weg.

[Dirt*girl™]

Silly roadies

[Tjommie]

listen to cape talk, listeners are and were complaining about cyclists going against the flow of traffic. We often moan about motorists being inconsiderate towards us but we not helping it by ignoring the rules of the road, its a one way and a accident waiting to happen

[Willehond]

Silly roadies

silly Capies

[bikemonster]

silly Capies

 

silly persons

[GLuvsMtb]

listen to cape talk, listeners are and were complaining about cyclists going against the flow of traffic. We often moan about motorists being inconsiderate towards us but we not helping it by ignoring the rules of the road, its a one way and a accident waiting to happen

 

Earlier in the thread the logic was explained about why cyclist HAVE to ignore the road rules in this instance (I'm sure we all would like to obey them and not resort to putting ourselves or other road users at risk). While we should do our best to obey the rules of the road Boyes Drive is not safe at the moment. Please let me know what the alternative is here, since you seem to be an expert in this case.

 

I think you should spend your energy complaining to Dept of Roadworks about the unsafe cycling conditions.

[Willehond]

silly persons

 

Who are you to bring persons into it? Inflamatory statement

[Dirt*girl™]

silly persons

silly boys

[Vetseun]

F*CKING ROADIES.

[ccc2]

from what i know of that area wrt roadworks all road users driving outbound from CT to S'town use the Main Rd, from S'town to CT all road users must use Boyes Drive.

What do the local clubs do on their weekend rides?

[zula dude]

The issue is that cars park on both sides of the street, its a matter of time, before someone pulls out, while checking their blind spot -  and ploughs into a cyclist heading the wrong way down the one way.

 

Perhaps the bigger problem is the general lack of respect for the law in our country, its deeply disturbing to see cyclists trying to explain their cycling the wrong way down a one way on the basis of it's not convenient for them to obey the law.

 

Is this a problem elsewhere in the world or just white male south africans that think they can do as they please?

Edited November 8, 2010 by zula dude