I posted a little while back about riding in South Africa and my visit there. I have now returned after a much needed two week holiday. It involved a lot of touristy things, as well as a fair amount of riding.
I stuck to the roads during my visit, but that is okay, we are a bunch of cyclists at Ergon, not a bunch of mountain bikers. We like riding, and that is what I did. There is good MTBing in South Africa though, it is just that isn’t what my uni friend is into.
I was based in Cape Town, staying with my best friend from my university days. He is living there for a while, working for an NGO. His mission in Cape Town, while gaining experience, is to get bike fit. He is planning duathlons in the near future, so this, combined with running is what he does aside from working.
Riding in the Cape Town area is pretty straight forward. There are pretty good (not always ideal) roads out to Cape Point, and Chapmen’s Peak has legendary status in the area for its ‘closed road’ status (it is a toll road) and its national park setting. It is visually incredibly dramatic.
The view down Chapman's Peak
If you continue southwards along the Cape, you will eventually get to the Cape Point National Park. It is the scenery, the box ticking (having been to the Cape of Good Hope) and the wildlife that attract people here. On the way, there are Penguins, as I previously mentioned. There are also Baboons, which are said to be really aggressive. I touched upon this in the previous post.
Cape Point
Not something you see often in England's Home Counties
How far is it home?
The locals
Yesterday I was involved in riding a massive race / sportif, called ‘Die Burger Tour’. It had 3500 riders, so the peleton was massive. As soon as the images are available online, I will write more about my experience. The route map and details are here.
