If you are keen to get involved in the ever growing groundswell movement towards enjoying the roads of Cape Town using your own pedal power, then join us for Moonlight Mass, held once a month at full moon. This event is an inclusive, relaxed, enjoyable and safe way to experience cycling in the city. Give it a try sometime soon.
If you don’t own a bike, we have plenty for rent. We have a fleet of comfortable city cruisers, Giant Elwoods, available for Moonlight Mass rental @ R150 per bike with helmet. Collection is easy: you can meet us at the start of the ride, just near Green Point circle where we will park with our trailer of bikes. Anytime from 8pm onwards. Drop-off is at the same place after the ride, making logistics easy for you. Just park at GP circle, collect, do the ride, finish at Greenmarket Square and a short (2km) ride back to drop bikes at GP circle where you collected them from.
For parking info, see maps below. Payment for rentals: in cash on the night. Pics of our rental bikes below.
To book, contact Luke on 082 377 1398 or luke@africabespoke.com
A bit of background on #MoonlightMass
There is no official club, no joining fee, and no discernible scene evident…that is, until the full moon approaches, and then Facebook and Twitter begin to buzz with anticipation. The cross-section of participants is fascinating and all inclusive: bikes – and people – of all shapes and sizes miraculously turn up under a bridge at midnight beside the Greenpoint stadium. In his blog about an early Moonlight Mass ride, writer Dylan Muhlenberg noted that there were “only a handful of hardcore bike types, most of the cyclists were on postman bicycles, fixies, bangers, BMX’s…and even skateboards and unicycles.” You will see it all here.
The movement has gathered momentum in the slipstream of a cycling’s strong resurgence in recent years, championed by the city’s young trendsetters and the rising demand for fixed speed bicycles. This is not the sort of ride you will find die-hard cyclists dressed in tight lycra and CamelBaks setting out to break records. After all, skinny jeans are arguably just as aerodynamic!
The brain child of Daniel Graham and Elad Kirshenbaum the #moonlightmass is a casual night bicycle ride starting at the Green Point Circle on a full moon once a month. Started as a social experiment on twitter the ride has been gaining popularity ever since it started in early 2012. From a mere 15 cyclists at the outset, it has now grown to over a thousand people gathering for this monthly event.
The Moonlight Mass organisers say the main thrust of the rides is to raise awareness for cycling in the city and the safety of cyclists in the urban environment, with a particular focus on addressing the pollution problem in Cape Town, a city responsible for an inordinately high carbon emission rate. These night riders hope to see their home follow in the footsteps of bigger, smoggier cities like New York, where cycling has increased 260% in the last decade.
The route varies slightly from ride to ride, but always begin and end with a social gathering and a not-so-hard-earned drink. The camaraderie and collective warmth has as much do to with the green heart of the ride as it does the thrill of gliding through almost empty streets, seeing the city as never before. “The irreverence is definitely part of the thrill,” says one rider, “that spirit of taking over the streets, of doing something almost lawless.”
Details, the route, and logistics
Meet at 21:00 under the Green Point Circle and around 21:15, leave the circle through Granger Bay Boulevard and turn left into Beach Road and onto the Moullie Point on Beach Road, up Three Anchor Bay Road, left onto Green Point Main Road. Into Riebeek Street right into Long Street, then up to the top of Long street in masses, turn right and head down Loop Street, finally a right into Longmarket Street and into Greenmarket Square to finish.
For those of you who are coming in by car, there is plenty of parking around the Green Point Circle and on Somerset road. You can also park your car at the finishing point next to Greenmarket Square and on Long Street and cycle to the GP Circle to start the ride.
For social media updates and interaction around #moonlightmass, follow @MoonlightMass on Twitter.
Parking options:
> Street parking on Somerset Road
> Free parking lot around the Green Point Circle
> Street parking on Long Street (Green Market Square finish)
Our rental bikes. To book, contact Luke 082 377 1398 or luke@africabespoke.com
