We all know the importance of completing your bucket list before you head off to other planets, the exosphere or wherever you believe you are going once your time here is up.

Here’s one that is a decent tick: The Cape Town Cycle Tour 2015. It’s a challenge, yes, but this year it’s only 47km – that’s a whopping decrease from the usual 109km – making 2015 the year that you can probably do it.

Because of the extremity of the fires we have endured in Cape Town this week, organisers have decided to drastically reduce this years race by changing the route.

This, straight from the guys organising the Cycle Tour:

For the Cycle Tour to be able to safely cater for the 35000 anticipated participants, we need to start placing infrastructure on the ground by tomorrow morning [Thursday]. For this to happen, a decision on the route needs to be made today [Wednesday]. The decision we have made is unanimous and has not been taken lightly. It has involved extensive discussion and collaboration by all stakeholders including the Provincial Government of the Western Cape, Enteleni and their consulting engineers in respect of Chapman’s Peak, City of Cape town Events Office, City of Cape Town Disaster Management Services, Provincial Emergency Medical Services and Cape Town Traffic in respect of Ou Kaapse Weg, MyCiti, Mediclinic and our Presenting Rights sponsors.

Having carefully assessed all available information, it has become clear that the safety of cyclists cannot be guaranteed on Chapman’s Peak and this rules out using this famous landmark for the 2015 event. This is largely as a result of the extensive fire which has destroyed vegetation responsible for retaining the mountainside above Chapman’s Peak. Furthermore, the heat has caused rocks to expand making them unstable and in some instances rock falls have occurred.

With Chapman’s Peak ruled out, our detour option of Ou Kaapse Weg returning to Cape Town via the M3 was considered. A number of key issues needed to be taken into account including access and egress to the South Peninsula by Emergency Services vehicles and local residents who are still under threat of fires raging in the area. The soot and ash covering both sides of the road on Ou Kaapse Weg present a considerable health risk to participants and this would be exacerbated by the likelihood of wind.

The idea of an out and back route via Main Road to Cape Point and back is impractical for an event of this size as road widths in certain areas between Fishhoek and Muizenberg narrow down to a width of four metres.

So there it is folks: a shortened ride because they care about our safety. Don’t not ride because it’s not the full distance. They are urging as many people as possible to still ride this year for the #Showyoucaresolidarityride

For the new route, click HERE.

[Source: CycleTour, Traveller24 and EWN]