Many South African suburbs are combating crime by closing roads with 2m tall palisade fences. Where pedestrian gates are present, they are often designed to stop anything larger than a human being from passing through them.

So I had to abandon my mountain bike on a few occasions at one of these gates and map a little bit on foot. On other occasions I would find a spot where I can lift my bicycle over the fence (often scratching myself and / or the bicycle). If that failed, I would cycle a few extra kilometers to find the vehicular entrance.

On Sunday, when confronted with another of these gates, I discovered a really good technique for lifting the bike over the fence after I passed through it : Left hand on handlebars, get the bicycle vertical, right hand on the saddle, left hand over the top of the fence, let the bicycle rest in an inverted position with it's saddle on the crossbar of the fence (freeing the right hand), and voilà.