So – which province boasts the best/gnarliest/smoothest/ scariest MTB trails in SA? Who better to ask than Chris and Tim Whitfield, who’ve just spent the last year researching the subject for their newly-released book, On Your Bike.
Twenty years ago, in 1997, Paul Leger wrote A Guide to Mountain Bike Trails: Western Cape. It was essentially a booklet – about 10cm wide, 20cm from top to bottom, and no thicker than this magazine – because back then, there wasn’t a lot to talk about.
In the Cape peninsula, Leger highlighted Tokai Forest, Silvermine (when the south side was open to mountain bikers, not the north as is now the case), and Deer Park. In his “Trail Description” for all three, he doesn’t mention the word ‘single track’ at all. Trails, by the definition of the time, were mainly “dirt roads and secondary tracks”.
Further afield, Leger alludes to some “legal single track with challenging technical sections” at Jonkershoek; and even then, Harkerville’s red route had “mile upon mile of weaving single track”.
But there’s not much else; evidently, the major impetus for mountain biking at the time was getting out into nature, and tooling around country areas on jeep tracks or gravel roads.
Today, we’re spoilt for choice. Want to hit some pretty technical stuff without leaving Cape Town? The new network of single track in Tokai will do just fine. Or drive 30 minutes, and spend hours on the trail network in Tygerberg.
And a little further afield there is Somerset West; or Grabouw, home to the fabulous ‘A-to-Z’ trail. In 1997, Leger informs us, the best part of the Grabouw experience was “a pacey plantation track with a few tightish bends to test your technical skills”. By which he means ‘a road through the forest’.
This story is from the May 2017 edition of Bicycling South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 2017 edition of Bicycling South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
6 WAYS TO BEAT THE HEAT THIS SUMMER
TOP TIPS TO KEEP YOU COOLER AND RIDING STRONGER... NO MATTER WHAT THE TEMPERATURE.
RAGE AGAINST THE LYCRA
WHY MOUNTAIN BIKING IS WAY MORE SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE THAN BEING A ROADIE.
6 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT CHAINS
To help you get the most out this crucial drivetrain component, and celebrate just how impressive your loop of metal links really is, we've rounded up six things you might not know about the bike chain.
EVERYONE KNOWS 52X11 IS BIGGER THAN 48X10. EVEN THOUGH IT ISN'T.
\"The human threshold for 'least noticeable difference' is generally on the order of 10 per cent change of a value.\"
A CELEBRATION OF JUNK MILES
\"No longer dreading my next bunch sprint, I felt like I belonged on my bike again\"
KONTREI KUDOS
YOU DON'T HAVE TO TRAVEL FAR TO FEEL SOUTH AFRICAN WARMTH. BUT SOMETIMES YOU CHOOSE TO.
THE EASTERN CAPE PASSES ADVENTURE
SOME OF THE HIGHEST PASSES IN SOUTH AFRICA ALL IN ONE HELLUVA RIDE!
CAFFEINE - THE EXPERT'S PED*
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR EVERY PART OF YOUR RIDE LIFE
THE RACES ARE FASTER. ARE THEY CLEANER? AND DOES IT MATTER?
THE LAST TWO EDITIONS OF THE MEN’S Tour de France were among the three fastest.
Perfect Timing
THE SOUTHERN CAPE IS LITTERED WITH EXCELLENT RIDING AND EVEN BETTER COFFEE.