Mountain bikers, mountain goats, dust and mud

Some of the recent mountain bike races in the Cape have left me wondering if there are any easy MTB races south of the Karoo. Cape riders are quick to chirp the GP counterparts when it comes to mountains. But having lived in GP land for many years I know that the riding there is not just gravel travel like most Capies will have you believe. Cool west rand singletrack, technical Klaperkop decents and the holly Bredesneck rides will convince you of that. Races like the Fort to Fort, this years Heritage classic and the aptly named Magalies Monster can be technical challenges of note.

But having spent almost 3 years riding in the Cape now I have to admit that race organisers here are either not scared to throw in mountains or more than likely don’t have a choice. While GP riders wallow in the dust scared of the west Cape winters, the local riders are spoilt for choice. Just this weekend you had a choice of some green Swartland singletrack or trusty Stellenbosch mud. Koringberg in the Swartland had cool cloudy weather to tackle 70 odd kilometres with almost 1600m of climbing, mostly on technical singletrack climbs and decents. While in Stellenbosch they had mud and 40km with over 1400m of climbing on some fresh single track.

So some things are guaranteed and other not. Like if you ride in the Cape make sure you have your climbing legs on, and yes it may be wet. If you are in Gauteng, you can take your MTB along, just find some of that dusty singletrack, it is quite different to the mud.

Koringberg Singletrack