MTB Trail Bucket list

If you take a look at all the different MTB trail options available in South Africa you have to ask yourself where have you ridden and where would you still like to ride? Most of us just head out to our old favorite but there are many other options and new trails coming up all the time. Now days there are many different groups of people involved in trail building and the results are evident with many quality marked trails around the country. 

We have just updated our trail listing with some links to trails in south of Johannesburg and in Karkloof KZN. One of the greatest pleasures in mountain biking is riding a new trail that you have never ridden so spoil yourself and break some new ground. Start that MTB trail bucket list and experience the variety that we have on our doorstep.

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MTB'rs take note - How to ride a road bike properly

If you happen to find yourself on a road bike for what ever reason we will forgive you as long as you ride like this  guy

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Where can I go and ride?

Okay so this week we are back to our Newbies guide. One of the biggest questions that people starting out have is where can I go ride that is safe and not too difficult?

There are many places to go and ride your mountain bike. The safest and most enjoyable to start with will be to visit one of the many mountain bike parks or trail centres that now exist. Many of these are in beautiful locations that are secure to ride. They usually also have some facilities and have marked routes of different difficulty and distance. Our recommended rides are Groenkloof in Pretoria, Northern farm or MTN bike park in Joberg, Giba Gorge in KZN and Koeberg or Dirtopia in Western Cape. Checkout our trails section for details of some of these riding locations and their access times and fees.

 

The other option is also to go to some events to ride as they will have routes and destinations that are not accessible at other times and there are medical and support people to assist if there is a problem while out on the trail. Don't be scared of "races" because its not all about racing, its mainly the few front guys who race, for the majority its all about the riding and there is no real rush.

 

Then once you have your confidence and riding buddies the world will open up to you and you can start exploring the variety of other informal riding locations and discover some new trails.

 

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Sweet singletrack at van Gaalens

Sweet singletrack doesn't come much better than the trails you find at van Gallens Skeerpoort MTB trails in the Magaliesberg. It is at this time of year that these trails are in perfect condition, especially the sections along the river. The van Gaalens cheese farm is eaqually accessible from Pretotia and Johannesburg, and is the start location where you will park your car and pay the R40 trail fee, dont worry you will get your moneys worth and then some extra.

 

There are really two sections to the van Gaalens mountain bike trails, the mountain hilly section to the south east of the farm, this is rocky with some tough technical climbs but also some awesome single track down the back of the mountain and the super cool daga pad section down the Skeerpoort pass. The other section to the west is along the river and alot flatter with the tons of singletrack, the furtherst section seriously fast and flowing and then the section closer to the farm that is tighter and more technical.

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Pretoria Mountain Bike Trails

Pretoria has some of the coolest mountain bike trails all located on the South Eastern side of Pretoria in the Fountains area. Here you will find Groenkloof, Voortrekker Monument and Klapperkop. Even though they are in the same general area each of them is a little bit different with some unique features. Combined you could easily find yourself riding 50+ km of some of the best singletrack in Gauteng and finest in SouthAfrica.

Fountains itself has some great singletrack often used for cross country races, but Groenkloof is the most popular with its smooth flowing single track and varied terrain. Voortrekker monument is a bit more challenging with more technical sections and some steep climbs. Try out Klapperkop for some longer climbs and some fast technical descents.

Check out out trail review and video

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So where did you ride?

Out for a ride on Saturday and it was as if everyone had suddenly done some spring cleaning and dug there dusty old bikes out of the rafters in the garage. The roads were full of bikes, MTBs, roadies and the tribikes with all their gadgets. Most of them looked like they were trying to make up for the 3 weeks of lost time during the festive season.

 

But for some the period over the holidays was a time to rack up the miles in preparation for a good 2012 season of racing. The was even a global challenge out there between 23-31 Dec called the Rapha500, the goal to ride 500km over this period, check the website to see who managed this.

 

Lots of stories about riding new trails and routes over the holidays, share some of your pics and stories on MTBOnline Facebook.

 

Its prime riding time now, the days are still long, its warm and there are plenty of events around to keep you busy and honest.

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Happy holidays - Take your bike with

The holidays are upon us. The next few weeks are a great time to use your extra free time wisely and get in some bonus miles. If you are travelling take your bike with and visit some of those trails that you can never get to. 

If you still have some shopping to do then avoid those malls and go online so that you don't waste any valuable riding time.

As things slow down we will also take a break and head for the hills. 

Thanks for your support as subscribers and followers of our weekly updates. We hope that it has been worth it and look forward to finding more of the good stuff for you in 2012

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Howick MTB trail review and video

Tucked away in a dip less than a stones throw from the busy N3 in the Natal Midlands lies the little town of Howick. It is all hustle bustle but unassuming, old school and filed with farm vehicles and people. Over the rise in the bordering Sappi forests lies the secret network of some of the most awesome single track that you will find in SA. Laid out in the form of a fan from the highest point in the area is a selection of mountain bike trails from smooth flowing forest lanes to gnarly rock gardens that will make you clinch or break your teeth depending on your skill level.

The Howick trail system has been setup and controlled by the Howick Mountain Bike club. This mountain bikers paradise is not well known, not because it is hidden but rather due to its low key nature. Checkout our cool MTB trail video from Howick

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Dawn Patrol MTB

The early morning mountain bike ride has to be one of the best things about riding MTB. Its hard to get up sometimes when it is still dark and cold but the feeling of achievement once you return in the warm sunlight after a great ride makes it worth it every time. It is the reason that we do it over and over again. Check out our Dawn Patrol Video and get an idea what it is like to catch the first light of the day as it creeps over the hills.

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Mates on Bikes Pics

Riding MTB with your mates is really what mountain biking is all about. Doing it by yourself is only half the fun. So you must have plenty of stories and pics about the places you ride and the people who you ride with. Thats why we started the Mates on Bikes photo album on our Facebook page. You can go there and upload a pic of you and your mates riding your favorite trails or even some new trails. Tell us where you rode, who was riding with you and what it was like.

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KZN is SA mecca of MTB?

Is KZN the mecca of mountain biking in South Africa? If not then they are rapidly on their way there, lets see how it stacks up. To be the mecca you would need at least some world class events, some local world champions and enough world class trails.

Well this weekend sees the MTB world cup in Pietermaritzburg and it is here for the second time so you can tick off the first requirement. Then competing in this event with realistic chances of winning will be two local world Champions in Burry Stander from the south coast and Greg Minnaar from the maritzburg area, so you can tick off the second requirement. Then lets talk about MTB trails, well without thinking too much you can quickly tick off Giba Gorge and Hola trails, two world class facilities. Having spent the last week in the Howick area I would also add in the Howick MTB trail network, an incredible network of awesome trails right on the doorstep of Howick.

So don't think of KZN midlands as the sleepy hollow but rather the rising giant of MTB in South Africa.

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Giant Week of Riding

This weekend sees the 15th edition of the Giants Castle MTB Challenge being held in the drakensberg. This is one of the original, oldest and longest running MTB races in the country. It is one of those special events that gives MTB riders access to really remote trails that are not available at any other time. Its a race of extremes, starting off with a blistering fast 80km/h dash downhill on tar from the Giants Castle Reserve, to the compulsory portage up the Ntondolo ridge to get to some of the best mountain top single track, then its the legendary Giants downhill that defines this race and you end off with a brutal climb back up to the finish area. This race should be on your MTB bucket list. Entries open at the end of each year and are usually taken up quickly by the returning faithful in search of their personal number boards. So mark it down for next year April and take part in some SA MTB history and make a significant contribution to wildlife conservation in South Africa.

If you are still suffering from an Epic hangover after the feast of pro MTB racing that we had during this years epic then we have got just the cure for you. Take a few shots of UCI MTB World Cup racing next week from 22-24 April in Pietermaritzburg. Round up some mates and head to the trail side to the worlds best riders and to support our local hero's Burry and Greg as they gun for victory in the first round of MTB world cup for 2011.

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An Epic Weekend

Its an Epic weekend ahead of us the Absa Cape Epic 2011 kicks off on Sunday and you can catch it all live on TV. The whole prologue will be live on TV from 09h00 to 14h00 on Supersport. If you are in the Cape then get out to Tokai forest to see all the pros and support the local boys, Kevin, David and Burry, the racing will be awesome. The 2011 Epic is going to be tough as usual, with Stage 1 89km 2050m ascent, Stage 2 104km 2300m ascent and Stage 5 143km 2350m of climbing, its going to be epic as usual. This race produces many amazing stories like this one, Adam Ferris returning home from the cold after 38 years away to ride.

Here is a bonus for this week, another example of how mountain biking trails in South Africa are progressing. Karkloof Classic in KZN put this together to show what they are doing to prepare for the Karlkloof classic 2011. World class trails and a world class mtb video production, check it out, better still go ride the trails.

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The Cape of Singletrack

The Cape has always had the lions share of quality MTB trails with a handful of marked and purpose built trails in Tokai, Jonkershoek and Lebanon thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like Meurant Botha from Dirtopia. But the singletrack revolution has been quietly busy adding to this solid base with some new trails emerging. The biggest area is in Wellington starting from Welvanpas with the whole Bains Kloof trail network offering some serious singltrack. The areas around Tygerberg Hills like Contermans, Magic forest and Merendal now also have some significant new riding options thanks to efforts by the Tygerberg MTB club. 

On the east coast new trails have been cut in KZN thanks to early efforts by people like Ian Wilson resulting in Giba Gorge as well as Hola trails and Sani trails. In Mpumalanga it only used to be Sabie but now there are all the trails at Mankele and Misty Mountain.

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Singletrack Revolution

Mountain bike trails in South Africa have come a long way in the last few years.The biggest winner of all must be Gauteng where there really used to be nothing. If you think that riding in Gauteng means dodging hijackers, mine dumps and traffic then I think you need to get off the road and head for the hills. A combination of the need for safer riding areas, more riders and a lack of quality riding has been the catalyst for the creation of some world class MTB trails.

The trails around van Gaalens in the Magaliesberg continue to lengthen and now you can easily spend 5 hours riding everything from steep rocky singletrack to undulating riverine forest trails to smooth flowing contoured singletrack.In Pretoria the Groenkloof trails draw hundreds of riders everyday with the shady parking, post ride facilities, technical trails and safe environment. Teak place in the Cradle of Humankind also has a packed parking lot on the weekends. A new kid on the block is Kingskloofmtb on the Krugersdorp hill. And so the list continues to grow. Its the new wave riding on the back of the MTB race explosion and means more MTB trails to ride. So get out there and pay your trail fees to support those who are making it all possible.

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Riding into 2011

Welcome to 2011 and happy trails.

Hopefully some of you were lucky enough to get out and ride some new trails over December. Well that's exactly what we did, and we took our helmet cam along for the ride to Wolfberg MTB trail in the Cederberg.

The 2011 MTB race calendar is full of events, it is going to be another awesome year for MTB racing in South Africa. Advendurance recently announced the 4 Ultra marathon races in the national MTB series have been given UCI status. The first of which is Attakwas this Saturday in Oudtshoorn.

Then of course there are the big ones Epic, Joberg2C and Sani2C. Somewhere in between all of those there is also the MTB World Cup in Pietermaritzburg South Africa from 23-24 April.

And that is just the first 4 months of 2011, so get on your bike and get out there.

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Wolfberg mountain bike singletrack Cederberg - Video

Track your rides online for free

I recently came across this really cool and free online GPS tracking software called Endomondo. What is great about this system is that all you need is to register on the site to download the app to your GPS mobile device and off you go, its really as easy as that.

Endomondo is a sports community based on free real-time GPS tracking of running, cycling, etc. It has live tracking so your loved ones and friends can track your progress in events or when you are out on that monster ride in the middle of nowhere. 

It works with all the major phone brands and operating systems as well as Garmin and Polar wear link. You can share your rides and routes with others through facebook, twitter etc and build your own ride network and set up your privacy settings. If you are using it or want to share routes then drop us a line at our Facebook page

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MTB riding is the best in SA

South Africa must have the best mountain bike riding in the world. Why does nobody know about it you may ask? Well that's probably because the majority of it is undiscovered.

 

Every new mtb trail that opens and every new mtb race that hits the already bulging calendar is exposing the vast selection of riding that we have metre by metre.

 

As more people become aware of the excitement of mountain biking and more property owners realize the eco tourism potential of trails we get more and more places to ride. So make it you mission to discover new places to ride and take someone along with you and share the joy.

 

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Zula loves the west coast.