Category
Adventure and Travel
The joy of exploring by bicycling.
Race report: STBB 2-Keep-a-Breast MTB Challenge
The STBB 2-Keep-a-Breast MTB challenge is held annually at Overgauuw Wine Estate in the Bottelary Hills. It aims to raise funds to combat breast cancer, and proceeds are donated to CANSA. The event is immensely popular, as we discovered at registration when we tried to drop from the 60km event to the 45km (due to […]
Race Report: Team Pure Savage’s Enjoy One Tonner
The unfortunate cancellation of the West Coast Express a week earlier meant the Enjoy One Tonner was the first race of the PPA calendar for many Western Cape roadies. This was abundantly clear with the event being sold out. The major change to the event this year, apart from the awesome new sponsor Enjoy Fitness, […]
Gravel Grinders: A journey from Houw Hoek to Vermaaklikheid
Like many good adventures, this one was born over a cup of good coffee one lazy afternoon in Stellenbosch. The initial plan was to cycle from Cape Town to Knysna over two days on mountain bikes, but this had been done before. After looking at the routes, it was clear that gravel grinders were the […]
Ride Report: The U MTB Stage Race
About two hours north of Cape Town the winding Versveld Pass takes you up into the hidden town of Piket-Bo-Berg. Nestled atop the mountain the beautiful Moutons Valley Farm provided the venue for The U, a two-day mountain bike stage race which took place from 14 – 16 October 2016. Photos by Chris Hitchcock UPDATE: […]
Ride Report: Eselfontein Festival
Eselfontein has always been one of my favourite riding destinations. The unending combination of rocky and flowing single track has always enticed me as a rider. Making the 3-day mountain bike festival an unmissable event. Team Bike Hub arrived ready and raring to go on Friday 14th October. Stage 1 was special as it was […]
Event Report: Weskus Fat Bike Adventure
The Weskus Fat Bike Adventure is a truly unique experience. The main focus is to enjoy the ride – there is no timing and no race positioning – riders simply head off once the last rider is ready (and when the tides allow). This approach creates a very social atmosphere in the campsite and out […]
Event report: Varsity MTB Challenge
With lungs full of dense coastal air and legs still shaky from the Lesotho Sky, we headed out to the tranquil La Paris farm in Franschhoek for the inaugural Varsity MTB Challenge sponsored by FNB. The race features two stages both approximately 50 kilometres, making for fast-paced racing on the sharp end of the field, […]
Contego Segment Hunter #4: Bartinney Skyfall
In Episode 4 of Contego Segment Hunter Adriaan Louw seeks to best Gert Heyn’s record on the scenic Bartinney Skyfall trail. https://www.strava.com/segments/13164991 How do I ride this segment? The Bartinney Skyfall trail is on the Bartinney Estate wine farm just off Helshoogte Road and forms part of the Banhoek Conservancy trail network. On a bike, […]
Lesotho Sky Diaries Day 6: Semonkong Loop
The final stage of Lesotho Sky 2016 took place at Semonkong Lodge, nestled next to the Maletsunyane River high in the Maluti mountains. The drive to the start of the stage was an experience of its own: nearly an hour of the most incredible winding passes. You could almost feel the air getting thinner as […]
Trail Daze | Boschendal – Searching for Sugar Bowl
Crossing the Helshoogte Pass into the incredibly scenic Franschhoek valley, we stopped off at the more-than-300-year-old Boschendal wine farm, to see what the Boschendal team and master trail builder, Bennet Nel have put together. Still a very young trail, having only been established in 2015, it already features six different riding options, with the 33 […]
Lesotho Sky Diaries Day 5: Ramabanta Loop
Today made the preceding stages of Lesotho Sky look like a picnic in the park. It was not our lucky day. The legs were feeling a bit better, morale was high, and we were looking forward to a slightly shorter ride, keeping things in our comfort zone. All went according to plan until after the […]
Lesotho Sky Diaries Day 4: Roma to Ramabanta
Day 4 of Lesotho Sky saw us tackle another hefty stage, riding 78 kilometres from Roma to Ramabanta Trading post via Bushman’s Pass and the infamous Three Witches. It was another day of digging deep for us. I had forgotten to pack my legs and had to be dragged up every single incline, gasping like […]