![\"ccs-62657-0-17332200-1496214713.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-17332200-1496214713.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Nelson Mandela Bay residents can ride the new trails behind Baywest Mall from June 16. (Image: Supplied).<\/span><\/p>\nFat Tracks chairman Johan Gerryts said the Baywest trails comprised a 12km loop, with shortcuts for a 6km or 9km option, and offered similar riding conditions to the nearby Norm-Hudlin trails. He described the trails as a well-balanced mix of 10% gravel road, 40% jeep track and 50% single track.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trails are not technical at all in terms of drop-offs, hills and jumps. But about 50% is still very raw so it will require hard work on a mountain bike and can be tiring on the body. The route is winding and scenic, with a variety of bush, beautiful fynbos and forest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gerryts said alien invasive forest vegetation, such as black wattle and Port Jackson, was being cleared as part of a long-term environmental project by Baywest developers and would be replaced with indigenous plants in time to come.\u200b<\/p>\n
This is reflected in the route naming, Coral Tree and Waterberry, which are naturally occurring in the area.<\/p>\n The trail head starts just outside Entrance 4, which is the entrance to Baywest Mall\u2019s Fun Factory entertainment wing, where a route map and bike racks will be available to riders.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the trails start at the mall, this ride really has a completely different \u2018feel\u2019 to anything else in the Bay,\u201d said Baywest Mall marketing manager Christopher Hutchings.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s perfect for families, as those who aren\u2019t keen on mountain biking can go shopping or catch a movie, while they wait for their riders to return. Dad or Mom can have a quick hour on the bike and then meet the rest of the family for coffee or lunch at one of the restaurants.\u201d<\/p>\n For maximum safety and security, Gerryts said the trails would be open from sunrise to sunset but that organised night rides were being planned.<\/p>\n Instead of the traditional \u201chonesty box\u201d system, he said there would be a Fat Tracks Zapper QR code which riders would scan to make a donation of between R20 and R50. While Baywest Mall will carry the costs of trail maintenance, rider donations will be used to develop the trails further.<\/p>\n The trail officially launches on June 16, with a \u201cRide for the Youth\u201d family day, comprising a 1km kids\u2019 dash, 6km and 12km social rides, and an 18km mountain bike race.<\/p>\n In the lead-up to the launch, Baywest Mall Ster-Kinekor will be hosting a screening of the Trails in Motion MTB Film Festival on June 8.<\/p>\n For more information, visit www.fattracks.co.za<\/a> or follow Baywest Mall<\/a> on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mountain bikers in Nelson Mandela Bay can look forward to the rare pleasure of hitting new trails when the Baywest MTB Trails open for riding on June 16. Criss-crossing the undeveloped land behind Baywest Mall, the new trails are designed and managed by Fat Tracks Mountain Bike Club, and promise the same kind of family-friendly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1307,1306],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-16674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-baywest-mtb-trails","tag-nelson-mandela-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16674"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=16674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n