July done and dusted

Last weekend we had some rainy weather but still managed to sneak a ride at Meerendal with Hanco and Arné on Saturday (read their take on the ride here!)

The trail was really slippery and some berms rather suspect as Reto found in an OTB fashion. He only sustained some scratches but his brand new derailleur got trashed..back to the bike shop!

Rainy conditions. Pic by Arné

The usual suspects, regrouping before the descend

View from the top

Dropping in! Pics by Arné

Aaaarg...missed the little feature on the right! Guess I have unfinished business with this trail ;)
Thanks for the pics Arné!

Sunday the only riding that was done was imaginary... and at Andorra at the 3rd round of the World Cup DH series

The week so far brought wonderful sunny weather and we've been making good use of it in Tokai and the local pump track.

Forest scenery, photo bomming and a nifty mud guard sponsored by Hanco!

Tokai and Silvermine views

Necessary after ride activities

August promises to be an exciting month of riding, kicking off this weekend with a trail building day in Tokai and shuttling at the new Helderberg DH track. Watch this space!

Trail Tales

A picture gallery of the past week's riding:

Jonkershoek - Old DH, Slangpad and Fire Hut Trails

Last weekend we got to ride at one of our very favorite locations again..

On the trails with Hanco, Arné and Theresa. Reto got to take this beautiful Cotic Rocket for a test ride.

Thanks Arné for these nice pics

360° of scenic views

Besides a bit of southerly wind, it was awesome weather to be out

On the trail up to the Fire Hut

Singletrack climbing - much more enjoyable than jeep track ;)

After ride refreshments and friendly faces at the Ride In cafe

Read Arné's detailed ride report here!

Majik Forest 

We have not ridden in the Durbanville area in over a year and with perfect weather on our side, we made a mid-week mission. Pleasantly surprised with the Majik Forest singletrack network, we had a lot of fun here and discovered that our fitness and skills had improved quite a bit since a year ago.

Some steep climbs, lots of singletrack, a few drops, jumps and a rock garden

Contermanskloof MTB Trails

After a stop at The Bike Shed where Jaco thankfully helped out with some chain lube, we had a quick lunch break before dropping in to some more trail fun.

Table Mountain in the distance, pretty bike and a road gap..

Same jump a year ago (below) - over grown and alot more kick

Delvera (place of thorns)

Yesterday we visited another trail we have not ridden in a long time. Just as we passed the dam it packed out raining and we were soaking soon after. We decided to turn back and wait for it to pass. Just as we got back to the car, some blue skies peeped through - so back up we went! This time, just as we passed the dam - I had a flat! 

Rain and thorny conditions..

View from the top before starting our descend - turned out a very good day for riding

After the trail ride we played on the 4X track - still plagued by flats!

Perfect end to a great day

Half an Argus

This afternoon I set out on a leisurely Sunday cruise heading towards Simonstown...but after stopping at Boulders Beach to watch the penguins I kept going and the ride became a mini Cape Argus around the Southern Peninsula. With more than 50kms on the clock when I finally got back home, it was quite a ride! Some scenic moments captured:

Trail Riding Galore

The past 2 weeks saw many kilometers of riding, mostly singletrack - up and down in various locations and a bit of road riding in Noordhoek and Cape Point. I also took the plunge and bought a Giant Trance which is perfectly suited to the local trails and inspires me to ride further and more! Oh and a cool biking website named www.dirtyjane.com approached me for a short interview that appeared on their website - check it out here!

A picture gallery of some of my recent rides:

Tokai Forest:

New trail weapon

Tokai - Fairy Garden & My Roots Up

The odd technical problem..

A bit of rain makes for even more trail fun

Tokai ride with Tim! 

DH & a sneaky forest section

Legendary steel frames

Tim captured the action frame by frame

Charging through the forest!

Gspot and Eden Forest (Stellenbosch):

We rode some trails in Eden Forest for the first time and loved it!

The Gspot trail is in excellent condition thanks to the keen trail builder!

Noordhoek:

Over looking Long Beach

Noordhoek is prime horse area 

Cape Point Reserve:

On my way to Cape Point for a solo adventure

It was the perfect windless day to explore the beautiful reserve

Game tracking

I came across at least 5 of these cuties!

Beautifully peaceful, the perfect place for some soul searching

Alone - yet not! So many pretty creatures playing in the fynbos

The "MTB trail" is about 3kms of dirt road through the fynbos...gives a nice brake from riding the tar

Any rock on the side of the road is a good picnic spot - and 360 degrees of scenic views to marvel at!
I did about 40kms and will be back for round 2 of my exploration.

Jonkershoek (Stellenbosch)

Read Arné's detailed blog post about our ride here!

Stopping at The Ride In cafe for coffee before embarking on quite a road climb leading into Jonkershoek

We ventured from one side of the valley to the next exploring some trails we have not ridden before

Almost 4 hours on the saddle afforded us over 40kms of riding of which just about half was singletrack!

We were 2 very happy mountain bikers arriving home :)