The Trail Daze crew head to the home of the G.O.A.T – Cascades MTB Park in Pietermaritzburg.
To those that have been involved in the South African cycling scene for the last decade, Pietermaritzburg and more specifically Cascades MTB Park would have come up a few times. Hosting multiple mountain biking events, most notably the 2013 World Champs and a 2014 World Cup, it has seen the world’s best come here to compete. With constant building and digging happening over the years, the network of trails and singletrack scattered across this hill has expanded considerably. Local pinners Sam Bull and Travis Browning took me out for a very dry and dusty day to showcase a bit of what is on offer at this legendary MTB location.
If you do consider riding here, remember to bring along your climbing legs, and lungs, and make sure your bike can get into granny gear… This place is steep, and there is no real warming up – just straight into an above average gradient. Another thing to note about this trail network is that it’s not graded in any official manner or marked with official signs, which means bringing along a local or two would be very beneficial. But even though it lacks the structure of other bike parks, it’s still an extremely varied and exciting playground just waiting to be explored.
Travis Browning
Sam Bull
Travis Browning
Sam Bull
This episode is made possible by:
Cascades MTB Park GPS: 29°34’14.3″S 30°21’12.6″E
Riders : Sam Bull | Travis Browning
Permit: free apparently
All images by Ewald Sadie
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