Hellwarp

Hi MTB Roadie. I've sent you a pm.

There's about 1.5km of singletrack that forms part of the green route, a piece on the south eastern side on Kastanjeberg and a piece on the western side between Mooiplaas and Zevenwacht.

If you start at Hazendal and go green onto red then back on green you're looking at about 35km. Around 5km less if you take the "shortcut" from green to red. Not sure of the singletrack you referring to but please keep to the Bottelary Hills marked trails.

Hi MTB Roadie, saw you FB post as well. Thanks for the comments, glad you enjoying the trails, we've had lots of positive feedback. We're constantly looking at ways to improve signage and routing of the trails, this is a costly and timeous process but we're moving on it. We'll be putting up more signage at the entrances soon explaining rules etc as we getting tired of excuses from riders trespassing. We busy planning some exciting additions to the trails but more about that closer to the time.

Hi Nobody You download the form, fill it in, take cash or proof of payment (if you paid via EFT) and visit one of the annual permit sales points http://bottelaryhillsmtb.co.za/?page_id=689 to collect a bikeboard. The starting points only sell day permits.

Hi Hearts Can't disclose too much as we cannot speak on their behalf, but we have met with them recently. They are part of the Bottelary Hills Renosterveld Conservancy and we're excited at the prospect of extending the Bottelary Hills MTB Trails to Zevenwacht. If you have their permission then you can continue to ride there until such time as a permit may be required.

Hi Eugee Thanks for informing us, we will be "tightening the noose" on freeloaders as we cannot allow the trend to continue. The sustainability of the trails relies on people paying to ride. You did what you could by explaining the rules to the riders you encountered. We will inform landowners and managers that the "grace" period is now over and anyone found riding without permits will be delt with accordingly. I don't think it will be long before some people get nailed for trespassing.

Annual permit fees for the remainder of 2011 (1st July to 31st December) have been adjusted. Please visit our website http://bottelaryhillsmtb.co.za/?page_id=439 or our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bottelary-Hills-MTB/183227135056695 for more info.

Please note, the Only One Restuarant will be closed for permit sales from 23rd -30th June 2011 for their annual winter break. Please use Hazendal Wine Estate as an alternate start venue or buy a permit from the 24hr Star Mart shop. This shop is situated at Devon Place Caltex Garage, corner of R44 and Bottelary Rd. We apologise for any inconvenience.

Hi Musashi Ok cool will check it out, could very well be that there is an arrow missing there. Thanks for marking the spot. I actually thought you got lost where the blue links back up with the red, that you took a right there and ended up at the big red and white tower.

Map indicating shortcut is up on the website http://bottelaryhillsmtb.co.za/?page_id=435

Hi Musashi Could you possibly indicate on the route map where you are referring to. Take a screenshot of the "blue loop out of red route" map and paste in Microsoft "Paint" http://bottelaryhillsmtb.co.za/?page_id=435 Make a mark where you got lost so we can take a look. Send it to info@bottelaryhillsmtb.co.za

We put in a shortcut between the Green Loop and Red Route for riders wanting to reach the Red Route without cycling to the top of the Green Loop. Coming up the Green Loop from Hazendal side there's a long climb along a fence. At the top of the climb there's a right hand bend, on this bend is a sign directing you LEFT to the shorcut. Follow the PINK arrows to link up with the Red Route. Will have a map of it up on the site later. Enjoy !

For those who haven't visited our Facebook page yet https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bottelary-Hills-MTB/183227135056695

Thanks to Alex and John for letting us know about the vandalized signage on the Hazendal link. Sorted it this morning. Good to see people braving the chilly weather to get a ride in, even if the rain came earlier than expected and we all got soaked. But rain and all it was still lekka to be out there.

Thanks for the info berry. Tough for us to fill the gap if someone calls in sick on the day. Hopefully a rare occurance.

Hi slabs Thanks for bringing this to our attention, riders have to purchase permits before they ride but in your case you couldn't. Thanks for doing so afterwards though. Middelvlei are open from 8am over weekends for permit sales and they did not inform us that they were going to be closed. So I have no idea why they were not open but will enquire about it. As for the "characters" you came across .... will enquire about that as well. Have sent you a pm for more detail.

Just finished Red Route from Only One Restuarant. Total time 2 hrs, riding time 1h45 mins. Distance 24.2 km.

Mountain Lion I sent you a pm.

The farm with the singletrack you referring to, they are friends of mine, I contacted them when we initially started planning the trails. I know the singletrack that's why I tried to get them involved. They weren't interested and they had their reasons, I'm certainly not going to go back to "try" and convince them. There's a difference between a once a year funride and riders on your property every day. Remember as I've said before, the farms are private property and landowners have the right to allow or disallow riders. This is something that doesn't seem to "sink-in" to the minds of some riders as they are abusing the system. If you haven't got a permit then you are trespassing, you don't have a right to be on the trails. Guys must realise that its a priveledge offered by private landowners who don't get a cent from it. Believe me when I say that there are a number of farmers who wont hesitate to load riders and their bikes on a bakkie and remove them from their farm once he has got the police to take a statement. Bear in mind what will happen if riders abuse the system. The trails were started to get the riding taking place illegally (becoming a problem) organised as an alternative to banning riding completely. So if the trails don't have the desired result then the Bottelary Conservancy will be forced to close the trails and ban all riding in the area. In other words all farmers in the area will co-operate to keep riders out, this has been discussed as an alternative solution to the problem in the past by the landowners. Personally I find it hard to understand why I need to be explaining this in the first place.

Tandem with 1 person = 1 permit Tandem with 2 people = 2 permits. Permits are per person, not per bike.

Hi everyone Firstly thanks to all those who have supported our trails by purchasing annual permits and day permits. It's nice to see so many people on the trails. What is disheartening though is the amount of people riding without permits. The rules are clear, no permit no ride and ride on the marked trails only. The excuses are endless but if people know about the trails then surely they also know that you require a permit to ride. We even have groups riding where some have permits and others don't? So how could they not have known? Another thing, being a Tygerberg MTB Club member does not entitle you to ride our trails for free. You require a Bottelary Hills MTB annual or day permit. Not knowing where to purchase a permit is no excuse, that information is freely available. If you have an annual permit (bike board) then display it, if you bought a day permit then wear the armband, that way you won't get stopped. The scenario is simple, the trails will not remain open if riders abuse the system. If you come across riders without permits kindly inform them that they are tresspassing on private land if they haven't aquired a permit. Believe me that it's not pleasant having to stop riders to enquire about permits, always an uncomfortable situation that I can do without when I'm on the trails enjoying the scenery. Sooner than later we are going to have to take a firmer stance regarding freeloaders if this trend continues.

Hi Musashi Its not a target shooting range, its a place where the landowner has allowed a friend to sight their rifle before their annual hunt. We weren't aware of this and have contacted the landowner. I came across the guy when we rode through there on Saturday morning, he said he had permission from the landowner. Found this strange as I'm sure the landowner would not have allowed shooting when he knows the trail passes through there. The landowner had forgotten about the fact that he had given someone permission to sight a rifle there some time ago. Needless to say no more shooting will take place there.

Hard to find detail on the weight of the 3000D, the best I could do when I was doing homework on this was: http://www.merida-bikes.com/fr_ch/bikes/comparison?compareId=8&modelName=ONE-TWENTY+1200-D The 1200 is 12.6kg and the 1500 is 12.4kg, they don't have the 3000 on there. It's off the Swiss Merida site which gives the weight for most of their bikes. The 120 Carbon 3000 is 11.2kg I settled for the 1500, swopped standard rims to DT Swiss 445's and am extremely happy with the bike, awesome ride.

Did the purple loop yesterday from and back to Middelvlei. There's a summer and winter option as a 400m part of the route may become too muddy in winter. Summer option is 22.8 km on bike computer, winter option 23.2 km so not much difference distance wise. Theres a sign showing the summer/winter split. The winter option adds a short climb. Ride time was 1 hour 31 min at a leisurely pace.