vaalkol

Great stuff - thanks!

Found some trees lying across the first part of the normal Ribbok ST - in the burnt area where the fire was earlier this year, but these trees were way too heavy to move by hand.

Just for clarification - who is considered to qualify for a pensioner permit? Tygerberg MTB Club for example considers people 60 or over as pensioners.

Great day out at Rooiberg! Thanks to Saggy Stone for the boeries & beer! Jacques & Tersia - your bike shop and coffee shop are out of this world! Thanks to Braam & Adrian for the building such a variety of trails - that downhill on the Purple XL was really the cherry on top!

The family trail on Hazendal farm (off Bottelary Road) is quite flat with nothing technical and yet it is surprisingly enjoyable to ride - length about 7 km. The well-appointed coffee shop sells day permits at R30 per person.

Some bits in the hills during the first half of the race might present somewhat of a challenge, but other than that the CX will be fine. Lots and lots of open country roads...

Tx Rouxenator. Looking at your map, Fort Simon farmyard seems to be very far removed from any of the current established trails. The trespassers might have taken the old red route that had previously veered left after the first rocky climb alongside the pine trees (on the current extended green), got lost going down the hillside and then just aimed for the farmyard below (i.e. Fort Simon). It seems to me that some cyclists with permits (not even talking about those without permits) regard those permits as a kind of carte blanche to ride wherever they like, with the trails at best serving as a rough guide.

For interest's sake - where did this happen? (I assume somewhere on the red route?)

Burry would have been 28 today ...

Would be great if that section could be included.

Did the extended green route on Sunday - Geelslang and Mongoose such a pleasure to ride with all the effort that has gone into smoothing the surface and adding berms everywhere. The additional re-routed ST on both sections was a nice surprise and works very well. I don't mind missing that muddy patch on Mongoose at all.

So, it seems to me that the comments about the dumbing down of Bot Hills are primarily sparked by the one rocky section on Lizard where a by-pass has now been created. However, as dirtman pointed out in his post, the rocky section is still available to be ridden - so no dumbing down as far as I can see. If some us would prefer to take the easier alternative, why not? Rode the updated Fish Eagle on Sunday and what a pleasure it was! Flowing with a good surface - really enjoyable. Big up to dirtman, hellwarp and the trail gnomes. To my mind still contains quite enough challenges, but if anyone would want more, just go faster (without use the rear brake!). In my opinion Bot Hills has a really interesting mix of trail conditions which present challenges to both myself (a middle aged weekend warrior going at a sedate pace) and a speed freak looking for an adrenalin rush. By the way, I think the extended green loop for one does offer opportunities to test one's technical prowess. If that is still too tame, I suppose it will have to be the black route at Conties, because even the Cobra (Hoogekraal) and the Bloemendaaler might then not be up to scratch.

Those loose downhill bits through the trees on Fish Eagle are getting to be quite the adrenaline-rush, but otherwise the trail is holding up remarkably, given the dry conditions we've had for some time now. Red ST through the pine forest also still in good condition. Has it been shortened after the first big hairpin - after that we seemed to exit rather suddenly onto the wider forestry road?

Rode Fish Eagle yesterday - what a spectacular addition to the ever-growing Bot Hills ST collection ! A big up to the landowner(s) for making the land in question available and to Dirtman, Hellwarp & co for the effort of constructing this gem of a ST. Track has been nicely compacted by the many wheels of the STBB funride, but worn away edges and soft spots here and there made for interesting riding at times. I have an idea that Fish Eagle is in for some heavy use because riding it will very quickly become an almost obligatory part of any excursion to Bot Hills.

Great stuff - it just gets better & better !!

We'll be doing this route on Saturday, starting at 07:30 from Caltex in Durbanville. You're welcome to join us

Did red & green routes yesterday. New blue ST short cut (off red) has settled down nicely. All trails in really good nick - appreciate the wooden bridges here & there to bypass mud patches, especially at the Hazendal entrance. Last bit of ST on green route very bumpy in the corners - most probably as a result of too much speed into the corner and then too much braking.

There is these days - at least 15 km I reckon

Did the new short cut ST on the red route yesterday. Excellent addition to the ever-growing ST collection at Bot Hills. Still a bit loose which made those tight uphill switchbacks even more challenging. Flat bit of jeep track at the top was MUDDY. Thanks to efforts of Dirtman, Hellwarp & co we now have access as permit holders to basically uninterrupted ST from the yellow turn-off up to the end of green at Hazendal! (7 sections in all, I reckon)

Ons ontmoet tans gewoonlik Saterdae om 07h15 by Caltex in Durbanville. Afstand 80 - 100 km. More (7 Mei) egter 07h00 by Engen (skuins oorkant Caltex). Afstand ~90 km

Bottelary Hills trail system itself is absolutely fine to ride alone as far as I am concerned. Getting there from Stellenbosch I would advise going west along Adam Tas in the direction of Polkadraai and joining the trails at Middelvlei or Overgaauw (or from the Devonvale road). Do not go north along Adam Tas and past Kayamandi - mugging hotspot!

Some hectic climbs and a sweet bit of ST ...

I entered my email address and clicked "Enter". A screen then appeared telling me that I had to login to facebook to continue, I didn't/don't want to login to facebook.

We ride mostly district roads north and east of Durbanville. Tomorrow we start in Wellington to do a 100km loop to Riebeek-Kasteel and back. Pm me if you want more details

Not really - only once a year can one participate in and be part of this great event and in the process enjoy full road closure, excellent waterpoints, cycle in the company of thousands of fellow cyclists, be supported by enthusiastic crowds having a day-long party, and receive a medal at the end. In the past I have gladly paid for that privilege and will continue to do so. The fact that most of the money collected goes to worthy causes makes it even more worthwhile.