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ewaldsadie

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Everything posted by ewaldsadie

  1. Timing it perfectly between the year's first proper grey and rainy winters days, the Trail Daze crew headed out towards Hoogekraal, just a few minutes drive outside Durbanville, to experience some tacky trails, green grass and a herd of curious cattle. Click here to view the article
  2. Our third and final outing in our search for the North West province's finest trails took us to the lesser known Pofadder trail at Van Gaalen's. With no markings or signage in sight, it's a great idea to have a local show you around this rough and rocky part of town - and to experience all the off-piste goodness it has to offer - it's an even better idea to bring a proper long-travel trail bike along for the ride. Click here to view the article
  3. We head out to KZN and the greater Drakensberg area, to bring you an alternative take on ascending 1400 vertical metres, a world of off-piste trails and riding that will test the average man and his machine to their limits. Click here to view the article
  4. Back on home soil after exploring some fine trails up North. We headed out to a destination that needs no real introduction. Known simply as Welvanpas, the trail network merely originates on the farm, but actually spans across six farms in the greater Bainskloof area. Click here to view the article
  5. Following our previous installment of Trail Daze, where we traveled North West in search of greener pastures, we bring you another sensory overload of lush green, endless singletrack that will make you want to pedal until your legs fall off. Simply referred to as the River Trail, it follows along the Magaliesriver. You will be forgiven to think this gem lies somewhere in New Zealand, and not 45 minutes drive from Johannesburg. Click here to view the article
  6. With very little greenery, and blown-out dusty trails the only options around the Western Cape lately, we headed to the North West province in search of some greener pastures - and boy did we find some gems. Click here to view the article
  7. Not the one in Vietnam though - the one at Muratie, just outside Stellenbosch. Click here to view the article
  8. With daily access to incredible media and stories portraying the world's best riders in the world's best locations, we often forget what adventures might be waiting for us just around the corner. It's all too easy to sit in front of your screen, soaking up someone else's experience and wishing you lived near better trails, with bigger mountains and better weather. Hopefully this photo series will inspire you to step outside, get on your bike and explore more.Trail Daze | January Click here to view the article
  9. Following our previous episode featuring trails requiring longer travel mountain bikes, we headed off to Cascade Country Manor just outside Paarl, to see if the rumours were true. Click here to view the article
  10. In an attempt to push trail riding to the next level and introduce riders to properly tough and technical trails, Daniel Dobinson and his team put together an Enduro event not yet seen in South Africa. Click here to view the article
  11. Early in 2015, the greater Cape Town area lost a few of its flagship trails due to wild fires. One of which was Jonkershoek - a piece of land with immense scenic beauty, and loads of trails for both hikers and mountain bikers. Months of downtime allowed for logging and getting the trails safe again, which meant zero access to the public. During that time though, two very talented individuals, Bennet Nel and Hylton Turvey, put their heads together and resurrected the playground that we've all been missing so much. Aptly naming one of the trails, the Red Phoenix. Click here to view the article
  12. The first edition of the Western Province Gravity Enduro Championships took place this past Sunday at the scenic Contermanskloof MTB Trails. With the trails still surrounded by green fields and colorful fynbos, the high speed, rough and technical terrain was a welcome change from the previous races. The field of 96 riders faced 4 stages - the 3 usual suspects and a mystery 1.4km long stage on Hillcrest thrown in for good measure. All the elements for a great race were in place - a well marked course, good weather, plenty of riders and of course, free beer afterwards. Click here to view the article
  13. 11-year-old, Dutch born, South African based, champion in the making, Ike Klaassen just came back from his 2015 Eurotrip where he became the under 13 Downhill Champion. We caught up with Ike to find out a bit more about this young pinner as he took us around his very own personal DH track, on their farm just outside Stellenbosch. Click here to view the article
  14. The annual Rocky Mountain Rocky Forest Fest took place this past weekend at the Garden Route Trial Park, just outside Knysna. With a variety of not-so-serious events taking place during the course of the weekend, with the idea of getting riders a chance to test out some Rocky Mountain bikes, the main feature was the first ever timed Garden Route Trail Park Enduro. Click here to view the article
  15. Guarded by the majestic Outeniqua mountain range and the Karatara river gorge, the Garden Route trail park is located about 5 hours of scenic driving from Cape Town, or just 40km from the ever popular town of Knysna. Owner and trail builder, Rob Dormehl, has put together a high quality MTB destination that should be on any avid mountain biker's bucket list. Click here to view the article
  16. About an hour and a half's drive north from Cape Town, lies the small, rural town of Piketberg. Used by most people only as a fuel stop, or quickly skipped on the way to other things further up the West coast, it's not well known to many mountain bikers as a prime riding spot. Click here to view the article
  17. A new addition to the 2015 SRAM WP Gravity Enduro venue lineup saw riders head out to the Lebanon MTB Trails in the greater Grabouw area. Click here to view the article
  18. Once a year, for a few months, Contermanskloof transforms into a winter wonderland with a seemingly unending expanse of rolling grass fields and ribbons of trails running through them. Click here to view the article
  19. The 2015 XCO SA Championship went down this past weekend at the ever popular town of Stellenbosch, with loads of spectators flocking there to show their support despite the bitterly cold morning temperatures. The 4.8km Coetzenburg loop was mostly the same as for the WP Championship, however course designers Hanno Lategan and Corrie Muller added in a number of A-line / B-line options to step up the difficulty as this was a National event. Some A-line options featured very technical rock drops, a steep log chute onto the start / finish area and a super tricky rock garden which caught out a number of riders. Because of heavy torrential downpours the Friday afternoon and evening, the race director kept all A-lines closed until 12pm, leaving just enough time for the mud to dry out a bit and reduce the chances of injury. Click here to view the article
  20. A long awaited and welcome return for the SRAM WP Gravity Enduro series, saw round one take place at the popular Helderberg Trails, just outside Somerset West. With some good rain a few days prior, and a fair amount of sunshine in between, the soil was perfectly tacky and conditions were great all round for racing. A very crisp and cloudless morning meant riders wrapped up with long sleeves and other warm gear, but the long and steep 5.5km climb up liaison 1 quickly heated things up. Click here to view the article
  21. While visiting the Cederberg mountains in 2014, I quickly realized this uniquely beautiful and surreal vast landscape would lure me back to try and capture its magical atmosphere through photography. The emphasis being on try, as the sheer size and unlimited features of this area would make that impossible. It was this same atmosphere, and the idea of simple, uncontested riding and exploring with a couple of friends, without time limits, that inspired the whole Trail Daze project to begin with. Click here to view the article
  22. It depends on what time of day you drive out there, but yes it is usually less than an hour.
  23. You're right that isn't Theewaterskloof. It was a late night when I wrote these words!
  24. Named after the German town Grabow, the small town of Grabouw sits about 1.5 hours drive away from Cape Town, in the vast Elgin Valley. Known for being the largest single exporter or fruits in Southern Africa, it has also hosted numerous mountain biking, trail running and other adventure sporting events over the years. As a results of this, the trail network seems to be never-ending and the backdrop never ceases to amaze. Click here to view the article
  25. The first Dirtopia Enduro for 2015 took place in the hills around the picturesque town of Wellington, about 1 hour drive from Cape Town. Welvanpas is nothing short of mountain biking motherland and with Jonkershoek suffering severe damage in the devastating fires it now stands head and shoulders above all other Western Cape trails for pure Enduro type riding. Click here to view the article
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