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We raced the Western Cape Enduro race at Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch. Thanks to Western Cape Enduro for organizing the awesome race weekend and MTO Jonkershoek for letting us race in the beautiful valley. I hope you enjoy the race day edit!

Fellow trail users, It’s been quite sometime since our last trail update. Almost all trails in Jonkershoek were destroyed by the recent fires. At it’s finest hour (pre-fires) 25km of single track existed in Jonkershoek. Positively moving forward, we commenced trail building on August 17. Our goal is the creation of about 70-100km of varied single track as-well as usage of the excellent fire road network. As part of this comprehensive trail network there’s a very thorough directional and safety signage plan. Most importantly we also have a self sustaining financial plan meaning that we won’t have to knock on the same doors for funding each year. FINANCIAL HISTORY: Since 2011 we have collectively fundraised R 672,260.50 broken down as follows:2012 - R 165,1052013 - R 159,7752014 - R 219,4202015 - R 128,050.50Contribution breakdown:Individual contributions (2012 to 2015) - R 244,957 (or 36%)Fundraisers (2012 and 2013) - R 84,200 (or 13%)Pennypinchers Origin Of Trails (2013) - R 54,970 (or 8%)Specialized Bicycles (2012 to 2015) - R 278,133.50 (or 43%)All R 672,260.50 went directly towards trail building in Jonkershoek. Unfortunately most of that good work was destroyed in the recent fires. We are very appreciative to everybody who contributed. Thank you, your generosity means so much. These monies demonstrated the potential Jonkershoek represented; we now aim to better grasp that potential. FUTURE: Although fundraising and contributions have gotten Jonkershoek to where it is today (pre-fires) we have always known that in order to best position Jonkershoek as a truly world-class trail destination the generation of income needs to be self-sustainable. We cannot continue knocking on the same doors for monies, relying on donations and fundraisers. Since February we have been working with the CEO of MTO, Lawrence Polkinghorne on ways to make Jonkershoek self-sustainable and in doing so create the very best trail destination. MTO are aligned; they too want the very best trail destination. We have decided that the initiative will be led by MTO; a team is going to manage Jonkershoek’s trails in partnership with MTO. Essentially the gate entrance fee will be increased, effective September 1, with all surplus funds going towards trail building. Over and above we will sell a limited number of branding rights packages to interested individuals / companies at R 100,000 per package. Based upon pre-fire Jonkershoek attendance the gate surplus income will be sufficient to create an incredible trail network. The sale of branding rights will be a positive surplus. Moving forward Jonkershoek will be referred to as 'MTO Trails - Jonkershoek'. A Facebook Page has been created, where we will regularly provide updates (please visit - https://www.facebook.com/pages/MTO-Trails-Jonkershoek/1614831528781058).New Jonkershoek Gate Entrance Fees (effective September 1, 2015):Per entry - R 50Annual Individual - R 500Annual Family - R 700We would appreciate your support in embracing these new fees, which are inline with market related entrance fees. THE TEAM: To establish Jonkershoek as the go-to spot in South Africa and a place to be proud of on an international scale requires the very best and most experienced team of people, as is the case with any business. Herein the team:Management (each avid mountain bikers and / or trail runners):Lawrence Polkinghorne - Group CEO, MTO. Thanks to Lawrence and MTO we have been afforded these amazing opportunities in Jonkershoek.Bobby Behan - Managing Director, Specialized Bicycles Africa. One of the original group who started the trail building initiatives in 2011.Giniel De Villiers - Dakar Rally Champion. One of the original group who started the trail building initiatives in 2011.Gavin King - Owner of The Ride In Cafe in Jonkershoek, Gavin brings international experience following many years working on the global cycling circuit (road and mountain).Hanno Lategan - Maties Cycling Captain. One of the original group who started the trail building initiatives in 2011. Hanno has been instrumental alongside Corrie Muller and Bennet Nel in creating the Coetzenburg XCO Course.Advisory Team (each avid mountain bikers and / or trail runners):Christoph Sauser - Founder of Songo.info; multiple Cape Epic and World Champion, Olympic Medallist.Paul Morris - arguably the most core rider in Stellenbosch, Paul’s expertise will come into play on the more technical trails. Paul is also most probably the very first ‘unofficial' trail builder in Stellenbosch!!Corrie Muller - very passionate local rider and trail builder. The driving force behind the Coetzenburg XCO Course and Pennypinchers Origin Of Trails route.Michael Meyer - Managing Director, Stillwater Sports. Michael’s expertise will come to play especially in relation to events.Alexa Cunningham - Sponsorship and Events Manager, Stillwater Sports.Kathy Crabbe - General Manager, Songo.info. The trial network will have strong links to social development.Julia Skea - Attorney and trustee of Songo.info.Paul Haumann - Chartered Accountant and one of the original group who started the trail building initiatives in 2011.Over and above this group, we will reach out to local and international experts from our collective connections so we are always informed on best ways forward. Our Facebook Page will also provide us with a powerful communication platform where we can take-on board constructive feedback.If anybody would like to be involved please reach out via the Facebook Page or email me directly.Trail Builders: both are proven world-clas trail builders who also handle themselves on a bicycle:Bennet Nel - Bennet and his team of 6 people will be the main trail builders. Bennet built most of Jonkershoek’s trails to-date as-well as the Coetzenburg XCO Course. Hylton Turvey - Hylton is well known for the trails in Karkloof and has already been involved in Jonkershoek. Hylton's trail building style will add varietyUPDATE ON JONKERSHOEK: The idea with Jonkershoek is to create a multiple trail head approach, an approach adopted from learnings of leading international destinations. Each trail head will have a variety of trails stemming from them, which can be accessed by fire road and/or single track climb. For now we are referencing old trail names, but where necessary new trail names will be created as the various trails open. Felling will continue in Jonkershoek until December. Areas affected will be most trails originating from 'Bench’ and ‘Quarry’ Trail Heads. Trail building commenced on August 17 around 'The Neverending Story' Trail Head. There will be intensive work in order to have all trails originating from the ‘Neverending Story’ Trail Head completed by October / November. Upon completion trails originating from ‘Bench’ and ‘Quarry’ trail heads will be built. Although this represents an aggressive timeline, we hope that by early 2016 most of these trails will be open and complete. Lastly for now please ride / run / walk in the non-felling zones. We appreciate your support in this regard. Please feel free to distribute and to reach out at anytime. Thanks for all of your support, Bobby.

In this episode of Destination Trail, we follow Hannah Barnes and Miranda Miller as the pair ride the scorched wilderness of Stellenbosch, South Africa. A vast network of trails have existed here since the '90s, but after a massive fire scorched much of the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve in 2015, fresh funding has paved the way for even more singletrack. And today, this lemonade-out-of-lemons approach has rejuvenated existing trails and laid the groundwork for new ones, making the area a true destination for any mountain biker with a love for dusty red earth. Click here to view the article

Hannah Barnes lives the mountain biker's dream. She competes in events like the Enduro World Series but in between she travels the world taking on adventurous races and exploring trails, all in the name of fun. Hannah recently visited Stellenbosch to shoot to film the latest episode in the Destination Trail series at Jonkershoek. We sat down with Hannah to find out how she managed the great mountain bike swindle. Click here to view the article

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

Winter has delivered so many gorgeous days this year, but when it decides to rain... it POURS! Friday was one of those days & DH racing was not sounding like the best of ideas, the roads became rivers & the freshly burnt pine plantations had turned into a mush of mud & ash. A few riders braved the storm & got a few runs in, but my window weather report was not making photography a look like a good idea. The online reports were showing clear all day Saturday & Sunday, but on Friday that felt very far fetched, especially in a valley that has some of the highest recorded rainfall in the country. Click here to view the article

Fondly referred to as a mountain biker’s dream, the second annual Pennypinchers Origin Of Trails 2-Day Mountain Bike (MTB) Stage Race returns to Stellenbosch this coming weekend (Friday, 28 and Saturday, 29 November 2014). Click here to view the article

My wife and I are newbies in the sport of MTB. We want to ride Jonkers for the first time today. what are the different routes? is there a beginners one and are the routes marked clearly? anyone else going today?

Apologies for the poor quality

The trails in Jonkershoek are about to be closed down!!!!!!! This is a statement of fact!!!!! NO JOKE!!!!!! Background: When riding at Jonkershoek you pay at the gate for a day permit or you buy an annual permit. This permit gives you access to Jonkershoek and has NOTHING to do with the MTB trails. Not a single cent of this goes towards trail building and / or maintenance. NOT A SINGLE CENT!!!!! Cape Pine is not interested in the MTB trails and has no problem with shutting it down. The income derived from gate fees is accidental and does NOT form part of their business plan. After the sorry state of the trails following the fires a few years ago a Trail Maintenance Movement (TMM) was created by a few concerning cyclist. They pumped huge amounts of their own money into the project. Specialized also contributed thousands and put signboards up to mark the various trails. On these boards they printed a very low key Specialized logo. The movement is still strong and has a substantial slush fund available for trail maintenance. Issues: We as a group felt that there are people and businesses riding on the back of our effort without contributing a single cent towards the initiative. The coffee shop owner was given a few bicycles by a local cycle shop at the beginning of 2014. They proceeded to brand the coffee shop and entrance to Jonkershoek with huge Scott branding, in effect ambushing the effort put in by the TMM. Jonkerhoek now looks like Scott Park and you might be forgiven for thinking that Scott diversified from bicycles into the growth of coffee beans and supply of roasted coffee. Our request was simple: Please take down all branding or at the very least match the contribution of already branded contributors. The effort to set up meetings with the coffee shop owners was unsuccessful and Scott’s attitude is simply that they have a right to this, which they legally have but morally it stinks. Their branding and attitude towards TMM resulted in a shutdown of all maintenance. This is clear from the sorry state of some of the trails. WE ARE NOW PROCEEDING WITH THE PHYSICAL CLOSURE OF SOME OF THE TRAILS AS WE ARE NOT PREPARED TO FACE POSSIBLE LEGAL ACTION FOR INJURIES SUSTAINED BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF MAINTENANCE ON THE TRAILS. Our solution, We feel that if you don’t contribute towards the effort you have no moral right to put your branding all over the entrance – if you match branded contributors’ efforts then you can. We are not prepared to pay towards corporate SA’s marketing efforts. Specialized has agreed to make Jonkers a brand free zone – this is , and despite their huge contribution, our suggestion is to make this a brand free zone. This will ensure that the much needed maintenance will go ahead and that the trails will remain open for a long time to come. What you can do: Put pressure on the people involved to remove all branding and request the owner of the coffee shop to attend the TMM meetings.

Long shot I know! I think I left my orange Bell sweep helmet with my Garmin 310xt inside on the picnic bench outside the Jonkershoek Cafe. I have phoned both the Cafe and Gate with no success. If you were riding Jonkers on Saturday and may have seen the goods please let me know. Thanks in hope!! Adam

Well there are some nice maps available for Jonkershoek but none to my knowledge are live maps. We need your help to get the first live map for Jonkershoek at the gate. As a test we plan to map all the routes in Jonkershoek and make a big map that shows the different routes. The plan is to put this up at the gate for all to use and maybe some copies also. At this stage the map at the gate is not very clear and does not show many of the trails. We plan to make it live by placing QR code which links to the different routes for each . All you do is scan the code and import the kml file in to your phone using Google earth or My tracks etc. You can also import them to Strava or Endemondo if you wish but that will have to be done at home. I don't think Strava or Endemodo apps can import at this stage. This is a testing project and we will need your help to get more of the unexplored trails. If we get the local support we will do this for other areas also. If you would like to contribute just email(Support@extremelights.co.za) your activities. Here is how you can export them from Strava and Endemodo We would prefer if the format of your activity is gpx, .tcx or kml. We will remove any personal data from the activities so you don't have to worry about that.

I ride alot in Jonkershoek I anm abit saddened at the state of the trails. I know you can't build while it is dry but when the rain finally arrives we should go up there and do some maintenance especially on Canary and Double-Black diamond and magic carpet. I think it is to much to leave it all for Bennett. Here discuss build dates and planes.

Going down to the WC for some R&R next week and I'm allowed to take my bike! Really keen to go do some trails at Jonkershoek since I've been drooling over the horrible horrible photos you guys post each week... Anyone have GPS coordinates for the parking area close to the starting point? Don't want to waste time drive around looking for it. Secondly - is it safe / okay to ride alone @ Jonkers? Thanks!

When riding at Jonkershoek is it okay to ride clockwise around the lower circular route around the dam? I like to ride up to the waterfall area on the left hand side, then come down heartbreak hill. But to get more distance I then carry on around the dam loop jeep track in a clockwise direction. I was yelled at by a group last weekend that I was going the wrong way. I was not the only rider going in this direction, they shout at a few riders apparently.

The Enduro scene is growing nicely here in Cape Town (and in South Africa) and it's great to see so many new faces enjoying racing and having fun. Click here to view the article

My friends and I recently shot this video in Jonkershoek on the new enduro / double black diamond trail with the goal to enter it into the World of Heroes / Trickery competition. If you enjoy the video, please visit this link. Simply click on “vote”, click “OK” and then on the “Like” button. It will be greatly appreciated! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJXLD52rLT4

Hi, Has anybody started in Jonkershoek and rode over the mountains at the back to Fraanshoek? I am quite keen to do it and sleep in the mountains while at it.... Some advice and ideas would be appreciated! Thanks

Hi Hubbers, So I moved to Skelmbos recently and would like to know about nightrides in Jonkershoek: are they allowed ? If so, are there certain times at which it is permitted? Any groups that do night rides into Jonkers?

Hi Hubbers, With the new trails being finished in Jonkershoek for the season, it's time to update iRide Africa's trail map of the area. I'm having issues with naming the trails though and am interested to see what I could get input from the locals. PLEASE-I don't want made up names or suggested names or names that you would like to call the trails. I am after the official trail names as named by the trail builders if possible. Using Strava segment names is the easiest way to get names of trails but they are often made up by the user and sometimes not fair on the original builders of the trail. What I (think) are correct on my map are the following; Lower, middle and upper canary Boletus Elliotti (masons/never ending story) Radiata (finally back! tiding section!) Patula Fire hut trail 1, 2, & 3 Trails that I don't know the names for; The 3 new canaries above upper? The new dbl black diamond run The flow section that runs from the new dbl black diamond (I have heard it called flow trail) Trail 8 (runs towards gate from dam wall) Trail 7 Specialized Epic 2 section above never ending story Please give me some input-I guess the best is to speak to Meurant and Bennett, but am interested in the response.

If you can describe them, u can have them back. Found on middle canary at Jonkershoek today. If no claimers, i'll happily give them a forever home, they are rather nice.

im over from england for 5 months and will be in stellenbosch tomorrow to get my bike fixed. i want to rider in jonkershoek but im aware going 'blind' i could miss out on things as i dont think there are specifically marked trails there? i have searched online and also this forum but havent found any routes i could download. obviously the best thing would be to ride with someone but i realise most people have to work can anyone help with a route file?

I'm hitting Jonkershoek this Saturday morning. Depart the gate at 8am. The plan is to hit the fun bits, so probably the firehut trail (maybe even twice), then the old DH and flowtrail, and also the last part of the current DH track. Anyone interested in joining me? Pace will be slowish on the ups, and not terribly fast on the downs either Hoping for 2-3 hours total riding.

The Jonkershoek MTB Trail upgrade fundraising evening recently held in Stellenbosch was well supported by community members, mountain bikers and lovers of sport alike. Click here to view the article

I'm heading to Jonkershoek for some enduro "training" tomorrow, ie pedal slowly up the hills and try use as little brakes as possible going back down Anyone keen to join me? Meet at the gate at 8am. Ride for 2-3 hours. Coffee at Ride-In afterwards.