Bottelary Hills MTB Trails

[Tankman]

Shot Homer!

 

So I just go straight, right?

[mountain_lion]

Shot Homer!

 

So I just go straight, right?

 

No, you go straight left!

[Christopher Brunsdon]

If you're an annual permit holder you can ride from sunrise to sunset so a late afternoon ride is no problem. Middelvlei is very close to Stellenbosch.

Day permit holders are restricted a bit by the opening/closing times of the starting point permit sales. But if you bought a day permit in advance then you can also start early morning or late afternoon.

 

And that is the deal clincher for me. I'm too far away to get the full value of the year permit at the moment, but the knowledge that I can conveniently buy a day pass or three instead in advance makes it so much better.

[TYGA]

That aerial photograph makes me miss the carefree days of riding Papegaaiberg without needing a stab proof vest. You PPGberg locals still riding there at all? I gave it up after the last time the crowd from the wrong side of the mountain tried to take my bike by force.

[HomerSimpson]

I occasionally still ride there. The adrenalin rush you get when going onto the "wrong" side of the hill adds a few km/h to the average speed! Since the fires erosion has really started ruining even the jeep tracks in places, but I am actually planning on resurrecting the orginal ST that was on the section of the mountain just above the edge of the suburb (eastern side of the hill). This area was completely covered with fallen trees and dead wood after the orginal fires, which obliterated the tracks that were there some years ago. After the latest round of fires all the deadwood and fallen trees, as well as some of the remaining live trees were basically reduced to ash and cinders, and when I walked there a couple of weeks ago I found the remnants of about 60 - 70 % of the old ST still there. Should not take more than a couple of days with a spade to rebuild a large portion of the track. I'll wait for the first decent rains, though.

[Fabio]

Im officially the first year permit holder from cyclosport. What is the chances of having a entrance from Zevenwacht?

[Hellwarp]

Im officially the first year permit holder from cyclosport. What is the chances of having a entrance from Zevenwacht?

 

We working on it, something in the pipeline for the near future.

[Hellwarp]

BRING ENOUGH WATER GUYS ITS GOING TO BE WARM TOMORROW !!

 

IF YOU HAVE A CAMELBAK, BRING IT.

Edited April 8, 2011 by Hellwarp

[Myra]

I occasionally still ride there. The adrenalin rush you get when going onto the "wrong" side of the hill adds a few km/h to the average speed! Since the fires erosion has really started ruining even the jeep tracks in places, but I am actually planning on resurrecting the orginal ST that was on the section of the mountain just above the edge of the suburb (eastern side of the hill). This area was completely covered with fallen trees and dead wood after the orginal fires, which obliterated the tracks that were there some years ago. After the latest round of fires all the deadwood and fallen trees, as well as some of the remaining live trees were basically reduced to ash and cinders, and when I walked there a couple of weeks ago I found the remnants of about 60 - 70 % of the old ST still there. Should not take more than a couple of days with a spade to rebuild a large portion of the track. I'll wait for the first decent rains, though.

 

That would be awesome - Papegaaiberg was what got me into mountainbiking. Let me know if you need help when you start doing this - I'll help where I can.

 

Hellwarp - apologise for the mini-hijack.

[Wannabe]

Ok, joined the guys this morning. Really nice riding, beautifull views. Did the Red route, but think I cut a few corners somewhere. Ended up with just over 30km.

 

Think this will become a very popular trail very quickly.

 

BIG UP TO ALL INVOLVED. WELL DONE GUYS, YOU CAN PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK. JOB WELL DONE.

[raptor]

Going to check it out tomorrow, got my day permit

[Miss MTB]

A HUGE THANKS to Hellwarp, without who i don't think we would have these trails! An enormous amount of effort has gone into making sure everything ran smoothly on Day 1. And it has...

 

Got my bike board and going to check it out this afternoon! Good job!!

[Hellwarp]

A HUGE THANKS to Hellwarp, without who i don't think we would have these trails! An enormous amount of effort has gone into making sure everything ran smoothly on Day 1. And it has...

 

Got my bike board and going to check it out this afternoon! Good job!!

 

Well I wouldn't say "smoothly" I'd say it ran ok. A few people took a wrong turn here and there, either couldn't see the route markers or they didn't make sense. We'll take the blame for that, we marked it as we thought best but until you get people who have never ridden the trails before you won't know whether you've got it right. We've already identified 2 or 3 places where we need to mark the route more clearly.

Another issue was the "Yellow markers", in the early morning light they were difficult to make out.

We'll sort out the route markers issue asap so that newcomers to the route don't get lost.

 

Thanks to everyone, especially the group form Tygerberg (+/- 120 riders) for supporting our trail on the first day. Any feedback be it good or bad would be appreciated.

[Karakoram]

We joined the Red Route guided tour at 9am today. It was a fantastic ride, and an absolute privilege to be able to do so. The scenery is breathtaking and depending on which way you're going, there are enough inclines to keep either your granny or callipers really hot.

 

Our group accidently became separated from the main bunch as a result of waiting for a rider feeling unwell and puncture repairs. We somehow missed a direction arrow and were about to do the yellow loop for the second time when Hubber “Mountain Lion” came to our aid and pointed us in the right direction. At this stage we were running out of water (some out energy) and we were about to use the phone's GPS to find our way back to the car park. Thanks a stack again to "Mountain Lion". We kinda interrupted your planned ride for the day. Sorry

 

Yes, we will ride the Bottelary Hills MTB Trails again and the route gets ‘4 stars’ from our group.

Some additional directional arrows or colour markers will fetch a 5 star rating. Well done to all involved.

[Nobody]

Great training route.

Some points of concern: We were chased by farm dogs twice but were lucky to have energy in the tank to ride away. Some others may not be so lucky.

What will happen when the farms start operations and tractors are all over the place? Fast trails and I bet the tractor/truck drivers wont be very alert.

Bail out routes? Access for a vehicle to go fetch injured riders?

 

Fantastic views and I am sure some ironing out needs to be done, hope this helps with a few considerations.

[Hellwarp]

Great training route.

Some points of concern: We were chased by farm dogs twice but were lucky to have energy in the tank to ride away. Some others may not be so lucky.

What will happen when the farms start operations and tractors are all over the place? Fast trails and I bet the tractor/truck drivers wont be very alert.

Bail out routes? Access for a vehicle to go fetch injured riders?

 

Fantastic views and I am sure some ironing out needs to be done, hope this helps with a few considerations.

 

The guys that got chased by dogs are some guys that got confused with the markers or didn't/couldn't see them. They ended up going past someones house. When the routes were layed out we kept as far away from houses as possible, to eliminate dog or shotgun encounters.

 

As far as the route marking is concerned, after today we are aware of 4 places(there may be more) where the route marking could be made more obvious. Thats 4 too many.

Having riders stick to the marked route is priority number 1 for us as we don't want to give landowners reason to complain. So we will attend to problem spots on the route as soon as we can get the required signage.

 

Most of the farming activities take place during the week when there aren't that many riders on the trails. Vehicle movement over week-ends is minimal. However riders need to be aware that these are working farms and be on the lookout for vehicle movement. Vehicles have right of way, thats the best we can do as far as thats concerned.

 

In the case of an emergency you take the quickest route to the nearest visible "farmyard" the farmer will be more than willing to assist you if you require medical attention. (ie call the ambulance etc) If you are unable to cycle get your partner to seek help at the nearest farmyard. Thats why we advise people to preferably ride with someone and at the very least to carry a cellphone. Put the numbers of the "starting points" on your phone so that you can contact them if you cant get assistance from a fellow rider. They will inform the Conservancy in the case of a serious incident.

 

Thanks for the feedback, its the only way we can identify where we need to make changes.

Edited April 9, 2011 by Hellwarp