Bottelary Hills MTB Trails

[Hellwarp]

As of tomorrow 01 Feb 2014 day permits will be available from hotel reception at ASARA Wine Estate. The reception is open 24/7 so permits are available early morning. Enter at the main security gate off the R310 Rd between Stellenbosch and Kuilsriver. Parking available at the "P2" parking lot, furthest point from the entrance.

[Hellwarp]

Follow the main gravel road from Asara as indicated in the image for 2km up the hill to link up with the red/purple and yellow loops.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Hellwarp

[leona]

Rode red,yellow and green routes today. Fair few signs missing or obscured. Would have gone wrong more than I did without my garmin..

[Cassie]

Rode red,yellow and green routes today. Fair few signs missing or obscured. Would have gone wrong more than I did without my garmin..

 

The obscuring of signs this time of year is always a problem (overgrown by vines)..especially if one uses the vineyard poles...we have a similar problem with the Wannabee trails in vineyards...

[mountain_lion]

Rode red,yellow and green routes today. Fair few signs missing or obscured. Would have gone wrong more than I did without my garmin..

 

Yes, various signs are missing on the trails.

On the link from Middelvlei several were lost due to farming activities, most notably at the hairpin bend (-33.935227, 18.823815) before descending to the Devonvalley road, but there are others missing too on this link. It should be safe to replace most of these now.

 

On short purple, the sign for the left turn onto the contour (-33.918025, 18.776335) has fallen over. I have propped it up against a bush a few times, but it only takes a bit of wind to blow it over again; it needs to be replanted.

 

There are some bad erosion ruts where short purple joins red (-33.910994, 18.784859).

The ruts can be jumped if your line is right, but then you almost certainly over shoot the turn into the "new" single track on red..

Apparently the motor cycles & quads are not using the track through the ditch (-33.911248, 18.783818) any more; it is over grown. This could be opened up with minimum effort and create a safer and more convenient junction with the red route. I also believe it will be less prone to erosion than the current route straight down; worth a try in any case.

 

As always a big thank you to Hellwarp & Dirtman + their teams for all the hard work, e.g. the new bridge over the dam overflow on yellow. It did take away some of the fun, but improved the flow of the trail and will require less maintenance.

[emme]

This seems to be a human nature problem. If someone is a prick, he will be one on and off the bike.

 

Unless the cyclist community makes a united stand against this scourge, we might lose the priviledge of riding the farms all together.

 

Something has to be done.

 

Action needs to be taken against these riders.Initiatives being discussed will entail blacklisting these riders,preventing them from entering events such as the Argus MTB and Tour,Wines2Whales,PPA events,Die Burger etc.In my opinion that will go a long way in discouraging these riders...The logistics around this still needs to be finalized but it is definately a step in the right direction!

[Bosveldklong]

What is the idea with quads and off raod bikes on the trails? Are they allowed?

They ride like assholes and don't care *#@" for mtb riders.

In the past few weeks I had too get of the bike and jump out of the way for them.

Talk about erosion! You should see them tearing up the trails.

Best is they don't have permits either!!

Want too see a marshall catch them....

No joking but watch how someone is going to get seriously injured shortly.

[vaalkol]

What is the idea with quads and off raod bikes on the trails? Are they allowed?

They ride like assholes and don't care *#@" for mtb riders.

In the past few weeks I had too get of the bike and jump out of the way for them.

Talk about erosion! You should see them tearing up the trails.

Best is they don't have permits either!!

Want too see a marshall catch them....

No joking but watch how someone is going to get seriously injured shortly.

Also came across 4 guys on dirtbikes a while ago - riding in the wrong direction on the green route near the conference centre. They were gunning it and I had to take quick evasive action to avoid being ridden over.

 

What's the deal with dirtbikes? Even if allowed on the farms, they should surely not be allowed to rip up the MTB trails and be a hazard to paying mtb'ers.

[dirtman]

What is the idea with quads and off raod bikes on the trails? Are they allowed?

They ride like assholes and don't care *#@" for mtb riders.

In the past few weeks I had too get of the bike and jump out of the way for them.

Talk about erosion! You should see them tearing up the trails.

Best is they don't have permits either!!

Want too see a marshall catch them....

No joking but watch how someone is going to get seriously injured shortly.

 

One of the farms on the red route (where one does the first big climb coming from Radish) does dirt-biking on their property (the owner and his family do dirt-biking). There is no alternative route we can follow to bypass this farm. We will take the matter up with the owner and see if it is possible to keep the dirt-bikes off certain sections of the farm roads.

Other than this section, motorbikes should not be on any other section of the trails, other than the bikes and quads used by farmers as part of their daily activities.

If you have encountered dirt-bikes on any other section of the route, please PM details to me.

[dirtman]

Rode red,yellow and green routes today. Fair few signs missing or obscured. Would have gone wrong more than I did without my garmin..

 

 

Replaced 4 signs on green/red this morning. Riding yellow this weekend and will repair/replace signs where necessary. All signs on orange were in place this morning. Will sort MIddelvlei link out after all the grapes have been picked.

[Mr X]

Action needs to be taken against these riders.Initiatives being discussed will entail blacklisting these riders,preventing them from entering events such as the Argus MTB and Tour,Wines2Whales,PPA events,Die Burger etc.In my opinion that will go a long way in discouraging these riders...The logistics around this still needs to be finalized but it is definately a step in the right direction!

 

Sounds good, but how are these riders going to be identified out on the trail?

[dirtman]

@ Mountain lion

 

Please note that we have closed down the short purple route some time ago - you will see that the big arrow directing you to short purple has been removed.

 

We are working on a new route for short purple that will include some fun single track as well - just need the required permission from the landowners and then enough rain.

[mountain_lion]

@ Mountain lion

 

Please note that we have closed down the short purple route some time ago - you will see that the big arrow directing you to short purple has been removed.

 

We are working on a new route for short purple that will include some fun single track as well - just need the required permission from the landowners and then enough rain.

 

Thanks Dirtman; there certainly is lots of potential for an alternative to short purple with some single track.

Looking forward to this!

I guess you already have a route in mind, but let me know if you need help with scouting and/or setting out.

 

I never noticed that short purple was closed; most of the signs are still there and excluding the ruts at the junction with red, the route is in good condition.

If you only have limited time available for a ride from Middelvlei but want to do more than only yellow, short purple is the best option available at present.

[Neill Du Toit]

I have noticed over the the last few weeks a huge increase in riders without permits. Hazendal and zevenwacht entry points seems very popular with these idiots. Please buy a permit or stay away before we (legal riders) loose the right to enjoy our favourite trails. O yes, Thanks again to the land owners and trail builders. Much appreciated

[BIERSTEKER]

I have noticed over the the last few weeks a huge increase in riders without permits. Hazendal and zevenwacht entry points seems very popular with these idiots. Please buy a permit or stay away before we (legal riders) loose the right to enjoy our favourite trails. O yes, Thanks again to the land owners and trail builders. Much appreciated

 

I share your sentiments!!

I have also noticed an increase of riders over public holidays.

At the end of the day we (legal paying law abiding riders) will bear the brunt of the non paying invaders.

 

It may be a good idea to sell permits on weekends at the entry points....? Don't know what the logistical implication will involve.

 

And yes, like Neil said: A BIG thank you to the farm owners in the area allowing us to share your passion for cycling and providing us city dwellers with a retreat to enjoy over weekends on two wheels away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

 

edit: Grammer

Edited April 21, 2014 by BIERSTEKER

[kandui]

At PPA, we are starting discussions around implementing a One Permit system. You buy one annual permit (online) for a selection of trails. One board which doesn't change and is updated by purchasing the annual license sticker at selected bike shops, PPA office and other outlets.

With a One Permit system , the back end will be managed by PPA (this was the initial suggestion put forward by Johan Kriegler) and funds collected will be distributed amongst all the members using a weighting system. One outcome of the system would be that the more popular trails subsidise the smaller networks to a point and thereby the smaller trail networks have access to the funds to make their trails better, bigger, etc.

 

By being able to buy the permits online,at bike shops and at the trails itself, we hope to eliminate the excuses put forward by rogue riders.

 

We want to start a pilot project and see how it goes.

Let us know whether Bottelary is interested. ride@tablemountainbikers.co.za