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Best Mountain biking Town in SA?


neildp

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Pietermaritzburg...World Cup xc course at Cascades; I guess that should give PMB a heads up on most destinations, just up the hill,15 minutes from PMB is the Hilton Forest where the Cowan House Classic and Subaru MTB Classic take place...two 45 km races in the same area but different routes. and there are km's and km's of flowing single track. We ride there every Wednesday. You can ride for two hours and spend 90% on single track, and then come back the next day and do another 2 hours. Howick is a 10 minute drive from Hilton...more sublime mountain biking, so many trails you can get lost for hours. Take the road to Karkloof, 10 minutes away and again you have another mountain biking paradise. We rode there last weekend and the single track, the views and the climbs were amazing. I haven't mentioned World's view, start of the Hill2Hill.

 

If you are looking for pure mountain biking, Maritzburg is very hard to beat. Perhaps you should come for a weekend, it's not on my website yet but have been persuaded to set up some weekend tours - Midlands Meander for the non riders, and an insane amount of riding opportunities for the riders.

Edited by Imtb
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Totally agree. my inlaws live in Oak Pakr, 5 minutes from Cascades and like Imtb says, the options are endless.

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Can you host an Epic there no cause you`ll ride into a fence and die.

Edited by Berg Bok
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you right, we dont have the Epic, but we have the World Cup and World Champ next year... but it boils to everyone opinion :-)

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Pietermaritzburg...World Cup xc course at Cascades; I guess that should give PMB a heads up on most destinations, just up the hill,15 minutes from PMB is the Hilton Forest where the Cowan House Classic and Subaru MTB Classic take place...two 45 km races in the same area but different routes. and there are km's and km's of flowing single track. We ride there every Wednesday. You can ride for two hours and spend 90% on single track, and then come back the next day and do another 2 hours. Howick is a 10 minute drive from Hilton...more sublime mountain biking, so many trails you can get lost for hours. Take the road to Karkloof, 10 minutes away and again you have another mountain biking paradise. We rode there last weekend and the single track, the views and the climbs were amazing. I haven't mentioned World's view, start of the Hill2Hill.

 

If you are looking for pure mountain biking, Maritzburg is very hard to beat. Perhaps you should come for a weekend, it's not on my website yet but have been persuaded to set up some weekend tours - Midlands Meander for the non riders, and an insane amount of riding opportunities for the riders.

 

How is that for riding by yourself? Is it somewhere I can just rock up too, ride a trail that I can follow for about 3hours and get back to my car without getting too lost.

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With out a doubt jhb.Central to the best rides in the country.magoebas,the berg.swazi,mankele,the monster,sabie,etc,etc,etc

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How is that for riding by yourself? Is it somewhere I can just rock up too, ride a trail that I can follow for about 3hours and get back to my car without getting too lost.

 

yes and no - you have to know some main landmarks. That said, there is a main harvest road that dissects the forests - you keep a note of where that is and you should be fine

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Anywhere outside the Western Cape fails in terms of safety. :w00t:

slightly misguided quote alert :)

Edited by Stretch
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Must admit i have not yet endured pmb but heard only good things

 

It is a slice of heaven from the MTBing pie :drool: Come ride the Karkloof Classic and you wil be loving life.

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How big an area of travel are you allowed? I would say Stellenbosch for the amount of riding that is possible in a small area, I felt pretty safe riding by myself as a tourist. But then again Durban would also include a fair amount of riding spots within a 30km radius, and no hijackings of any kind that I have heard of in a loooooong time(touch wood) and loads of single track.

 

Actually I would go with grabouw, Stellies is cool with jonkers, and Gspot etc. but grabouw has

Oakvalley, Thandi, oude molen, pual cluver (when they open for the public) lebanon, and Hard to beat that kind of riding anywheres in SA :)

But that said i love going to harkerville/homtini in knysna, just the natural beauty of those forests alone makes the 500km trip worth while.

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I guess everyone thinks where they live has the best trails. I like to think I am very lucky living on a farm 3 km away from the Eselfontein MTB track in CERES. I also could be a bit bias as I do help Deon Malherbe to maintain and create new trails, check out this years race as Deon wants to create some new bits.

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