Big Red Barn

[Bosman]

We ended up doing a mostly the 20km with various sections of the 42km thrown in for fun. Ended up at 30km in total having a ton of fun.

The 42km is definitely a big step up from the rest of the trail. Good challenging adventure. Loved it.

Nice! Going to give it a go tomorrow.

[DR ◣◢]

Looking forward to hearing how it went.

[Bosman]

What a lekker ride! Followed all the number 1 signage but ended up only doing 32km must have missed a few trail splits which makes up the remaining 10km... Must say, those twisty rocky sections were a good challenge to develop some much need bike control but I think that Rosies Rock & Roll Rollercoaster section is one of new favourites!

[krepunk]

What a lekker ride! Followed all the number 1 signage but ended up only doing 32km must have missed a few trail splits which makes up the remaining 10km... Must say, those twisty rocky sections were a good challenge to develop some much need bike control but I think that Rosies Rock & Roll Rollercoaster section is one of new favourites!

 

I did a similar thing a few weeks ago - tried to follow all signage but missed a good chunk. Need to get back soon to try find the missing sections

 

PS. Nice avatar

[DR ◣◢]

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

We did a quick 25 this morning by doing the normal number two and splitting off onto 1 just after BRB (section with all the jumps, a bridge, and tons of berms).

 

Nice easy ride with a lot of fun elements.

 

There are a couple of sneaky splits for number 1. Will take on the full 42 soon and see if I can get the full distance done.

[Bosman]

I did a similar thing a few weeks ago - tried to follow all signage but missed a good chunk. Need to get back soon to try find the missing sections

 

PS. Nice avatar

Thanks! Nice username Perhaps a play on the Green Day album Kerplunk?

[ByronH]

Hello all!

 

Never done BRB, and want to ride it tomorrow. Want to do a long a ride as possible... is the 42km open at the moment? and which numbers must I ride to do 42km? or the longest ride possible?

[BrentCGP]

Hello all!

 

Never done BRB, and want to ride it tomorrow. Want to do a long a ride as possible... is the 42km open at the moment? and which numbers must I ride to do 42km? or the longest ride possible?

 

Did Route 1 yesterday which is the 42km and bailed out around 30km just because the family was there for breakfast. Some decent technical sections especially beginning of route 1. Be prepared for a very long day in the saddle if you do the 42, Its not a nice fast gravel route. Its not a place you blaze through at 20km/h (I am sure guys do but they must be chasing Strava Top 10s)

Try  route 1 and interchange between 2 and 3 is often what I do. Nice thing about BRB is if you gatvol you can just hop on a route back to the Red Barn. 

[Steady Spin]

Hello all!

 

Never done BRB, and want to ride it tomorrow. Want to do a long a ride as possible... is the 42km open at the moment? and which numbers must I ride to do 42km? or the longest ride possible?

 

Just follow every possible "1" board you see on your route. Word of warning though, the black diamond sections can get a little hairy at times but can all be skipped. Everything else is just fine and there are various ways to bail out back to the barn if you need to. 

 

You can knock out the 42km in about 2:30 if you know the routes. 3:00 if it's your first time and you have the legs. No real need for lungs, not a lot of climbing. 

 

The last 10km is a breeze too. Get a good spin on and enjoy the flow through mostly forest bits.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Steady Spin

[ByronH]

Just follow every possible "1" board you see on your route. Word of warning though, the black diamond sections can get a little hairy at times but can all be skipped. Everything else is just fine and there are various ways to bail out back to the barn if you need to. 

 

You can knock out the 42km in about 2:30 if you know the routes. 3:00 if it's your first time and you have the legs. No real need for lungs, not a lot of climbing. 

 

The last 10km is a breeze too. Get a good spin on and enjoy the flow through mostly forest bits.

Awesome thanks guys... very helpful!

 

Looking forward to something different... sure I'll have fun...

[mrcg]

If you're feeling adventurous, you can cross over the road (opposite entrance is another big field of play waiting) and add on quite a few more kilometers. Good training. If you reasonably fit and skilled, you wont have a problem. Haven't been there for a while, so not too sure of the state of track and water levels, but should be ok.

[Steady Spin]

If you're feeling adventurous, you can cross over the road (opposite entrance is another big field of play waiting) and add on quite a few more kilometers. Good training. If you reasonably fit and skilled, you wont have a problem. Haven't been there for a while, so not too sure of the state of track and water levels, but should be ok.

Do tell. More trails?

[Steady Spin]

Trails are quite wet at the moment with some section being just too muddy to ride. 

Everything seems to be in good condition with regular maintenance done. 

A new (old) section was recently opened on the number 3 trail with some fun flowing berms extending that piece of trail with a couple of meters. 

Jumps lines are fairly wet so you can't comfortably do the full line. 

Wishlist:

1: More wooden features. Especially over the mad muddy sections like the Poplar forest. A nice long wooden bridge will be superb. 

2: Some more challenging drops and hops here and there won't hurt. Chicken runs around them are easy to add. 

[stephenplumb]

I have been there the last 2 weekends and have got quite lost as there are graders digging up the trails and then there is no signage indicting where you should go. I ended up riding the wrong way up a different trail, then had to jump across country onto a completely different trail. 
In general the trails are well marked, but they need to send a crew out on a Friday pm and look at all the trails and see if they have marked where they are digging properly. 
I also find the trails often in very poor condition and there is a lot of vegetation that needs trimming. 
The generally poor state would be acceptable in a free trail, but given that this is a pay to enter trail, they need to actually spend some cash paying crews for maintenance. My other usual haunt is wolverspruit and I would say the same applies. 
Giba in KZN deals with much more rapid vegetation growth and has permanent crews that clear and maintain the trails all the time and they have much more rain to deal with as well.
I think the guys up here need to do a lot more maintenance in general on paid trails. 

[Steady Spin]

3 hours ago, stephenplumb said:

I have been there the last 2 weekends and have got quite lost as there are graders digging up the trails and then there is no signage indicting where you should go. I ended up riding the wrong way up a different trail, then had to jump across country onto a completely different trail. 
In general the trails are well marked, but they need to send a crew out on a Friday pm and look at all the trails and see if they have marked where they are digging properly. 
I also find the trails often in very poor condition and there is a lot of vegetation that needs trimming. 
The generally poor state would be acceptable in a free trail, but given that this is a pay to enter trail, they need to actually spend some cash paying crews for maintenance. My other usual haunt is wolverspruit and I would say the same applies. 
Giba in KZN deals with much more rapid vegetation growth and has permanent crews that clear and maintain the trails all the time and they have much more rain to deal with as well.
I think the guys up here need to do a lot more maintenance in general on paid trails. 

You realise how much and how quickly vegetation grows during the rainy seasons? 

Perfectly normal for some sections to get overgrown. 

I'm at Red Barn every weekend and the maintenance is definitely kept up. I agree the trail marking is tricky on ONE section of the trail where getting lost is possible. Only one section though. 

[Dexter-morgan]

We(my wife and myself) were there on Saturday, she still remarked how well the place(routes) are marked, I took the flow line which she gave a miss, she carried on, on her own and did not get lost, even around the excavation is well marked, there was only one wooden crossing that was a bit dodge, generally well kept.