Modderfontein Bike Park - what's happening

[Danger Dassie]

2 hours ago, thebob said:

I've done the majority of the loop on my gravel bike (except the ruins) without issue. And on Panaracer GravelKing slicks nogal! 

Ditto, even amongst the ruins with a bit more care. Add in the gravel/tar road sections and it's an absolute blast. Also a good environment to test the limits on gravel bikes and various setups. 

[Jaz]

13 hours ago, Dieter ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) said:

Brand new, so is only going to look more inviting with time ❤️

Wait, how do you get here?

[Dexter-morgan]

8 hours ago, Jaz said:

Wait, how do you get here?

This is newly built right by the start, next to Trail wolf cycles.

[madmarc]

On 11/4/2021 at 8:17 AM, TheoG said:

The only thing I don't like about Modderfontein is that due to all the riding, in some places the trail became deeply rutted and one is forced to follow it with little margin for error.

But other than that, very nice trail to ride.

Need to master the skill of "riding the rut" I seen a few guys crash (Including myself) and Pretzel a wheel when encountering a rut in the trail. After some reading up and trolling the school of Utube, I now mastered the art of riding the rut - When seeing a rut in the trail we look at it - 1st mistake - If you look at it you gonna ride into it - Once we in it we try turn out of it - 2nd mistake - Once you in it loosen your grip on the bars and allow the rut to guide your wheel - don't fight it, just let the wheels roll through the rut and out the other end.

Some of the smoother rutted corners are like mini berms so you can really rail the corners now - but be sure to watch the position of your pedals on the incline ruts for pedal strikes.

[Headshot]

If its a mud fountain, is it really mountain biking? 

[TheoG]

4 minutes ago, Headshot said:

If its a mud fountain, is it really mountain biking? 

Fortunately, most of the time, there is not mud around, its just the name .... ????

[TheoG]

46 minutes ago, madmarc said:

Need to master the skill of "riding the rut" I seen a few guys crash (Including myself) and Pretzel a wheel when encountering a rut in the trail. After some reading up and trolling the school of Utube, I now mastered the art of riding the rut - When seeing a rut in the trail we look at it - 1st mistake - If you look at it you gonna ride into it - Once we in it we try turn out of it - 2nd mistake - Once you in it loosen your grip on the bars and allow the rut to guide your wheel - don't fight it, just let the wheels roll through the rut and out the other end.

Some of the smoother rutted corners are like mini berms so you can really rail the corners now - but be sure to watch the position of your pedals on the incline ruts for pedal strikes.

That must be my problem then, I don't like giving up control .... .

[Headshot]

Just now, TheoG said:

Fortunately, most of the time, there is not mud around, its just the name .... ????

Ha ha , just teasing the Gauties from down here in Slaapstad. 

[TheoG]

Just now, Headshot said:

Ha ha , just teasing the Gauties from down here in Slaapstad. 

????, unfair you guy have awesome places to ride and we are stuck in the modder (fontein) .... ????

[ChrisL]

Just my 2c, maybe controversial, and I'll probably take some abuse, this is the hub after all. I ride at Modderfontein regularly. Rode there yesterday morning. Ruts? Not sure what you're on about. It is a MTB trail park, and not a particularly technical one at that, but expect that some sections will be rough and uneven. If you prefer billiard table smooth single tracks, then stick to the road. The best time to ride there is winter and spring. It does get quite overgrown in the summer, as I imagine that it becomes very difficult to maintain that much trail, particularly when the rainfall is good. I have only been there a handful of occasions in the past few years where a few sections have been un-ridable. The rest of the time, just deal with the fact the the grass and shrubbery is long and overgrown. Let's not forget how fortunate we are to have trails like this basically on our doorsteps. And this is MTB, if you don't like the bumpy tracks, stick to the road.

 

I have my flame suit on now.

[TheoG]

33 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

Just my 2c, maybe controversial, and I'll probably take some abuse, this is the hub after all. I ride at Modderfontein regularly. Rode there yesterday morning. Ruts? Not sure what you're on about. It is a MTB trail park, and not a particularly technical one at that, but expect that some sections will be rough and uneven. If you prefer billiard table smooth single tracks, then stick to the road. The best time to ride there is winter and spring. It does get quite overgrown in the summer, as I imagine that it becomes very difficult to maintain that much trail, particularly when the rainfall is good. I have only been there a handful of occasions in the past few years where a few sections have been un-ridable. The rest of the time, just deal with the fact the the grass and shrubbery is long and overgrown. Let's not forget how fortunate we are to have trails like this basically on our doorsteps. And this is MTB, if you don't like the bumpy tracks, stick to the road.

 

I have my flame suit on now.

Nah, you missed the point completely, so I'm just going to ignore you ...

[TyronLab]

On 11/4/2021 at 8:26 AM, Pikey said:

Haven’t been to modders in forever . Always found it a bit monotonous. Truth to be told though I was generally hauling around to much bike . Now that is no longer the case , keen to go back and get some mileage in. Always liked the ruins/house and little rocky section .  If I remembering correctly. 

 

Maybe the gravel bike deserves a spin round there . Although me thinks it could get a little rough and a mtb bike would be more fun. 

You should really take the Exploro around there. I took the Scout and, besides for one or two downhills that were full of lumpy grass, I had a ball. Actually perfectly suited to a gravel/rigid bike as its pretty smooth.

 

I'm impressed that they built a pump track, that's awesome! And Modders is always a bit overgrown in the summer. If they had to keep all of the grass off of the trail it'd require almost 24/7 cutting if you had to cover all of the single track. 

[OVERDRIVE]

On 11/5/2021 at 10:16 AM, Headshot said:

If its a mud fountain, is it really mountain biking? 

Good question. Was so bad today, couldn't see the trail, the growth with the rains is extremely severe. I don't advise any amateur to attempt-they are cutting the grass now but will be a while before its clear. Lots of deep standing water, and the ruts are unseen. 

[madmarc]

I been ridding Modderfontein (Taroko Trails) since the start many years back

I rode the red route yesterday Sun 23rd - and was really shocked at the condition and lack of trail maintenance. Even considering the recent rains and storms, ruts that have appeared over a year back have now become complete washed out dongas which are un-rideable. The grass has not been cut for so long that most of the single tracks are completely covered, you cannot see where you are going. in a lot of sections the grass and bush are higher than your handlebars - the only reason we got through is because we been riding there enough to have an idea of where the trail goes.

Trees that got blown over by wind over 18 months back are still laying across the trails - no attempt has been made to clear them.

We did come across a grass cutting team of 5 or 6 guys with weed eaters, but clearly they are under staffed and under tooled, and seem to be fighting a losing battle.

I'm all for the un manicured trails, muddy sections, a few natural ruts and waterlogged sections, they make riding more interesting - But what i saw yesterday was beyond insane.

To top it all they increased their day entry to 60 ronds and annual pass to over 1400 ronds. Taroko management need toget their act together - There is clearly no trail management in place.

[Dexter-morgan]

23 minutes ago, madmarc said:

I been ridding Modderfontein (Taroko Trails) since the start many years back

I rode the red route yesterday Sun 23rd - and was really shocked at the condition and lack of trail maintenance. Even considering the recent rains and storms, ruts that have appeared over a year back have now become complete washed out dongas which are un-rideable. The grass has not been cut for so long that most of the single tracks are completely covered, you cannot see where you are going. in a lot of sections the grass and bush are higher than your handlebars - the only reason we got through is because we been riding there enough to have an idea of where the trail goes.

Trees that got blown over by wind over 18 months back are still laying across the trails - no attempt has been made to clear them.

We did come across a grass cutting team of 5 or 6 guys with weed eaters, but clearly they are under staffed and under tooled, and seem to be fighting a losing battle.

I'm all for the un manicured trails, muddy sections, a few natural ruts and waterlogged sections, they make riding more interesting - But what i saw yesterday was beyond insane.

To top it all they increased their day entry to 60 ronds and annual pass to over 1400 ronds. Taroko management need toget their act together - There is clearly no trail management in place.

They are making enough money from runners and walkers, little maintenance needed for them.

Post on their social media,

[Chadvdw67]