mtbrider Posted May 28, 2018 Share Hi Hubbers I've been thinking about doing a mtb tour/ DIY Stage Race for a while now and want to give it a go. I love the thought of riding my bike 3 days in a row, but the price of stage races are really just too much for me. We are planning a 3 day maybe 4 day mtb tour / DIY Stage Race this June/July holiday. We will have a vehicle following so we do not have to carry all the necessary items on our bikes. The plan is to cycle to a overnight place, braai, have a beer(or 2) and start the next day again on our bikes and see as many nice things as possible. The thing is that I want to avoid tar roads as far as possible and ride as many gravel passes / natures beauties as possible. I do not know the roads there that is why I am writing and asking for any assistance. The places that I really want to visit or things I want to do:Cycle Montagu PassCycle Swartberg Pass I would love to visit "Die hel" but it seems that there is no way out, so maybe thinking of ending it there.Visit any other passes / nice gravel roads / mtb trails in that areaWe would love to cycle from George and finish at the hell after the 3/4 days without having to load our bikes on the bakkie. I have a gps on my bike to upload or download maps after the trip to share with hubbers thinking of doing the same thing. Any help would be appreciated. Regards Blokman, Vetplant, DirtyDan and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porqui Posted May 28, 2018 Share Now you are talking. June - July is very cold in that area though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corrado Posted May 28, 2018 Share Hi.Depends on how fit the guys are.But i can think of a nice route with 95% if not more gravel roads. Day1 - George to Volmoed.Day2 - Volmoed to Calitzdorp or to Kruisrivier via Rooiberg.Day3 - Calitzdorp to Die hell, or from kruisrivier to Die hell. If you want shorter days you can change the same route to 4 days as well. RegardsHugo Spokey, johannrissik and mitsu 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisismyotherbike Posted May 28, 2018 Share Some overlap with your idea on these routes, have a look at day 3, 4 and 5. Comes with gpx download as well https://www.capecycleroutes.co.za/route/cross-cape-route Edited May 29, 2018 by thisismyotherbike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spokey Posted May 29, 2018 Share Hi.Depends on how fit the guys are.But i can think of a nice route with 95% if not more gravel roads. Day1 - George to Volmoed.Day2 - Volmoed to Calitzdorp or to Kruisrivier via Rooiberg.Day3 - Calitzdorp to Die hell, or from kruisrivier to Die hell. If you want shorter days you can change the same route to 4 days as well. RegardsHugoSome of my favourite gravel travel. Montagu Pass, Paardepoort then Heimersrivier road and a meander along the farm roads north of the Outeniquas, west to the base of Rooiberg Pass, up and over into Calitzdorp. Great area for cycle touring too. Paddaman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddaman Posted May 29, 2018 Share Been there done that. twice. Day 1: George to Calitzdorp (Montagu pass- Darling- Velmoed-Caidtzdorp) (You can also stop at Amber Lagoon Backpackers which is very central to many of the routesDay 2: Calitzdorp to vanWyksdorp (via Rooiberg pass)Day 3: vanWyksdorp to Herbertdale (via Cloete pass)Day 4: Herbertdale to George (via Brakrivier)only tar is between Brak River and George. Alternative ideas: Calitzdorp to Caves (Kobus se gat as a possible stop)Caves to die HelHel out (via backdoor) to Ladysmith. Read Dragon's Spine for details here and contact locals to arrange permission to transit farmers land. Spokey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spokey Posted May 29, 2018 Share Been there done that. twice. Day 1: George to Calitzdorp (Montagu pass- Darling- Velmoed-Caidtzdorp) (You can also stop at Amber Lagoon Backpackers which is very central to many of the routesDay 2: Calitzdorp to vanWyksdorp (via Rooiberg pass)Day 3: vanWyksdorp to Herbertdale (via Cloete pass)Day 4: Herbertdale to George (via Brakrivier)only tar is between Brak River and George. Alternative ideas: Calitzdorp to Caves (Kobus se gat as a possible stop)Caves to die HelHel out (via backdoor) to Ladysmith. Read Dragon's Spine for details here and contact locals to arrange permission to transit farmers land.Lekka route you have there, the Dragons Spine would be awesome. You can do Brak Rivier to George on the dirt too. Another fantastic road is turning off the Van Wyksdorp Herbertsdale road and transit through Bonniedale Farm which is a great stop over. Cross the R328 just south Of Eight Bells Mountain Inn and hit the dirt again toward George. ( Not that it is sign posted like that.) A few kms before Herbertsdale a farm road heads east and eventually is the same road you join from Bonnidale toward the R328. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtbrider Posted June 3, 2018 Share Hi guys. Thank you for all the messages and option. I was away for a while, but are ready to start planning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtbrider Posted June 3, 2018 Share Been there done that. twice. Day 1: George to Calitzdorp (Montagu pass- Darling- Velmoed-Caidtzdorp) (You can also stop at Amber Lagoon Backpackers which is very central to many of the routesDay 2: Calitzdorp to vanWyksdorp (via Rooiberg pass)Day 3: vanWyksdorp to Herbertdale (via Cloete pass)Day 4: Herbertdale to George (via Brakrivier)only tar is between Brak River and George. Alternative ideas: Calitzdorp to Caves (Kobus se gat as a possible stop)Caves to die HelHel out (via backdoor) to Ladysmith. Read Dragon's Spine for details here and contact locals to arrange permission to transit farmers land.Paddaman do you perhaps have a gxp file or something I can check out. How did you plan around accommodation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtbrider Posted June 3, 2018 Share Hi.Depends on how fit the guys are.But i can think of a nice route with 95% if not more gravel roads. Day1 - George to Volmoed.Day2 - Volmoed to Calitzdorp or to Kruisrivier via Rooiberg.Day3 - Calitzdorp to Die hell, or from kruisrivier to Die hell. If you want shorter days you can change the same route to 4 days as well. RegardsHugoHi Carrado Do you perhaps have a file for that route? Where did you sleep over? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtbrider Posted June 3, 2018 Share Its my first time planning something like this, but I can just imagine the pure pleasure of riding my bike for a few days exploring the roads less travelled. Kind regardsStephan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSG Posted June 3, 2018 Share Been there done that. twice. Day 1: George to Calitzdorp (Montagu pass- Darling- Velmoed-Caidtzdorp) (You can also stop at Amber Lagoon Backpackers which is very central to many of the routesDay 2: Calitzdorp to vanWyksdorp (via Rooiberg pass)Day 3: vanWyksdorp to Herbertdale (via Cloete pass)Day 4: Herbertdale to George (via Brakrivier)only tar is between Brak River and George. Alternative ideas: Calitzdorp to Caves (Kobus se gat as a possible stop)Caves to die HelHel out (via backdoor) to Ladysmith. Read Dragon's Spine for details here and contact locals to arrange permission to transit farmers land.From Groot Brakrivier to George you can do at least 85% plus on gravel. Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtbrider Posted June 3, 2018 Share From Groot Brakrivier to George you can do at least 85% plus on gravel. Sent from my VTR-L09 using TapatalkGreat. My parents stay in Klein-brak so that will be perfect. What road do I take from there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSG Posted June 3, 2018 Share Great. My parents stay in Klein-brak so that will be perfect. What road do I take from there?If you've got Strava, you can see the roads/routes on there. From Klein Brak you go on the tar towards Botlierskop nature reserve, take first gravel road turning right, keep going till you get into Groot Brak. At the T (Langstraat/Sandhoogte Road intersection) turn left into Langstraat, after 2nd Stop street go over Groot Brak Rivier bridge, turn left between river and Pick & Pay, keep going with tar road, will change to gravel after about 3-4km then keep going for about +-25km and you will get to the Redberrie farm and Blanco/George airport road. From here it's unfortunately all the way tar into town, but you can maybe cycle on the pavements which will be grass next to the road [emoji23][emoji850]. Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk PS: I'm actually going to do this route hopefully this coming Saturday, but in reverse from Outeniqua High School George only to Groot Brak Rivier. If I do, I'll try to send you the route/road. Edited June 3, 2018 by BSG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spokey Posted June 4, 2018 Share Great. My parents stay in Klein-brak so that will be perfect. What road do I take from there?The Slingsby maps of Garden Route and Karoo are really awesome for planning. They show all the dirt roads and tracks. I use them for my motorcycle meanders in the area! DirtyDan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyDan Posted November 1, 2018 Share And? How did it go?We want a ride report with photos and gps maps! Sepia, dirtypot and JohanDiv 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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