Areas to ride in PTA?

[Mtree]

Hi All, hope everyone is doing well!

Just wanting to find out some decent areas to ride in and around PTA. (Up from the Cape of Plenty trails)
Been to Wolwespruit and can't say I'm at all impressed with anything there...

Any recommendations would be appreciated...
Regards

[Rowl]

Hi Mtree, what types of riding are you looking for and where? Pta is the bay of plenty up North... Buffels, Rosemary, Tierpoort, Cowhouse, Grootfontein, etc.

[Mtree]

1 minute ago, Roul said:

Hi Mtree, what types of riding are you looking for and where? Pta is the bay of plenty up North... Buffels, Rosemary, Tierpoort, Cowhouse, Grootfontein, etc.

Light tech, but generally long haul routes with decent elevation gain(I know it's not exactly plentiful up here).
Training for Karoo2C at the moment and I'm not keen on breaking anything.

Any preferences?

Will give those a look so long...
Thanks

[Rolf Hansen]

5 minutes ago, Mtree said:

Light tech, but generally long haul routes with decent elevation gain(I know it's not exactly plentiful up here).
Training for Karoo2C at the moment and I'm not keen on breaking anything.

Any preferences?

Will give those a look so long...
Thanks

If you like long haul routes then Wolwespruit is definately not for you. It has techy, flow and jump trails but not much distance.

Northern Farms has decent distance routes and is not far from Pretoria. Not very technical.

Avianto also has some decent distances that you should enjoy.

Kingskloof in Muldersdrift has a mixture of technical and flat sections. The red and black routes has some significantly challenging climbs and a fantastic decent around the koppie.

Big Red Barn has a mix with the longest trail being just over 40km. 

Buffelsdrift I can recommend as well. The one side of the farm has flatter longer distance routes and the other side is more hilly. I think the Kudu route is the one that starts with a hectic climb that seems to go on forever. Some technical bits but not too challenging.

Hennops is probably my favourite. Only about 35km in total if you do the entire route but a very good workout.

 

[dave303e]

36 minutes ago, Mtree said:

Light tech, but generally long haul routes with decent elevation gain(I know it's not exactly plentiful up here).
Training for Karoo2C at the moment and I'm not keen on breaking anything.

Any preferences?

Will give those a look so long...
Thanks

light tech and long haul then you can stitch together a lot in Pretoria East. Rosemary hill, through to cowhouse, up WTF and back via Nkwe/groenpad and you in a for a good outing.
Otherwise buffelsdrift is your best option

 

For Pretoria East routes to learn the area, I think Lynwood cyclery, Hotspot and Singletrack cycles all have outride groups on weekends

Edited May 18, 2022 by dave303e
added stuff

[Steady Spin]

Based on your disdain for Wolwespruit I would also avoid Red Barn. 

Go out to Buffelsdrift and do either of the 50km trails to start with. You can upgrade from there or add another shorter loop to the mix. 

Check ahead though. Some trails are still closed due to the massive storms we had recently.

[Job]

I found this website very helpful for trails anywhere in SA.

https://www.topsamtbtrails.co.za/the-top-trails-by-province/

 

[Danger Dassie]

Would give van Gaalens a go as well 

[RobertWhitehead]

Try Zwift 

[AllenH]

Give the old Book of Faces a search for a group called Stofpad Trappers. I met them this weekend where they were going to do a 22km loop around in Pretoria East somewhere near Bronkhortspruit.

They also do 100km+ plus rides and its a group of people that host different rides according to your abilities. The longer rides start at Cowhouse or Rosemary Hill to Red Star Raceway for Breakfast/Coffee and then back. Some of the nicest people there and all very friendly and welcoming to new riders.

[OVERDRIVE]

Taroko Trail Park - Experience The Best Trails Nature Has To Offer (tarokotrails.co.za)

[stephenplumb]

I like the big red barn a lot, but not huge elevation changes as mentioned. I have not been to northern farms in a long time, but that business of having to go somewhere different for a ticket to enter did not really work for me. Not sure if they are still using that system. 
No one has mentioned groenkloof. I quite liked that area, but have not been since lockdown. There was quite a bit of elevation around there, so may be an option.
Cradle moon was also a nice area, so that is also an option. 
Definitely stay away from Iron Throne if you don't like wolvespruit. There is also kloofzicht.

 

[Mattman]

In addition to the bike parks, most clubs would have an outride on a Saturday. There are lots of gravel roads towards Pretoria east where big loops can be strung together. Cycle lab, Lynnwood and midstream should all have these rides. 

[Squier]

Go out to Buffesldrift and hit the Bufuni trail. It combines the Buffel and Nguni trail and should give you about 85km and a more than decent workout.