Cape Town / Signal Hill and Lion's Head, gravel tracks?

[Luca V]

Good morning from Italy, I'll soon be in Cape Town with my gravel bike and among other rides I'd like to have a look at the mentioned area.

From maps looks like there are plenty of tracks suitable to a gravel bike, but are they really so?

Thanks for your help

Luca

[wolver]

Lions head is better suited to mountain bikes, it's quite rocky in places. For a gravel ride i would recommend going from Vredehoek up to the Blockhouse and back via Tafelberg road, thats a great ride.

 

Start at the 3.3km mark on this route: https://www.strava.com/activities/8383411591 

P.S. That's also a safer route, there have been mugging incidents lately on the lower slopes of Signal Hill above Bo-Kaap😔

Edited April 18, 2023 by wolver

[Eddy Gordo]

Rather do the greenbelts and maybe the missing link, not sure if missing link is gravel bike friendly though

[Spookie]

Can also do Ou Wapad and Noordhoek Peak, across to the mast, down the Tokai jeep tracks. Some bits are a little rocky/loose but have had plenty of friends who have done the route on gravelbikes. 

[Jbr]

Yeah... everything mentionned is gravel-eable except maybe missing link unless you are really really good. But most of it is quite rocky and if it's fine for a couple of hours, trust me you don't want to be spending 4 hours on these trails...

 

I did that ride on the gravelbike : https://www.strava.com/activities/8284962843 and the last hour I was hating my life and cut the ride short (initially I was going to do the silvermine loop at the end)

It was a recon for that ride : that we ended up doing on the mountainbikes https://www.strava.com/activities/8305486233)

 

Lion's head/signal hill, the climb from bokap is gravelable no problems, but think it's getting quite dodgy that side, I got bit by a dog the only time I rode it but now apparently it's more muggins you should be affraid of. Other side, the views are amazing, but I rode it a couple of times on the MTB and it's really rocky and narrow, you don't want to risk losing control there as if you fall on the off-camber section, you'll fall all the way down to greenpoint 🤣

Table Mountain ; probably pretty good on the gravel, but it's quite limited in terms of distance/duration as far as I know, you'll want to extend either to newlands or missing link, and those are a bit more tricky on the gravelbike.

 

I'm loving riding the gravel bike around durbanville though, I've got a few routes in stock if you want (some of them require a Tygerberg MTB club membership tho)

Edited April 18, 2023 by Jbr

[droo]

1 hour ago, Eddy Gordo said:

Rather do the greenbelts and maybe the missing link, not sure if missing link is gravel bike friendly though

Missing link is ebike friendly and not much else at the moment. On a gravel bike it's definitely type 2 fun.

Kloof Nek circle to Rhodes Memorial, then down to green belts, Diep River trail, Tokai, Silvermine, Ou Wapad and back over Chappies would make a good loop for some distance although not all gravel.

[Headshot]

Bwahaha... Missing link on a  gravel bike. Just wear hiking shoes.

[capediver]

2 hours ago, Eddy Gordo said:

Rather do the greenbelts and maybe the missing link, not sure if missing link is gravel bike friendly though

Ha......most of it, some of it NOT....enough of it to actually ride it....!!!

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by capediver

[capediver]

Here's great run:

Start at the bottom of the Southern Suburbs Greenbelt down in Tokai

Follow the Greenbelt trail all the up to Southern Cross drive

Cross over, and climb the jeep track up the Kirstenbosch/Newlands trail

Finish at the M3 and go left to the start of the Blockhouse trail (follow the pavement trail to the turn-off Rhodes Memorial Street just before UCT Campus 

Climb up to the Kings Blockhouse

Come halfway down and turn turnwards the Table Mountain Cableway along the now-closed upper Tafelberg Road, past the Cable Car station to Kloofnek

Down Kloofnek to Theresa Avenue an the trail-head to The Missing Link

Enjoy/suffer the Missing Link to Llandudno

Drop back onto Altantic Drive and climb to the top of Suikerbossie

At the top of Suikerbossie, hop off and go through the Ruyteplaas Private Estate...(estate was built on the condition that the old Victorskloof road remains public so they let you in and out)

Descend to World of Birds in Valley Road and make your way up to top of Valley Road

Duck through the trail up there and join Hout Bay Main Road up to the Constantia Nek Roundabout...you can stop here for coffee or wine!!

Follow Rhodes Drive back to Southern Cross Drive and you are back at the top of the Greenbelt Trail

A real good mix of gravel and tar!!! Big climbs too! About 80km's

[wolver]

The people riding gravel bikes on the missing link...

 

 

[PappaWatTrap]

The following should be gravelbike friendly, my wife and I once did it on our MTB tandem as well. You see a bit of everything and it really beautiful. 
 

Local hubbers are we still able to do the rout? I did it pre-Covid when the world ended. 
 

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/55279093
 

 

[capediver]

2 hours ago, PappaWatTrap said:

The following should be gravelbike friendly, my wife and I once did it on our MTB tandem as well. You see a bit of everything and it really beautiful. 
 

Local hubbers are we still able to do the rout? I did it pre-Covid when the world ended. 
 

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/55279093
 

 

Nice route, good mix...only issue now is that section of Bay Road instead of Hout Bay Main Road is now fenced off and Private...but the "new" climbing trail next to Hout Bay Main road from the Disa River road intersection up to Constantia Nek is fully doable on a gravel bike, a really nice climb up well off one of Cape Town's most dangerous roads....