[Event] Old Hermon Gravel Ride

[Abby.F]

Event Name: Old Hermon Gravel Ride
When: 26/08/2023
Where: Wellington, Western Cape
Category: Gravel

The 2023 Old Hermon Gravel Ride will take place on Saturday, 26 August, with a choice of 22km, 45km routes and an all-new 85km adventure on the cards. All three start and finish at the Welbedacht Wine Estate, just outside Wellington and home to the world-famous Schalk Burgers Senior and Junior, father and son rugby legends.

The two shorter options follow district and farm roads nearby, gaining 227m on the 22km, but a more testing 433m on the 45km. Both routes are tests of fitness, rather than skills, ideal for an introduction to gravel if you are crossing over from the road.

 

SEEDING EVENT STATUS

The 85km option is a Premier Seeding Event for the 2024 Cape Town Cycle Tour and will offer a sterner test. It has been laid out to challenge the speedsters, and the adventurers; with a smidgen under 1100m of ascent (similar to the Cycle Tour, but with 30km less to find the vert), it will be a physical event, also on glorious backroads and farm tracks and with a Tour-de-France-esque road climb, but with a little bit of washboard and some sandy stretches thrown in to wake up the tech skills, especially at gravel-bike speeds.

Entries for the Old Hermon Gravel Ride are now open, and range from R250 to R450, with all entrants standing a chance of winning prizes from Garmin, Oakley and Thule. Expect quiet roads, world class organisation from the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust, refreshment stations you might not want to leave, and a great day out.

 

Go to Event Page.

[cadenceblur]

considering this one. Anyone care to share experience of it?

[Skubarra]

12 minutes ago, cadenceblur said:

considering this one. Anyone care to share experience of it?

Haven't done it myself but don't recall complaints from last year (organised by the CTCT organisers so should be decent) and the area is really great for gravel riding so in my mind a save bet for a lekker event

[cadenceblur]

I see its a seeding event for CT, all be it a good few months before March, so not sure how much it will impact though.

[Jbr]

The website doesn't work, it seems from the event page on the hub that the route is suitable for gravel bikes although all the photos show mountainbikers ?

[no calves]

1 hour ago, Jbr said:

The website doesn't work, it seems from the event page on the hub that the route is suitable for gravel bikes although all the photos show mountainbikers ?

also made me wonder. looking to do it for a prep event before race2sea

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Very suitable to gravel bikes, I've ridden that area often on mine 🤙

[no calves]

8 minutes ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

Very suitable to gravel bikes, I've ridden that area often on mine 🤙

on the map it looks like they go to welvanpas??

[BuffsVintageBikes]

I doubt it, looks to me like it's going up Bainskloof Pass and then links across on the gravel road to come down and around Doolhof Wine Estate. That's all doable on a gravel bike 🤙

[MongooseMan]

6 hours ago, Jbr said:

The website doesn't work, it seems from the event page on the hub that the route is suitable for gravel bikes although all the photos show mountainbikers ?

Link is wrong. Correct link: https://capetowncycletourtrust.com/old-herman-gravel-ride/

Here's the 85k route, as best I can make out: https://www.strava.com/routes/3119282664141488346

I've done 90% of that on a gravel bike, and the rest was part of the race last year, so assume it's fine too.

[Jbr]

3 hours ago, MongooseMan said:

Link is wrong. Correct link: https://capetowncycletourtrust.com/old-herman-gravel-ride/

Here's the 85k route, as best I can make out: https://www.strava.com/routes/3119282664141488346

I've done 90% of that on a gravel bike, and the rest was part of the race last year, so assume it's fine too.

I’m keen ! 👌

[B20]

15 hours ago, BuffsVintageBikes said:

I doubt it, looks to me like it's going up Bainskloof Pass and then links across on the gravel road to come down and around Doolhof Wine Estate. That's all doable on a gravel bike 🤙

Correct, this is my "backyard". The district roads took a beating during the rain but most has been fixed. The 85km race will be 80% on district roads then some tar up Bainskloof. There are no major climbs other than Bainskloof. I know of one water/mud puddle which is about 20cm deap and 8m long just past the small bridge before Denel. Some road surfaces are still bad with potholes but the Prvl/Admin is sorting most of it out.

About 3/4 up Bainskloof, there is a gate linking up to Doolhof. The Bainskloof tar/road section surface is super smooth (not slippery) after the resurfacing. The Bains/Doolhof decent will be a dodgy +-1km  off camber jeeptrack/farmroad +- 12% decent section, but doable on a gravel bike, just go slow. The Doolhof road back to tar is not great and they working on a section to tar it, but its a short section. 

This will be a fast race for the r/snakes. The attacks will come at the bottom of Bains. That 8% x 2km section gets tough especially with distance in the legs for the heavier riders.

The 45km would be great for non-technical riders and even e-bikes. The 85km would be fabulous ride for gravel bikes. (I would have done the 85km on my gravel bike had I not break my back in a fall) This is a nice route. 

Afterwards there are an abundance of good restaurants and coffee shops in town.

(Disclaimer: This area had a lot of rain, so if we don't have to much before the event, I believe the conditions and roads will improve even more.)

Edited July 27, 2023 by B20

[MongooseMan]

4 hours ago, B20 said:

The Bains/Doolhof decent will be a dodgy +-1km  off camber jeeptrack/farmroad +- 12% decent section, but doable on a gravel bike, just go slow.

Yeah, that descent is sketch. I did it 120km into the Boland Gravel Monster last year, so at that stage was in "get to the finish" mode. I can imagine doing it that early in the race could lead to some interesting situations. Make sure your brakes work, would be my only suggestion...

[Kom]

https://online.entries.co.za/entries/findperson.aspx?eid=5122
 

looks like an interesting one ☝️ 

[Jbr]

You guys reckon a gravel bike will still be faster than a MTB on the 85k course despite that sketchy descent ? I'm thinking yes because Bains is relatively fast and I'll likely lose more time on the climb/tar with the MTB than what I'll lose on that descent with the Gravel bike... 

 

Uh has anyone tried entering ? I get this message :

Quote

Entries for 2022 Old Hermon Grave Ride opens at 1pm on 29 June 2022.

 

Sho, what a mission to find how to enter !

https://capetowncycletourtrust.com/old-hermon-gravel-ride/ Here's the actual link of the event (don't even click on the picture in the events list on their website, it goes to a 404 just like the link listing on the hub for the event...

Edited August 4, 2023 by Jbr

[Abby.F]

On 7/26/2023 at 9:07 AM, Jbr said:

The website doesn't work, it seems from the event page on the hub that the route is suitable for gravel bikes although all the photos show mountainbikers ?

The website link has been updated, you can find more info here: https://capetowncycletourtrust.com/old-hermon-gravel-ride/ . The routes are suitable for gravel bikes.