Adventure and Travel

Trail Daze: Contermanskloof during Winter

· By BikeHubCoreAdmin · 45 comments

Once a year, for a few months, Contermanskloof transforms into a winter wonderland with a seemingly unending expanse of rolling grass fields and ribbons of trails running through them.

Contrasting the extremely barren and dusty conditions during the summer months, you’re welcomed by lush greenery and a cool breeze rising up from the Atlantic ocean. Add to this a clear and relatively windless day, and you find yourself grinning from ear to ear as you bomb down these fast, open trails. A quick 30 minute drive from Cape Town and a R40 day pass gets you access to around 18km of mountain bike trails, but with so many variations you could literally ride all day until the sun sets, and not run out of trail.

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The Dairy Shed offers drinks and light meals – apparently killer omelettes too.

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Few trail networks out there feature their very own personal bike shop like The Bike Shed. Parts, clothing and a workshop to sort out any issues.

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Good to see The Bike Shed owner Jaco Veldsman back on the trainer after suffering a horrendous injury to his leg.

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iRideAfrica[/url]’]Rolling hills, steep valleys and incredibly green landscapes sprinkled with beautiful trails – You’d be forgiven if you thought you were in the England when riding Contermanskloof in the Winter! In complete contrast to the end of Summer, the trails are grippy and the surroundings have a ‘soft’ feel to them. While most of the trails have beautiful flow and an intermediate IMBA rating, some of the steepest and gnarliest rock gardens in the Cape are also found here. The riding experience is made all the better with a great coffee shop, friendly bike store as well as the fact that Tygerberg mtb club members can access another 70+ km of trails from here.
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The climb to the top of the trail is a mild one with the trail zig zagging up with out too much of a gradient. Getting to the very top at the radio mast is a different story though, and might require some pushing…

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With an European eye, winter in Cape Town is really sweet and actually sometimes better than summer to have a nice ride. Just outside Cape Town our ride in Contermanskloof revealed perfect conditions – a nice mix of sun/clouds, reasonable temperature and a nice packed and grippy ground! The hills we rode offer an incredible view on the swartland vineyards on one side, and Cape Town city on the other side; one of the best spots to enjoy a sunset over the mother city.
Matthieu Hamel

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Fast, flowing open sections, with tacky dirt under your wheels and the majestic Stellenbosch mountains lurking in the background = grinning from ear to ear.

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Hold your bars like this Rolfe, not like that.

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The trails are here well maintained and cater for vastly different types of riders, from beautiful bermed corners to technical rock gardens and jumps big and small.
Rolfe van Breda

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Rolling hills and ribbons of singletrack for days.

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Riding ’till the sun sets never gets old. Specially with a few home brewed beers waiting at the bottom courtesy of Rolfe.

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Riders: Danield Donbinson | Matthieu Hamel | Rolfe van Breda

Experience your own Trail Daze with iRideAfrica.

 

Links: http://www.evocsports.com | http://www.hullabaloo.co.za | http://www.silverbacklab.com

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Comments

nick18

Jul 24, 2015, 6:32 PM

Love your work!

tubed

Jul 24, 2015, 6:50 PM

Fabulous piece, well captured

Pah Bear

Jul 24, 2015, 6:53 PM

Brrrillliant. Wow.

Hairy

Jul 24, 2015, 7:04 PM

Always a fun trail

Oufy MTB (Roadie)

Jul 24, 2015, 7:06 PM

this was so great to read/see

Hackster

Jul 27, 2015, 12:56 PM

cool to see some righteous cornering techniques in action

DJR

Jul 27, 2015, 1:25 PM

:thumbup:

Baracuda

Jul 27, 2015, 2:27 PM

Why do you have so much luggage on your backs?

Dan Dob

Jul 27, 2015, 2:40 PM

Why do you have so much luggage on your backs?

Oh, I just love having extra weight to lug around. ;)

Just joking...My pack is my 'guiding' pack for our guided tours we provide. That means the normal water, tools and spares that everyone should be carrying anyway, plus first aid kit and a bunch of spares that are normally unnecessary but a need to have if we're renting bikes out to clients.

 

So basically I'm the best guy to have on a ride-carries all the weight and provides you with all the spares when things go wrong!

Iwan Kemp

Jul 27, 2015, 2:44 PM

Oh, I just love having extra weight to lug around. ;)

Just joking...My pack is my 'guiding' pack for our guided tours we provide. That means the normal water, tools and spares that everyone should be carrying anyway, plus first aid kit and a bunch of spares that are normally unnecessary but a need to have if we're renting bikes out to clients.

 

So basically I'm the best guy to have on a ride-carries all the weight and provides you with all the spares when things go wrong!

 

Do you do roadside assistance?  :D

Dan Dob

Jul 27, 2015, 2:45 PM

cool to see some righteous cornering techniques in action

Ewald is bloody good at capturing the best from us! That said, anyone who wants to lean like this can learn on our level 3 skills course (www.irideafrica.com). It's pretty simple to learn but one has to have a good understanding/practice of a few fundamentals first (footwork, brake control and body positioning)

Dan Dob

Jul 27, 2015, 2:47 PM

Do you do roadside assistance?  :D

I really should start offering this as an add on! I have lost count of how many strangers chains and tubes I've fixed. Not to mention plugs, borrowed pumps (never to be returned)!

Captain Fastbastard Mayhem

Jul 27, 2015, 3:45 PM

I really should start offering this as an add on! I have lost count of how many strangers chains and tubes I've fixed. Not to mention plugs, borrowed pumps (never to be returned)!

This is normally preceded by a question from one of those you will be helping later on...

 

Something along the lines of "where's the sink!"

Captain Fastbastard Mayhem

Jul 27, 2015, 3:46 PM

Brilliant write up as normal, Ewald. The trails were awesome yesterday when we were there...

Puncture Kid

Jul 28, 2015, 6:49 AM

'barren' not 'baron'

 

/grammer Nazi

Iwan Kemp

Jul 28, 2015, 6:53 AM

'barren' not 'baron'

 

/grammer Nazi

 

If that's all you got from this then there is no hope for you. 

marko35s

Jul 28, 2015, 7:05 AM

'barren' not 'baron'

 

/grammer Nazi

I will be the one...

It's grammar  :devil:

Iwan Kemp

Jul 28, 2015, 7:07 AM

I will be the one...

It's grammar  :devil:

 

:clap:  :clap:  :clap:

 

Moments like these make live worth living

Captain Fastbastard Mayhem

Jul 28, 2015, 7:28 AM

:clap:  :clap:  :clap:

 

Moments like these make live worth living

*life

Captain Fastbastard Mayhem

Jul 28, 2015, 7:29 AM

I will be the one...

It's grammar  :devil:

Could be this dude...

 

Kelsey_Grammer_May_2010_(cropped).jpg

marko35s

Jul 28, 2015, 7:38 AM

*life

This may never stop lol.

Iwan Kemp

Jul 28, 2015, 7:44 AM

*life

 

Yeah, but that were intentional. 

Thor Buttox

Jul 28, 2015, 7:58 AM

Please don't start dissecting the origins of Contermans...

Iwan Kemp

Jul 28, 2015, 8:04 AM

Yes, to get us back on topic: killer pic this

 

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