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Prudential PE PLETT Ride Report

Supplied by PE Plett.

· By Press Office · 0 comments

A 4 Day stage Race along the most beautiful piece of real estate between Port Elizabeth and Plettenberg Bays is what the Prudential PE PLETT is all about. With the event starting at Woodridge School some 30kms west of Port Elizabeth and finishing 4 Days later down the Otters Trail into Natures Valley, the Prudential PE PLETT is an epic adventure traversing some of the finest MTB tracks in Southern Africa.

The LITE route caters for the social rider and the famous TOUGH ONE for those more serious Mountain Bikers. Being 5 weeks before the Epic it’s the perfect warm-up ride.

Day 1: Woodridge to Zuurbron Village Hankey

Tough One 87km/1306m and LITE is 68km/660m

Departing Woodridge we head directly into the Van Stadens Flower reserve on flowing jeep track for 6km giving the field of 200 riders time to sort themselves out before the compulsory portage across the Old Train Bridge. Its then single track heaven for another 8km though Yellow Monkey and Black Porcupine which are all part of the 3 River Trails network. The LITE riders take the easier Railway line single track to Loerie whilst the Tough One riders do the Epic Oxwagon climb to the King Of the Mountain.

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Once into Loerie the Tough One and LITE riders rejoin and navigate through the rich orange orchards of the Gamtoos Valley, across another train bridge and then into the maze of singletrack to Jacques Steenkamp race village of Zuurbron. The Village has been a favourite amongst the riders over the last 7 years and the decorated shed comprising chill zone and food hall is abuzz with banter,

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Day 2: Zuurbron to Suiderland

Tough One 81km/1155m and LITE is 69km/1034m

This a brand new day for the Prudential PE PLETT as we start Day 2 with 9km of single track and wind our way up through the wind farms of Humansdorp and Palmietvlei. We head into the Zwartenbosch golf course and our 1st waterhole. From here the route takes us through various private farms along the Tsitsikamma mountain Range before crossing the R62 Kareedouw Road.

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Now the adventure really starts as we wind our way into the kloof of the Churchill Dam which is a “No Go” area for all and the organisers worked hard to secure permission for this mind-blowing trail. From the exit of the dam, it’s into the rich dairy farming area and we finally arrive at our village of Suiderland nestled at the foot of the Tsitsikamma and is our gateway to the forests of Cape Pine and MTO.

Day 3: Suiderland to Tsitsikamma Falls Adventure Village

Tough One 80km/1529m and LITE is 66km/1001m

The first half of Day 3 is also brand new as we enter the magnificent forests of MTO. The local villagers of Clarkson have been cutting new single track trails and the Red Cherry team can’t wait to showcase these to you in Feb 2019.

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The farm stall of Oudebosch is our regular Waterhole stop and soon after we are into the Regyne Protea Farm and back into the forests of SanParks and our 1st view of the Indian Ocean at Robbehoek for the Tough One riders. Our overnight at Tsitsikamma Falls Adventure Village with ziplining on offer for those with some energy left makes it a perfect end to a great day.

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Day 4: Tsitsikamma Falls Adventure Village to Natures Valley

Tough One 66km/1267m and LITE is 57km/1098m

This is an incredible day as we tackle the Stormsriver Pass in the early morning and back into the indigenous forest of Witteklip and through the forestry village of Coldstream before we drop you down the old Bloukrans Pass designed by Thomas Baines This epic pass was built on the elephant Migration trail. Were close to home and all that awaits us now is the Otters Trail drop down via Pigs Head across the beach and into the Natures Valley finish.

Done and Dusted!

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