It was mid-winter in Cape Town and the sun was shining yet again. Is it just me or does it seem that we have had all our good winter weather in the weekend? With the temperatures in the mid 20's we couldn't resist travelling the hour and a half to Wellington and trying out the new mountain bike trails on Welvanpas Farm.
The parking lot was already quite full when we arrived. A good sign considering it's a rather new mountain biking venue and not many Cape Town cyclists know about it yet. That is all about to change though, because these trails are some of the finest in the Cape for sure, with unique views of Table Mountain, perfect single track, testing climbs and scream inducing descents.We set off on the "easy" route which was a measly 7 kilometers long on the South facing slope of the valley. About 3 kilometers into the ride I decided that we had gone the wrong way and must have been riding on the "tough" route. The climbs were viscous! Even the slopes of Plum pudding seemed easier than these and I found it hard to imagine that there was a harder route on the other side of the valley. The saving grace though, was that the climbs were short, interspersed with beautiful bench-cut single track or flatter sections of farm road that allowed you to recover before the next brutal section. I was informed a bit later that we were, in fact, on the easy route and that I'd be tested a lot more on the other side. Oo'er!
On the very first singletrack we knew there was something special about this place- the soil was a solid red colour and ultra sticky from the recent rains. It was a great change from the usual terrain we experience in the Western Cape and it reminded me a lot of the Hilton forests in Natal.
We finally seemed to reach a section of downhill and I freewheeled down it, not knowing what to expect. The pace quickened as the slope dropped away and soon I was grinning ear to ear as the perfectly groomed trail swept bike and rider from side to side between fun little swooping dips.
The next section of downhill was the most fun I've had on a bike in a long time. Perfectly spaced sweeping corners with a little bit of tech every 3rd corner or so -it was like carving on a snowboard! As we dropped towards the river there was even an exciting, steep little gully to ride through(there is an easier alternate line as well).
The ride back towards the farmhouse meanders along a beautiful river with nice easy singletrack flowing as nicely as the river itself. Part of our group ended the ride as we got back to the farmhouse where you can partake in some wine tasting or enjoy a snack and coffee in the shop.We carried onto the harder five kilometer route on which the uphill broke me on my single speed Voodoo. I hate to admit it but I actually had to walk up a section in fear of my heart busting out of my chest. It's a constant climb up jeep and singletrack but I can honestly tell you that it's worth every drip of sweat. The trail bends back on itself and the fifteen minute climb is reversed into about 5 minutes of exhilarating, fast and exposed singletrack downhill that leads back to the farmhouse.
All in all it is an incredibly beautiful place to ride, the trails are well made with brilliant lines
(you won't find your normal boring straight-line singletrack trails through the orchards here!) and the downhills are massively smile inducing. The only criticisms I have are that the signing needs to be bigger and the hills might be a bit steep for beginners or less fit riders (but that can always be fixed by making more trails and route options, right?!)
As I've said on iRide Africa's Facebook page
"If farmers keep building trails like this, there's no need to go to heaven when we die!"
As I've said on iRide Africa's Facebook page
"If farmers keep building trails like this, there's no need to go to heaven when we die!"
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