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Contermanskloof
in the northern suburbs of Cape Town is a privately
owned and developed trail to form part of what has
slowly been developing into one of the best MTB
trail systems in the Western Cape. The project has
been spearheaded by the Tygerberg MTB club with a
handful of dedicated souls with a vision of an
integrated trail network for the Tygerberg Bellville
area. The cooperation of some key land owners and
the ability to link different areas together has led
to the ongoing development to realise a dream of
120km of MTB trails. The Contermanskloof trail now
forms part of a growing network of trails including,
Merendal, Hilcrest, Ntida and Majekforest sections.
After spending a day riding in the Bains kloof area at
the Gravel Travel MTB race we were looking for an
easy recovery ride the following day. Well we didn’t
find a recovery ride but we did find some seriously
cool singletrack. I don’t think we could have chosen
a better time to ride this trail, with the Cape
winter coming to an end the landscape was a carpet
of green with the wheat crops coming up strong. No
wind and firm ground meant that the riding
conditions were ideal.
The trail head was about 2km off the Contermanskloof
road at the Contermanskloof farm. The parking area
is next to a small farm dam and there is a little
hut where you pay your R30 trail fee and you can get
some refreshments from the friendly country folk.
The coolest thing about this trail is that it has
the coolest bike shop in the world, The Bike Shed.
This little bike shop literally is a shed with a
bike shop inside and it is located on the farm. One
minute we were climbing up some singletrack and then
descending some singletrack and farm road between
some trees and then all of a sudden
The Bike Shed pops up out of nowhere!
 The trail has a mix of green, blue and black sections,
you can find detailed description on the
Tygerberg MTB website. We rode most of the blue
and black sections and they provided some contoured
singletrack climbing that presented some of the best
views of Table Mountain and Table Bay that you can
get from a mountain bike. The climb all the way to
the top at the mast was really steep in the last
section. However the reward was a rather technical
black singletrack section with some tight hairpin
bends. For the most part the trail flows very well
and has been put together with a lot of thought.
Twice we reached sections where you could transition
into the Hilcrest trail if you wanted a longer ride.
The last stretch home was on the Kliprug section
referred to as the “Wild Side”. It was a
particularly rocky and twisting singletrack section
that required full attention to stay on the trail.
All in all the ride was 21km long and took us around 2
hours with a total ascent of 580m. It was really fun
riding with some awesome singletrack and amazing
views. Highly recommended and we will definitely be
back to sample some more of their fine singletrack.
For more info check
out Tygerberg MTB website
www.tygerbergmtb.co.za/
More info on
mountain bike trails
Cape Winelands Accommodation
Durbanville Accommodation
Cape Town Accommodation
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