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 When
I was invited for a weekend away to Margate in Natal
over the weekend of 26 to 30 April, my 1st
response was to find out about any KZN mountain bike trails in that
area.
After some research and asking around,
I decided to focus on the following two locations:
Giba Gorge MTB Park near Durban and Clearwater Trails
near Port Edward.
I planned my trip in such a way to stop
at Giba Gorge on my way to Margate on the 26th
of April, spend 27 April with friends, ride on 28 and
29 April at Clearwater Trails and on 30 April on my
way back, to stop again at Giba Gorge.
I stopped at Giba Gorge on the Thursday
afternoon at around 15:00 in hot and humid conditions.
I was pleasantly surprised with the venue and the
friendly staff immediately made me feel welcome. I
paid the R10 entry fee (the venue is not officially
open yet, thus only R10, but once everything is in
place, this could jump to R20-R25. Still dirt cheap.),
used the excellent change room facilities to change
and was supplied with my own personal guide, Vincent.
This helped much in the way of making good use of my
limited time to explore the best trails. In about 45
minutes Vincent to me around the entire black route
and made me sweat like never before in the humid
conditions. I felt very comfortable in using the
shower facilities afterwards to clean up for the rest
of my trip to Margate.
There are three different categories,
green (easy/beginner), blue (intermediate) and black
(expert). The routes are not too technical, but some
parts are extremely steep (up and down) and it is more
a case of expert riders can ride it so much faster
than intermediate and beginner riders. The route
consist mostly of groomed single track, linked here
and there by gravel roads, with wooden (wide enough
for most riders) bridges running over some gaps and
rivers. The tracks is build in such a manner that you
can link up the different routes to provide a variety
of different routes. They reckon there is currently
around 20km of marked single track, but Ian informed
me they are constantly building new tracks and are
aiming for around 60km of single track!
With the size of the venue, I am sure
this will be possible.
They prefer to use to the term contour
surfing at Giba Gorge, but for me it is all about
flowing, most of the downhill bits (especially the
last bit of the black route) is one of the best bits
of smooth flowing single track I have ever
experienced. It reminds me of some of the tracks at
the Dirtopia Lodge just outside Stellenbosch.
 On
a cold and windy Saturday morning early I headed out
towards Port Edward to sample the trails at Clearwater
Trails of Jan and Natalie Abbott. I paid my R15 entry
fee with Natalie and she supplied me with a map,
indicating 4 different routes. Green – 4.5km easy.
Yellow – 8km moderately easy. Orange – 10km moderate
to technical. Red – 16.5km technical. I was looking
forward to riding the trails with Jan himself, but due
to a shoulder injury (yes, bike related!) he was
unable to take me on the guided tour. So I headed out
into the strong and chilly wind on my own to sample
the trail. The trail is located partly in the
Umtamvuna Reserve and on local farms and therefore you
experiences a variety of terrain, from tree forests,
to open grass fields to banana tree plantations. The
first half of the trail is mostly downhill and you
will be climbing some steep up hills on your way back
to the trail centre.
The 1st halve really have a
bit everything, from a really awesome berm section
(with very well designed and build berms), some
winding high speed single track sections, open jeep
track sections, some steep rocky downhills and flowing
switch back sections. Keep in mind that the orange
route actually has some of the best bits of single
track.
On your way back to the trail centre,
the steep climbs will really test your strength and
fitness. This climb consists of gravel roads, jeep
track and some single track. The Beaver Creek coffee
shop provides some welcome rest and refreshments just
after the major climb.
Overall the route is well marked,
however there is one or two places where you will have
to follow your instinct.
On Saturday I did the red route once
and then the orange one. On Sunday I did the red route
twice, but added the nice single track section of the
orange one to the red route. And then I just had to go
and do the berm section at the top of the route again
and again and again….
Overall an extremely rewarding riding
experience with some of the best single track riding
in the country. I will rate this route similar to the
route at Lebanon near Grabouw in the Western Cape and
just as rewarding.
Monday, heading back towards Pretoria,
I stopped for a 2 hour ride at Giba Gorge again. And
similar to Clearwater Trails, there are sections that
are extremely addictive, that you just have to do over
and over again.
Any negatives? None, except that I now
know I am addicted to single track!
Already making plans for a trip down to
the Dirtopia Trail Centre and Lebanon in June….
For further information visit the
following websites:
www.clearwatertrails.co.za
www.gibagorge.co.za
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