ABOUT US

Welcome to our latest update on MTB ROUTES, bringing you all the dirt and gravel and roots and mud and sand and hoicks and drop-offs along SA’s top trails and routes! We apologise up-front if we’ve missed out on your favourite trail, but – instead of being grumpy – rather submit your trail by email to webmaster@mtbroutes.co.za.

Some background: We’re Jacques, Janine and Simone, and our main aim is to share the stoke … Many of these routes (along gravel roads or jeep tracks) and trails (purpose-built and usually singletrack) come from Jacques’ previous books, Mountain Biking Trails of South Africa and Best Mountain Bike Rides. Even the reprints are now out of stock (and embarrassingly out of date), and with the print media industry taking the punch, we’re trying to share trail info in a no-nonsense and utilitarian way. Yup, we’re aiming to do one thing and one thing only: publish information, photographs and maps on all the glorious places in Mzansi where YOU can ride your bike.

We feel it is time the rider community pulled together to develop a solid trail culture in South Africa, inclusive of everyone from Joe Rigid with his hypermarket special, to those young DH dudes grabbing air. To make mountain biking a sustainable sport, we must act inclusively to bring as many weekend warriors into the fold as possible. After all, the more riders there are, the more viable it will be to create trails, and this means more riding options for the fat track tribe as a whole. See you guys out there!

Jacques Marais

“I started riding a red tricycle around age 3, in the days way before kick-bikes. This soon became boring and was soon followed by a succession of three-gear dikwiel machines with which I bombed the Baviaans River tracks spiderwebbing outwards from our family farm.

Journalism, photography and mountain biking combined seamlessly, and I authored four consecutive MTB Trail Guides between 2005 and 2016 and continue to contribute trail features to magazines and newspapers around the world. Not a kak life at all”!

Favourite local trail: Three Rivers Trail, Crossways

Favourite international trail: Poison Spider, near Moab, Utah, USA

Bikes: CORE CARBON #Grezza

Real Job: Dogsbody at Jacques Marais Media; award-winning photographer and author; contributor to premium publications around the world.

Follow me on IG: @jacqmaraisphoto

Janine Wencke

“Although I rode a few ‘Argus’ Cycle Tours as a student, I only discovered cycling, and particularly mountain biking, in my 40s – and a passion was born!

Living in the Cape, with endless trails right on my doorstep, never gets old. Technical, natural trails are my favourite, interspersed with coffee stops!

My holidays are usually spent bikepacking locally or internationally: biking + camping + coffee = happiness!”

Favourite local trail: Banhoek Conservancy, Western Cape

Most memorable route: Freedom Challenge, RASA

Bikes: TREK Topfuel for trail and my trusty old SPECIALISED Epic for bikepacking.

Real Job: Web- and Instructional designer. Webmaster of this site.

Follow me on IG: @janinewencke

Simone Sharpe

“As a young girl, I rode around the neighbourhood, but apart from child’s play, I was not exposed to bike riding as a means of exercise or joy.

Fast forward to my late twenties when an old friend invited me for a ride – on Christmas Day 2019. I remember the route we took, I remember how I panted. Keeping up was hard. I like hard. I also love being outside and anything that gives me a good thrill…There was no turning back! “

Favourite local trail: I’m a George girl and all the Garden Route Trails are spectacular. I especially love the berms at Cairnbrogie in Plett. All the woo’s, baby!

Favourite international trail: I have heard amazing stories about the Colorado Trails and I hope to visit them someday.

Bikes: CORECarbon Selvaggio MTB.

Real Job: Social Media Manager, Live SM Event Coverage.

I occasionally strike gold and get to go on adventures in the name of work too.

Follow me on IG: @simone_sharpe