We have finalised dates for our ever popular end of year single track holiday. So if you’re keen to ride the best mountain bike trails in and around Cape Town, you better free up your calendar from 29 December 2011 - 7 January 2012.

Here are the basics of our new year mountain bike holiday:

• Most of our riding falls into the intermediate to advanced category and the best bikes to ride our terrain are 4-6 inch full suspension trail bikes. You can hire bikes from iRide Africa.

• Each day we ride about 3-4 hours (15-30km) in the morning, have a good hour break for lunch and then another 2 hour ride (15km) in the afternoon if you wish.

• Our elevation gain on each ride goes from about 400m-1000m so nothing that you can’t handle!

• Temperatures are hot! You can expect 25-35 degrees on most days

The official itinerary for the trip can be found here but we wanted to show you a bit more about this single track vacation and get you amped to ride with us!

Day 1:

Climbing off the plane, feeling the heat of the African sun and getting your first glimpse of Table Mountain is a good way to start a new year mountain bike holiday! We load up everyone’s gear into Eric the storm-trooper (our van with our bike specific trailer)

and head off into our superb 4 star accommodation near Tokai Forest.

Building of bikes commence, beers are guzzled down and a dip in the pool are usually first on the list! Then we hit the super fun Tokai trails for a taster of things to come and check that all the round bits on your bikes are turning correctly.

Tokai forest is small but offers great single trails for all abilities. The more advanced riders tend to have more fun here as there are a host of drops, rocks, jumps and switchbacks but all riders get to enjoy the magnificent views over the Cape Flats and False bay.

Day 2:

Today is the last day of the year and we spend it cycling on the slopes of iconic Table Mountain! Most of the riding is technical, fast and loose jeep tracks offering views over the city bowl and beautiful Table Bay with the city buzzing below you.

As we head towards Devils Peak though, the riding gets a bit more technical with steep single track dropping down a few hundred meters. These trails will get your eyes to the size of saucers and then it’s onto an even gnarlier, steeper section of crazy downhill single track mountain biking (Don’t worry, there are alternative rides down if you like).

We pop out (normally high-fives abounding) just above Rhodes Memorial where we can admire the amazing view. From here we can ride past some of our first wildlife (black wildebeest, zebra), before cruising down through the historic University of Cape Town (UCT), where we can do some easy Cape Town mountain bike urban riding (steps, banks etc). We finish up at a little jump track where we can hone some skills and have lunch before lazing on the famous beaches of Camps bay and Clifton for the afternoon.

It’s new years eve so the thinking is we head out for a great meal in town and then hit the trails again later that night for some night riding on Table Mountain. For those that are keen to stay up late, we can watch the fireworks from the top of Plum Pudding hill as they explode over Table bay-what a way to end the year!

Day 3:

We’ll probably have a slow start to the day after last nights activities but that’s OK because today’s trails are only a 3km ride away. That said, there is about 1000m of elevation gain so its best to have a good breakfast (which our hosts do amazingly well!).

We cycle again into Tokai forest but this time we climb all the way up to Silvermine nature reserve and carry on riding all the way to the towards Noordhoek peak for, what we think, are the best views in Cape Town.

With most of the climbing done for the day, we race down a fast track and tuck into our famous lunches along the banks of a beautiful black-water dam.

The views are incredible and there’s little doubt that you’ll take a dip in the dam before the ride starts. From here, we bomb down into Tokai forest and do some nice technical cross country trails with some nicely exposed bits that will wake you up for sure!

The views over Cape Town from the top of Tokai are unrivalled so make sure you’ve got your camera on this ride. We’ll ride the infamous switchbacks (fortunately with gravity assisting us!) and then complete all the other trails and at some point we’re sure to meet up with the local baboons, which are endemic to this area.

Day 4

We pack our bags up and head out into the Overberg (translation:Over the mountain) for a days riding on fast, smooth, flowing single track. This is one of our most popular days for beginner-intermediate riders as the trails are enjoyable and the climbs don’t seem too bad. The weather is bound to be good!

We head out to Oak valley first and ride 30 kilometres of which 90% is easy single track bliss, followed by a tasty, home made lunch under the oak trees.

After lunch we head out to the oldest mountain bike specific trails in Cape Town and sample their fun trail system on your mountain bike vacation.

Tonight we stay in the beautiful and established village of Stellenbosch. It’s side walk cafe’s, student life and sporty culture make it a favourite place to stay (and there are loads of brilliant rides to do right on our doorstep!)

Day 5

We ride out from our guesthouse to Jonkershoek reserve. This forest is situated between two massive mountains in a steep valley, which allows us to ‘coast’ between the 2 different faces of the valley like a skateboarder on a giant half pipe. The singletrack is purpose-made for mountain bikes and it has all the elements of riding that will make you weep with joy.

The Firehut trail is a new firm favourite for advanced riders and the Canary trails are just too good to miss- they are built on a gentle slope which will have you sweeping through what feels like endless perfect corners, leaning your bike further into each perfect curve until that 2-wheel drift warns you that you are at your limit.

Even most of our uphill riding will be single track. This helps take your mind off the fact that your legs are working and your lungs are heaving! You can trust us when we tell you that those pesky uphills are worth every drip of sweat once you point your bike downhill!

The ride ends on the grass under the ancient oak trees and we usually order a few beers from the trail head restaurant and let the war stories flow!

For those with energy in the afternoon, there’s a great little secret spot full of berms and jumps to go and have fun on. We liken it to a roller coaster for adults :)

Day 6

We pack our bags once again and transfer to the town of Ceres. On the way there though we have to stop at the Welvanpas trails for a ride. Big mountains, steep climbs and purpose built single track on a historical wine farm are the order of the day.

Of course there’s always time for some wine tasting (or at least a beer!)

From here we drive out through scenic passes, tunnels and incredible terrain towards Ceres, where we’ll stay the night in this fruit growing region.

Day 7

In our opinion, the best cross country riding in the area is found in this ‘bowl’ of land totally surrounded by a towering mountain range. Snow covers the peaks in winter and the sun beats down in summer, but the huge refreshing dams and crystal clear water from the streams ensure that all are kept comfortable, whatever the time of year.

This is a working fruit and wheat farm that will find you following skinny lines of dirt through blossoming apple orchards and rustling through cross country trails of dry wheat fields. The climbs can be quite tiresome but your bike would never forgive you for not making it to the top and cruising the seemingly endless miles of biking’s dusty holy grail. This mountain bike playground offers every type of vegetation you’d ever want to ride through: pine trees, poplar trees, fynbos, grasslands, orchards, wheat fields, renosterbos…the list is endless!

There is so much riding to be done on this farm that we stay overnight and ride it for 2 days. The accommodation is fantastic and we will entertain you here around a huge fire and treat you to some
South African specialities for dinner, while you sit under a canopy of oak trees and watch the shooting stars streak across the sky. The farm also boasts an abundance of indigenous wildlife, including tortoises, leopard, baboons, antelope, fish eagles and there are clear river pools along the route to ensure you are kept cool and invigorated.

Day 8

We cram a lot of riding in today! After breakfast we ride more of the trails in Ceres. A bit of trail repeating means that you have the confidence to fly through the single track today!

After a quick lunch we transfer back towards Cape Town and hit the trails at Durbanville (as long as everyone has tubeless tyres-lots of thorns!).We like these trails more in our winter season but they are still highly entertaining during summer. We link as many of the trails up as possible but be warned that this is big ascent territory…

But the effort is worth it!

We stay the night back at our original base in Cape Town

Day 9

You can trust us when we say that your legs will be tired by now! That is why we choose the last day to be an easy one. We climb in the van and take a drive to Cape Point nature reserve. On the way are always convinced to stop at Boulders beach to view the cute critters that are African Penguins.

From the entrance of the Cape of Good hope you can climb on your bikes (if you are willing!) and cycle the 10km or so to the tip of the Cape Peninsula. You are likely to come across zebras, ostriches and baboons in this stunning setting.

We round off the day with a relaxed drive around the rest of the peninsula, taking in the historic and towns of Simons Town, Kommetjie, Chapmans Peak drive and Hout bay.

Day 10

As your end of year mountain bike holiday comes to an end, you’ll be happy to be heading home but your heart will want to stay in Africa. Of course, if there’s time for one final ride then we can go and play in Tokai forest one last time. Otherwise, we’ll transfer you to the airport and you can view the last African sunset before heading back home.

Thanks to all our wonderful guests over the past few years who have been the models in these photos :)

Of course another option is to join us on our KwaZulu-Natal singletrack trip, South Africa earlier in the year!