Eselfontein MTB Routes
The trailhead is at the old farmhouse of Eselfontein Farm, but you can link onto the route pretty much anywhere on the farm. The initial section starts off flat through the orchards, but don’t let this lull you into believing that Eselfontein will be a chilled ride. Ascend along a jeep-track past the guesthouse and then onto the legendary Green Route single-track section after your first stream crossing (3 km).
The climbing is gradual enough to let you sit back and take in the view, but a few short and sharp rocky loops will keep you focussed to the summit (7 km). Anyone with intermediate MTB skills will love this ride, especially the looping ess-bends berming you all the way back down via a few skid-out switchbacks.
Blair Witch Forest
A second rocky river crossing takes you into the Blair Witch Forest (11 km), one of my fave parts of the route. Slip-sliding single-track, perfectly sculpted, blasts through this poplar forest and beyond, following the river’s edge (14 km). Climb via the fruit orchards till your reach the main gravel entrance road (16 km), and swing left for half a kay.
Here a sign will direct you towards the looming koppies, with a looping climb heading into the Renosterveld ridges. All still rideable, big-smile-on-your-chops riding, to a sign where the route splits into three options (18 km). Left takes you onto the Black Route (with some extreme climbing); straight takes you up the Black Loop in reverse – not a good idea), so keep to your far right to continue the ride of a lifetime.
After a couple of kays of sweet contouring along tamped berms and looping curves, you drop back down and climb up along some agricultural fields (24 km). Keep up the cadence and look for a sign to your right; right about now it would be a good idea to pin back your ears, as you have 4 km of the kieffest high-speed velociraptoring possible waiting.
Whoop - Whoop
Bomb the original Red Bull DH Section from the long-ago MTB Fest here, now beautifully scaped for a zigzag ride into another dippy poplar forest section (28 km). Check your teeth for bugs (if you weren’t smiling, you had better make sure you have a pulse) as you pop into the adjacent fruit orchards.
A stiff climb to the left super-tubes you onto a lovely little mental drop-and-glide section – feel free to Whoop loudly! Here you have the option of swinging right to the farmhouse (36 km), or otherwise, give in to a sudden urge to ride Blair Witch Forest again. And again, just to make sure you stoke up those endorphins even more.
Black Route
There’s not enough space to fully take you through the 65 km Black Route, but beware you will have to up-size your attitude markedly. This challenging route takes you high into the outlying ranges, with killer climbs, gritty drops and butt-clenching downhills – go do it, but maybe have a few beers and a chat to Deon first.
Swaarmoed, ‘Dead Man Walking’ … this is ‘necessary evil’ of the worst and best kind, but those who suck up the suffering will be richly rewarded as they top out along one of the finest single-track stretches on our tiny blue planet. The views are breathtaking, so take a break to absorb the visual splendour extending across the Koue Bokkeveld.
Then get stuck in holler until your lungs hurt along this beautifully groomed single-track for the next few kilometres. Just to be sure … there’s a total of more than a 100 kms of XC and Enduro track on Eselfontein now, so be sure to make your visit a long weekend at the very least.
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