That's right on Saturday, Dec 31st, the 14th annual Great Brak Grabadoo will get underway - whether you're a casual or a serious mountain biker - or hiker/walker/runner - you won't want to miss it!

I can't believe I've never done it before (at least not on "race" day) - so this year I'll be doing the 71 km ride.  There are various distance and activity options available - check out the Grabadoo's Facebook page for more info, as well as where to register.  With 1,200 participants expected, what's one or two more, right? :)

Meanwhile, here's a route map of the 71 km (there are shorter variations on the day) MTB ride which the organizer (Mimi Finestone of Goji) sent me:

The route seems to be the same as that of the 2015 event, so if you're looking for more insight into the route profile you can always resort to skulking around Strava to find other cyclists who have done the 71 km route (heck, you might even find one of my "unofficial" rides hidden in there...).  

​Apologies to those that are looking for the shorter routes - or the walks or the runs - you'll have to find those on the Grabadoo's Facebook page.

Hope to see you out there on the starting (and finishing line) on Saturday!

Had a great little improptu coffee tasting (Ugandan, Rwandan & Guatemalan) at Great Brak's own coffee roastery, Brothers Coffee (also on Facebook), this afternoon.  You'll find them located at the Pink House - head up Amy Searle Street, past Greenhaven and about 200 meters to your right after you've passed the gravel Sandhoogte Road turn which appears on your left (don't take this turn, it's just a direction marker!).

Ben and Jaco are really enthusiastic about sharing their passion for coffee - and they tell us they'll happily give a special little tasting and talk to groups of up to 8 people.   Just call ahead (078 940 8301) and let Ben know you'd like to do that, so he can incorporate that into his busy roasting duties (Jaco mans the operation in Jo'burg, so if you're a Gautenger and you fall in love with their beans, you're in luck!).  Or, if you just want to pop by for a coffee or to pick up a bag of beans (or grounds), they are open 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays.

If you can manage the steep driveway on the way back out to the road (#nowimps), this is the perfect spot for a caffeine stop on your cycling route - I'll definitely be adding it to mine!

I occasionally receive e-mails asking about nearby MTB routes.  If you are staying on The Island or anywhere near (Reebok to the west or Glentana to the East and anywhere in between), the routes I usually do are posted here as well as in the Running & Cycling section of the website which also includes Great Brak River Village Cycling Routes and the Fragrance Route.

And today, George Trails, officially unveiled their series of trails - of the 4 trail systems, the Geelhoutboom is nearest, with 3 of its 5 routes in the immediate vicinity of The Island.

The "Great Brak" route (about 55 km) can be started from The Island - you simply join the route where it passes by the PicknPay (formerly a Spar) on Charles Street and go up the "Spar Bult" (hill in Afrikaans) if you want to do it counter-clockwise, or else carry on a bit further through the village on Amy Searle Street and then take the right-hand turn on Botha Street where it climbs up the Blesbok hill.  Either way, you'll end up passing Tramonto at about the half-way point instead of starting there.  It's a pretty easy to moderate ride - whichever way you go, the climb up from Great Brak will be the hardest section.  If you're fit, you can do these climbs in 10-12 minutes, otherwise, well, it'll take longer... :)

The "Botlierskop" route (about 73 km) is a bit more challenging, but not terribly so.  It's probably a bit harder going clockwise, but nothing too dramatic if you're in decent shape.  If you want to go counter-clockwise, you can go down Station Street and join the route as it passes by the PicknPay before you start your first climb of the ride (up the "Spar Bult") or you can go clockwise and head west along the old R102, passing by De Dekke, then turning to your right on Long Street (at the Total) and joining the route by turning left on Sandhoogte Road (where you'll see Suiderkruis Securitie) which will lead to a moderate climb when the tarred road turns to gravel.  The biggest section of climbing, in this direction, is going up Blesbok after the game reserve.  Going clockwise is going to give you a bit more of a workout than counter-clockwise.

Finally, the most strenuous of the three is the "Friemersheim" route (about 81 km), which has some challenging climbs - once again, you can join the route in the village.  Like the Botlierskop route, above, if you want to go counter-clockwise, you can go down Station Street and join the route as it passes by the PicknPay or you can go clockwise and head west along the old R102 before turning to your right on Long Street and joining the route by turning left on Sandhoogte Road.  It's a bit close to call - there are a couple of steep sections either way - but I'd say this route is toughest going clockwise.  You and your riding partners will want to be fit if you're going to do this route, particularly if you like pushing yourself.

If you're going to do the Botlierskop or Friemersheim routes, be sure to take plenty of liquids.  You can always get something to drink at the Farm & Fellow Restaurant at Tramonto, but that's only about 1 hour out if you go counter-clockwise at a decent pace.  There's not a lot in Friemersheim, so your options there will be limited - but you'll definitely be parched by the time you get there, no matter which route you've taken and which direction you've gone.  When I've done variations on these two routes, I've usually taken an extra bladder in my backpack (~3 litres total) and have still run dry, especially on a hot day.

Of course, you can also include the Patria and Dairyland routes as variations to any of the three routes above - you're just taking a few shortcuts around the vicinity of Tramonto, rather than really adding any distance (otherwise you'll end up doing a few loops of gravel you've already been on...). Both of these are very easy sections.

Okay, it's not part of the George Trails initiative, but if you're looking for a bit of singletrack, there's a new pump track that's opened up this season - the Klipheuvel Mountain Bike Park, located in Little Brak, it's within peddling distance (just do something like the Little Brak loop to get there and back - whichever way you go just be sure to avoid the R102 between Little Brak and Great Brak, as there's quite a bit of traffic on this narrow, potholed stretch of road).

I haven't been to Klipheuvel yet, so can't give an opinion on it.  AfrikaBike opposite Le Grand in Hansmoeskraal near George haven't updated their website or Facebook page in many months.  [subsequent edit:  I managed to track down one of its co-founders at the 2017 Knysna Bull MTB event, and sadly, was told that it went out of business (that's the short version).  I've since updated the website to remove it from the Running & Cycling page].

But if you're looking for one of the best MTB Parks in the Western Cape (if not the entire country), it's well worth a drive to the Garden Route Trail Park between George and Knysna.  You're talking about kilometers and kilometers of uninterrupted singletrack trails.  If that's your thing, head over there - they also have bike rentals available.

Other single track options worth a side-trip include SAN Park's MTB Trails (Harkerville and Homtini) - again, this means a drive down the N2 towards Knysna, so 50 km or so away.  If you're a MTB fanatic you won't complain about a little drive to check out new terrain. :)

There's also some nice single track in Knysna itself, up near the Simola golf course (drive there and either park your vehicle at the very bottom of the Simola hill and ride up the paved road, or else keep driving, then park your vehicle and offload your bike on the gravel road just after the entrance to the golf course).  You have to watch for the tracks - they are off to the side of the gravel road up there.  Jacques Brink of Knysna Cycle Works and the municipality's self-declared "Mayor of Cycling" knows these trails like the back of his hand (afterall, he's built most of them).  Jacques also runs a Cycling Academy for 9-12 year-olds and Odyssey Training Clinics for teens.  He's even been known to take out adults (though riding with me last season might have put him off that...).  Contact Jacques on [email protected] for more info or if you'd like to ride with him.

I spent the (short) night tossing and turning and thinking about how I should do a century ride once I got up.  I've done plenty of centuries and more on the road bike, but never on the MTB.  Perfect for my last endurance training ride before the GRLite at the end of the month.

I headed into the village, then out along Sandhoogte Road, continuing straight instead of heading up the hill to the right (one of my usual routes), then out the Little Brak and back to Tergniet along the water before climbing up, circling back to Reebok and out across the R102 at Leani Kwekery to meet up with my old friend the Sandhoogte hill.  So a modification of the short Little Brak route which I've done a couple of times to get an extra 25 km in at the start, then the Sandhoogte/Friemersheim loop, followed by the reverse Tramonto circuit and back to The Island (with a single lap around The Island to bring the distance to 100 km on the dot).

I fixed the connection on my spare bladder so I had 4 litres of liquid (and a banana) which I tried not to touch for the first 30 km.  My handlebars came loose at the very bottom of Blesbok Road (the turn you take to the left for Kleinvlei and which bisects Botlierskop) but I hate stopping, so let them wiggle all the way until I got to the very top of Friemersheim where I stopped for a quick wipe of the sunglasses, gobbling the banana as I tightened the handle bars (I brought the peel home with me - did you know they can take up to a month to biodegrade?).

It was a pretty sweaty start and it took 45 km before the kink worked its way out of my lower back (cycling is better than any stretching that I know of for tight glutes...).  I hopped on the scale before and after the ride - despite drinking the 4 litres (4 kilos, remember), I weighed 3 kilos less by the time I had finished the ride - mostly from sweat, I expect.

Interesting sightings:  a tortoise in Reebok (yes, a common sighting there) and a crab crossing the gravel road way up behind Friemersheim.

Lessons learned: next time I'll have a bigger breakfast - half a cup of muesli with some yoghurt isn't quite enough fuel to really give it every single stroke of the peddle - and I'll probably bring another banana.  Despite losing all of that weight on the ride, I can't imagine hauling more than 4 litres of liquid around with me, so I'd say it was just about the perfect quantity for doing 100 km on mostly gravel on a hot day.

Click on the map below to see the full workout and route profile on www.sports-tracker.com

The wind was still blowing pretty hard this morning after last night's storm (I kept putting off my ride, hoping the wind would die down...).  Sometimes you just have to go for it, even if conditions aren't particularly hospitable, so on the saddle I hopped.  Shortly after starting I discovered the hose connection to my new (extra) bladder was loose - so, if you don't want to download the .GPX file to navigate the route on your GPS device, then just follow the orange trail I've left along the side of the road... :)

Click on the image below to see the full workout and route profile on www.sports-tracker.com

Yesterday was gym day so just did a short one today after Tuesday's fiasco (I was in George anyway and decided to drive up to Knysna to do the Simola Hill climb again only to break my new chain 4 km into the ascent - arghhh!).  

Back to today:  it was windy again and super hot from the start but especially the Kleinvlei to Friemersheim leg (34°+) - I went through 2 litres of fluid in ~22k. Brought an extra bladder so was carrying 4 litres today just in case (and yes, that means an extra 4 kilos to lug up the hills...). Then the temp dropped to about 20° heading back to the sea as the dark rain clouds built up and it got down right chilly...

Click on the map below to see the workout details and route profile on www.sports-tracker.com

This morning I picked up my bike from Johnnie Coen Cycles in Voorbaai (Mossel Bay) where it underwent a major servicing yesterday. New tires, new chain and new cassette, it was time to test out the hills (or not so much test out the hills, but test out me & the bike - I'm sure the hills would say they are quite fine, thank you very much!).  

Anyway, I managed to get in just over 1,000 meters over roughly 65 km's by doing the Sandhoogte hill, then coming back down into Greenhaven, then going back up the paved road, past Greenhaven, up to Friemersheim and a few more hills thrown in for good measure.  360 meters of climbing in the 1st hour, and just a fraction under that in the 2nd.

It was hot and dusty - lots of roadworks going on in these back roads today, so plenty of large vehicles tossing up sand and dirt clouds which was a bit oppressive.  And I ran out of fluids at km 45 - obviously less than optimal...  But all in all a pretty darn fantastic few hours (followed by an afternoon of banana-munching to keep the muscle cramps at bay!).

Click on the map below to visit www.sports-tracker.com to see the full route profile.

I had some spare time while the missus was golfing, so I decided to tackle the Simola Hill in preparation for the GRLite (it's part of the 1st stage, which will start at Quay Four).  I parked in the open area near the Firefly Eating House (excellent when I've been, by the way), shortly after the turn off the highway.  With a quick and discrete change in the car, I was on my way.

I did the road, instead of the single track (I think I noticed the start of that mid-way up - I presume it's where all the Garden Route Events MTB signage is...).  Distance-wise, it's exactly 12 km to the very top, there you'll intersect with the paved R339.  I had a date to keep, so turned around and came down the way I went up (I'm sure I won't be the first to say it was easier and quicker on the way back).  I noticed guys in a couple of packs heading up as I was coming down - seems they parked just past the entrance to the Simola Golf Course (also recommended!), where the tar turns into gravel.  Another option if you're looking for a shorter route with less climbing.  I suppose my descent could have been a bit quicker from the GC downward - I was stuck behind a couple of out-of-province vehicle drivers who were insistent on doing less than the speed limit...

Click on the map below to visit www.sports-tracker.com to see the full route profile.