Weekend getaway: Cycle in the lowveld
Routes are graded for all levels of fitness.
The wind whistles through the spokes of the rented mountain bike. The sun flickers like a disco light through hundreds of pine trees that fly by. This downhill is seriously steep. My fingers cramp as I try to brake. What if I can’t make the sharp bend and go crashing into a tree? Aah, but going at such a speed is fun!
“They call this hill The Wall,” says Julia Westoby of Longmere Tours as we stop our bikes at the bottom of the hill. According to her pedometer we were doing 40 km/h, but if you really motor, you can easily get up to 65 km/h.
You don’t have to be a Cape Epic competitor to cycle here in the plantations. Julia and her husband Nolan Naidoo adapt the route according to your (un)fitness level and experience.
You can do the hard-core trail with steep sections and tree trunks, or pick a tamer one. Nobody will look at you funny if you get off and push for a bit.
We pick a beginner trail. The 13 km trail around the dam is particularly popular as preparation for mountain bike races.
Julia is a professional cyclist. An entry number for a recent race is still tied to the front of her bike.
Our trail started on the R357 between White River and Sabie earlier, where each rider got a helmet and Julia demonstrated how to use the gears and brakes before we set off.
After a morning of riding we get hotdogs, salad and drinks on a picnic blanket next to the Witklip Dam. We hear the waterfall we passed a moment ago.
“All this downhill cycling is quite liberating,” says one of the other cyclists, looking up at the slopes we’ve put behind us. She’s right. This morning when I looked down on the dam from the lookout, I wondered whether I’d make it to the bottom.
Now, in the late afternoon and with exactly 34,34 km on the odometer, my fingers are light on the brakes and the swishing noise of the wind in my ears as we pick up speed down yet another downhill starts getting addictive.
Go! says: Wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from flying gravel, and apply insect repellent – even in winter.
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