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Urban Green Belt | Country Trail | Gravity Trail
https://stellenboschtrailfund.co.za
4/5
The Stellenbosch Mountain Bike Trails, located in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, are some of the best mountain bike trails to experience in SA.
Beginner, Intermediate and Experienced riders.
So this isn’t just one trail; it’s a collection of tracks in the town of Stellenbosch. But it’s not all of the trails in Stellenbosch. This particular profile includes G-Spot, Coetzenberg, Eden and Mont Marie. All these trails are essentially on the west-facing slope of the Stellenboschberg. These trails are all within about 10km of each other (okay, there’s some climbing involved), making for a stimulating singletrack trail collection with a superb gradient to make most towns envious.
In addition to these more traditional mountain bike trails, there are also Eerste River Trails, which run alongside the river through town. These are tame no-gradient trails, ideal for beginners and kids. Then there is G-Land, a compelling jump spot for the ‘senders’ built by Mark Gordon (who also made G-Spot).
While located on different sections of land (some municipal, some university and some private), all of these trails form a network managed under the Stellenbosch Trail Fund. This non-profit organisation builds, improves and maintains hiking, biking and running trails in and around the greater Stellenbosch area.
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The signage varies from trail to trail but Stellenbosch Trail Fund has been working on this and is erecting updated signage to help riders connect from trail to trail. Some of the trails are best ridden with a local though.
As with many South African trails, the trails aren’t graded according to IMBA’s skill level grading system. You can, however, find the Stellenbosch trails on Trailforks https://www.trailforks.com/region/south-africa/, where they are rated either Blue or Green.
Well, it’s Stellenbosch, with no shortage of great coffee shops, restaurants and wine farms. Bottom line is the riding is so good that you’ll be too weary to do much else other than eat, drink and sleep when the sun has set.
Just this collection of trails makes Stellenbosch a stimulating place to ride mountain bikes. There’s essentially something for every type of mountain biker in Stellenbosch. Much credit must go to the local residents and businesses that financially support the Stellenbosch Trail Fund. There are other trails in the area are covered in other more specific Top MTB Trails reviews.
G-Spot: This trail is on municipal land and is essentially a gradually descending trail with a couple of line options. It includes some superbly shaped berms, a few small jumps and some gap jumps. Never could you imagine such a simple trail offering so much stimulation. G-Spot is world famous for its effortless flow and feel. Anyone can ride it and enjoy it from newcomers to Nino Schurter.
Eden: These trails are largely in a pine forest, also on municipal land and are adjacent to G-Spot in the suburb of Paradyskloof. The slope isn’t super steep, so climbing to the top of the treeline isn’t too taxing, if you’re fairly fit and strong. The descent is super fun though, with a series of fast turns over some rooty ground surface. As you get lower down, the trails straighten up somewhat with a series of fun jumps as the slope lessens.
Mont Marie: Mont Marie is an upmarket restaurant set on an expansive property. There’s no mention of mountain biking on its website, but it does offer some exciting singletrack, which was initially built for the Origin of Trails event. The location is key as it’s on the banks of the Blaauwklippen River. And river basins generally make for some ideal singletrack, especially this one, which is on a steepish gradient in places.
Coetzenberg: This venue, located on the university sports campus, hosted a UCI XCO World Cup in 2018. Some of the obstacles like the rock gardens and ‘Pick-up Sticks’ log descent can be quite intimidating if you’re not a skilled, strong rider, but there are B-lines and you can skip the formidable bits for a challenging ride.
Note: You can actually ride most of these trails in the annual Savanna Origin of Trails two-day mountain bike stage race, organised by Stillwater MTB Events. You can find out more and enter here. https://www.stillwatersports.com/event/origin-of-trails/
There’s no day-rate, but if you can, please donate to the Stellenbosch Trail Fund. You can find all the information on how to do this here: https://stellenboschtrailfund.co.za
Trail Ratings
So this isn’t just one trail, it’s a collection of trails in the town of Stellenbosch. But it’s not all of the trails in Stellenbosch. This particular profile includes G-Spot, Coetzenberg, Eden and Mont Marie. These trails are all within about 10km of each other (okay, there’s some climbing involved) which makes for a stimulating singletrack trail collection with superb gradient to make most towns envious. All these trails are essentially on the west-facing slope of the Stellenboschberg.
If you've ridden these trails recently, why not tell us about it? Follow the link to our review section, complete our rating criteria and give us some feedback on your experience. You'll go into a regular draw to win cool mountain biking prizes from our partner brands.
