On your bike

Just beyond the village of Ceres, nestled amid the cherry farms and fruit orchards of the Koue Bokkeveld, is where you can crank onto a little corner of mountain-biking heaven by the name of Eselfontein. Mountain bikers in the know rate this rocking route as one of the best places in SA on which to ride singletrack. They are right on the money too, as the trails – the brainchild of farm owner, Deon Malherbe – constitute 45km of velocipede ecstasy.

Beginning at the old farmhouse, the route starts off flat through the orchards, but do not let this lull you into believing that this will be a leisurely ride. The climb up the first hill is gradual enough to let you sit back and take in the view, but after 5km the following short down­hill will nonetheless be welcome. This leads down to the base of the first major climb on the route. Put your head down and grind to the top, where you’ll be rewarded with a dastardly descent aptly named ‘Death Drop’. It’s not as bad as it sounds, though, and can easily be ridden by those with average MTB skills.

Follow the trail through Phillips Creek: here you can opt for a shorter (Yellow) route back to the farmhouse, or continue onto the singletrack climb of Swaarmoed. Think of this as mental conditioning, because quite soon you’ll come face to face with ‘Dead Man Walking’. This is ‘necessary evil’ at its worst, but endure the suffering as it will eventually top out onto one of the finest singletrack stretches on this tiny blue planet.
The view from the top is breathtak­ing, as is the trail unfolding below you, so take a break to absorb the visual splendour extending as far as the eye can see. The word ‘breathtaking’ is used very much in its literal sense, as you’ll be whooping it up along beautifully groomed singletrack for the next few kilometres until your lungs hurt. There just aren’t words to describe how much fun this is, so I shan’t bother to try and do it justice.

Once you’ve slowed down your heart rate sufficiently, crank into the final stretch to the finish. Take care on the rocky drop-off along Shapiro’s Folly, pick up speed on the flat singletrack, and finally bang home over the wooden bridge through the pine plantation known as the Blair Witch Forest. And that, my friends, is Eselfontein – equal parts agony, ecstasy and MTB.