Eselfontein getaway

Eselfontein getaway

One of my favorite places in the Western Cape is Eselfontein. The accommodation may be rustic, to book here is as much a challenge as some of the more advanced routes on the farm and you can consider yourself lucky if the lady arranging the booking sends you the correct code for the gate, but once inside you enter the original mountain bikers paradise. 

We stayed in the Eco huts for this trip. 6 small thatch huts neatly spaced between the pine trees with a braai and lapa, bathrooms and if you want hot water, there is a good old “donkey” (firewood based water heating system)

Friday night was meet and greet familiar and new faces and after supper we all turned in. Saturday morning we hit the trails after a good breakfast, and soon we were swooping through the single track from the huts all the way to the enchanted forest, the dark forest and over the rocky hill climbs and descent. Up at Phillips creek we opted to take the Forest single track section home opposed to Shapiro’s drop. The rest of the day was spent walking to the dam, chatting to friends, repairing our bikes from the morning’s ride and lazing around in general. 

We geared up for a night ride and tackled the trails lit by the full moon and our 1400lumens bike lights and returned to the huts for hot showers and supper. The trails seemed to get the better of most of us and the camp went quiet after 10pm. 

Sunday morning we all slept in. I can’t remember when I last slept till 8am in the morning. By 9 the morning ride started. Small groups formed scouting off into different directions according to each groups preferences and time frames. I opted for the dark forest, Rocky hill climb and descent, Phillips Creek and Shapiro’s drop back to the huts to complete a great weekend with friends. 

With 31 days to Sani2C, I am feeling well prepared and I am slightly behind on my weight loss programme. I seemed to get stuck on 92kg’s for the last few weeks. Fortunately my gym programme, the running and the recent swimming seems to start paying dividends. 3 more hard weeks of training and then 10 days of tapering should see me  fit and in shape for South Africa’s most popular stage race.