IF YOU love your bike but feel you need to do more than ride around your kasi, try a weekend and holiday bike run and meet new people while you see more of Mzansi.
Magaliesburg
One of South Africa’s classic Sunday breakfast runs goes to Magaliesburg and back. Start alone and join the bikers on the run.
Take Beyers Naude out to the N14 and Cradle of Humankind. Keep on the R563 towards Hekpoort. At Barton’s Folly go left on the R96. Ride past the Mount Grace towards Magaliesburg where you can find coffee.
Long Tom Pass and beyond
Be rewarded with great views at the Long Tom Pass in Mpumalanga. The roads around Sabie and Graskop are relatively traffic-free roads, so they’re perfect for a weekend retreat from Jo’burg.
From Lydenberg, take the bending Sabie road (R37). The Long Tom Pass takes you through some beautiful countryside until you reach the village of Sabie. Stop at Kanonkop and check out the Anglo-Boer War’s Long Tom guns.
The ride from there to Hazyview, around Graskop and back to Sabie, will clear your head.
Green Hell at Franschhoek
From Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, ride to Pniel up Hels-hoogte Pass, then head to Franschhoek – where you can fill up on coffee and fuel – turn left at the Huguenot memorial and prepare for one of South Africa’s great rides. Franschhoek Pass is a challenging road across the Hottentots-Holland mountains which plunges down to Theewaterskloof and the epic scenery around Elgin and Sir Lowry’s Pass, and on to Cape Town. Expect sheer cliffs, challenging corners and near the dam, some speed!
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