The Big Red Barn, located between Pretoria and Johannesburg is a fantastic place for biking, but also for other activities. The area is offering a network of well-built trails in a slightly hilly environment of forest and open plains, and obviously that is what brings me there
The Big Red Barn it is…
Access to the area is 50 ZAR (3€) and renting a bike is 220 ZAR (14€) – this is what you get:
On the one hand a bit of a time machine; 26″, a looong stem, 3×9… and on the other: just fantastic to be able to get such a good bike for some hours of riding far away from home 🙂
The trails all start close to the barn, they are all marked but according to a logic that beats me. But it doesn’t matter… The trails are great and I don’t mind some extra loops.
What I really like is that there is a good mix of speedy trails mixed with sections of jumps, pump tracks and other nice treats
Some trails or sections of trails are named with inspiring names like this one
You better not get too close to some of the surrounding vegetation
The best trails were well hidden far away from the Barn, but I found them! Berms, bridges, gullies – all with a good flow.
I meet some guys and one of them shoots these nice pics in the “Viper pit”
And just around the corner this nice feature awaits you… short jump off the bridge into a 360-g-force berm endning up under the bridge you just jumped:
After almost 3 hours at 1500 meters elevation I reach back to the Barn and a well deserved IPA
…and I don’t get much time on my own before I get invited over to a table proofing the great hospitality of the South African people. What a nice morning!