For the fifth time, since 2018, Diverge.info will be hosting a year-starting bikepacking trip. This year the route takes in the spectacular Baviaans Mega Reserve, travelling east from Willowmore before crossing the Kouga mountains and dropping into the Patensie. Then the course turns north west, ascending the Baviaanskloof, back towards Willowmore. In total the four [...]
The 2023 Momentum Medical Scheme Cape Pioneer Trek, presented by Biogen, took solo racers and teams on a journey through some of the Southern Cape’s most spectacular landscapes. From the plantations and indigenous forests of George, through the orchards and fynbos of the Langkloof and into the usually arid Klein Karoo. A record season of [...]
They say it’s a man’s world. And when looking around a mountain bike race village it’s difficult to argue. In the biggest races the average man to woman ratio is 10 to 1. Equal prize money has evened the playing field, but arguably only for the very top riders. For the amateur women – who [...]
The first week in January is for bikepacking trips, writes Seamus Allardice. Well, bike-slackpacking trips. Who wants to carry their gear on a bike when a bakkie could do all the heavy lifting? Which is why he organised a wild camping tour to kick of 2023. In 2018 we rode from Stellenbosch to Opsoek. In [...]
In January 2023 Diverge Tours will be taking a select group of riders into the very deep south. Off the beaten track and across sandy trails to some of South Africa's best kept secret spots. Saddle up and join the ride... In 2022 rode to Hell and Back. In 2021 we climbed Gysmanshoek Pass. In [...]
I fell out of love with cycling, confesses Seamus Allardice. It happened slowly at first. Then quickly. But bikepacking always lures me back in. Every January, for last three years, I’ve started the year with a bikepacking trip. It actually started in 2018; when Andrew Robb, David le Roux and myself rode from Stellenbosch to [...]
Based on a solo bikepacking trip Seamus Allardice did in May 2021 the Diverge January 2022 tour will take in Seweweekspoort, Die Hel, Gamka Mountain Nature Reserve and the Huisrivier Pass. It's a 4 day Klein Karoo Bikepacking Adventure dubbed the Hell's Teeth Tour. Die Leer to Hell. Basics Dates: 3 to [...]
I’ve expected my “agh, how hard could it be” attitude to catch up with me eventually. I just didn’t expect it to be on the road from Hell. In hindsight, that was foolish. Hell's teeth, boet; that was tough writes Seamus Allardice. Since January 2018 I’ve organised or been on a bike packing trip every [...]
[My] landmark is a kopje-crest that breaks the veldt around; and [familiar] constellations west each night above [my tent] – in the land of Thomas Hardy and Drummer Hodge the Trek2Teebus showcases the best of the Great Karoo. There’s more to a mountain bike stage race than the racing and the routes. The venue, the [...]
This January the now semi-annual Diverge summer bikepacking trip (2018 | 2020) will venture into the Langeberge to cross the fabled Gysmanshoek Pass. Possibly the only gravel pass that is still open to the public crossing the mountain range which separates the Western Cape's coastal plains from the Klein Karoo. The pass was forged, in [...]
