Woodridge Trail

It's never been so much fun going to school. I've also never looked this much forward to returning to school! The reason for my excitement? Woodridge College & Preparatory School boasts a national standard cross country mountain bike course. I had the pleasure this morning of running the course and a bit more!

Woodridge is situated 35km outside Port Elizabeth on the hills forming the Van Staden's Pass.

After I sorted out my permit and had a quick brief of the route, I set off to explore this wonder world! No less than 95% of the course is single track, sweeping through forests and some open grasslands. There is a area not accessible to MTB's that goes down to the valley floor. This is a real challenge with an indistinct path and branches blocking your way, a TRUE TRAIL RUN!!!

The official course measures just short of 8km. Adding some of the other out and back single tracks I was able to hit 12km on the GPS. By adding the Van Staden's Wild Flower Garden to your route you will be able to easily clock 25km. That will be 25km of very technical trail running. This area will surely form the part of my training for my next big race.

Permits for Woodridge is available at Cyclopro and will cost you R20 a day or a mere R100 for a year permit.

My inside sources told me that we might even see a trail race here in the near future. So look out for that one