Do you believe in magic?

Trail - Majik Forest, Durbanville - Cape Town, South Africa

Distances - 3Km - 15Km

Toughness - 3.5

Do you believe in magic? A question which every young child asks and every young-at-heart person still asks. When riding through Majik Forest, this question will come to mind often during your first ride here.

Majik Forest is a different and unusual ride as one is not quite sure what to expect. When arriving at the entrance of the trail, the view is straight up towards the vineyards of the Cape winelands, while behind you is the normal hustle and bustle of the commuters whom watch you getting ready to take your break from the working day and to enjoy the outdoors. When starting your ride, you approach a moderately steady uphill climb; for the beginners, this is not the most appealing factor on which to start, but if you stick it out, it will definitely become rewarding, which I will get to soon.

After a slightly uncomfortable start, where you are saying, "why, oh why do I do this all the time?", you take a left and the path leads to a nice level section, to let the rider catch their breath and relax the legs, before taking on the next climb, not as tiring as the first one, but that is most probably because your legs are upset with you and are going with the motion. Once you reach the top of the second climb, your view of the trail starts to take a different turn....

(PHOTO)

At the crest of the climb, one starts to get a feeling how the rest of the trail is going to be....FUN! There are two options, the straight boring down the hill option, which is actually more there for the return trip, and the second option, the switch back single track! This is of course the number one choice for all riders. The single track is not tough, yet it is still fun, and for the beginner to intermediate rider, that is what Majik Forest is all about. After this first single track section, there is a another climb, and not the last unfortunately, but the reward is worth it. At the top of the climb, one makes a U-turn and straight away into the next single track, a little more challenging and more rigorous on the wrists; but one must remember this is all gearing you up for the final "Majik" run as they call it.

After the climbs and the single-tracks, you are placed at the first crest where one starts to get that nervous, but good feeling, in their stomachs and knowing deep down that now is the time for the "Majik" to begin. From the start, the single track, which takes you off the normal "boring" route, forces the rider to awake and start paying attention, as the berms and the little whoops can through you off. After a zig-zag single track, the rider enters the forest, where you can choose 3 different routes, all will join up but they are all different ranging from easy and soft, to the more hard-core drop-off sections, where one just let's loose.

Weaving in and out of the corners, throwing the bike into the best positions is most of the fun, all a while, you are thinking “I Believe in Majik” as every corner is different but just as much fun as the last. Each single track through the forest, allows for different riding styles, either very aggressive or more cautious. Riders will come across wooden bridges, some big drop offs and even a nice "little" table top jump for the more adventurous rider. 

Once through the forest, you will experience a very nice peaceful end to your journey along the river bank and finally find yourself back where you started and looking back up to the mountain, and 9 times out of 10, saying "Let's do it again!".

Overall Majik Forest might not be a long ride, or even a tough ride. It will take the super-fit rider about 50-minutes and the not-so-fit just under 2 hours, but it gives every rider the chance to have fun, break away from the concrete jungle and believe in Majik just one more time!