One Wednesday morning after our coffee coffee ride from One Grind, Justin Bircher mentioned an idea to do a ride from One Grind to Sani Pass, we all kinda thought the same but kept quiet.

Next thing we knew myself & Ryan Brooke made it happen!

One Grind to Sani Pass Day 1 – Hillcrest to Nottingham Road

Day one kicked off with some Coffee at our usual meeting point at One Grind. Light drizzle and cloudy conditions gave us the perfect riding conditions.

Some final route adjustments to bypass traffic and road works, we rerouted through Bisley nature reserve, Pietermaritzburg and up into Hilton & Howick.

Bisley delivered with sighting of Giraffe and Zebra. Quick navigation through Pietermaritzburg and a long climb up to Howick for a much need lunch stop at Rotunda Coffee House.

Perfect riding conditions continued throughout the day. A quick stop in at Karkloof Country Club before the long climb up to our overnight stop at Mansfield Manor Guest House.

One Grind to Sani Pass Day 2 – Nottingham Road to Himeville

After the long climb up and out of Mansfield Manor we were onto the small town of Nottingham Road for some coffee, breakfast at The Village Café and snacks from the local Spar we were off! Kicking off with similar conditions to day 1 we decided to take a slight detour from the traditional Berg100 route, of Nottingham Road to Himeville, and stick to the main Lower Lotheni road until it turned to gravel where we were now back on route.

The Lower Lotheni road was in prime condition for some gravel riding. A quick stop in at one of the local Shebeens for Coke and chips saw us continuing to Himeville Arms for a celebratory beer before we had our overnight stop at Sani Lodge Backpackers.

One Grind to Sani Pass Day 3 – Himeville to Sani

After being well fed and a good nights sleep we were ready to conquer Sani Pass.

After a few hours and some hike a bike we finally made it to the top! Blowing gales we cut our trip into Lesotho to a little short and decided the order of the day was beer, lunch and get down the pass safely.

Needless to say I was the first to hit the deck having a small oopsie on the way down, Justin had a little OTB too. We both got through with some minor scratches and nothing serious.

Thanks to the guys for riding this out, look forward to next year of One Grind to Sani Pass 2.0!

Ride Stats

Total Distance: 309.8km
Total Elevation Gain: 6, 826m
Estimated Calories: 13, 537
Total Time: 26 hours 21 minutes

One Grind

Our local coffee stop where this ride started from. Based out a small container at ONE Sports and Wellness in Hillcrest. They are open Mondays to Saturdays any questions regarding One Grind can be directed via their Instagram account @onegrindcoffee.

Read up about my build up ride this here!

2 Days of riding bundled with a travel day to and from Barkly East set us up for a short bike packing trip with Douglas and I to ride from Barkly East to the small town of Rhodes, this was a much needed test of bike setup and fitness ahead of a ride up Sani Pass in the coming weeks.

Day 1 – Barkly East to Rhodes

Slight cloudy conditions and cooler temps gave us a good ride out to Rhodes. There is very little in these areas so we were pretty self sufficient and carried everything we needed.

This meant bringing out the bike bags as we would need to carry food for the day, enough water and clothing for the overnight stop as we had no support vehicle for this trip.

The ride out was a relatively “short” route with some climbing. We got into Rhodes around lunch and got checked into the Rhodes Hotel for our overnight stay and got some lunch before heading out to explore the area a little and find a spot in the river to swim.

Quick exploration of the area led us to a quick beer stop at The Walkerbouts Country Inn & Pub, very friendly people and some insight to the history of the town and local events like Rhodes Trail Run.

Rhodes Hotel one thing they’ve always got right is that their food is amazing! I’ve stayed there once before and the food was good, this time they lived up to their reputation!

Day 2 – Rhodes > Bokspruit > Barkly East

Kicking the day off with breakfast at the hotel before we were on our way back to Barkly East. Weather looking to be higher temps than the day before meant today was going to get hot!

Climbing out from Rhodes we followed some of the Freedom Challenge route until the route took a left turn where we turned right so we could get back to where we started.

The days temps got higher which resulted in a quick swim in the river to cool off and trusting the local river water for incase we needed the extra water. We also happened to catch a bit of a headwind on the way back which slowed things down slightly.

So a slow ride back and after a quick stop at the local stores for milkshakes our ride was concluded. If you in the area be sure to checkout Dorpstal Coffee Shop!

The first and last night of the trip we stayed at Charlies Place, simple and really accommodating where they allowed us to leave the car there while we rode to Rhodes.

Ride Stats

Total Distance: 146km
Total Elevation: +- 2800m
Estimated Calories: 6,500
Total Time: 11 hours 40 minutes