Wednesday 31 December 2014

Review Hero Adventure Park - Heia Muldersdrift



Make sure you stock up on water before attempting the Red Route.



Above video clips are of us attempting to cross the floating bridge.

Overall rating: 9.3

The venue: 

Children: 9

Facilities: 10

Accessibility: 9

Cost: 8




The trail itself:


Security on trail: 10

Traffic Safety: 9

Fun: 10

Technicality:10

Scenery: 10

Obstructions: 8

Maintenance: 8

Hill climbing: 10

Variation: 10


The venue: 

Children: 9

Hero Adventure Park caters very well for children.  The MTB cycle track for children is an easier part of the main track.  There is a play park and a swimming pool.

Facilities: 10

There are plenty of toilets.  There is a restaurant which does a buffet breakfast and a buffet lunch on a Sunday.

Accessibility: 9

Hero is easy to find as it is well marked.  It is a bit out of Muldersdrift.

Cost: 9

Hero charges the average price R 30.  You pay R50 and when you give your tag bag after the cycle you get R20 back.  The reason I give it a 9, is because for the price there is so much to offer.


The trail itself:


Security on trail: 10

I feel very secure at Hero, bare in mind it is in the Muldersdrift area which has been plagued by crime, always be alert and avoid cycling alone.

Traffic Safety: 9

There is a ground road crossing.  Be on the lookout for vehicles.  There are also people driving around the resort be aware.

Fun: 10

Hero has a bit of everything.  You have to try the floating bridge!  We took a cheap bicycle with as we did not want to risk damaging our good bicycles.

The berms on the blue route are a extremely fun.  The wooden bridge ramp on the blue route is probably fun but I am not brave enough to try it yet.   Michael says beware coming down it as there are loose rocks at the bottom of it.   The one on the red route is for crazy people.  

Technicality:10

There is a variation of difficult technical parts.  Bridges, ramps, floating bridge, berms, steep drops, steep climbs.    The blue route has a few difficult parts.  I just get off and push.   The red route has extremely difficult climbs and very scary steep drops.  I pushed quite a bit.  The red route also goes through a few house ruins.  

Scenery: 9

Heia is gorgeous.  The first part of the Blue route is not that pretty but it becomes very scenic once  you are down at the floating bridge and enter the forest.  The entire area of the red route is very scenic.  I have not been on the yellow route.  When we were there (December 2014), the giraffes and zebra's had offspring, very cute.   

Obstructions: 8

Beware of the wildlife and  of vehicles travelling on parts of the route.


Maintenance: 8

Hero is well maintained.  There were a few issues.  The floating bridge had a few crates missing making it harder than usual.   I am sure that Hero does maintain it all the time but these crates can slip out easily.  There was a bridge on the red route that needed repair.  Trail marking is excellent.

Hill climbing: 10

If you are into hill climbing torture go on the red route.  Feels like more ups hills than down hills.

Variation: 10

There is a bit of everything at Hero.  

8 comments:

  1. I've only ridden heia once, I did not enjoy it, found most of the stretches through the open sections to be boring. Didn't end up on the red sections.What are the burns you're referring to? Do you mean berms?

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  2. Yes ha ha I meant berms. Give the red section a try next time you go. I think they have added more berms to the open section to make it more interesting. How long ago did you cycle it?

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    1. I was there about 4 months ago. My technical skills are lacking so haven't braved red, and don't like having to get off and push every 10m at this point.

      That floating bridge is another bugbear. I was warned by many good cyclists not to waste my time trying that bridge, I watched 3 people try it, only one got across and the other 2 really struggled to get their bikes and themselves out of the water

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    2. The floating bridge is about fun and great on a hot day when you want to get in the water. I would not try it in the winter. It is a must in the summer though. Have you been to Northern Farms? The blue route and green route have no technical challenges. It is a great place to gain your confidence. Also look out this year. There is going to be skills training at Mount Grace. Also if you are female, G-tribe does 4 x free skills training courses a year. Look them up on Facebook.

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  3. The yellow route is my fav! Definitely worth a try!!

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    1. I am looking forward to giving the yellow route a try.

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  4. Did Blue, Red and then yellow on Sunday. Loved every moment of it! Will be visiting much more often! Brilliant trails and training!

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    1. Wow you are a machine! I am looking forward to trying out the yellow route.

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