The Cape Trails team receiving their new Giant Stance 2 full suspension bikes. Photo by Sam Clark/Wines2Whales.
Ashwell Swartz, Brenden Boysen, Denzel Scheepers, and Keenan Cupido are more than just trail builders; they are curators of gees. Since 2011 Cape Trails have built and maintained singletracks in Elgin and beyond – building bridges, sculpting trails, and ensuring that every rider has the best possible on the bike experience at FNB Wines2Whales. As mountain bikers themselves they love to test ride their creations and now, with the help of Dragons Sports and Giant Bicycles South Africa they will be flying down their singletracks in style, on new Giant Stance 2 full suspension mountain bikes.
The Cape Trails team are instrumental in bridge building, and mastered the art of creating Da Vinci bridges with Kim Lord and Johan Kriegler ahead of the 2024 FNB Wines2Whales. Photo by Sam Clark/Wines2Whales
Cape Trails is as much part of FNB Wines2Whales as the farms the route crosses. Since the second edition Ashwell Swartz, Brenden Boysen, and Denzel Scheepers have been hard at work building singletracks. In 2011, event founder, Johan Kriegler formalised the group and founded Cape Trails. A decade later Keenan Cupido joined the team. Now they maintain nearly 200 kilometres of mountain bike routes and build new trails every year too, to ensure the riders experience the very best mountain biking possible on the trails from wines to whales.
Epic Series’ first contribution to Cape Trails was, in 2018, to repaint the house which FNB Wines2Whales had bought for them. Six years on and the house has been gifted to the men who have lived there for nearly a decade, further empowering their ownership of the ecosystem in which they operate. The house, which is located on a double plot in Grabouw, has a Wendy house bike shop in its garden, from which the team provide basic bicycle maintenance services to the greater Elgin community.
Building flowing singletrack takes a good eye and a feel which only a mountain biker can understand. Photo by Max Sullivan/Wines2Whales.
A few years ago the Epic Series purchased Giant Talon hardtail mountain bikes from Dragon Sports for the team. Now Cape Trails are upgrading to full suspension bikes. The Giant Stance 2 mountain bikes will give the team more capable machines under them, to ride their trails at greater speeds.
Though FNB Wines2Whales riders need not be concerned, the full suspension Stance 2’s will not be inspiring them to build more technical trails. The ethos of the Race with Gees will remain. But like Ashwell, Boysen, Denzel, and Keenan if you go faster the trails will automatically become more technical…
Ashwell Swartz, Brenden Boysen, and Denzel Scheepers receiving the applause of the FNB Wines2Whales Chardonnay riders. Photo by Sam Clark/Wines2Whales.