The 1,000 Miler Concept

 How it started

John Loos had long believed there’s something really cool about a ride from South Africa’s “Great City of Gold”,Johannesburg, built on the greatest gold fields ever discovered, to the “Mother City” of Cape Town with its beautiful flat Table Mountain. In between the 2 cities are some of the least populated areas of South Africa, including the spectacular Great Karoo….and it just so happens that the quiet roads (off the N1 highway)…add up to a total distance of near to 1,000 miles (1,600km).

This coincidence led to the idea of a race simply called The 1,000 Miler. 

The Jozi - Cape Town (Jozi-Parys-Le Cap) Forgotten Highways Route was the 1st in the series of  1,000 Milers to come. Back in 2016, Andy Masters (of Massive Adventures at the time) and John hatched the idea of an unsupported race from Joburg to Cape Town, to be known simply as The 1,000 Miler….Andy took the initiative and organized of the race.

The race was near enough to 1,000 miles in distance if one took the most logical route, but it was not actually a fixed route race. Rather, the race had certain “checkpoints” (unmanned points on the map) through which unsupported riders had to pass, and in between checkpoints they were free to take whichever route they desired.

But Covid-19 lockdowns came in 2020, and the race was cancelled. We then decided to set up a 1,000 Miler Challenge.

We then set about plotting the Joburg 2 Blouberg 1,000 Mile Challenge (approximately 1,600km) route…and Paul Erasmus and John Loos launched the Challenge off shortly afterwards in April 2021 with the 1st ride. The 1,000 Mile Challenge idea was one of an unsupported informal challenge that was largely on quiet gravel roads. This implies riding the route with no “outside” support, the rider only making use of commercially available services along the route (accommodation, food etc), obviously excluding any transport related services, and with no back up vehicle or support from elsewhere.

The Joburg 2 Blouberg 1,000 Mile Challenge was hosted on Andy's Massive Adventures website, with a set of unsupported riding rules to which riders needed to adhere to in order to qualify to have their names added to the “Hall of Fame”.

One could start at either end of the route (The “down run” and the “up run”), and even ride ”out and back” for what was termed a 1,000 Miler Double (3,200 km)

Andy has since moved on, but John's enthusiasm for 1,000 Miler bikepacking trips continues. However, the "challenge" no longer exists. John rides bikepacking 1,000 milers and more when he can, and loves to see others doing the same.

This blogsite merely documents rides done by certain individuals, for the information of others who may have the same enthusiasm for cycling in remote areas.

This is not an event or an official challenge of any type, and the author(s) cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of ride and route information, nor the safety and well-being of any rider choosing to ride these routes. The routes comprise public roads, and come with all the normal risks relating to vehicle traffic, wildlife, weather, crime and other. Any person riding the routes that we have ridden, on what are essentially public roads, takes full responsibility for their own safety and well-being.

What constitutes a 1,000 Miler?

As the original name suggests, the distance of a 1,000 Miler route should be 1,000 Miles (1,610 kilometers). However, planning routes of this nature between desired points will never be an exact science. We thus cut ourselves a bit of slack, deeming a 1,000 Miler to be a route with a distance of above 1,570km but below 1,750km.