There is a South African race for just about every kind of cyclist, but working out which one to actually enter is harder than it sounds, especially when you are newer to it and not sure what you can finish. So I put together a small planner to help you choose.
You filter the calendar by what suits you, road, mountain bike or gravel, a single day or a multi day stage race, the province, and the time of year. Then there is an optional step where you tell it roughly where you are, new to it, riding most weekends, or properly race fit, and it flags each race as in reach, a stretch goal, or one to build up to. Nothing is saved, it is just a friendly steer.
The part I am most pleased with is the honest note on each race about the cut-off and the effort. Most race lists give you the distance and the date but not whether you are going to get swept off the route, and that is the thing people actually worry about. So the Cape Town Cycle Tour reads very differently to the Attakwas Extreme, and a relaxed three day like the sani2c reads differently to a 1000km non-stop like the Munga.
It covers the big recurring events, the Cape Town Cycle Tour, 947, Amashova and Tour Durban on the road, one day mountain bike rides like Karoo to Coast and Trans Baviaans, the stage races from sani2c and Wines2Whales right up to the Cape Epic, the new Gravel Burn, and the bucket list ultras for the brave.
One honest note. Race dates move every year, so the tool shows the month each race usually runs in and links you to the official site to confirm the date and enter. It is built that way on purpose so it stays accurate instead of going stale.
Try it here: Find Your Next Cycling Race in South Africa
If I have left out a race you think belongs in there, or you reckon I have rated one too easy or too hard, tell me and I will gladly adjust it.