Karoo to Coast Karoo to Coast The Karoo to Coast is an annual 100 km mountain bike race held in September down the Prince Alfred's Pass from Uniondale to Knysna in South Africa. In 2007 this was voted one of the top ten mountain bike races in the country. All proceeds go to the Lions Clubs International “SightFirst” fund, financing sight restoration surgery for the poor. Started in 1999, this event is considered extremely arduous along a route of which 93% is on gravel roads, from a high point of 1045 m down to sea level, with many long and gruelling climbs, often
Karoo sills (see below), creating multiple flat-topped hills, or Karoo Koppies, which are iconic of the Great Karoo. The vegetation of the Upper is similar to the Lower Karoo, so few people make a distinction between the two. The main highway (the N1) and railway line from Cape Town to the north enter the Lower Karoo from the Hex River Valley just before Touws River and follow a course about 50 km south of the Great Escarpment up to Beaufort West. Thereafter, they gradually ascend the Great Escarpment along a broad valley to Three Sisters on the Central Plateau and the