The Wildlands trust in partnership with Bonitas Medical scheme yet again were at the helm of another highly successful event in 2011. Hosted by the Michael House School in the midlands, the Michael house MTB challenge was a great success pulling riders from all over KwaZulu-Natal to the picturesque Natal midlands for a great day on the bike.

In its 5^th year running as an event, the organisers pull out all the stops to provide some of the most beautifully scenic views which would definitely bring people back year after year. In the name of conservation and fun a field in excess of 800 individuals left the school grounds to explore the farmlands, natural grasslands and pristine midlands indigenous forests which dot the surrounding landscape.

Much of the route was similar to previous years but the masterful Nic Florous added his personal touch to the route this year with considerably more single track and a slightly longer ride. Topping out at 50km the route was slightly longer than the normal classic and gave the riders more opportunity to enjoy the scenery.

The racing was as fast as expected with Brandon Stewart taking the race by the horns up the first climb. I was the only rider to respond and I managed to bridge the gap onto his wheel. This was short lived and the next hard effort pushed me into the red zone and I dropped off. The chases were an experienced group of Andrew Warr and Travis Walker so I knew I would have to push extremely hard to stay clear. I managed to increase the gap between the chasing group and myself and I could just see Brandon rounding each corner ahead of me. The time gap was stuck at 30seconds and I just could not bridge the gap. The route suited the technically strong riders and with long sections of single track interspersed with fast district roads. The weather was threatening to down pour during the entire ride and finally when the clouds opened the track became slippery and muddy. This changed the race slightly with tire and chain lube selection coming into play, luckily for me I was riding the best lube around from Powasol, the placing didn’t change from the first sizable hill with the Stewart claiming overall victory from myself and the tussle for the final place on the podium going to Travis walker after he put a small gap between himself and the MR PRICE BMC rider Andrew Warr in the final 8km single track section.

It must be said that with great races like this on the calendar KwaZulu-Natal mountain biking is going to grow and grow and will continue to become the fastest growing sport in SA.