Holla trails in their 3rd year of operation played host to yet another great mountain bike event and are quickly becoming a notable role player in the mountain biking fraternity. The Golovane in its 4th year running is the flagship event of Holla and attracts many if not all of the cycling stalwarts from the Durban region.

The setting in which Holla trails is situated is ideal for mountain biking and the 2011 race ideally showcased the notable aspects of the trail network with a few surprises to keep things fresh. Nic Jordan utilized all his knowledge of the area to add another dimension to the already outstanding route. The route itself followed only 80% of the previous years event often linking up sections of the Golovane explore team event held in early February but the big surprise that it was all done backwards... This made for a mixture of fast paced descents, open jeep track climbs and sublime single track not forgetting the mandatory narrow bridge crossings to keep you on your toes.

The main race of the day was the 50km classic with just over 700m of climbing to stretch the legs and push the heart rate up. This didn’t detract from the pace upfront which was extremely fast with a big group of riders making the first move of the day. The Group included Rouke Cruiser, Brandon Stewart, the RE CM team of Neil Macdonald and Walon Wolcock, Tyron White, Sean Merridew, Andrew Warr and myself. The first major climb came quickly with many still warming up the legs. The dirt road climbed 120m vertically in just over 2km quickly separating the field. By the top of the climb the select group mentioned above were still in contact. The next big attack came from Rouke fresh off his European racing. The group responded and Walon and Tyron being dropped off the back. Another attack went off the front with Andrew Warr, Rouke and Brandon making the move and breaking away. Andrew was dropped by the leaders and myself, Merridew and Macdonald quickly picked him up. We pushed extremely hard and dislodged the roadie macdonald on a tight section of single track 35km in. This left Warr, Merridew and myself to fight it out for 3rd place. I made final move of the day and Merridew followed. From this point to the finish it was a fast paced flat out time trial. I pushed hard but could not make a break from Sean who is known for his tenacious riding and road riding experience. I had no choice but to take him to the line for a sprint finish. It was always going to be tough against a sprinter of his caliber but he piped me by enough to take 3rd place.

Team TIB insurance: Overall 9th

Article by Andrew Hill,
TIB Sponsored Cyclist