This is mountain biking folks!

I woke up to the sound of a steady drizzle that had been going on since the previous day. This meant one thing was for sure, lots of dirty, muddy fun.

Unlike the usual two 30km loops that Clive and Jakkie plan out for us at Vori-Berg, they decided to mix things up and make one big 60km loop. We started with the first part of the usual route which was fast, fun and technical, with undulating single track, rocky down hills, river crossings and a drop-off or two with a few hairy climbs to get the blood pumping.

The rest of the loop was flat, which brought little relief as it got muddier and muddier. My entire bike stopped dead at about 35km in a thick clay-like mud that had clogged up my entire bicycle which took forever to (semi) un-clog.

I was scooping handfuls of mud off my wheels and fork as I was riding, and was very grateful that the thick clay mud was over. After the final waterpoint, the race ended on a good note with a loop through some farms that included a bridge, a short but technical rocky section, a bamboo forest and then back into the Lemlou Security Grounds for the finish.

From the smiles on the faces of the barely distinguishable brown figures walking around, it was clear that despite their rather unhealthy sounding, mud-clad bicycles, everyone had had lots, and lots of dirty, muddy fun!

As usual much thanks go to Clive Hardy and Jakkie Louw for a fantastic event. Next race in the Vori-Berg MTB Series is on Saturday 7 April 2012.

See you there!

Xx

PS. If you have a query regarding the results, please contact the race organiser Clive Hardy at clivedhardy@gmail.com.