It’s hard not to be impressed with the sheer volume of banners and branding up at a National MTB Series event, as soon as you arrive at the race venue you know you’re in for a professionally run race. And the opening round of the Ashburton Investments National MTB Series, held at Meerendal Wine Estate lived up to that standard as Seamus Allardice found out.
To be honest what impressed me most, pre-race, about the Meerendal National MTB Series race was the race booklet. Yip, it’s a bit odd I know, but I also know how much effort, and expense, goes into producing a booklet like that, so I really appreciated the touch from the organisers to professionally publish an A5 mag with all the essential information any rider, or supporter could need for the big day. But let’s get away from the publishing nerds stuff and into the race itself.
Wessel van der Walt from the race organisers, Advendurance, had kindly organised my riding partner, Warren Fincham and I entries to the Ultra, but when my bravado deserted me (call it a post-Attakwas reality check…) he was more than happy to down-scale the entries to the 70km Marathon. It proved to be a wise choice as the marathon course was anything but easy.
Starting in the C batch, we rolled through the lower vineyards of Meerendal before crossing the Vissershok Road and heading into the farmlands adjoining Durbanville. The early kays were relatively easy, flowing jeep tracks allowed for a steady pace at a comfortable cadence, but that would not be the tone for the day. Soon the route left the farmlands for the vineyards clinging to the slopes of the Durbanville Hills, and worse the Renosterveld above the vineyards where the ground is too rocky or steep even for vines.
The King of the Mountain climb up to the koppie above Hillcrest was all on a lovely cement road, which while steep, didn’t require any heroics to reach the summit. From there the fun section of the race started with a twisty singletrack descent into Hillcrest being followed by a grinding singletrack climb up Kliprug. Fortunately for Warren and myself, the riders around us were circumspect on the gravel road descent along the Kliprug ridge which allowed us to reach the famed Contermanskloof singletrack without any riders ahead of us.
For many the Contermans’ section of the race must have been the highlight as the trails flow beautifully and unlike some of the other Tygerberg trails they are in a great condition right now. Once we crossed out of Contermans the constant seesaw of climbing and descending began to take its toll though. The singletracks that followed seemed (an illusion surely) to be mostly uphill, apart from a section in Hoogekraal where a rider ahead of us took an unintentional shortcut, headfirst, down a steep and dusty switchback section. His fall, though not serious, was a timely reminder to keep our energy levels up with an energy tablet or bar. It’s so easy to lose concentration when your energy levels/blood sugar drops and without my heart rate monitor (the Attakwas killed its battery) I hadn’t been as good as I usually am at eating at regular intervals.
Eventually we reached the crest of a long singletrack climb and descended towards the Malanshoogte Road where a couple of soothing kays of tar awaited us. A detour past the fascinatingly zef Cape Oval Dirt Karting track later we were climbing up and out of the old quarry behind Meerendal. It was a super difficult climb, partly because of the loose surface in the early parts and the dusty surfaces in the latter, but also because the early morning cloud cover had burnt off and the African sun was starting to bake down on us.
After what felt like an age we slipped through the game fence at the top of the Dorstberg overlooking the Meerendal Manor House. The Burry Stander Memorial Trail was honestly the disappointment of the route. Since I last rode it in October or so the trail has suffered a lot of wear and tear. It was rough and rocky, killing the flow of the trail that is usually so much fun to ride. I hope that Meerendal will be doing some much needed trail maintenance before the Epic, because ending on those trails after 70km was a disappointment, I shudder to think what it would be like after eight days of riding!
The Ashburton Investments National MTB Series now moves on and out of the Western Cape, but Advendurance has launched a Western Cape leg of the Nissan Trail Seeker Series, which starts in May with the Helderberg race on the 9th of that month. And if the National MTB Series is anything to go by, I’d suggest you enter the Trail Seeker Series (the routes are apparently a bit more chilled too).
Where Are We?
Meerendal in the Durbanville Winelands is a member of the extensive network of trails built and controlled by the Tygerberg Mountain Bike Club. You can purchase a day pass to ride Meerendal for R30 (drop the cash in the honesty box in the Deli’s door) or join the Tygerberg MTB Club, with an annual membership, to ride all the trails in the area.
