As stated in our previous blog post, we were up in KwaZulu Natal for a friends wedding- what better excuse than to take a week off and ride the trails that we grew up on!

The first thing that you have to do if you want to ride in Howick is to sign the Sappi Indemnity form. The Howick Mountain Bike Club has gone to great lengths to ensure that mountain bikers get to enjoy this massive expanse of forest, and the indemnity form is one of the ways they have managed to do this. It also helps to know where the Emergency room is in case of any big falls ;)

You can get forms at the Howick Medi Clinic at the start of the Curry’s Post road or from Grant at Adrenaline Cycles. While we’re on the subject, Adrenaline cycles is the place to go to if you’re a mountain biker- They helped us out with a number of mechanicals, know the trails inside out (The shop leads rides 3 or 4 rides a week, anyone can join in) and most importantly are avid riders themselves.

We went up from the shop by ourselves to see how much has changed over the years. Of course, on the way up we had to ride the Quarry’s mini wall ride.

Amazingly, most of the old trails are still around so we easily found our way climbing up ‘The mother’ and ‘The Rattler’ before Harry took his rightful place leading us into ‘Harry’s’- a trail that he built all those years ago.

Louise took the first tumble of the trip on the very first corner of the trail, much to Harry’s delight-evil bastard! I must admit it took a while to adapt my riding style to the terrain and I actually felt I was in another country compared to the riding in the Cape. Before long we were cruising along old trails and were amped to see all the new trails branching away in every direction. Even after a week of riding in Howick, we had not ridden them all and will just have to do so when we are back for the Mountain Bike World Cup at the end of April-anyone care to join us for a road trip?

On the climb up to the fire tower we paid homage to Howie,the guardian of the trails who actually managed to survive the big fires a few years ago.

From the top of the Fire Tower there are numerous routes down to suit almost everyone. I have to say that ‘The Face’ was my favourite with its rocky upper section and about 7km of downhill singletrack from there-it’s a little bit overgrown due to lack of use but still ridable and plenty of fun!

During the week we smashed a lot of Howick’s mountain bike trail system with their funny names with even funnier stories behind them; Goblins glen, Rushalot, Hug a tree, Home Jerome and Suicide Slide (best done in the wet!), but one of the highlights was dressing our friend up as an old age pensioner (Howick is full of them!) and taking him on a ride as part of his bachelors. This must have been the first time a Granny in curlers had cruised down these trails!

One of the many great things about Howick’s trails, is that the Corner Post Pub is planted right where you end most of the rides. Unfortunately they don’t supply the Notties beer there any-more but we still managed to find it at most good pubs.

A warning about drinking and riding though-it’s not always a good idea, even when there’s no traffic around…

We can’t wait to get back to these Howick trails and start showing them off to visitors to this incredible country of ours!