MOUNTAIN bike riders will be going flat out in the last of the MiWay Big 5 MTB series this Sunday, 29 September at the KwaMbonambi Country Club.
With four races behind them it will be a final chance to get those valuable points for the series.
The Build It Kwambo Lion is comprised of three races over 50km, 25km and 10km.
The routes
The 25km route is mostly through gum plantations on single or jeep tracks, with a few hills thrown in to test you.
With names like ‘Heartbreak Hill’, competitors will soon realise that this is not a flat Monzi ride. A fast pace will be possible through ‘Mike’s Meander’ with some interesting twists and turns and great single track at Homeleigh near the finish.
For the more adventurous, the 50km route follows the 25km track for the first 12km and then heads out into the hills.
The highest point is ‘Double Storey Hill’ which speaks for itself, where riders will be greeted by the Kwambo Cricket team at their traditional water point.
In between the 25km split and the high point the route passes through a maze of natural footpaths, cattle single track and some rocky climbs up to the best views in the area.
The route then drops down towards the start offering possibly the best downhill of the series with fast heart pumping stuff into the swamp single tracks and then into the rural areas with twisting footpaths leading you back onto the 25km route.
Just when the rider thought it was all over, the track then goes up ‘heart rate hill’ back to the Kwambo Country Club.
The 10km race is proving more and more popular with some very competitive riders taking the ride seriously.
The route is laid out along the golf course before heading south through forest on jeep tracks which will ensure a relatively easy ride, but with enough of a challenge to keep everyone interested.
The Build It Kwambo is organised by the Kwambo Dirt Trackers (KDT), a dedicated bunch of mountain bikers who know the area backwards and always come up with a new bit of single track to keep the old time Big 5 Challengers on their toes.
Registration is between 6am and 8am, with the 50km race starting at 8.30am, the 25km at 8.45am and the 10km at 9am.
The registration, start and finish are all at the Kwambo Country Club (GPS co-ordinates: S28 35.981 E32 04.731).
