Or Trailkloof. Maybe Forestkloof. Definitely not Karkloof, if I had my way renaming this sublime Midlands region …

I mean, you don’t want a car here. You want a bike, or maybe even two. One All-Mountain machine with which to shred what must rate as SA’s top singletrack network. And if you’re a gravity rider, a gritty DH beauty with which to air those jumps.

Whatever. My two days in Karkloof was just enough to make me seriously jealous of the people who live here. With literally more than a hundred kms of MTB single-track slip-sliding through the SAPPI forests in Karkloof and Howick, you need way more than 48hrs to even begin scratching the surface.

And once you do, you uncover an itch that will never be completely scratched. Which means I’ll have to head back there, especially after that tantalising taste of the 30km/Falls Route combo.

Huge thanks to Joggie Prinsloo for lending me the SCOTT Spark. How the hell do I now get used to NOT having variable lock-out on demand, and a bike that climbs as if I’m riding it with some hard core kids’ legs?

And also to Max Cluer and the boys from JEEP (SA) who made sure me and Matthew Drew got around in style on our little MTB road trip through KZN and Mpumalanga.

I’m pretty much sitting with FOMO while writing this and looking at the pix …

Click here to see them