Holla trails

[Grebel]

I don't buy into this. ......

 

 

Taken so long to notice. it happened to me a year ago when I was looking for a safe place to ride alone. Same old, same old.......

 

 

I will never go back after paying top dollar. Not worth the risk.

Holla is now off my list.

Anybody tried Virginia Trails?

Recommended by many

 

 

Where are the trails in the Virginia area?

 

Or where do they start from?

 

If you are talking about Virginia Farm then it is in Mid Illovo. The trails are safe (They get ridden by the owner or one of his supervisors by motorbike every day to identify wash aways and fallen trees and to ensure that the trails are safe and open. Awesome riding, unbeleivable scenery and excellent facilities (Hot showers when we were there a few months ago) A bit of a drive but worth it.

[Clinton1]

Drongo, reading through this you seem very defensive as regards someone criticising Holla. I personally appreciate King_Crispy sharing his experience here as I have considered riding at Holla and if I did I'd now know to be careful of missing signage.

 

I also find the acceptance of the excuse that it is being done out of the goodness of Nic's heart to be unacceptable really (and this is not a criticism of Nic but more your acceptance of this reason). As far as I understand it this is a business. Yes, he may farm as his main occupation but Holla charges, and presumably makes money, from riders.

 

The response was great but equally so King_Crispy's right to share his experiences with us is also appreciated. Having it on a public forum makes the owner accountable.

 

My personal view is that GPS tracks of all trails should be made readily available to all riders on the website. Not sure if Holla does because as stated I have just thought about riding there and not got around to it.

Edited December 22, 2011 by Clint_ZA

[The Drongo]

Clint.

 

I get uptight when people do the ZA thing of bitching to their mates about poor service etc, without trying to bring it to the attention of the Owner/Operator before they do so. In fact I think you said something similar in a thread here-abouts (I just won't be "searching" for it )

 

There are always two sides to a story. Ranting on a public forum where the Owner/Operator is not likely to be - BEFORE giving an opportunity to respond/act, is a bit unsporting.

 

It is very simple in this day and age to contact people. In this instance it simply took an email.

 

And it was well responded to. From personal experience I can tell you that trail markers put up on private land, particularly farming lands, get obliterated regularly.

Cows eat the plastic ones. People steal the steel ones. Tractors take the rest.

 

As to "MAKING MONEY", next time you are at Giba, chat to Jason...see if it is a GOLD MINE.

[singletrek]

Well, I rode the blue route this morning with @Mackie and it was flippen lekker! It was well marked.

[Swift01]

@singletrek

yes you may have ridden there but the speed you guys ride at, you can't miss any markers. How's the cupcakes and chips going down while your on holiday?

 

Hope your going to take @mackie out again today sounds like he enjoyed the ride..... Oh and my dad says he is faster than you at the moment so best you try each him a lesson as well.....

[Danger Dassie]

Think Drongo pretty much sums it up.

 

Not to say we shouldn't complain, but we should also realise the context in how many of these trails develop.

We're taking a lot for granted when going onto trails that lead through private land, especially multiple farms. To think that R50 is "top dollar" is laying it on a bit thick and doesn't necessarily make a going concern some kind of commercial gold mine.

The onus, as with any outdoor activity, is to make sure you're prepared and to ultimately be responsible for yourself.

[The Drongo]

Think Drongo pretty much sums it up.

 

Not to say we shouldn't complain, but we should also realise the context in how many of these trails develop.

We're taking a lot for granted when going onto trails that lead through private land, especially multiple farms. To think that R50 is "top dollar" is laying it on a bit thick and doesn't necessarily make a going concern some kind of commercial gold mine.

The onus, as with any outdoor activity, is to make sure you're prepared and to ultimately be responsible for yourself.

 

Yep.

 

So take your keister cream with!

[pauloc]

While we're throwing suggestions out there...

 

1) Yellow on white and white on yellow are not a good idea.

2) Maroon, red and purple all look pretty similar when you're screaming past a sign-board at 60km/h.

3) When you get to an intersection with 6 paths, place the signboard next to the path you're supposed to take, not 3 across with an arrow pointing right that leaves 3 options on the table.

[Hollanic]

Rode Purple last night and found the problem: ONE confirmation arrow is missing on the whole route (that I could find). There is a right turn arrow (at the split with Yellow), than an intersection and beyond the intersection is the pole but no arrow (been removed by someone.) The road beyond has been graded so the bike path that help show the route is gone. The result is riders are turning at the intersection instead of going straight past the pole.

 

I already saw this problem up on Saturday morning and instructed Ben to go and replace the arrow. Unfortunately he misunderstood me and thought I meant the problem was on yellow. I was disappointed to see it was the same arrow missing yesterday

 

Ben is on his way there now to replace arrow.

 

I don't have a problem with criticism/feedback guys. We rely heavily on feedback to know where we have problems to attend to (trees down, bridges damaged, arrows down etc etc). I don't like a forum like this giving the impression that our marking is crap everywhere cause that is not the case. We must have 1000 odd arrows out there. We get tons of feedback from riders who don't get lost and who love coming to the trails. Hopefully readers of this forum will realise that we have mroe happy experiences than bad ones.

 

We will however improve our methods of inspecting and improving the marking of our trails all the time.

 

Nic

[W1Z@RD]

 

I don't have a problem with criticism/feedback guys. We rely heavily on feedback to know where we have problems to attend to (trees down, bridges damaged, arrows down etc etc). I don't like a forum like this giving the impression that our marking is crap everywhere cause that is not the case. We must have 1000 odd arrows out there. We get tons of feedback from riders who don't get lost and who love coming to the trails. Hopefully readers of this forum will realise that we have mroe happy experiences than bad ones.

 

We will however improve our methods of inspecting and improving the marking of our trails all the time.

 

Nic

 

 

[bikekid]

if take the M41 north bound and take the Virginia offramp, proceed left. Enter the traffic circle and take your third exit left after the Food Lovers Market building ( oops its no longer there ). You will see the Trail park in front of you at the stop sign.

 

Do you not mean the M4 through Durban North? Is the the exit to Virginia airport cos there is a traffic circle there as well. I never knew there was a trial there or am I missing the mark completely??

[Joobs]

I just had a look on Google Maps and Jules1976 is 100% right. If you go into Street View on Google Maps, just slightly to the right of the stop sign you can see where to enter the trail.

 

@Robinh you have got the right area... And I did not know either until I had a look right now...

[King_Crispy]

Clint.

 

I get uptight when people do the ZA thing of bitching to their mates about poor service etc, without trying to bring it to the attention of the Owner/Operator before they do so. In fact I think you said something similar in a thread here-abouts (I just won't be "searching" for it )

 

There are always two sides to a story. Ranting on a public forum where the Owner/Operator is not likely to be - BEFORE giving an opportunity to respond/act, is a bit unsporting.

 

It is very simple in this day and age to contact people. In this instance it simply took an email.

 

And it was well responded to. From personal experience I can tell you that trail markers put up on private land, particularly farming lands, get obliterated regularly.

Cows eat the plastic ones. People steal the steel ones. Tractors take the rest.

 

As to "MAKING MONEY", next time you are at Giba, chat to Jason...see if it is a GOLD MINE. Never said it was lucrative, just stated that with it being a commercial venture there is the issue of liability.

 

I informed the manager of the place who said she would contact the owner and ask him to contact me. He never did. I waited 2 days before posting my issue.

 

All I hoped to achieve by this post was not to let anyone else have the same happen to them. I have enough KOP to get out of crap, maybe others wouldn't. I'm fit enough not to worry about a 25/28km ride. Hell's, if the pooh hits the fan turn around and go back the way you came...

 

Sensible hey Drongo?

[singletrek]

@singletrek

yes you may have ridden there but the speed you guys ride at, you can't miss any markers. How's the cupcakes and chips going down while your on holiday?

 

Hope your going to take @mackie out again today sounds like he enjoyed the ride..... Oh and my dad says he is faster than you at the moment so best you try each him a lesson as well.....

Yes, the old man was quite fast. But he kept missing the markers - which were very clear. Maybe that's the problem - the guys are not looking.

 

There's a coffee shop here called the BBM Cafe, best strawberry cheesecake!

[AndrewF]

So, I read this topic yesterday as I am in Ballito and have been amped to check out Holla Trails. I must say that after the OP and the subsequent complaint posts I was a little worried about my ride this morning with my wife (in laws went on a ride too). Well, I'm stoked I went! What a great experience! We rode the Maroon route (in laws the green). It was tough, some unridable sections, but all in al a great ride. Even my wife loved *most* of it!

 

I have to say that the issues raised in this topic were not our experience at all. Markers were EVERYwhere and pretty clear. There was a section where I was a bit confused, but after some serious mental challenge *said with a VERY sarcastic tone, we checked the bike tread on the ground and followed - after 50m there was, wait! Could it be??? Another marker!

 

People these days, with the advent of social media and forums such as this, are too quick to fire up there mac (or pc for the OP im sure) and bang off some rant about how crap someone or something is. Seriously?! Look, I'm sure you had a *** experience. That sucks, but such is life. After seeing just the one route we did today at Holla Trails I couldn't imagine keeping that place in order. Nic and his team are doing a bang up job if you ask me! (FYI - the furthest marker on the extensive 85km route is an hour drive from the Holla base) If a couple markers go down from time to time, I think a little forgiveness is in order...

 

I met Nic by chance after our ride. He's an awesome guy, who seems legit in his passion for riding and for Holla Trails. He put that whole place together. I don't see any of you sods doing anything to improve the riding world other that your silly little rant on a forum that maybe a few hundred people (if you're lucky) may stumble across.

 

If anyone else reads this topic and is put off about Holla Trails, there's NO reason to be. It's a great place -secure, great trails and variety, food, showers and the best bike wash I have EVER received from any bike trail (Not a spec of anything when those guys are done) - well worth he R50 price!

 

Nic, thanks for the chat after our ride. I will definitely be back. Not too sure I'll keep up with you lot on Friday's ride, but you may see me there.

[Blits]

We are roadies who bought our new moutain bikes early December. We were in Ballito from 17 Dec on holiday and read on the internet about Holla, and decided to try it out.

 

We've ridden 8 times at Holla and enjoyed every moment! Will be back!!