Hi again from Rick
I was just reading through my blog post again to see if it triggered any more memories of the race - things I forgot to mention - when it struck me that reading my blog may give readers the wrong idea, making it seem as if the Epic was relatively easy.
False impressions
This is entirely the wrong impression, make no mistake - the Epic was not easy, it was tough, hard on the body, painful at times, and mentally challenging. Dr Evil certainly knows how to mess with you!! He is a past master at this - often taking you right up to the race village and finish area - before turning you away from it on some arbitrary detour before finally letting you finish the day.
Mind games
While I didn't state it in the post - there were times during the race - when I and i'm pretty sure - many others thought - "Why am I doing this? Why are we beating ourselves up like this? Why did I pay good money, just to suffer? Why not just stop now? Or, when we got to one of the "mind game" detours thought - why not just go straight to the camp? why bother riding this F!@#$% detour?
Team event
This is one of the reasons the Epic is a team event !! Everyone (except possibly the top riders and the Pro's) goes through these periods. It is at these times where you rely on your partner for support. The theory being that when one of you is suffering, the other one will cajole or motivate you to continue and vice versa - and this generally seems to be the case.
In some cases the support is physical with the stronger rider pushing the weaker partner up hills, allowing him to hang on to the back of your shirt pockets, or pushing his bike when he is struggling, while in others it is just a friendly word of encouragement - or in some cases a not so friendly word!!
We saw one rider - during the prologue - swearing at his partner - "Get up you lazy F!@#$% Bastard, we didn't F!@#$%^ come all this way so you could just F#$%@!^ give up!!
Divide and conquer
Sometimes both of you are suffering - and you then need to work together even more. At these times it is helpful to break things down into small bits. - as an old saying goes "How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time". Mentally dividing stages up into small sections makes them easier to get through, riding "one hill at a time" or "waterpoint to waterpoint" certainly makes things more bearable - as each point reached is a small victory in itself.
Daily slog
Mentally the Epic is demanding - waking up early each morning, tired with aching muscles or stiff joints. having to wriggle and squirm around to get ready in a small tent with the prospect of anywhere from 4 to 9 hours riding ahead of you, day after day for 8 days, is not easy.
It is at times like these, where the value of having a backup team, a good maintenance crew taking care of your bike and physio's to massage you and relax your weary muscles after each stage, definitely shows.
Hindsight
The positive slant on my previous post is really an error of hindsight - thinking back and writing the details down afterward, when the pain and suffering has faded. When an event such as this is successfully completed, you tend to focus almost entirely on the good times during the race - rather than the hard times, where you were suffering and cursing the course designer, and deciding what you would do to him, if you met him in a dark alley one night.
Final thoughts
Choose your partner well, decide on a common goal and a riding strategy and work together. Ensure you do sufficient training (NB!! add running, core and gym work to your training). Use decent, well maintained bikes, and ensure you have reasonable offroad riding skills
Eat and drink properly, before, during and after each stage (NB - start doing this during training so it becomes a habit)
- and successfully finishing the Cape Epic is achievable.
Riding the Cape Epic will never be easy, but then again, nothing worth doing, ever is!!!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Yeeehhaaaa - We Made it
Hi from the other Old MTB Toppie - Rick
As you saw from Marius's post and my title we made it. On Saturday 28th March we successfully completed the 2009 Absa Cape Epic MTB race. (743Km and 16650m of climbing in 8 days). What an awesome feeling!
Pre-race issues
As Marius mentioned our first panic was in getting to the registration, with his car troubles and a long detour through the Karoo it looked like we might not even make it to the start. Luckily the organisers are human and realise that these sort of things happen, so I was able to register for both of us, signing the forms and collecting our rider packs. It was only when they strapped on the rider bracelet that the race finally became a reality for me!
I will describe the stages as well as I can, Stage 1 & 2 with pics (unfortunately my cell phone / camera packed up on day 3 due to getting damp) and then a rundown of the rest of the stages, including our highs and lows.
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Prologue (Table Mountain) Stage time: 1h23m
The adventure began on the morning of Saturday 21st on Table Mountain, lining up in the start chute we had some idea of what was to come, but didn't expect to start the climbing as soon as we got out of the start area - Boom and my heart rate was straight into the red -> 1 hour and 23 min later and we were back. Not a great time, but we came to complete the race, not to blow up and fall out of the race on day three, trying to keep up with the front runners.
Rather than having to trek through to Gordons Bay at 4:00am on Sunday morning, I went through to Strand on Saturday evening, to stay at the same guest house where Marius, Marie and Ame were staying. Later that evening when packing our stuff for the next day, I discovered that I had left my Camelbak bladder at home in Fish Hoek, so we had to jump into the car and rush through to Fish Hoek to collect it. This was just as well, since riding most of the stages with only one bottle would have been a big problem for me.
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Stage 1 - (Gordons Bay - Villiersdorp) Stage time: 9H37M
The next morning saw us lined up in Gordon's bay, along with 1198 other riders, awaiting the start of a long stage to Villiersdorp. The morning was cool and everyone was in high spirits, waiting for the start, while the helicopter circled overhead, with a cameraman hanging out the door.
20 minutes or so after the start and we were nearing the top of the climb out of Gordons Bay to the Steenbras Dam, luckily this first climb was a nice smooth one on a tar road with a stunning view over Gordons Bay & Strand, good to get the legs nicely warmed up, before we turned onto the jeep tracks, sand and rocky paths which were to make up the course for most of the rest of the race.
A while later we encountered a major bottleneck (30 - 45min), a huge group of riders trying to squeeze through a narrow gap between some large rocks, after which it was necessary to portage down a loose sandy slope (this traffic jam resulted in the race organisers extending the race cutoff (initially by 30 min)
After the initial bottleneck, the rest of the day saw some rough sandy trails and some steep climbs including Nuweberg, which we tackled after riding through a very sad looking, burned out landscape. Later we climbed Groenlandberg, expecting a nice long downhill on the other side, to recover. Unfortunately the track down from Groenlandberg turned out to be very rough, rocky and rutted, and after a couple of minutes of descending my hands were totally numb. I only realised halfway down that my fork was still locked out from the climb, and unlocked it, else I may have done some more lasting damage to my hands, or possibly even worse.
Later in the day as we neared Villiersdorp the temperature rose into the early 40's. My body must have been lacking in salts and minerals as I started cramping badly. Despite taking cramp block, unfortunately the cramps lasted for most of the last two hours of our ride.
The last 12Km just seemed to go on for ever. Dr Evil (Leon Evans, the route designer) must have been having a good laugh at our expense, just as we were coming into the edge of town, he turned us up a steep climb and then down into the orchards, with a few more zigzags up and down the very steep orchard slopes, then, just as we came out of the orchards and could literally see the camp ahead and hear the announcer, he really messed with our heads, turning us onto a sand road and what turned out to be a 5Km loop out of town and back before we eventually finished stage 1 (I'm pretty sure most of us were cursing him by that point).
In the end the race officials extended the Stage 1 cutoff by 1 hour, as more than 100 riders would not have made it before the original cutoff, due partly to the bottleneck earlier in the day, but also the heat and conditions later in the day. This is the first time, in any event, that I have seen riders vomiting next to the tracks, some of these guys didn't look too healthy at all.
Luckily despite my cramps we didn't need the extended cutoff, and we finished the stage around 23 min under the original cutoff time. According to the organisers and many previous multiple Epic finishers riding, this would turn out to be the toughest Epic first day yet.
Luckily our backup team - Marie and Ame were waiting for us, and lifted our spirits with food and drinks. After spending some time recovering, we fetched our bags from the car, searched for a couple of open tents, dumped our stuff, and went to take a shower.
Freshly showered, we went in search of our physio's to get a massage before dinner. At dinner, despite the fact I was seriously hungry, I had great difficulty eating anything. Dinner was followed by nightly preparations for the following morning - filling Hydration packs, bottles and packing food etc for the next day, after which we were finally able to get to sleep.
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Stage 2 (Villiersdorp) Stage Time: 8H14M
05:00 BWAAAA BWAAAA - It seemed like I had barely fallen asleep before I was rudely awaken by a couple of blasts on a truck air horn, It took a few seconds before I realised where I was and what I was doing there, when it finally dawned, I sat upright, rubbed my eyes out, and the day had begun.
Breakfast in the dining tent was actually quite nice and I managed to cram in some of the carbs I had missed at dinner the night before, shortly afterward and we were fetching our bikes from the bike park, getting dressed in very cramped conditions (it's fairly small inside a 1 man tent) and lining up in the start chutes.
This morning saw us line up in cooler conditions, with the prospect of a nice 6Km stretch to warm up the legs before we turned into the orchards, and started climbing the slopes. This was the only point in the race where Marius and I were separated by more than 20 meters. Just after turning off the main road onto a sandy track, Marius got caught up behind an accident. Clouds of dust thrown up off riders wheels had obscured the track, causing a rider to hit something and fall. (He must have fallen pretty hard as Marius later said that it looked as if he had broken his bike frame in half)
I was ahead of the accident so I waited for Marius, shortly afterward we saw each other and regrouped. From this point on we started a series of hill climbs skirting the orchards, these were interspersed with lots of rocky, in places loose sandy dual tracks. Congestion on the narrow tracks forced many of us to walk up these hills
Some of the climbs were pretty steep and loose, riding them was possible, but not easy, in many cases it uses less energy to walk the hill than to try to ride it.
The day ended with a 2Km winding climb to a communications mast above the town, before a tricky, loose descent into town to finish stage no two. At this point we were both feeling a little tired and Marius said he was finding it very hard to concentrate on the trail, so we took it easy on the steep downhill to ensure we reached the finish safely
A favourite part of the day for both of us was the Salt & Vinegar chips we had at the end (Marius had called Marie earlier in the day to arrange some, as we were both craving the taste of Salt & Vinegar), it turned out to be a great way to get rid of the sweet taste of Game, jelly babies, nougat and energy bars (our race food).
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Stage 3 (Villiersdorp to Greyton) - Stage Time: 6H54M
05:00 - BWAAA BWAAA - the truck horn rudely shocked me into consciousness yet again, I wondered - Will I ever get used to that noise? A quick breakfast, fetch the bikes, sort out riding kit, apply chamois cream, take the rider bags to the baggage truck and then line up in the start chute again.
This stage started with some serious climbing and due to the gradient of some of the slopes and the loose surface there was lots of walking, mainly while climbing up through the forest. Just after turning one of the steep 180 degree corners, a rider to the side of Marius ran out of steam and toppled over sideways & just like dominoes both riders went down, although luckily neither was injured. Someone joked - "Look a new sport - Syncrhonized Falling !! Ha Ha "
Over the top of the initial climbs we ended up on a steep, very sandy, dusty downhill, keeping a bit of a gap between riders was the only way to ensure that you were able to see the trail through the dust, eventually we got back down, and passing through a gap in the fence, crossed the main road and into another farm, around a corner and we rode straight into the first water point. Quickly refilling bottles, re-applying chamois cream etc we were soon back on the trail through the orchards, followed by another short wait at a riverbed crossing, until about 15 minutes later we were riding along the water canal above Villiersdorp, with a stunning view of the valley.
Rounding a corner we turned toward the mountain and onto a very rough jeep track, rideable for about the first 50m or so, before it got very steep and rocky. After this point it was pretty much unrideable, and the morning ride turned into a 4Km hike - straight up the side of the mountain, climbing 600 vertical metres this took more than an hour, during which it was easier to carry your bike than to try pushing it. This climb was the reason Mark Fish (Bafana Bafana star) pulled out of the race - he was so uncomfortable walking in his riding shoes that he took them off and walked in his socks - ending up with huge blisters all over his feet.
While hiking here, I was very surprised to see some of the riders preparations as far as hydration & nutrition for a long hot day. I saw at least 4 riders with only 1 small water bottle (a 500ml Road cycling bottle) & no hydration packs. Considering the temperature got pretty high on most days, some of these "Weight weenies" were in my opinion pretty stupid. There were at least two days where they would have had to ride for up to 2.5 hours before reaching a water point - doing this in the hot sun, with less than half the recommended amount of water / fluid with you - is really reckless (especially since we had all been warned about sufficient hydration during the race briefings), all you are doing is creating problems for the medics and yourself.
Once over the top of the mountain, we skirted the edge of a dam and adjacent orchards before turned onto a jeep track, and riding along it until we passed through a kloof in the mountain. Coming through the kloof we saw a beautiful view across the valley, but there was no time to admire it, as we immediately turned down a very long & initially very rough downhill. This didn't stop some guys who treated it as if it were smooth tar, and came flying past me over the loose rocks. After about 1Km the track evened out and became a long, fairly steep, swooping downhill run, continuing for probably about 5Km all the way into the next water point.
Here it was important to keep braking to short pulls, rather than dragging the brakes. Unfortunately during the training camp in January, I experienced the result of dragging the brakes - over a longer period this causes so much heat through friction that the brake fluid overheats, and the system loses all compression. If you have never experienced this before, it is not fun!! - your bike continues to roll faster and faster down the hill and you find you have no brakes. Your brake levers will pull all the way to your handlebar, however the brakes don't work, the only way to restore the brakes is to wait until the fluid cools down (which can take some time).
Leaving the water point we caught up with a small group who were pushing hard and decided to work hard to stay with them until our next turn off into the mountains. This was a nice stretch of track which we had previously experienced on the training camp. Singletrack riding through some farm fields, along a stream, across a river bed and along a contour path, followed by a portage up a steep slope, and then some more singletrack before coming down into Genadendal and the next water point.
Shortly after leaving the water point in Genadendal we turned onto another gravel track and followed a long winding climb through the village and onto the hills behind the town. At the top of this climb, according to my bike computer we had reached the total climbing amount for the day. However a couple of seconds later as we came over the top of the hill, we saw another huge hill just in front of us, more climbing - sh.t!! Luckily however this turned out to be the last hill of the day and once we were over it, it was downhill into Greyton and the end of another stage.
More salt & vinegar chips, a recovery drink and a shower, after which we fetched our bags and headed to the Massage tables. Shortly after the massages we were on our way to a B&B in Caledon, for what we hoped would be a slightly more comfortable nights sleep.
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Stage 4 (Greyton) - Stage Time: 8H17M
04:30 - Beep Beep Beep Beep - the alarm on my watch woke us up, even earlier than the truck horn. Unfortunately we had no option as we still had a 30-40 min drive back to the race village to have breakfast, fetch the bikes and make ready for another day in the saddle. Unfortunately roadworks on the N2 had us taking a wrong turn and driving 20 min along a dirt road, before we found the Greyton road and eventually got to the race village for breakfast.
The morning started with some confusion as the route leading out of town was blocked, the lead motorcycle took a wrong turn and we ended up riding a big detour, some riders crossing residents lawns, clambering over a ditch, riding around the block and back toward the start area and eventually onto the gravel road out of town, We ended up riding pretty quickly along here and were soon out into the farmlands and starting a series of climbs, the first one along the fence line up through a farm, then into and along an eroded river bed and up a hill after which we followed a fast, sandy downhill (during the training camp one of the riders had fallen on this downhill, after swerving to avoid riding over a suntanning puffadder). At the bottom of the hill, we turned across a dirt road and through another farm, until about 8Km later we eventually got to the first water point - interestingly this was 12Km further along than where it was supposed to be according to the route map.
After this water point a series of detour loops into farms and up and down some nasty little hills had our legs burning (so much for the "relatively easy day" mentioned in the ride guide). My lower back was starting to feel very sore due to all the climbing, so I took a Myprodol to numb the pain (It's a good idea to have a first aid kit with you). Eventually we got to waterpoint 2, (20Km past where it was supposed to be on the route map - now you can understand the reason for carrying enough water / fluids).
The final waterpoint was reached just before the 100Km mark, and was followed by a couple more steep hills, before we finally hit some dual track down towards Greyton. The nice fast rolling I was enjoying, down the hill, suddenly came to an abrupt end as we rode straight into a big patch of deep loose sand, and were forced to dismount, 10 meters further and we were crossing the rocky riverbed just outside town, about 1Km later we crossed the finish line to some more S&V chips, Biltong and Yogisip (BTW - a very good recovery drink).
Our regular routine followed - shower, change & massage before heading back to the B&B in Caledon. By this stage of the race my backside was feeling very tender, despite copious amounts of Chamois Cream (actually farmers Milking Cream) - the chafing from hours sitting on a saddle could not be stopped. Luckily applying some Aloe Gel to the affected areas before going to sleep, helps the chafed skin get a bit better overnight.
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Stage 5 (Greyton to Oak Valley) - Stage Time: 8H26M
04:30 Beep Beep - and so it starts all over again, this morning I am going to take two Myprodol with breakfast, it should kick in in time to numb the pain in my backside - saddle sores are (excuse the pun) a real pain in the ass!
The day started with a relatively quick first 18Km, after which we started the UFO climb, a long hard climb, during which we saw a strange UFO like structure on the mountains opposite. Eventually once over the top of the climb we had a nice, still fairly steep downhill section (which saw some riders damage their bikes. This was one of the areas, we had taken note of (be careful here !!!) during the training camp in January
At the bottom of the downhill we passed a rider, walking with his bike over his shoulder - his front wheel was in pieces, flopping around and appeared to only be held together by the tyre). A short while later we reached the next water point, where we witnessed a couple of french riders having a very serious discussion - it looked like one of them was taking strain and wanted to quit, while his partner wasn't interested in hearing this at all. Eventually they continued and I saw both of them later in the day, still riding.
After leaving the water point we turned off the district road into a farm, the track meandered through a valley, at the end of which was a fairly steep climb up to a clump of trees, Just around the trees we came into a farm yard, feeling quite hot at this point, I wet my riding shirt under a tap, to cool me off a bit, a minute or so later we were heading up the road out of the farm. A few Km later and we turned onto dual tracks running alongside the railway line toward Botrivier.
We had encountered this stage during the training camp in January and so had some idea of what lay ahead. There are some sections, close to Botrivier with deep ruts in the tracks which you have to watch out for. A rider in front of me did not see this and had to skid to a stop very quickly to avoid a fall.
Just after this the dual tracks came to an end and we turned away from the railway line, down a steep gravel road with some speed bumps, unfortunately a rider had hit one of these bumps at speed (+/- 45Kmh) and gone head first over the handlebars, landing very hard. He was sitting alongside the track with his head in his hands in obvious pain. We continued on to the water point, where we refilled bottles.
Shortly after leaving Botrivier, we started climbing the old Houwhoek pass, when we saw the same rider who had been sitting alongside the track, he was having a very hard time climbing without the use of his shoulder and arm, He apparently stopped shortly after this, and, as we later found out, withdrew from the race with a broken collarbone.
As the day went on the temperature had been climbing, eventually getting up to 43 degrees, I was really starting to suffer, it felt as if my head was cooking inside my helmet. I tried pouring some water on my head to cool off, but I didn't have enough in my Camelbak, and what I did have was pretty warm. It was difficult to keep my energy levels up, and at the bottom of the next hill I decided that I had to walk. Marius took my bike and pushed both bikes up the hill. I was not feeling, or looking good at this point and Marius suggested that I speak to a medic, however I was worried that the medic might decide to stop my race, so I decided not to. I was sure that if I could just find some water and cool down I would be fine.
Luckily at the top of the next hill, we came around a corner and there it was - a farm dam right next to the road. I jumped off my bike, took off my shirt and helmet and scooped water over my head and chest. I wet my shirt and bib-shorts thoroughly and after a few minutes was feeling much better. I jumped back on my bike and after the last of the climbs for the day, we finished the stage with a nice stretch of sweeping singletrack winding between the trees and down into the race village to end the day at Oak Valley. Once more, Marie and Ame were waiting for us, with our now customary - S&V chips, biltong, food and recovery drinks.
Another day had come to an end (a difficult one for me), and we were one day closer to finishing the Epic. A shower, followed by a massage and soon we were heading to the guest house in Strand for some Pizza and a decent night's rest.
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Stage 6 (Oak Valley) - Stage Time - 6H42M
04:30 Beep Beep - Ok let's get going again, I'm used to this now!! a short drive back to Oak Valley, breakfast with 2 more Myprodol to dull the pain in my backside, and we're ready to go.
We started with a nice climb out of Oak Valley, on a cool morning, after crossing the N2 we began the climb toward the water tower on loose sandy tracks, 10Km or so later, after passing the water tower, we started our descent of Wolfkloof, quite steep and rocky, with some stunning views, Some riders, obviously feeling good so close to the end of the race thought they would throw caution to the wind and speed down these trails, and ended up doing some unscheduled flying.
Marius and I were taking it easy at this point - "Let's not do anything stupid now - the race is nearly over". A while later after a river crossing, and a nice winding climb on dual tracks up to the MTN Hotspot we entered Lebanon forest - or as I now call it "Single Track heaven". The singletrack was absolutely superb, and cheers could be heard from almost everyone as they enjoyed it. One of the british riders commented "How was that - absolutely brilliant. After this awesome fun, the rest of the day seemed to fly past, and we soon found ourselves back at Oak Valley, relaxing again with recovery drinks and food.
As we had decided to spend the last night of the race in the tent village to enjoy the festive atmosphere, we fetched our bags from the car, dumped them in the tents and went to have a shower, before our massage appointments. Just as our massages were ending, it started to rain, and we had to walk back up to the camp while getting wet, just my luck I thought - the one thing I didn't bring - a raincoat. Luckily the rain stopped just before dinner.
With the late start on Saturday (08h30), we decided that we would set our alarms for 06:30 to get an extra 1.5 hours sleep. I woke up at 2am with the sound of persistent rain on the roof of the tent, quite nice the sound of rain outside (similar to the sound of rain on a tin roof) I went back to sleep again shortly afterwards.
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Stage 7 (Oak Valley to Lourensford) - Stage Time - 5H21M
05:30 - BWWWAAAAA BWWWAAAAAA --- WTF !@#$%^&}{[];'!!! Once again I was shocked awake by two blasts on a truck horn, I had a quick look at my watch, only to discover that it was still early, what happened to a late start and sleeping in a bit? It seemed that the baggage truck guys had decided they wanted to start early and shortly after the horn blast the music started - a weird mix of tunes - Rolf Harris - Tie me kangaroo down sport, The Macarena, Kurt Darren - Loslappie, ACDC, Ozzy Osbourne, Kylie Minogue and various others.
The sound of activity from tents around me increased and I decided it was no use to try sleep anymore, so got up and went to the toilet. 10 min later and I was back in the tent, rolling up my sleeping bag and packing my bag. I sat back on my mattress and the thought hit me -it's almost finished !! The Epic is almost over, this crazy week with it's mix of high's, lows, pain, dehydration, suffering, celebration and laughter is almost at an end!
After packing, we had breakfast (+ 2 more Myprodols), before fetching our bikes from the bike park for the last time, walked back to the tents and took our bags to the baggage truck, before lining up in the start chutes for one last time.
The morning was festive with everyone in good spirits, lots of chatting and joking going on. It seemed everyone was happy this morning, just like that first morning in Gordon's Bay - I wondered why? The first morning was obviously in anticipation of what lay ahead!! This morning, in anticipation of successfully finishing the Cape Epic and joining the Epic finishers club!!
There was still an air of anticipation - today's stage after all was 16Km shorter than yesterday, however with a few hundred meters more to climb, which meant it would not be easy. Just like the prologue, almost immediately after crossing the start line we started climbing, a long series of sandy climbs, with a couple of short downhill sections before reaching the big climb for the day - Nuweberg, the same mountain which we had started by climbing on stage 1, we were now going to climb from the other side.
It turned out to be a very nice climb, shaded and rideable, the vegetation on this side of the mountain was still lush and green. This didn't last long however as we went over the top into the dry burned out side and down the steep slope we had struggled up on stage 1. A few km further along we came to the one and only water point for the final day. The crew were offering Chips and Champagne in addition to the regular water, energade, fruit etc. The vibe was great.
We had to wait a few minutes as someone had borrowed my pump, and was struggling to reinflate his tyre, eventually he got it right, handed my pump back to me with a smile and a thank you and we were on our way again. Leaving the water point we realised that we were at the halfway mark of the final stage, we rode about ten km more on sandy tracks, and I was surprised by the strange appearance of some of the burned out plants, weird - they looked like thick rope, which was charred black. Over another rise and we reached a sign which said - Compulsory Portage section - 200m ahead. We had reached Gamtoe pass.
This is a national heritage site, and while walking down it, I marvelled at the site of grooves worn into the rocks by Voortrekker wagon wheels. I thought to myself - It would be difficult riding a bike here, "How on earth did the Voortrekkers manage to get their OxWagons up here??? I must have said the last bit out loud, because someone answered - "With great difficulty!!"
At the bottom of the pass, we came off the trail and up to a set of railway tracks. Hopping onto our bikes we rode along the gravel at the edge of the tracks, this was fairly tricky as the gravel dropped away in parts, resulting in your left pedal knocking against the railway sleepers and affecting your balance. Unfortunately riding on the tracks was not a clever option as they are still in regular use, and a bicycle arguing with a train is not a clever idea. After about 5Km riding alongside the tracks, we turned off up a track, shortly thereafter turning back and crossing the railway lines, through a gate and into a farm, the route then wound its way along these farm trails until we got to a fairly steep little hill, running past what looked like a couple of neat little holiday houses. A group of spectators watched us while enjoying cold wine and snacks, once over the hill, we rode down through a gate and into a very sandy dry section which had us skirting the edges of the tracks in an attempt to stay on the bikes rather than walking in the loose sand.
Once through this section we turned onto a farm road past some farm buildings, crates and water tanks. As we were riding along the road at the bottom of a section of vineyards, I wondered when Dr Evil would turn us up into the vineyards and some more steep climbs, strangely though the signs kept pointing along the road. It seemed as if he had given up messing with us, for a change. Just then we started hearing the announcers voice and realised we were getting close, a couple more turns and we finally saw the tents, trucks and spectators. Finally, we had made it to Lourensford, our Epic was finished!! Just a couple hundred more meters and we would be crossing the finish line!! On the left of the track while coming up to the finish were Celeste, Daniel and Hannah!!, I think they were surprised to see my beard (having not bothered to shave all week) - I never thought I would miss my family so much.
Marius and I crossed the finish line together with arms raised - All the aches, pains, tired legs, sore backsides etc were worth it. We were now officially Cape Epic Finishers !! All of our planning and months of training, for both of us, most of it alone, had been successful. We made our plans, stuck to them, ate regularly and consistently, rode conservatively and in the end finished quite comfortably. We each had our bad patches (me more so than Marius), but we worked as a team, got through them and in the end we were successful.
While waiting to get our medals after the finish line, I was happy to see, and be congratulated by friends of mine, Brett and Heidi - themselves both Epic finishers "Well done - welcome to the club" !! (PS - Thanks for the photo Brett!!)
And just like that - our EPIC adventure ended!! Of course we still had the lovely Lourensford picnic baskets to look forward to, and a nice gift - Cape Epic picnic blankets! After a quick shower and change into our finishers T-Shirts we enjoyed the afternoon sitting in the shade with our families.
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Some final thoughts
Training - We followed the Polar 16 week (heart rate based) training program
After all is said and done, looking at my heart rate graphs for the duration of the race, our training according to this program worked very well. With the exception of the prologue where I pushed my heart rate into yellow and red (Zone 3&4). I spent the rest of the week in blue and green (zone 1 & 2) with an average heart rate of 122 bpm - 67% of max. Not that it wasn't possible to push my heart rate into zone 3 or 4, I did this a couple of times, so there didn't seem to be any limits imposed due to fatigue.
I would never have believed it was possible to ride some of those incredibly steep sections with an idling heart rate - if I hadn't experienced it myself.
Nutrition - I followed Marius eating program (experience gained from IronMan)
His method of packing food (Jelly babies, Nougat, Energy bars, Fruit bars and energy drink) into neat ziplock bags, divided carefully into hourly increments, made our eating simple and straightforward. The required amount of carbohydrates is carefully worked out and divided between energy drinks and solid food, very easy to follow. We reminded each other to eat every 15 min. This ensured that even if we missed a feed due to some reason, we were never going to run out of energy, as we were getting a very regular supply of carbohydrates.
With the exception of cramping on day one, and dehydrating on stage 5, I felt pretty good througout the race. I never felt particularly lacking in energy (mostly due to the above - "eat every 15 min strategy") Also my legs felt good throughout the race, although this is probably due in large part to our physio's and their massage skills.
To my TEAM MATE & PARTNER - THANKS BUDDY !!!!
Thank you for all the time and effort you put into training for the race, thanks for the regular weekly chat's, for sharing advice on nutrition and for the regular encouragement. Thanks for your carefully worked out eating regime and food packing strategy (it really works), for pushing my bike up those hills when I overheated on stage 5, and for sticking with me and making my Epic dream come true. It was an honour riding with you.
GOOD LUCK for the IRONMAN this coming weekend. If anyone can do it, so soon after the Epic - you can!! (PS - I will start increasing my running distances, if I can comfortably get up to running a marathon, I may just join you at a future IronMan)
To our BACKUP TEAM - A MILLION THANKS to MARIE & AME !!!!!
Thank you for everything, for arranging the logistics, for fetching and carrying us, for being there at the end of each stage to bring us recovery drinks, lots of food and smiles to keep us going, not to forget thanks for washing our dirty cycling kit and getting it ready for another day. I really, really appreciate what you did for us.
To our PHYSIO'S - THANK YOU KIM & WENDY
Thanks for the daily massages, bringing relaxation back into stiff legs, sore knees, stiff quads and tense hamstrings and not to forget my sore lower back. Thanks for the friendly chats and sharing your snacks with us. It really was wonderful to be able to wake up in the morning after a tough stage the day before, with my body feeling comfortable and ready to go out and do it again.
To GRANT CYCLES - THANKS DURREN, JASON & TEAM
Thanks for the top notch bike maintenance, neither of our bikes gave us any hassles throughout the race. You guys did a sterling job. It was well worth spending the money to ensure that we were able to ride without mechanical issues.
Thanks also to the inventors of the tubeless system and Maxxis tyres - not one stoppage due to a puncture throughout the race !! awesome.
To WALTER - THANKS for everything!!
Thanks room mate - It was great to meet you, and awesome to chat, Thanks for the photo's you took, and for giving me your Game sachets for the last two days to make my life a little easier. I'm really sorry your race ended the way it did. I know you were bitterly disappointed in having to pull out of the race like that. I am 1000% sure you will finish next time!!. GOOD LUCK. I hope to be there when you cross the finish line!!
As you saw from Marius's post and my title we made it. On Saturday 28th March we successfully completed the 2009 Absa Cape Epic MTB race. (743Km and 16650m of climbing in 8 days). What an awesome feeling!
Pre-race issues
As Marius mentioned our first panic was in getting to the registration, with his car troubles and a long detour through the Karoo it looked like we might not even make it to the start. Luckily the organisers are human and realise that these sort of things happen, so I was able to register for both of us, signing the forms and collecting our rider packs. It was only when they strapped on the rider bracelet that the race finally became a reality for me!
I will describe the stages as well as I can, Stage 1 & 2 with pics (unfortunately my cell phone / camera packed up on day 3 due to getting damp) and then a rundown of the rest of the stages, including our highs and lows.
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Prologue (Table Mountain) Stage time: 1h23m
The adventure began on the morning of Saturday 21st on Table Mountain, lining up in the start chute we had some idea of what was to come, but didn't expect to start the climbing as soon as we got out of the start area - Boom and my heart rate was straight into the red -> 1 hour and 23 min later and we were back. Not a great time, but we came to complete the race, not to blow up and fall out of the race on day three, trying to keep up with the front runners.
Rather than having to trek through to Gordons Bay at 4:00am on Sunday morning, I went through to Strand on Saturday evening, to stay at the same guest house where Marius, Marie and Ame were staying. Later that evening when packing our stuff for the next day, I discovered that I had left my Camelbak bladder at home in Fish Hoek, so we had to jump into the car and rush through to Fish Hoek to collect it. This was just as well, since riding most of the stages with only one bottle would have been a big problem for me.
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Stage 1 - (Gordons Bay - Villiersdorp) Stage time: 9H37M
The next morning saw us lined up in Gordon's bay, along with 1198 other riders, awaiting the start of a long stage to Villiersdorp. The morning was cool and everyone was in high spirits, waiting for the start, while the helicopter circled overhead, with a cameraman hanging out the door.
20 minutes or so after the start and we were nearing the top of the climb out of Gordons Bay to the Steenbras Dam, luckily this first climb was a nice smooth one on a tar road with a stunning view over Gordons Bay & Strand, good to get the legs nicely warmed up, before we turned onto the jeep tracks, sand and rocky paths which were to make up the course for most of the rest of the race.
A while later we encountered a major bottleneck (30 - 45min), a huge group of riders trying to squeeze through a narrow gap between some large rocks, after which it was necessary to portage down a loose sandy slope (this traffic jam resulted in the race organisers extending the race cutoff (initially by 30 min)
After the initial bottleneck, the rest of the day saw some rough sandy trails and some steep climbs including Nuweberg, which we tackled after riding through a very sad looking, burned out landscape. Later we climbed Groenlandberg, expecting a nice long downhill on the other side, to recover. Unfortunately the track down from Groenlandberg turned out to be very rough, rocky and rutted, and after a couple of minutes of descending my hands were totally numb. I only realised halfway down that my fork was still locked out from the climb, and unlocked it, else I may have done some more lasting damage to my hands, or possibly even worse.
Later in the day as we neared Villiersdorp the temperature rose into the early 40's. My body must have been lacking in salts and minerals as I started cramping badly. Despite taking cramp block, unfortunately the cramps lasted for most of the last two hours of our ride.The last 12Km just seemed to go on for ever. Dr Evil (Leon Evans, the route designer) must have been having a good laugh at our expense, just as we were coming into the edge of town, he turned us up a steep climb and then down into the orchards, with a few more zigzags up and down the very steep orchard slopes, then, just as we came out of the orchards and could literally see the camp ahead and hear the announcer, he really messed with our heads, turning us onto a sand road and what turned out to be a 5Km loop out of town and back before we eventually finished stage 1 (I'm pretty sure most of us were cursing him by that point).
In the end the race officials extended the Stage 1 cutoff by 1 hour, as more than 100 riders would not have made it before the original cutoff, due partly to the bottleneck earlier in the day, but also the heat and conditions later in the day. This is the first time, in any event, that I have seen riders vomiting next to the tracks, some of these guys didn't look too healthy at all.
Luckily despite my cramps we didn't need the extended cutoff, and we finished the stage around 23 min under the original cutoff time. According to the organisers and many previous multiple Epic finishers riding, this would turn out to be the toughest Epic first day yet.
Luckily our backup team - Marie and Ame were waiting for us, and lifted our spirits with food and drinks. After spending some time recovering, we fetched our bags from the car, searched for a couple of open tents, dumped our stuff, and went to take a shower.
Freshly showered, we went in search of our physio's to get a massage before dinner. At dinner, despite the fact I was seriously hungry, I had great difficulty eating anything. Dinner was followed by nightly preparations for the following morning - filling Hydration packs, bottles and packing food etc for the next day, after which we were finally able to get to sleep.-------------------------------------------------------
Stage 2 (Villiersdorp) Stage Time: 8H14M
05:00 BWAAAA BWAAAA - It seemed like I had barely fallen asleep before I was rudely awaken by a couple of blasts on a truck air horn, It took a few seconds before I realised where I was and what I was doing there, when it finally dawned, I sat upright, rubbed my eyes out, and the day had begun.
Breakfast in the dining tent was actually quite nice and I managed to cram in some of the carbs I had missed at dinner the night before, shortly afterward and we were fetching our bikes from the bike park, getting dressed in very cramped conditions (it's fairly small inside a 1 man tent) and lining up in the start chutes.
This morning saw us line up in cooler conditions, with the prospect of a nice 6Km stretch to warm up the legs before we turned into the orchards, and started climbing the slopes. This was the only point in the race where Marius and I were separated by more than 20 meters. Just after turning off the main road onto a sandy track, Marius got caught up behind an accident. Clouds of dust thrown up off riders wheels had obscured the track, causing a rider to hit something and fall. (He must have fallen pretty hard as Marius later said that it looked as if he had broken his bike frame in half)
I was ahead of the accident so I waited for Marius, shortly afterward we saw each other and regrouped. From this point on we started a series of hill climbs skirting the orchards, these were interspersed with lots of rocky, in places loose sandy dual tracks. Congestion on the narrow tracks forced many of us to walk up these hills
Some of the climbs were pretty steep and loose, riding them was possible, but not easy, in many cases it uses less energy to walk the hill than to try to ride it.
The day ended with a 2Km winding climb to a communications mast above the town, before a tricky, loose descent into town to finish stage no two. At this point we were both feeling a little tired and Marius said he was finding it very hard to concentrate on the trail, so we took it easy on the steep downhill to ensure we reached the finish safely
A favourite part of the day for both of us was the Salt & Vinegar chips we had at the end (Marius had called Marie earlier in the day to arrange some, as we were both craving the taste of Salt & Vinegar), it turned out to be a great way to get rid of the sweet taste of Game, jelly babies, nougat and energy bars (our race food).-------------------------------------------------------
Stage 3 (Villiersdorp to Greyton) - Stage Time: 6H54M
05:00 - BWAAA BWAAA - the truck horn rudely shocked me into consciousness yet again, I wondered - Will I ever get used to that noise? A quick breakfast, fetch the bikes, sort out riding kit, apply chamois cream, take the rider bags to the baggage truck and then line up in the start chute again.
This stage started with some serious climbing and due to the gradient of some of the slopes and the loose surface there was lots of walking, mainly while climbing up through the forest. Just after turning one of the steep 180 degree corners, a rider to the side of Marius ran out of steam and toppled over sideways & just like dominoes both riders went down, although luckily neither was injured. Someone joked - "Look a new sport - Syncrhonized Falling !! Ha Ha "
Over the top of the initial climbs we ended up on a steep, very sandy, dusty downhill, keeping a bit of a gap between riders was the only way to ensure that you were able to see the trail through the dust, eventually we got back down, and passing through a gap in the fence, crossed the main road and into another farm, around a corner and we rode straight into the first water point. Quickly refilling bottles, re-applying chamois cream etc we were soon back on the trail through the orchards, followed by another short wait at a riverbed crossing, until about 15 minutes later we were riding along the water canal above Villiersdorp, with a stunning view of the valley.
Rounding a corner we turned toward the mountain and onto a very rough jeep track, rideable for about the first 50m or so, before it got very steep and rocky. After this point it was pretty much unrideable, and the morning ride turned into a 4Km hike - straight up the side of the mountain, climbing 600 vertical metres this took more than an hour, during which it was easier to carry your bike than to try pushing it. This climb was the reason Mark Fish (Bafana Bafana star) pulled out of the race - he was so uncomfortable walking in his riding shoes that he took them off and walked in his socks - ending up with huge blisters all over his feet.
While hiking here, I was very surprised to see some of the riders preparations as far as hydration & nutrition for a long hot day. I saw at least 4 riders with only 1 small water bottle (a 500ml Road cycling bottle) & no hydration packs. Considering the temperature got pretty high on most days, some of these "Weight weenies" were in my opinion pretty stupid. There were at least two days where they would have had to ride for up to 2.5 hours before reaching a water point - doing this in the hot sun, with less than half the recommended amount of water / fluid with you - is really reckless (especially since we had all been warned about sufficient hydration during the race briefings), all you are doing is creating problems for the medics and yourself.
Once over the top of the mountain, we skirted the edge of a dam and adjacent orchards before turned onto a jeep track, and riding along it until we passed through a kloof in the mountain. Coming through the kloof we saw a beautiful view across the valley, but there was no time to admire it, as we immediately turned down a very long & initially very rough downhill. This didn't stop some guys who treated it as if it were smooth tar, and came flying past me over the loose rocks. After about 1Km the track evened out and became a long, fairly steep, swooping downhill run, continuing for probably about 5Km all the way into the next water point.
Here it was important to keep braking to short pulls, rather than dragging the brakes. Unfortunately during the training camp in January, I experienced the result of dragging the brakes - over a longer period this causes so much heat through friction that the brake fluid overheats, and the system loses all compression. If you have never experienced this before, it is not fun!! - your bike continues to roll faster and faster down the hill and you find you have no brakes. Your brake levers will pull all the way to your handlebar, however the brakes don't work, the only way to restore the brakes is to wait until the fluid cools down (which can take some time).
Leaving the water point we caught up with a small group who were pushing hard and decided to work hard to stay with them until our next turn off into the mountains. This was a nice stretch of track which we had previously experienced on the training camp. Singletrack riding through some farm fields, along a stream, across a river bed and along a contour path, followed by a portage up a steep slope, and then some more singletrack before coming down into Genadendal and the next water point.
Shortly after leaving the water point in Genadendal we turned onto another gravel track and followed a long winding climb through the village and onto the hills behind the town. At the top of this climb, according to my bike computer we had reached the total climbing amount for the day. However a couple of seconds later as we came over the top of the hill, we saw another huge hill just in front of us, more climbing - sh.t!! Luckily however this turned out to be the last hill of the day and once we were over it, it was downhill into Greyton and the end of another stage.
More salt & vinegar chips, a recovery drink and a shower, after which we fetched our bags and headed to the Massage tables. Shortly after the massages we were on our way to a B&B in Caledon, for what we hoped would be a slightly more comfortable nights sleep.
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Stage 4 (Greyton) - Stage Time: 8H17M
04:30 - Beep Beep Beep Beep - the alarm on my watch woke us up, even earlier than the truck horn. Unfortunately we had no option as we still had a 30-40 min drive back to the race village to have breakfast, fetch the bikes and make ready for another day in the saddle. Unfortunately roadworks on the N2 had us taking a wrong turn and driving 20 min along a dirt road, before we found the Greyton road and eventually got to the race village for breakfast.
The morning started with some confusion as the route leading out of town was blocked, the lead motorcycle took a wrong turn and we ended up riding a big detour, some riders crossing residents lawns, clambering over a ditch, riding around the block and back toward the start area and eventually onto the gravel road out of town, We ended up riding pretty quickly along here and were soon out into the farmlands and starting a series of climbs, the first one along the fence line up through a farm, then into and along an eroded river bed and up a hill after which we followed a fast, sandy downhill (during the training camp one of the riders had fallen on this downhill, after swerving to avoid riding over a suntanning puffadder). At the bottom of the hill, we turned across a dirt road and through another farm, until about 8Km later we eventually got to the first water point - interestingly this was 12Km further along than where it was supposed to be according to the route map.
After this water point a series of detour loops into farms and up and down some nasty little hills had our legs burning (so much for the "relatively easy day" mentioned in the ride guide). My lower back was starting to feel very sore due to all the climbing, so I took a Myprodol to numb the pain (It's a good idea to have a first aid kit with you). Eventually we got to waterpoint 2, (20Km past where it was supposed to be on the route map - now you can understand the reason for carrying enough water / fluids).
The final waterpoint was reached just before the 100Km mark, and was followed by a couple more steep hills, before we finally hit some dual track down towards Greyton. The nice fast rolling I was enjoying, down the hill, suddenly came to an abrupt end as we rode straight into a big patch of deep loose sand, and were forced to dismount, 10 meters further and we were crossing the rocky riverbed just outside town, about 1Km later we crossed the finish line to some more S&V chips, Biltong and Yogisip (BTW - a very good recovery drink).
Our regular routine followed - shower, change & massage before heading back to the B&B in Caledon. By this stage of the race my backside was feeling very tender, despite copious amounts of Chamois Cream (actually farmers Milking Cream) - the chafing from hours sitting on a saddle could not be stopped. Luckily applying some Aloe Gel to the affected areas before going to sleep, helps the chafed skin get a bit better overnight.
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Stage 5 (Greyton to Oak Valley) - Stage Time: 8H26M
04:30 Beep Beep - and so it starts all over again, this morning I am going to take two Myprodol with breakfast, it should kick in in time to numb the pain in my backside - saddle sores are (excuse the pun) a real pain in the ass!
The day started with a relatively quick first 18Km, after which we started the UFO climb, a long hard climb, during which we saw a strange UFO like structure on the mountains opposite. Eventually once over the top of the climb we had a nice, still fairly steep downhill section (which saw some riders damage their bikes. This was one of the areas, we had taken note of (be careful here !!!) during the training camp in January
At the bottom of the downhill we passed a rider, walking with his bike over his shoulder - his front wheel was in pieces, flopping around and appeared to only be held together by the tyre). A short while later we reached the next water point, where we witnessed a couple of french riders having a very serious discussion - it looked like one of them was taking strain and wanted to quit, while his partner wasn't interested in hearing this at all. Eventually they continued and I saw both of them later in the day, still riding.
After leaving the water point we turned off the district road into a farm, the track meandered through a valley, at the end of which was a fairly steep climb up to a clump of trees, Just around the trees we came into a farm yard, feeling quite hot at this point, I wet my riding shirt under a tap, to cool me off a bit, a minute or so later we were heading up the road out of the farm. A few Km later and we turned onto dual tracks running alongside the railway line toward Botrivier.
We had encountered this stage during the training camp in January and so had some idea of what lay ahead. There are some sections, close to Botrivier with deep ruts in the tracks which you have to watch out for. A rider in front of me did not see this and had to skid to a stop very quickly to avoid a fall.
Just after this the dual tracks came to an end and we turned away from the railway line, down a steep gravel road with some speed bumps, unfortunately a rider had hit one of these bumps at speed (+/- 45Kmh) and gone head first over the handlebars, landing very hard. He was sitting alongside the track with his head in his hands in obvious pain. We continued on to the water point, where we refilled bottles.
Shortly after leaving Botrivier, we started climbing the old Houwhoek pass, when we saw the same rider who had been sitting alongside the track, he was having a very hard time climbing without the use of his shoulder and arm, He apparently stopped shortly after this, and, as we later found out, withdrew from the race with a broken collarbone.
As the day went on the temperature had been climbing, eventually getting up to 43 degrees, I was really starting to suffer, it felt as if my head was cooking inside my helmet. I tried pouring some water on my head to cool off, but I didn't have enough in my Camelbak, and what I did have was pretty warm. It was difficult to keep my energy levels up, and at the bottom of the next hill I decided that I had to walk. Marius took my bike and pushed both bikes up the hill. I was not feeling, or looking good at this point and Marius suggested that I speak to a medic, however I was worried that the medic might decide to stop my race, so I decided not to. I was sure that if I could just find some water and cool down I would be fine.
Luckily at the top of the next hill, we came around a corner and there it was - a farm dam right next to the road. I jumped off my bike, took off my shirt and helmet and scooped water over my head and chest. I wet my shirt and bib-shorts thoroughly and after a few minutes was feeling much better. I jumped back on my bike and after the last of the climbs for the day, we finished the stage with a nice stretch of sweeping singletrack winding between the trees and down into the race village to end the day at Oak Valley. Once more, Marie and Ame were waiting for us, with our now customary - S&V chips, biltong, food and recovery drinks.
Another day had come to an end (a difficult one for me), and we were one day closer to finishing the Epic. A shower, followed by a massage and soon we were heading to the guest house in Strand for some Pizza and a decent night's rest.
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Stage 6 (Oak Valley) - Stage Time - 6H42M
04:30 Beep Beep - Ok let's get going again, I'm used to this now!! a short drive back to Oak Valley, breakfast with 2 more Myprodol to dull the pain in my backside, and we're ready to go.
We started with a nice climb out of Oak Valley, on a cool morning, after crossing the N2 we began the climb toward the water tower on loose sandy tracks, 10Km or so later, after passing the water tower, we started our descent of Wolfkloof, quite steep and rocky, with some stunning views, Some riders, obviously feeling good so close to the end of the race thought they would throw caution to the wind and speed down these trails, and ended up doing some unscheduled flying.
Marius and I were taking it easy at this point - "Let's not do anything stupid now - the race is nearly over". A while later after a river crossing, and a nice winding climb on dual tracks up to the MTN Hotspot we entered Lebanon forest - or as I now call it "Single Track heaven". The singletrack was absolutely superb, and cheers could be heard from almost everyone as they enjoyed it. One of the british riders commented "How was that - absolutely brilliant. After this awesome fun, the rest of the day seemed to fly past, and we soon found ourselves back at Oak Valley, relaxing again with recovery drinks and food.
As we had decided to spend the last night of the race in the tent village to enjoy the festive atmosphere, we fetched our bags from the car, dumped them in the tents and went to have a shower, before our massage appointments. Just as our massages were ending, it started to rain, and we had to walk back up to the camp while getting wet, just my luck I thought - the one thing I didn't bring - a raincoat. Luckily the rain stopped just before dinner.
With the late start on Saturday (08h30), we decided that we would set our alarms for 06:30 to get an extra 1.5 hours sleep. I woke up at 2am with the sound of persistent rain on the roof of the tent, quite nice the sound of rain outside (similar to the sound of rain on a tin roof) I went back to sleep again shortly afterwards.
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Stage 7 (Oak Valley to Lourensford) - Stage Time - 5H21M
05:30 - BWWWAAAAA BWWWAAAAAA --- WTF !@#$%^&}{[];'!!! Once again I was shocked awake by two blasts on a truck horn, I had a quick look at my watch, only to discover that it was still early, what happened to a late start and sleeping in a bit? It seemed that the baggage truck guys had decided they wanted to start early and shortly after the horn blast the music started - a weird mix of tunes - Rolf Harris - Tie me kangaroo down sport, The Macarena, Kurt Darren - Loslappie, ACDC, Ozzy Osbourne, Kylie Minogue and various others.
The sound of activity from tents around me increased and I decided it was no use to try sleep anymore, so got up and went to the toilet. 10 min later and I was back in the tent, rolling up my sleeping bag and packing my bag. I sat back on my mattress and the thought hit me -it's almost finished !! The Epic is almost over, this crazy week with it's mix of high's, lows, pain, dehydration, suffering, celebration and laughter is almost at an end!
After packing, we had breakfast (+ 2 more Myprodols), before fetching our bikes from the bike park for the last time, walked back to the tents and took our bags to the baggage truck, before lining up in the start chutes for one last time.
The morning was festive with everyone in good spirits, lots of chatting and joking going on. It seemed everyone was happy this morning, just like that first morning in Gordon's Bay - I wondered why? The first morning was obviously in anticipation of what lay ahead!! This morning, in anticipation of successfully finishing the Cape Epic and joining the Epic finishers club!!
There was still an air of anticipation - today's stage after all was 16Km shorter than yesterday, however with a few hundred meters more to climb, which meant it would not be easy. Just like the prologue, almost immediately after crossing the start line we started climbing, a long series of sandy climbs, with a couple of short downhill sections before reaching the big climb for the day - Nuweberg, the same mountain which we had started by climbing on stage 1, we were now going to climb from the other side.
It turned out to be a very nice climb, shaded and rideable, the vegetation on this side of the mountain was still lush and green. This didn't last long however as we went over the top into the dry burned out side and down the steep slope we had struggled up on stage 1. A few km further along we came to the one and only water point for the final day. The crew were offering Chips and Champagne in addition to the regular water, energade, fruit etc. The vibe was great.
We had to wait a few minutes as someone had borrowed my pump, and was struggling to reinflate his tyre, eventually he got it right, handed my pump back to me with a smile and a thank you and we were on our way again. Leaving the water point we realised that we were at the halfway mark of the final stage, we rode about ten km more on sandy tracks, and I was surprised by the strange appearance of some of the burned out plants, weird - they looked like thick rope, which was charred black. Over another rise and we reached a sign which said - Compulsory Portage section - 200m ahead. We had reached Gamtoe pass.
This is a national heritage site, and while walking down it, I marvelled at the site of grooves worn into the rocks by Voortrekker wagon wheels. I thought to myself - It would be difficult riding a bike here, "How on earth did the Voortrekkers manage to get their OxWagons up here??? I must have said the last bit out loud, because someone answered - "With great difficulty!!"
At the bottom of the pass, we came off the trail and up to a set of railway tracks. Hopping onto our bikes we rode along the gravel at the edge of the tracks, this was fairly tricky as the gravel dropped away in parts, resulting in your left pedal knocking against the railway sleepers and affecting your balance. Unfortunately riding on the tracks was not a clever option as they are still in regular use, and a bicycle arguing with a train is not a clever idea. After about 5Km riding alongside the tracks, we turned off up a track, shortly thereafter turning back and crossing the railway lines, through a gate and into a farm, the route then wound its way along these farm trails until we got to a fairly steep little hill, running past what looked like a couple of neat little holiday houses. A group of spectators watched us while enjoying cold wine and snacks, once over the hill, we rode down through a gate and into a very sandy dry section which had us skirting the edges of the tracks in an attempt to stay on the bikes rather than walking in the loose sand.
Once through this section we turned onto a farm road past some farm buildings, crates and water tanks. As we were riding along the road at the bottom of a section of vineyards, I wondered when Dr Evil would turn us up into the vineyards and some more steep climbs, strangely though the signs kept pointing along the road. It seemed as if he had given up messing with us, for a change. Just then we started hearing the announcers voice and realised we were getting close, a couple more turns and we finally saw the tents, trucks and spectators. Finally, we had made it to Lourensford, our Epic was finished!! Just a couple hundred more meters and we would be crossing the finish line!! On the left of the track while coming up to the finish were Celeste, Daniel and Hannah!!, I think they were surprised to see my beard (having not bothered to shave all week) - I never thought I would miss my family so much.
Marius and I crossed the finish line together with arms raised - All the aches, pains, tired legs, sore backsides etc were worth it. We were now officially Cape Epic Finishers !! All of our planning and months of training, for both of us, most of it alone, had been successful. We made our plans, stuck to them, ate regularly and consistently, rode conservatively and in the end finished quite comfortably. We each had our bad patches (me more so than Marius), but we worked as a team, got through them and in the end we were successful.
While waiting to get our medals after the finish line, I was happy to see, and be congratulated by friends of mine, Brett and Heidi - themselves both Epic finishers "Well done - welcome to the club" !! (PS - Thanks for the photo Brett!!)
And just like that - our EPIC adventure ended!! Of course we still had the lovely Lourensford picnic baskets to look forward to, and a nice gift - Cape Epic picnic blankets! After a quick shower and change into our finishers T-Shirts we enjoyed the afternoon sitting in the shade with our families.
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Some final thoughts
Training - We followed the Polar 16 week (heart rate based) training program
After all is said and done, looking at my heart rate graphs for the duration of the race, our training according to this program worked very well. With the exception of the prologue where I pushed my heart rate into yellow and red (Zone 3&4). I spent the rest of the week in blue and green (zone 1 & 2) with an average heart rate of 122 bpm - 67% of max. Not that it wasn't possible to push my heart rate into zone 3 or 4, I did this a couple of times, so there didn't seem to be any limits imposed due to fatigue.
I would never have believed it was possible to ride some of those incredibly steep sections with an idling heart rate - if I hadn't experienced it myself.
Nutrition - I followed Marius eating program (experience gained from IronMan)
His method of packing food (Jelly babies, Nougat, Energy bars, Fruit bars and energy drink) into neat ziplock bags, divided carefully into hourly increments, made our eating simple and straightforward. The required amount of carbohydrates is carefully worked out and divided between energy drinks and solid food, very easy to follow. We reminded each other to eat every 15 min. This ensured that even if we missed a feed due to some reason, we were never going to run out of energy, as we were getting a very regular supply of carbohydrates.
With the exception of cramping on day one, and dehydrating on stage 5, I felt pretty good througout the race. I never felt particularly lacking in energy (mostly due to the above - "eat every 15 min strategy") Also my legs felt good throughout the race, although this is probably due in large part to our physio's and their massage skills.
To my TEAM MATE & PARTNER - THANKS BUDDY !!!!
Thank you for all the time and effort you put into training for the race, thanks for the regular weekly chat's, for sharing advice on nutrition and for the regular encouragement. Thanks for your carefully worked out eating regime and food packing strategy (it really works), for pushing my bike up those hills when I overheated on stage 5, and for sticking with me and making my Epic dream come true. It was an honour riding with you.
GOOD LUCK for the IRONMAN this coming weekend. If anyone can do it, so soon after the Epic - you can!! (PS - I will start increasing my running distances, if I can comfortably get up to running a marathon, I may just join you at a future IronMan)
To our BACKUP TEAM - A MILLION THANKS to MARIE & AME !!!!!
Thank you for everything, for arranging the logistics, for fetching and carrying us, for being there at the end of each stage to bring us recovery drinks, lots of food and smiles to keep us going, not to forget thanks for washing our dirty cycling kit and getting it ready for another day. I really, really appreciate what you did for us.
To our PHYSIO'S - THANK YOU KIM & WENDY
Thanks for the daily massages, bringing relaxation back into stiff legs, sore knees, stiff quads and tense hamstrings and not to forget my sore lower back. Thanks for the friendly chats and sharing your snacks with us. It really was wonderful to be able to wake up in the morning after a tough stage the day before, with my body feeling comfortable and ready to go out and do it again.
To GRANT CYCLES - THANKS DURREN, JASON & TEAM
Thanks for the top notch bike maintenance, neither of our bikes gave us any hassles throughout the race. You guys did a sterling job. It was well worth spending the money to ensure that we were able to ride without mechanical issues.
Thanks also to the inventors of the tubeless system and Maxxis tyres - not one stoppage due to a puncture throughout the race !! awesome.
To WALTER - THANKS for everything!!
Thanks room mate - It was great to meet you, and awesome to chat, Thanks for the photo's you took, and for giving me your Game sachets for the last two days to make my life a little easier. I'm really sorry your race ended the way it did. I know you were bitterly disappointed in having to pull out of the race like that. I am 1000% sure you will finish next time!!. GOOD LUCK. I hope to be there when you cross the finish line!!
Monday, March 30, 2009
And it is done
Target: 743km with 16650m of ascend in 8 days.
Achieved: You bet
Time: Just over 55 hours of riding
The journey begins,
Marie, Ame and I departed for Cape Town on 18 March 29, 2009. The plan was to drive to CTN over 2 days. On day 1 we would sleep over in Richmond with 700km on the clock. We would then complete the journey the following day.
We arrived in Richmond only to find out that this was a small town. It is so small that the GPS would not recalculate if you made a wrong turn. We decided to go find food elsewhere and on this trip the trusty old steed decided that the clutch would engage no more.
A frantic search started for some kind of service station but this was Richmond after all and it was after 17:00. I called in the services of “crisis on call” who started a rescue mission for us.
The next morning we got towed 200km to Graaff Reinet but in the wrong direction. This was the closest town with a General Motors dealership. When we arrived Gerrie from the GM dealership, with a very calm voice informed me that they had no spare parts for this particular make of vehicle..JPG)
I asked when it would be available and he answered very self assured that the parts would arrive the next morning. I also found out that we were still 8 hours drive from Cape Town. Gerrie assured me that his entire team would work on the car non stop. He calculated that the car would be ready by 11:00 the next morning
.JPG)
.JPG)
If you added the 8 hours of driving time to this time it would put me in CTN at 19:00 on Friday the 20th. This meant that I would only have 1 hour to get to and complete my registration. This by the way was the best case scenario. I phoned the organizers of the Cape Epic and Samantha gave me the assurance that Rick could register for both of us.
This was a great relieve as I only had to make sure that I got to the prologue at 11:21 on the Saturday.
We finally made it to CTN on the 20th at 18:00 thanks to a whole lot of strangers that somehow understood my plight. I still recon we live in one of the best countries in the world. SA and its people rock.
.JPG)
I will not go through every day of the Epic but will rather summarize what we learned, felt and experienced along the way.
The Epic is a mind game and takes a lot out of you as person on a daily basis. My training prepared me very well for this race and I did not feel at any stage as if my conditioning would let me down.
I know these are bold statements but this is truly how I felt. I finished the last day with an average heart rate of 100 beats per minute.
Rick pushed through some serious cramping on day one and I still take my hat off to him for this fete. I still do not know how he did this as it must have hurt like hell. Well done partner for a lesser man would have faulted. Rick dehydrated and over heated on day five to the extend that he could hardly walk straight or pick up his feet.
This was the only time in the entire race that I thought we might not make it. We found some water and he cooled down and then we hit a long down. This meant that he recovered well and we finished a very emotional and tough day. It apparently got to 43 degrees Celsius that day.
.JPG)
We finished the last day and before we knew it we were standing on a podium receiving medals. We got our finishers t-shirts and just like that it was all done.
.JPG)
Back up crew:
Without the back up crew this Epic would not have been a success. Marie, Ame you both were awesome. I do not know how to thank you but tell the world that this was made possible by you. You got up every morning in training and packed my food. You even organized all our socials on the weekends as I was always on the road. You made sure that we had amble food to start our recovery every day in the race. You arranged all the accommodation and made sure our every need was catered for. You rock and I am glad to call you wife and child. You and Ame inspired me daily when the hills got tough to hang in there and never but never quit. We make an awesome family and a stunning team. With us anything is possible.
.JPG)
Partner:
Thanks buddy for trusting me with your Epic. I soon discovered that this really meant so much to you and that is why I trained as hard as I could. I believe we made an awesome team and we were only once more than 2 minutes apart in a race that lasted over 55hours. This says a lot about the partnership. With another partner I most probably would have blown by day three or four. I salute your courage to keep on pushing even if it was hurting and hot.
.JPG)
Nutrition:
We had a very well planned strategy and we stuck to our plan of Game and simple carbs. I did not have one cramp and always felt like I had a lot of energy in the bank. I believe it helped a lot training with this food as well as I always knew how to use it the correct way.
.JPG)
Technical:
We just had no technical issues and our steeds were serviced daily by Grant Cycles. We did not even have one puncture and had no other failures. I do not believe this was only luck as we had a very sure technical strategy as well. We decided to use the correct equipment and made use of a technical backup service. We carried our own lube and we used it well. We had the best tires with the correct slime and that is why all the punctures sealed. We took no technical risks that would jeopardize our bikes.
Saddle Sores:
Both Rick and I used the First Ascend Bibs with the orange pad. We made sure to apply the “milk salve” liberally in the morning. We also took a small tub with us on the day and applied at every water station. Sure we got some discomfort like every other person but this did not stop us from completing the race. We applied Aloe Vera cream every night to help for the next day. This was a huge success in my mind. Once again this was the same strategy I used every Saturday and Sunday and we executed according to the plan.
.JPG)
Physical conditioning and training:
For the people who followed the Blog you would have seen that I put in the base hours in the week and had a 6hour ride on the Saturday followed by a 3hour ride on the Sunday with lots of hill work. I started a lot of this training late on the day deliberately exposing myself to the heat of the day. I knew we would compete through the hottest part of every day and knew that I would be vulnerable to the heat and sun if I did all my training in the cooler times of day. I would not change one thing If I had to do it all again. The stats speak for it self and with an average heart rate on most days under 110 this surely is a winning strategy.
.JPG)
Conclusion:
Train well get your mind sorted and make sure you eat enough. DO NOT push yourself into zone 3, 4 and 5 on the first couple of days. You WILL pay the price later. Do this race and make sure you choose your partner well. Set your goals up front and stick to them. This will be one of my most prized medals as it took a great partner and a very dedicated and understanding family to make it through this event. It is not just about the physical conditioning.
.JPG)
What is next?
I am off to the IronMan on the 5th of April. I am in the process of recovery and look forward to this event. I have 7 days to recover and believe that I should be able to complete the race. It was always the double for me and I believe I can achieve it. I will update the Blog one more time to tell you all about the IMSA experience and let’s hope it is positive. After that I just do not know. I am thinking about doing some serious running next and perhaps I might just do the comrades marathon. Time will tell and I will be sure to update the Blog with my plans.
Till next week.
Achieved: You bet
Time: Just over 55 hours of riding
The journey begins,
Marie, Ame and I departed for Cape Town on 18 March 29, 2009. The plan was to drive to CTN over 2 days. On day 1 we would sleep over in Richmond with 700km on the clock. We would then complete the journey the following day.
We arrived in Richmond only to find out that this was a small town. It is so small that the GPS would not recalculate if you made a wrong turn. We decided to go find food elsewhere and on this trip the trusty old steed decided that the clutch would engage no more.
A frantic search started for some kind of service station but this was Richmond after all and it was after 17:00. I called in the services of “crisis on call” who started a rescue mission for us.
The next morning we got towed 200km to Graaff Reinet but in the wrong direction. This was the closest town with a General Motors dealership. When we arrived Gerrie from the GM dealership, with a very calm voice informed me that they had no spare parts for this particular make of vehicle.
I asked when it would be available and he answered very self assured that the parts would arrive the next morning. I also found out that we were still 8 hours drive from Cape Town. Gerrie assured me that his entire team would work on the car non stop. He calculated that the car would be ready by 11:00 the next morning
If you added the 8 hours of driving time to this time it would put me in CTN at 19:00 on Friday the 20th. This meant that I would only have 1 hour to get to and complete my registration. This by the way was the best case scenario. I phoned the organizers of the Cape Epic and Samantha gave me the assurance that Rick could register for both of us.
This was a great relieve as I only had to make sure that I got to the prologue at 11:21 on the Saturday.
We finally made it to CTN on the 20th at 18:00 thanks to a whole lot of strangers that somehow understood my plight. I still recon we live in one of the best countries in the world. SA and its people rock.
I will not go through every day of the Epic but will rather summarize what we learned, felt and experienced along the way.
The Epic is a mind game and takes a lot out of you as person on a daily basis. My training prepared me very well for this race and I did not feel at any stage as if my conditioning would let me down.
I know these are bold statements but this is truly how I felt. I finished the last day with an average heart rate of 100 beats per minute.
Rick pushed through some serious cramping on day one and I still take my hat off to him for this fete. I still do not know how he did this as it must have hurt like hell. Well done partner for a lesser man would have faulted. Rick dehydrated and over heated on day five to the extend that he could hardly walk straight or pick up his feet.
This was the only time in the entire race that I thought we might not make it. We found some water and he cooled down and then we hit a long down. This meant that he recovered well and we finished a very emotional and tough day. It apparently got to 43 degrees Celsius that day.
We finished the last day and before we knew it we were standing on a podium receiving medals. We got our finishers t-shirts and just like that it was all done.
Back up crew:
Without the back up crew this Epic would not have been a success. Marie, Ame you both were awesome. I do not know how to thank you but tell the world that this was made possible by you. You got up every morning in training and packed my food. You even organized all our socials on the weekends as I was always on the road. You made sure that we had amble food to start our recovery every day in the race. You arranged all the accommodation and made sure our every need was catered for. You rock and I am glad to call you wife and child. You and Ame inspired me daily when the hills got tough to hang in there and never but never quit. We make an awesome family and a stunning team. With us anything is possible.
Partner:
Thanks buddy for trusting me with your Epic. I soon discovered that this really meant so much to you and that is why I trained as hard as I could. I believe we made an awesome team and we were only once more than 2 minutes apart in a race that lasted over 55hours. This says a lot about the partnership. With another partner I most probably would have blown by day three or four. I salute your courage to keep on pushing even if it was hurting and hot.
Nutrition:
We had a very well planned strategy and we stuck to our plan of Game and simple carbs. I did not have one cramp and always felt like I had a lot of energy in the bank. I believe it helped a lot training with this food as well as I always knew how to use it the correct way.
Technical:
We just had no technical issues and our steeds were serviced daily by Grant Cycles. We did not even have one puncture and had no other failures. I do not believe this was only luck as we had a very sure technical strategy as well. We decided to use the correct equipment and made use of a technical backup service. We carried our own lube and we used it well. We had the best tires with the correct slime and that is why all the punctures sealed. We took no technical risks that would jeopardize our bikes.
Saddle Sores:
Both Rick and I used the First Ascend Bibs with the orange pad. We made sure to apply the “milk salve” liberally in the morning. We also took a small tub with us on the day and applied at every water station. Sure we got some discomfort like every other person but this did not stop us from completing the race. We applied Aloe Vera cream every night to help for the next day. This was a huge success in my mind. Once again this was the same strategy I used every Saturday and Sunday and we executed according to the plan.
Physical conditioning and training:
For the people who followed the Blog you would have seen that I put in the base hours in the week and had a 6hour ride on the Saturday followed by a 3hour ride on the Sunday with lots of hill work. I started a lot of this training late on the day deliberately exposing myself to the heat of the day. I knew we would compete through the hottest part of every day and knew that I would be vulnerable to the heat and sun if I did all my training in the cooler times of day. I would not change one thing If I had to do it all again. The stats speak for it self and with an average heart rate on most days under 110 this surely is a winning strategy.
Conclusion:
Train well get your mind sorted and make sure you eat enough. DO NOT push yourself into zone 3, 4 and 5 on the first couple of days. You WILL pay the price later. Do this race and make sure you choose your partner well. Set your goals up front and stick to them. This will be one of my most prized medals as it took a great partner and a very dedicated and understanding family to make it through this event. It is not just about the physical conditioning.
What is next?
I am off to the IronMan on the 5th of April. I am in the process of recovery and look forward to this event. I have 7 days to recover and believe that I should be able to complete the race. It was always the double for me and I believe I can achieve it. I will update the Blog one more time to tell you all about the IMSA experience and let’s hope it is positive. After that I just do not know. I am thinking about doing some serious running next and perhaps I might just do the comrades marathon. Time will tell and I will be sure to update the Blog with my plans.
Till next week.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Weeks 12 - 14
Hi Everyone
Greetings from the other - Old MTB Toppie - Rick. I have been feeling very guilty that Marius has been doing all the blogging, and I have not had much to say. Good work so far partner!!
The past couple of weeks have been hectic at work. Lots of stuff to sort out, hand over etc before we head off on our Epic adventure, and wouldn't you know it, Murphy's just had to stick his hand in the mix law - just when you start to taper off your training in preparation for the race - other things - namely work volume and pressures skyrocket.
The past two weeks were ok as far as training goes, unfortunately due to the increase in workload I ended up a couple of hours short of the planned training time, however I still feel good. For the past 6 weeks or so, I have added 2x 10Km runs to my weekly training (tough for someone as big as me. I haven't done any running since my army days 23/24 years ago). I think the running will definitely benefit me on the Epic, most of my friends who have done the Epic in the past three years, all recommended adding some running / trail running to the training mix. Cycling uses very specific muscles, and in those inevitable periods when we end up walking / pushing or carrying our bikes during the race (using totally different muscles). The running will have better prepared us for this.
I have also been doing some core training (probably not enough) but it has definitely helped, In the past two weeks, two races (Argus MTB (55Km) and Argus Cycle Tour (110Km) I had far fewer lower back pains than ever before. The only problems were 1) the heat - ave 36 deg C during the MTB race, and 2) the wind - averaging 55 - 60Kmh, gusting to 100Kmh+ during the Argus last weekend.
Unfortunately the Argus MTB race caused one casualty - my Giant TranceX MTB - with a cracked seat tube. Luckily I have a second bike - a Giant Anthem MTB, since the TranceX will take 6-8 weeks to get swopped out with the equivalent frame. (I could take a lower model in the range right now, but I am not happy with that idea - I paid for a specific model - the Trance X1 and that's what I want)
I can't believe it is now less than 10 days to go till we line up at the start. I am a bit nervous, but excited at the same time. It has been a while since our 4 day Epic training camp in January, and I really enjoyed that, so am looking forward to the race, and experiencing the Epic vibe once again. The past two times were as supporters / crew - this time I get to be one of the riders.
Anyway - enough for now. Hope you enjoy the post. I need to resize some images, before I will be able to post them in the blog - but will see what I can do tomorrow to post some pictures of the beautiful area where I do most of my training - Tokai Forest / Silvermine in Cape Town.
Till next time
Rick
Greetings from the other - Old MTB Toppie - Rick. I have been feeling very guilty that Marius has been doing all the blogging, and I have not had much to say. Good work so far partner!!
The past couple of weeks have been hectic at work. Lots of stuff to sort out, hand over etc before we head off on our Epic adventure, and wouldn't you know it, Murphy's just had to stick his hand in the mix law - just when you start to taper off your training in preparation for the race - other things - namely work volume and pressures skyrocket.
The past two weeks were ok as far as training goes, unfortunately due to the increase in workload I ended up a couple of hours short of the planned training time, however I still feel good. For the past 6 weeks or so, I have added 2x 10Km runs to my weekly training (tough for someone as big as me. I haven't done any running since my army days 23/24 years ago). I think the running will definitely benefit me on the Epic, most of my friends who have done the Epic in the past three years, all recommended adding some running / trail running to the training mix. Cycling uses very specific muscles, and in those inevitable periods when we end up walking / pushing or carrying our bikes during the race (using totally different muscles). The running will have better prepared us for this.
I have also been doing some core training (probably not enough) but it has definitely helped, In the past two weeks, two races (Argus MTB (55Km) and Argus Cycle Tour (110Km) I had far fewer lower back pains than ever before. The only problems were 1) the heat - ave 36 deg C during the MTB race, and 2) the wind - averaging 55 - 60Kmh, gusting to 100Kmh+ during the Argus last weekend.
Unfortunately the Argus MTB race caused one casualty - my Giant TranceX MTB - with a cracked seat tube. Luckily I have a second bike - a Giant Anthem MTB, since the TranceX will take 6-8 weeks to get swopped out with the equivalent frame. (I could take a lower model in the range right now, but I am not happy with that idea - I paid for a specific model - the Trance X1 and that's what I want)
I can't believe it is now less than 10 days to go till we line up at the start. I am a bit nervous, but excited at the same time. It has been a while since our 4 day Epic training camp in January, and I really enjoyed that, so am looking forward to the race, and experiencing the Epic vibe once again. The past two times were as supporters / crew - this time I get to be one of the riders.
Anyway - enough for now. Hope you enjoy the post. I need to resize some images, before I will be able to post them in the blog - but will see what I can do tomorrow to post some pictures of the beautiful area where I do most of my training - Tokai Forest / Silvermine in Cape Town.
Till next time
Rick
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