Wooing The Cape Epic

Tracking Stage 2 - Songo's Sauser and Stander make it 3 for 3

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:54:00 +0000

World MTB Champ Christoph Sauser and his young South African teammate Burry Strander of team Songo.info reeled in the breakaway of Trek's Bart Brentjens (NED) and Chris Jongewaard (AUS) with about 40Km to go, erasing a five minute gap and breaking away themselves to earn their 3rd victory in 3 days. (They also won the 19km Prologue at Table Mountain and the race's longest stage, the 112km Stage 1 from Gordon's Bay to Villiersdorp.)

Via Cape Epic's live tracking it appeared all teams took a short cut, cutting off an entire section of the race course that would have led to Water Station #2 at 52km as outlined in the Google map. By my estimates, that must have been a good 10km chopped off. So was it 110km or 100km? Or was the originally planned route 120km? Anyways, unlike last year's point to point stages, this one made one big loop starting and finishing in the town of Villiersdorp which must have been convenient for everyone involved including the racers. (man was is it pain to pack up every morning and then claim your 35kg bag at the end of a long stage!)

Polar's live tracking of select rider's heart rates and speeds worked pretty well except the updates intervals weren't frequent enough making it really hard to monitor any patterns and compare to other riders as well as the breakaway progress. At 50km in, it appeared Trek-Brentjen had built a commanding lead and then the next thing you know the map shows them behind two tracked teams of the Bulls-Platt and Songo-Sauser. One last thing to note is at times riders would disappear from the grid (likely due to loss of GPS signal) and the fact that some of the top teams aren't being tracked makes it hard to determine the exact position of each team.

Big ups to my friend Rich and his teammate Doug (Block/GeoLadders.com) for their 4th place on the day and moving up to 3rd in the GC in the Masters category!

Snapshot of Stage 2 Results:
1. Songo.info (Sauser/Stander) 3:53:48
2. Bulls (Platt/Sahm) 3:56:08
3. Felt Factory 2 (Lindgren/Kugler) 3:56:09

Other Notables and friends I'm following (US competitors in bold):
11. ABSA Masters (Brown/Bucher) 4:19:50 (1st Masters)
14. DCM MonaVie-Cannondale (Kritzinger/Tinker Jaurez) 4:22:15
15. Adidas Big Tree (Pfitzenmaier/Alison Sydor) 4:23:10 (1st Mixed Team)
16. Cube/Craft-Rocky Mountain (Bresser/Udo Boelts) 4:23.11
34. Block/GeoLadders.com (Doug Andrews/Rich Bartlett) 4:51.10 (4th Masters)
36. Storck (Faris Al Sultan/Wener Leitner) 4:51.42
40. Specialized/Red Bull (Rebecca Rusch/Matthew Weatherley-White) 4:52:58 (5th Mixed)
45. DCM Chome MonaVie (Rensburg/Benjamin Sonntag) 4:56.25 (35th Men)
50. 2XtremeMasters (Dirk Rossignol/Ronny Roelandt) 5:03.52 (6th Masters)
59. Chucks Hawaii (Ingrid Rolles/Scott Rolles) 5:09:00 (10th Mixed)
129. Firefly (Francois Millard/Smith) 5:39:50 (91st Men)
163. Rwanda B (Uwimana/Tom Ritchey) 5:53:37 (111th Men)
175. StrickyTours.com (Steven Strickler/Jonathan Williams) 6:00:02 (34th Masters)
198. Independent Fabrication (Nick Hodge/Wayne Baker) 6:08.12 (131st Men)
200. Dunkeld Cycles (Dylan Chilcott/Aiden Brown) 6:08.28 (133rd Men)
202. Thieles Automotive (Trever Bushnell/Mike Thiele) 6:09.12 (42nd Masters)
287. Hansgrohe/Santa Cruz (Anka Martin/Forsythe) 6:39.18 (37th Mixed)
297. Grumpy Caveman (Graeme Mellet/Campbell) 6:41.17 (184th Men)
302. LaGrange (Alan Bub/Gary Bub) 6:43.29 (187th Men)
430. DJ & Tom Looking for Kudu (DJ Brooks/Landon-Smith) 7:37:36 (262nd Men)
490. NewspaperDirect SA (Robert Scott/Steer) 8:04.20 (296th Men)

Cool Live Tracking by Polar

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:36:00 +0000

Ok, maybe they had this last year, but I was racing so I never got to see this. But Cape Epic's site has live tracking of the heart rates and speed of select riders during each stage. I just captured this of Stage 2...

Visit the Cape Epic website during the race to see the live tracking.

Cape Epic 2009 is under way!

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:47:00 +0000

And I'm wishing I was in South Africa doing it! Well, maybe not! I'm totally out of shape and just came back from a month's trip to Australia and New Zealand. But this year's race looks pretty sweet and it seems to get better every year. For such a young race I can't believe how well these guys pull it off. The Prologue was on Saturday and started in Capetown at Table Mountain. Ok, not on Table Mountain but around it. As you may recall, last year's Prologue was in Knysna, a really great town in itself, but about 500km to the east. I had to rent a car to get out there after missing my booked shuttle bus by a day due to United's cancelled flight. (which reminds me... I never did get reimbursed for my expenses for having to stay an extra day in SF)

While only 6 US teams are competing this year (must be the economy) a quick look at the start list and you can see this race is still growing in popularity. Former pro cyclist and Tour de France vet Udo Boelts, mtn bike legend Tinker Jaurez are among the racers along with some of the names you would expect like World Mtn Bike champ Christoph Sauser, Olympic gold medalist Bart Brentjens (who at 40 can still bring it), local favorites David George and Kevin Evans, and of course those teams of Bulls. The pro triathletes are getting in the mix with top Ironman Pros Faris Al Saltan and Werner Leitner have teamed up (team Storck). Last year's winners Roel Paulisson and Jakob Fuglsang are not there to defend. Alison Sydor is not going to defend her title however is back to compete as a mixed team with half of last year's mixed team winner Nico Pfitzenmaier. The other half, Ivanna Kraft has teamed up with Lukas Kubis. A little swap to make it interesting? Top American endurance racer Rebecca Rusch (who I rode with for a short period while we were both partnerless during last year's race) is also competing in the mixed team category.

Of course, I have to give a shout out to my amateur friends mixing it up with the pros...

Ronny Roelandt (2XtremeMasters #40-1)- my Belgium friend that I met last year. Make sure your cassette is tightened this time!

Rich Bartlett and Doug Andrews (Block/Geoladders.com #215-1, -2) - my friend from Block Shop (Lancaster, CA) and his entrepreneurial teammate who raced strong last year. Rich no riding singlespeed!

Dylan Chilcott (Dunkeld Cycles #145-1) - You have no excuses with that awesome massage team

Jonny Rondash? Where are you? DNS? dude, you should have called me up!

Speaking of massage teams, Jeannette and Amori - I will miss you guys this year! Keep the boys healthy and running!

Good luck to all!

Rim Riding & the bike that won Cape Epic

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:09:00 +0000

I almost forgot about this story. The Cannondale-Vredestein team that won the whole thing had a near disaster day when they guys ran out of tubes and C02s after a series of flats and ultimately a rear tire tear. (the tubeless didn't help). So Roel Paulissen, the stronger rider that day switched rear wheels with his teammate Jakob Fuglsang and rode on the RIM for 18km to preserve their lead on Stage 5 into Bredasorp. The story on VeloNews.com

Cape Epic Video Highlights on Cycling.tv

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:36:00 +0000

In case you missed the daily coverage on Cycling.TV here are the links to the video highlights of each stage:
Prologue (includes previews of all stages)
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
Stage 6
Stage 7
Stage 8

Cape Epic "Theme Song"

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:33:00 +0000

The song they played everyday before the start of each stage and in the videos played every evening at dinner... (thanks to Ronny for finding this)

Back home in SF

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:59:00 +0000

Well, I'm back home in the US. In retrospect, I really should have taken at least a few days following the race to recover and relax. Instead, I really only took one day off and then jumped on a plane for another 30 hours worth of travel. The next day I find myself back at my desk at Sportgenic in San Francisco. Everyone thinks I'm an idiot. I think so. So the past couple days I've been trying to fool myself into believing I'm back on schedule with no jetlag. Last night/this morning, whatever you want to call it, I woke up at 2:30am and instead of trying to sleep another 4 hours, I simply stayed up. Now if I can get through the work day. Tomorrow I'm planning to get on my road bike to ride with some mates. We'll see how the body feels.

Cape Town and traveling home

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:38:00 +0000

On Monday, JD and I got up early to head to the airport. He was of to Krueger for a safari and I had until 3pm to get as much Cape Town in as I could. Jim was to go to Wellington to go flyfishing for monster trout. I was totally jealous.

By 8am we were at the airport. After saying bye to JD and putting my baggage in temporary storage, I grabbed a cab to Table Mountain. (Day 2 of being a tourist).

I spent a couple hours there and another hour at the Waterfront before it was time to head back to the airport.

The flight back was a bit of a hassle. Cape Town to Johannesburg was delayed and had me hustling to catch my flight 45 minutes later to Frankfurt. You'd think that's plenty of time, but I barely made it. My legs were killing me the whole 10+ hour flight. My appetite was tremendous and despite the two meals they served, if it weren't for the exact food I purchased before boarding I think I would have starved! I emptied my pockets and spent every last rand I had on food, ok beer, at the vendor right next to our gate. Actually, the vendor let me slide as I was 1 rand short. Of course I totally forgot they serve beer and wine for free on international flights. And good beer on German flights (Lufthansa). It did help me sleep a little, except I'm I a sucker for watching stupid movies on planes. I watched two of them. I forget which ones they were.

Frankfurt airport was weird in that I had to pass through two security checks. Talk about inefficient. Then in the boarding area, they booted us out (I was sleeping on the chairs) so that they could check our passports and re-enter the boarding area to wait another 30 minutes before boarding. After four hours there, I was on my way home. This time I just slept, ate, or read my book which I didn't touch the whole trip. It was a more comfortable trip for some reason even though the seats were exactly the same as the flight before. Someone told me Lufthansa was a good airline. It seemed pretty old school with TV monitors on the ceiling vs. in the headrests on the United and South African overnight flights. (note to self for next time). I will say I was quite pleased that all my bags made it to SFO without delay. My Dad picked me up and gave me a lift home. There I slept another 16 hours until it was Tuesday morning.

Winetasting in Stellenbach

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:25:00 +0000

On Sunday morning Stefan, my new Belgium and South African friends all said our goodbyes. It was a strange feeling actually not having to rush and get on our bikes but that things were coming to an end. No more suffering and no more racing to talk about at the end of the day. Somehow I know I will remain in touch with everyone I met. How could I not? You develop so much camaraderie with the other riders in enduring such an event.

The rest of the day Jim, JD, and I pretty much tooled around the Stellenbach area on a wine tasting quest. It was not only the first day I actually felt like I was a tourist but one on vacation. We ended up at one winery where we did a little fine dining. When that food wasn't enough we went into town for crepes/pancakes, coffee, and ice cream. We attempted to hit up another couple wineries but by then they were all closed. So then we went back to the resort to drink beers before heading out for dinner downtown Stellenbach at a place called The Fishmonger. We were the last customers and for the second straight night, just gorged ourselves with food. (Our appetites were pretty ferocious after 9 days of caloric debt!)
After dinner Jim was ready to go clubbing but I told him things would be dead since it was Sunday night. In reality, I was starting to come down with a cold.(what a surprise!) It was a bit chilly during our celebration dinner and perhaps the extra alcohol consumption didn't help my immune system either. Sorry Jim. Not typical of me to pass up a chance to check out the scene and have a few more. I think JD gets equal blame since he wanted to (or had to) get up early for his safari travel.

Our Accommodations: The Villages at Spier

Jim, JD, and Me with our South African crew: Amori, Dylan, Rowan, Jeanette (Robbie took the pic)

The registration desk at Spier believe it or not - not the wine shop

This is wine shop.

Jim browsing the wine selection.

"More bars..." (actually I used a Vodacom sim. Sorry AT&T.)

Jim driving us through wine country. (No, this is not a reverse image)

Wine Country

Lunch stop.

Good food, but not enough for our hunger!

Back at Spier, contemplating dinner.

Post Race Celebration

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:39:00 +0000

Saturday's banquet at Moyo was a great way to celebrate the 9 days of race. Along with the presentations, there was entertainment, a festive African atmosphere, and some of the best food of the entire trip. We ate all kinds of food - delicious and in mass quantity! And of course, plenty of drinks and catching up with fellow racers on the week+ that was. Moyo had a bunch of unique outdoor dining areas including intimate private decks. Quite a change from the athlete dining tents we crammed into each night over the week. Post dinner lounging on the outdoor couches was a relaxing way to end the evening. I was pretty impressed we were still awake at 10pm. Rizel bought us a round of shots that were of local flavor and that was the end of our night.
Traditional Dancers welcoming the athletes

One of the many amazing food stations. (JD and Jim stacking their plates)

Live entertainment on the main stage.

Traditional face painting.

Our table at Moyo.

Another pic of our table (photo by Robbie)

Rowan, JD, and Jim all painted up.

Jeanette and Amori: The two best massage therapists at Cape Epic!

Stage 8 - The Finale

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:05:00 +0000

The last stage of the epic was considerably shorter than all the stages thus far. With just 61k our race started later and ended earlier. The extra hour of sleep really didn't seem to make a difference. It still felt the same as 5am wake up. I think everyone was in good spirits knowing it was the last day. I carried much less Accel Gels and Accelerade. Today, I just wanted to travel as light as possible knowing we would do over 1700m of climbing. The course profile indicated only on major climb and then mostly rolling to slight climbs to the finish. There would be only one water stop which was an indication of the expected duration. The weather was cool though out the race. Starting from my usual position the race started out as a slow crawl from the back of the pack as we took two turns and started climbing. Some teams had decided to take it easy today and make it to the finish safely. Others like Jim and JD had positions to protect. Me? I just wanted to finish it out strong. The most interesting thing about this stage is that there was not only a mandatory portage section (a historic wagon trail) but also a neutral "no pass" zone -something about the land owner paranoid about being sued by a rider (sounds very American).
So i rode pretty well up the major climbs and again caught up to the same riders as previous days. I stupidly crashed twice on slippery downhill turns. Luckily i lost little skin and no mechanicals. With the weather cool and plenty of water in the camelbak I decided to bypass the water station. The portage section would be a log jam that would allow me to refuel and recover. That section was a good 1000m followed by a fast railroad ride, singletrack and downhill. I pushed the next climb to bridge up to a team right before a downhill right as we entered the "no pass" zone. My biggest mistake was not passing them before. i found out quickly that the were inferior riders on the descent and in technical sections. While they did provide great drafts they seemed unmotivated to push it. Three riders including a pro woman who lost her partner earlier decided to f the no pass rule while i played in safe. With 5k to go we got sucked up completely by a swarm of riders i had previously passed. Oh well. As i jumped on the train i got a nice push from Dylan. One team attacked with 1k to go. I jumped across and we went clear. It made no sense for me to outsprint them so i let them take it. In the end i made it and that's all that matters.
It was cool to see Stefan waiting at the end looking refreshed and in good spirits after a few days of relaxation.

Finished!

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:23:00 +0000

It was a short but still challenging day. The beer tasted sweet today.

Stage 7 - Our first "short" stage

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:09:00 +0000

Leaving the beach for a winery is not a bad thing unless you're doing the Cape Epic. Today's stage started from the pier in Hermanus to the winery at Oak Valley featuring nearly 2000m of climbing over a shorter 91k. Like the past few days I've had to work my way the slower groups as quickly as possible. This time I got a nice tow from another individual rider trying to do the same. There was less flat tarmac to start before our first climb of the day. I was able to move up much quicker. There were two major climbs that included some steep pitches that a lot of people off their bikes. I made up a lot of ground in there sections. The downhills were also on my side as i was maneuvering through the technical sections well especially the deeper sand. Eventually I would catch Stijn and Lindsey on one of these descents and rode with them to water stop 2. Then came the best single track of the entire race. At first i was bogged down by slower riders until an opening gave way to let it fly. Samantha, a rider on a mixed team from Calgary also had the same idea. The two of up ripped it up and dropped everyone including her partner. As the course went back up hill, I found myself alone for most of the final 20k. A few really steep winery hills and it was downhill to the finish. It was another good individual day clocking a time of 5:16. Props to Jim and JD for cracking the top ten in masters. They will be protecting their position tomorrow. Bad luck for my friend Rich who broke his derailleur and had to ride single speed for 70k losing over 1:30 hrs.
Tomorrow's final stage is even shorter and i'm really looking forward to the after party!

Jim and JD (Team SloGrown)discuss the last stage with Rich and Doug (GPSUpload.com)

Downtime after a day's racing

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:09:00 +0000

So what's it like after finishing each race? For one, downtime is scarce. It took us a couple days to get everything down. The first order of business is to mark a tent. In the tent city location can be key to convenience as well as a good nights sleep. Second is getting your gear bag which the transport everyday to the next stop of the race. Like most everyone's bag mine is completely stuffed and probably weighs over 50 lbs. If you don't feel like hauling it to your tent, you can ask a local young volunteer to help. The quicker you do this the quicker you have access to your recovery drink. Of course i use Endurox R4.

Then its off to bike wash. Bikes work better clean. Again you can have a volunteer do it for you. From there you can go to the mechanics at Maxxis or Shimano for a repair or tune up. Luckily i've been able go directly to the bike check for safe keeping. Usually the secure area is a tennis court. Next its back to the tents to shed the dirty clothes and queue up for a shower. Then its off to eat. On the longer days this would usually be the first thing to do. The race village always has concessions.

Then its off to get a massage. The race has official massage therapists but Jim, JD, and I booked with a private outfit. Thanks to Jeanette and Amori we've been able to get on our bikes day after day.

Immediately after it is time for dinner which has varied each day but usually includes chicken, beef, potatoes, salad, and bread. Shortly after there's presentations, the course preview for the next day, and picture and video highlights from the day's stage.There's maybe an hour before bedtime. That's part of the reason why my blogging has either been short or delayed. The other has been cell coverage to send my posts.

At 0500 a loud fog horn sounds to wake everyone up in the morning. Again, you just have enough time to prepare for the day's stage and get to the startline. Breakfast is the first order to avoid long lines and wasting precious time. You also get first dibs on the more popular foods. Then its general race prep, packing up and dropping of your bag. Each day's race starts at 0700 however getting to the staging area by 0630 is key to starting at the front. The faster you finish the stage the smaller the lines and the more time there is for downtime.

Stage 6 - The last "hard" stage

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:46:00 +0000

Last night's race briefing told us we had one more long and tough day. I was looking forward to the finish right at the ocean town of Hermanus. I got to staging early this time for a front position right behind the G section. Unfortunately my position resembled something like Bay to Breakers as it took over three minutes to cross the start line. I time trialed for the second day to bridge up to my former start group. I was a little more careful today not to blow myself early like the day before. Its so hard to recall the details of each days race as there is so much terrain, climbing, and suffering. Today's long climb i do remember. The combo of steeps and sand (walking). The descent was fast and rocky and by the end my fingers and forearms were killing of from braking and avoiding hazards. I was lucky enough to hook up with two German teams who pulled and paced me through the next 20k until one of them got shelled and had to slow. I was off solo until 20k to go when I found myself with a group of eight riders. We entered into a really nasty section of washboards and sand where the clean lines were never very clear. One guy from a Dutch team lead and had us zig zagging all over the place at a frantic pace that had us all on the rivet. Riders were getting squirrelly but no one wanted to lose the group. As soon as we made a turn we hit more patches of sand that took out a few riders including the Dutch guys. The road pitched up and more were done. I was fortunate to make it thru and carry my momentum up the hill where a whole mess of riders were feeling the pain of the last 10k. For some reason this gave me energy. I rode aggressively through a lumpy section of the sand dune. The next 3k would be on the beach where there was a stretch that was completely unrideable. I took a look back and to my surprise didn't see anyone else yet make the beach. To be sure I kept pushing hard once I hit the tarmac. Five k more to go and i went into TT mode and soloed in to a beautiful finish overlooking the water with a nice crowd cheering me in. It felt good today to ride so strong at the end. There really is no prize for the solo rider but its good practice and fun. For the record the had me as 14th individual on the day although i only recall one person passing me. Jim and JD keep making time on the nearest Masters competitors in their bid for a top ten. They edged out Rich and Doug at the line.

Stage 5 - First Day Going Solo

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:21:00 +0000

The biggest bummer of continuing without a partner is having to line up in the "open" section behind all the seeded riders. With seven seeded sections you're behind at least 400 riders. I say at least because if you don't get to the start early in the open section you could end up behind another 300+riders. Such was the case this morning for me. It took me 8k before I was able to make way to the E seeded riders. By them I was pretty cooked. I rode with Stijn and Lindsey to water stop 1. At that point i knew i had to chill. The pace had been fast despite being the longest stage in the race's history at 143k. They had extended the cutoff by an hour just for today. I wouldn't need it today.
The course brushed the coast for about 17k which was nice and cool except for the sand. Actually the sand was an advantage as I was able clear sections that others had to walk. Then I broke my chain. I lost a few minutes and had shifting problems all the way to the next water stop where Shimano was to help fix it. It gave me a forced rest which probably served me well for the rest of the day. I felt unusually strong after a tough crosswind section where I worked with four riders in a very nice echelon. We reeled in quite a number of fading riders. I came into town towing a large group including Dylan and Robbie who are with our massage therapists(btw we get the every day and it is keeping of going) I pulled almost the entire final 5k. One individual rider tried to take the sprint but i felt like it was mine so i took it. It didn't mean a whole lot but it was fun.
It was a long but beautiful ride over variable terrain and scenery.

Retired

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:10:00 +0000

After three exhausting stages we retired as a team with only 15k to go in stage 4. The stage started out nice and cool however Stefan's legs refused to cooperate with him and while we tried to take it as slow as we needed to the heat was once again a factor. Stefan had become dizzy and it was too dangerous for him to continue. We dispatched the medic and as soon as it arrived i continued on by myself so i could make the cutoff time and ride the next day as an individual.
It was disappointing for both of us but moreso for Stefan as he felt bad for not being able to finish.i think we can both be proud of the effort in attempting the world's toughest mountain bike race and the fact that only 350 out of the 600 teams that started are still in tact.
I will continue with stage 5 while Stefan gets to recover and have a real holiday.

Stage 3 -

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:40:00 +0000

It was another tough day. We had slipped down the GC but still in the same "E" start position. Today we rode sensibly but still had difficulties with the heat and duration. We suffered a tire puncture within the opening kilometers - which was a huge bummer as we never saw most of the riders from our start group the rest of the day. From the course profile most of the climbing was supposed to be in the first 25k but several small climbs and the dry conditions really killed us. The final water stop came way too late. It was the first time i had run out of fluids. Losing my bottle of Accelerade didn't help. One of the only highlights was racing ostrich and seeing baboons. The final 10k i really drove it home in a stiff headwind to finish in just under 7:30. I am tired.

Post Prologue Interview

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:25:00 +0000

Stage 2 - A Hot One

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:03:00 +0000

Last night was the first night sleeping in tents. It was actually remarkably comfortable and convenient with the race organization doing a superb job to set up a temporary city. Stefan and i found out pretty quickly that we needed more time in the morning to prepare as we scrambled to get to our upgraded start position. It was a pretty cool morning but by race start it was already promising to be a hot day. We had been warned that the entire course was under no shade. After both me us cramped yesterday we decided once again we should be conservative or "tourist" as Stefan calls it. The start of the race was like road race were you just try to sit in with the pack as long as reasonable as there is a huge advantage to draft especially on the paved sections between dirt trails. What is reasonable we are still trying figure out.
The course took us on some amazing trails and keep roads through private estates and farms. The locals all came out to cheer us. When the climbing came at 100k sightseeing was over. The climbing was no joke (or so hard it was a joke). A number of extended climbs were not rideable. Stefan was feeling the heat and pain from yesterday's effort while i was miraculously feeling good. We had to stop several times to make sure we took in extra fluids and didn't overheat. Stefan was starting to show signs me heat stroke. At that point we were really tourists. (see photos). We finished the day in 8:36 well of the pace of our seeded start group. We're not exactly sure where we ended up but at this point we just hope to finish. Once again a large number of teams DNF'd or missed the cutoff. They refer to this race as the Tour de France of mountain biking. I think its safe to say with nothing that comes close to this race it is proving worth of that label.
Tomorrow's stage is another 129k starting in Calitzdorp the town we finished in today and ends in Riverdale. The temps will be high again with the arid conditions. They said we could see gazelle and possibly girafe so it should give us a reason to be tourists.

final climb of stage 2

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:03:00 +0000

We took a short break up the 2000m climb

Stage 1

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:19:00 +0000

Seven hours twenty six minutes. That's how long it took up to complete the 123k course. Man it was tough. I heard about 100 teams DNF'ed. Its now 9 pm and i'm totally wiped out so i'm going to sleep. Last night i didn't get much sleep and now they're saying tomorrow's stage is the toughest with 1000+m climb 100k into the 140k stage. In short we went out way too hard in the start. Stefan suffered the first 40k while i suffered from 60k to 75k at which then i started cramping every half hour or so. Them Stefan started cramping. We made a bit of a comeback despite really fading in the final kilometers. We moved up about 75 places despite our foolishness and lack me respect for the course. We.re nervous about tomorrow and we definitely will be conservative this time.

Ready for Stage 1

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:52:00 +0000

Driving to Knysna

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:17:00 +0000

Thanks to United I had to find my own way to Knysna. This ended up being a good thing as the fastest option was to rent a car. It took about 4.5 hours vs. the 6,5 it took the shuttle. Flying to George might have been a bit faster although I would have missed seeing some beautiful country along with the misadventures of driving on the left side me the road in a car with a steering wheel also on an unfamiliar side.
What I did when I got there is a blur. After getting situated and having dinner i crashed out hard! Some pics from the day...

The Prologue

noreply@blogger.com (WOO.) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:30:00 +0000

The day had finally come. The first day of Cape Epic was the prologue, a short 16k loop to establish the seedings for tomorrow's Stage 1 start line. I was pretty confident going in despite two things untested prior to the start; the bike and my partner. It would be the first time riding the new Ahren bike hard and also really riding with Stefan. We did get a good 40 min warm up on the ride out to the start at a beautiful venue on a mountain overlooking the Indian Ocean in a very upscale estate.
The setup and production was as impressive as any Ironman i've been to, maybe better. A lot of excitement and good action watching riders going out and coming in. Right when we got there we heard the announcer say the a new best time posted of 31 min and change. Jim and JD were already back at the hotel having completed it in a nice time of 41. Stefan wanted to aim for 48.
In the start gates I was a afraid my rear tire was too low so i gave it more air. This turned out to be a bad call as I had poor traction and was bouncing all over the place. Same with Stefan. The first 2k or so was on rolling golf cart paths before taking a swift descent through some trees. I was flying and almost lost it. the bike was quick but tires too hard! Stefan unfortunately took a spill and we lost some momentum. The rest me the way we were a lot more conservative. In the end we made it in a respectable 49 min which seeded us in the 6th grouping row. Our overall placing of 314 is something we intend to improve on. A lot me riding to do. Tomorrow's stage is arguably the toughest with 3091m of climbing and covering 123km. It will be true test for us as a team. We ride at 7am. Time to go to bed.

The atmosphere that surrounds this race is amazing. There is a something so pure and genuine about this race that i can't really put my finger on. All i can say is this is so damn cool to be a part of it all!