My Epic Epic
Ever since the Pioneer last year both
Yolande Speedy and myself had dreams of doing the Epic together. It wasn’t going to happen though with
neither of us able to secure an entry into what is not only the most popular
and famous mountain bike stage race in the world but also the most expensive. I
returned to South Africa with other races to do and a flight booked home after
the Argus on the 13th March.
However, cycling is a close-knit sport and a few weeks after my arrival
we had a sponsor in the form of Hendrik from Energas. He is a die-hard Epic fan… one of a very small handful
competing in his 10th this year and bringing his family in tow. He had three entries and after a coffee
and quick chat Speedy and me and had one of those. It was a case of ‘did that meeting just happen’ afterwards
and soon I had my flight re booked and could join in the hype surrounding the
10th Anniversary of the Untamed Race.
I didn’t alter my training much just
because I was in the Epic. With a
full race program with Bizhub I got fit racing and improved my technical skills
as I went along. I was lucky to be
able to base myself in Stellenbosch the weeks leading to the Epic with the
Grape Escape and the Argus all down there and spent hour after hour on the
single track in Jonkershoek as I knew what a good XC racer Yolande is.
Two days before the prologue I left my
peaceful base at the Ridein café near the reserve for the hustle of Cape Town
and registration day. Far from relaxing
the day before the event we spent hours queuing for bags, unloading bike boxes,
packing, re packing, meeting people and generally getting nervous! Our team of 6 all stayed in Cape Town
so it was a good chance to get together before the race began.
22km Prologue, Meerendal Wine Estate
Up at 5 we left Cape Town for
Durbanville. Waving Hendrik and
Laurike, his partner and daughter off we crashed out for a few hours till our
10.30 start time. The atmosphere
was electric at the start and rolling down the start chute between the crowds
was unforgettable. Unlike any
other race in the World these crowds aren’t just there to watch the pros, they
are there to watch every single rider go off and that’s the appeal. It’s a big deal whether your Christophe
Sauser or Joe Bloggs the weekend warier!
Yolande led us up the single-track climb
and down the technical descent. By
the top we were caught by the top 2 teams but hung on to them for quite a
while. By half way we re passed
Topeak and the four of us rode through the traffic together. The route was fantastic, plenty of
single track but near the end there was so many riders on route it was
impossible to race hard. Most guys moved out of the way quickly, unlike the
tortoise that decided to amble on route and was lucky not to become part of my
X King’s tread!!
We finished very happy in 3rd
place, the first time on the podium for me in the Epic with Topeak Ergon in 2nd
and BMC Wheelers 1st
Stage time: 1:11
Stage One: 96km Citrusdal – Citrusdal
The day started with a long climb and at
the top Sally’s partner, Milena Landtwing was by the side of the road having
abandoned with a bug. Yolande
crashed on the tar of all places but did no damage and soon we moved up into 2nd
place. The course was very Epic like,
lots of deep, unridable sand interspersed with steep big rocky descents
followed by a long portage section up out of an open hot valley. However, we were having a great ride,
moving through bunches and riding at a perfectly matched pace. Down one tricky rocky descent I fell
landing heavily on my arm and hip.
Yolande picked me up and, avoiding looking too closely at my bloody arm,
I was more worried about my back, which was really sore to ride on. It knocked the stuffing out of me and I
relied on Yolande to get me home, collecting coke for me and sitting in the
wind. Towards the end I was
obviously riding skew and my hamstring started to cramp. 4km to go it went into full cramp
making me leap off the bike and wince a lot!! Yolande was a star and got me to the end in 2nd
place and straight to the Mediclinic. While I tried to lie, along with many
other weary souls coming in, the cramp kept setting in, probably from all the
walking though to me it felt like my body was rebelling from the pain I had inflicted!! My hip was just badly bruised which was
a big relief while my arm needed stitches. I nearly had to go to a hospital miles away as it was down
to the bone and initially too open and deep to stitch until the top doc came
along with a long needle and stitched it perfectly. My claim to fame while
there was having stitches next to Tom Ritchey also having a few in his shin!
Stage Time: 5:58
Stage Two: 146km Citrusdal – Saronsberg
Rolling out from the start we saw Esther
Suss pull over and with Topeak also out now we were race leaders. We were unsure whether it was a bad day
or a mechanical so we rode on as hard as we could to try to stay in the
lead. After one long, pain free
climb we descended over some corrugated roads which was agony on my arm. I discovered swearing aloud helped
though had to apologize a few times when I realised I was close to some other
riders!!
After a steady start again we started
moving through bunches. Apart from
the pain in my arm the legs felt great and we seemed to be flying along. Near the end when I started to dip,
Yolande got stronger and led us into the finish and our first stage win! We were delighted even before we heard
that Ester was having a really bad day and that we were on course to move into
the lead. Pulling the Rusk leaders
jersey was so surreal, we’d come to the Epic with hopes of a podium and now we
were in the jersey. It was a crazy
afternoon of interviews after already such a long stage and we hardly rested
until bedtime when I finally collapsed in my tent.
Stage Time: 6:51
Stage three: 94km, Saronsberg, Tulbagh
We learn’t today that Esther had pulled
out. She also had the stomach bug
which seemed to be mainly affecting the girls, with teammate, Leana also
battling through. It was
disappointing as I expected it was going to be a fierce battle with BMC as they
recovered and clawed their way back to us making the race more competitive and
interesting. However there
was still a long way to go and lots could still happen. We started the ‘tour of
the basin’ (a flattish day under the mountains) fast, lining on the front row
with the other jersey wearers it was hard not to but soon we settled down. With tiredness setting in it became a
bit of a joke reading out our super low heart rate while we were feeling near
max. My Brytongps recorded 155 as
my max today, way off the 172 a few days ago! The day was hard, mainly because
we’d been told it was a recovery day so I let my guard down a little and forget
this is the Epic, there is no such thing!! We sat in bunches instead of dragging them along and while
my arm was still sore we had no other issues and finished comfortably in the
lead again with C –Bear in 2nd
Stage Time 4:58
Stage Four: 120km Saronsberg – Wellington
The dauntingly long day was probably our
best yet. With a fast start the
k’s flew by and the climbs were all pretty rideable. My arm felt loads better which helped on the technical bits
too and the views out of the desolate bowl of Zuurvlakte were spectacular. We did have a small collision which dug
a hole in the other arm but nothing much.
Out of there we hit the 16km tar climb up Bain’s Kloof Pass. After all the rough riding so far this
was luxury and we rode along in a big group. The great thing is we are both evenly paced on the climbs
now and as the gradient ramped up it didn’t take any words for us both to
figure out we were hurting more than we needed to to stay in tact and both
happily backed off. At the top we
hit some fantastic single tracks at Bain MTB trails and having done them in the
Grape Escape I was confident and enjoyed them, especially following Yolande’s
lines! The afternoon was filled as
usual: Quick wash down, brush hair to feel half human, can of Fanta which I
have suddenly become a huge fan of, podium, jersey, interview. Drug test while having recovery drink,
shower and give washing in. Trip
to Mediclinic to firstly clean my wound and today to get a few extra stitches
in the other arm (I promised them stabilizers are coming on tomorrow!!) 10
minute ice bath in the Riders Lounge, usually with lunch, lots of socializing,
Go Pro Village Hero prize giving (first in each cat in the tents), tents
sorted, kit ready once its cool enough to get in the tent, bottles washed,
filled (one 32gi, one water) and given into Race Nutrition for us at the 2nd
water point, prize giving, dinner, find one of many people who have helped us
to give bottle prize giving wine too, and finally bed. Thankfully our bikes are been really
well looked after by Sean and bodies by Bridget from DimensionSports!!
Stage Time: 5:49
Stage Five: 75km Wellington
Today was our ‘fun’ day in the Epic, a
short stage with over 20 km of single track round Bain MTB trails at
Welvanpas. On any normal day it
would have been a great day but today we both took a strain. The struggle began in breakfast, eating
at 5am is always a mission and is becoming harder then we both felt quite
nauseous the whole ride. Though
32Gi has been providing me with steady long lasting energy, today we could only
face water and didn’t eat a lot too.
We weren’t ill in any way, may have just caught the edge of either the
bug or our bodies telling us they needed a break from glucose intake!! However, we were rewarded for the hard
quad burning climbs with lots of fantastic single track and I found a friendly
Canadian to chat to along the way.
He mentioned he was once a sprinter to which I replied, ‘yeh, I used to
enjoy sprinting too’. Later on, I
yelled (all be it politely) to his teammate who I thought was cutting it a bit
fine passing at the bottom of a sandy turn. Can you imagine how I felt when I found out the sprinter was
TDF yellow jersey wearer Alex Stieda and his mate was the legend Tom Ritchey!
That’s the appeal of this race; everyone is out there experiencing this thing
together, famous, fast or just a weekend warier.
We finished 1st again all be it
behind Alex and Tom!
Stage Time: 4:06
Stage Six: 99km Wellington – Stellenbosch
The stage started well. We were in our usual position and
taking it careful on the descents.
We both had better legs and an appetite back so were in good spirits in
the forest round Du Toiskloof. The
day had started a bit wet so the dust had settled and the temperature was
perfect in the 20s. I was leading
our group along a straight slightly downhill section when I heard a crash and
looked back to see Yolande on the floor. She stood up holding her arm instantly
suggesting broken collarbone.
However, though in a lot of pain, she was able to move it so I told her
I didn’t think it was broke and we rode on backing right off as any bump was
agony for her. We dropped down to
3rd ladies but that didn’t matter at all as I could see she was
really battling and near the end with lots of single track on and off the bike
must have killed. Once over the line in our new camp she went to the hospital
for X-rays with Paul. We were all
shocked to hear her clavicle was broke along with 2 ribs in the back! If she was in agony, I was an emotional
wreck for the afternoon, we have grown close and I couldn’t believe our
adventure could take such a turn for the worse. She was determined she would ride the last day but I wasn’t
sure she’s be able to even put her hands on the bars and think I slept less
than her.
Stage Time: 6:14
Stage Seven: 54km Stellenbosch – Lourensford
I was glad for my Rudy Project glasses
today as I was pretty teary eyed as we were called to the start line. Yolande was determined to ride and I
had a phone and jacket in my pocket in case of the worse case scenario the
doctor had told us which was a punctured lung from the broken ribs. If it sounds scary it was and I was
emotionally drained by the time we rolled away. Dropping back through the group we walked the first steep
climb, not due to the gradient but because there were too many people zig
zagging around and we weren’t risking any falls today. Finally we were in peace, in between B
and C batch with the whole route to ourselves. We kept conversation light and I let Yolande lead every
downhill so she could see the bumps.
I was traffic marshal and buffer, shouting to her which side groups were
coming past on and making sure they passed us carefully, and if not, they were
going to ram me before her! We had
some portage sections, which were really painful for her lifting her arm up,
but we got through and with 5 km to go knew we were going to make it. It was
pretty emotional riding onto the field together. Along the way we’d had so much support and at the finish it
felt like everyone knew our battle.
The champagne was sprayed and we gave each other a huge hug, I don’t
think I’d ever experience a week with anyone like that again and I definitely
not forget it!! Flying back to
Joberg that afternoon and leaving the bubble behind was fine with me as the
memories will last a long time I then flew home to the UK for a real break.
Fingers crossed for a quick recovery for my teammate, I’m sure we’ll get the
chance to race together again some time, all be it with body amour and three
wheels at the back instead of one!
Thanks to so many people: Energas for
getting us on the start line and for the continuous help throughout, Bizhub for
the last three years of support and getting me to South Africa in the first
place, Sean and Bridget from Dimensionsports for looking after bikes and bodies
all week, calming us down at the prologue and making us look so clean for the
podium (!), the Mediclinic for patching us both up and sending us on our way
with no doubting that we wouldn’t make it, Rocky Mountain for my amazing 29er,
though I’m covered in bruises and holes that bike didn’t have one problem all
week, Continental and Squirt Lube for problem free tires and chain, 32Gi for
energy drink, chews and accelerate tabs, ASG for a bullet proof Rudy Project
helmet, glasses and great fitting kit, BrytonGPS for really accurate distances
and the humor of seeing our ever decreasing max heart rate, best ever gloves
from Gripp and blister free Sidi shoes.
Thanks also to all the support and messages we got along that way, there
were no way we weren’t going to finish that race and let everyone down!!
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