Elgin to Worcester
128km 2300m ascent
It was sad to leave Oak Valley with its smooth single track
knowing that we were heading into real Epic territory in Worcester. Leaving the start at 7am pretty soon we
were up the day’s biggest climbing The Tierkop, where we climbed fast and was
well positioned. Nizaam had a
brief bad patch where we finally slowed down and lost a few groups. Neither of us expected it to be that
difficult terrain and I went to 83km with just one big and one small bottle and
completely ran out of food. We
almost both switched to ‘limp home mode’ when the feed station came into view
and I shoved so much fruit cake in my pocket it kept me going the rest of the
ride. Another mixed team caught us
and we sat on his wheel for the last section across a windy dam and through a
few sandy patches. We were both
pleased for the tow as we were both pretty shattered by then and I didn’t make
a move to sprint past them at the end.
I’m not actually sure my legs could have sprinted anyway without going
into cramp. We came in 3rd
mixed team, 70th overall.
Stage 4
Worcester - Worcester
120km 2000m climbing
Everyone has a bad day in the Epic and today hopefully was
my only one. The first mission was
getting out of bed, even getting down the stairs was a mission and even though
Zac does make the best porridge I even had to force that down. As we started out I lost Nizaam and he
got in a group ahead of me. I was
in a big group and he had to drop back for me then as we turned off the road
onto the dusty duel track he crashed badly. He was fine luckily and we carried on in a slower
group. I never really got my rhythm
apart from on a few climbs and felt uncomfortable all day. I was slightly nauseous but still
managed to eat but just felt flat.
Thankfully Nizaam was on good form and though I was wishing for him to
slow down I was happy he felt strong enough for me to sit slip the whole
way. Despite how I felt we had one
of our best results coming in 2nd and 65th overall (another
team were catching up but I gritted my teeth and picked up the pace).
I spent the afternoon feeling pretty rough with a sore
throat and blocked nose, took a mass of Vit C thanks to Andrew heading out specially to the shops again, and hoped I’d feel better
tomorrow.
 |
| Not sure how much slip I gave my partner! |
Stage 5
Worcester – Wellington
117km 2500m ascent
Another wake up by the bagpipes around camp at 5.20am,
giving me 10 minutes to lie and comprehend the day ahead. The day looked a big one on paper,
120km with loads of climbing and steep climbs. We rolled out along the same dusty roads though the pace was
steadier in our group. Turning up
into ‘Powerlines’ climbs we were in a good position and not in a long slow
queue up the hills. It was slow
going terrain and so filled up at the first water point where as usually we’d
get to the 2nd point where our own bottles were. On paper the next section looked easy
but was far from it with sandy climbs through orchards and some leg zapping single-track
climbs. Still we went well and were
catching teams up. Running out of
water and food the 2nd water point couldn’t come soon enough. I have Nizaam well trained now in
grabbing the food and going and we found ourselves first out of the feed from
our group. We couldn’t hang on to
them though in the sand towards Bain’s Kloof Pass leaving us alone to pace up
the flat windy valley. I was
relieved to get on the climb where it was more sheltered and meant the top was
in sight along with coke time at the final water point. So far down the pass, we turned left on
to the Welvanpas trails and started to climb again, 2 big climbs left through
the forest where the trees offered slight shelter from the 30 plus heat. Considering we were around 6 hours in
the descent they brought us down was very sketchy in places. Nizaam crashed and
for the second time this week I had nowhere to go other then into him. A few new bruises but no other problems
and we enjoyed the rest of the single track down and into the finish. We came in 2nd, and moved
into 2nd on GC after. The Asrin men had a real bad day with Craig crashing
hard and breaking his back wheel.
He had to wait to get a lift out so they are now out of the race.
 |
| Tired but still smiling |
Stage 6
Wellington – Wellington
71km
2000m ascent
We woke to rain this morning. It wasn’t cold but not that pleasant going to the start line
in the dark and damp. Wolfgang,
Craig’s partner woke up with a bad stomach so didn’t start, he looked so white
he must have been slightly relived he didn’t have to drag himself through the
stage. However it wasn’t cold and
after the first hour it stopped and we started to appreciate what the rain had
done. I felt flat as one of Zac’s
pancakes at the start and thought it was going to be a painful ride. With a blocked nose and sore throat I
thought it was that but gradually I felt better while at the same time Nizaam
started to tire. The single track
was so patted down after the rain it was perfect and I started enjoying it a lot. Out of 70km, 30km was single track. After the second water point we had a
long climb onto Bain’s Pass followed by new single track through the
forest. It was like a roller coaster
with riders above and below us and I loved it. If this stage was with fresh legs where every steep climb didn’t
feel like it was going to snap your muscles it would have been a perfect race
and while it suited the XC riders more than us I did enjoy it. We came in 4th, lost some
time to 3rd on GC but still hanging onto 2nd. Now the main aim is to get to tomorrow
without Nizaam or myself catching the stomach bug.
Stage 7
Wellington – Meerendal
87km 1500 ascent
With the start time as 7.45 I was excited to have an extra
45 minutes sleep but as the bagpipes came round it didn’t feel like we’d had
any extra time in bed. Usually
food is forced down in the mornings but I’ve found Zac’s porridge the best pre
race breakfast I’ve found, with a big dollop of honey, a cup of tea and a Rusk
I’ve never felt uncomfortable at the start and yet I don’t need any race food
until about 2 hours in which is a good job as its been either dusty or fast or
has involved steep climbs and hands on bars at all time style racing the first
few hours. After that I’ve
found trail mix in my pocket the easiest thing to grab, maybe one energy bar
and the rest has been fruit cake, muffins or fruit at the feeds along with a
much looked forward to coke and water mix at the last feed. Today was an exception though as I had
the feeling Nizaam was striving for a stage wins. We sat with the two other top mixed teams, I feel off the
back a couple of times lacking with acceleration round the corners and seemed
to find the deep sand every time but got back on. Eventually we were down to two teams and I had my first gel
of the week. The jersey wearers
then had a jammed chain. I asked
Nizaam how he was feeling; he said he was good so I suggested we ride
hard. There are few riders faster than Nizaam on the open descents
so I sat behind while he went full gas down hill. We had a good gap by the time we turned into the final climb
behind Meerendal but I hadn’t realized Nizaam didn’t know we still had a climb
left. He battled as hard as he
could, dropped his chain once and all the while I could see the team getting
closer but didn’t say anything.
Once at the top we had 5km to go downhill on single track. I laughed after at our scenario
afterwards but at the time it was pretty stressful as I kept loosing sight of
Nizaam. He said after he was seeing
double by then and crashed three times!
With one km to go I was freewheeling and seeing the green jerseys of the
next mixed team but not Nizaam.
Finally a few hundred meters to go he was there and we crossed the line
1st on the stage, Yvonne and Peter just 8 seconds behind.
 |
| This face says: 'You didn't tell me about that last hill!' |
The crowds at the finish of the Epic are always huge but our
Asrin supporters stood out amongst everyone. With a huge banner and around 30 of Nizaam’s friends and
family plus my folks it really did feel like we’d achieved something
special. I’d gone to the Epic with
an aim of a podium finish on a stage and would never have predicted we’d come 2nd
overall. We’d rode carefully every
day avoiding any nasty crashes or mechanicals. We’d each put each other under pressure to ride hard when it
mattered like to get on a group or at the start or when we were been chased
down. We each had our comfortable
moments: I relaxed on most of the climbs, Nizaam relaxed on the descents so
neither were ever under stress the whole day long unlike a lot of mixed teams
we saw fade away through the week.
We both had ups and downs, good and bad moments, angry bits and stomach
aching laughs but who doesn’t after that long riding together.
We’d had our bikes stripped each night, our knots massaged
out and we’d been fed fresh cooked healthy food 3 times a day in order to avoid
the stomach bugs flying around when the immune system gets so low. So really we couldn’t have done any
better.
 |
| Best fan club in Meerendal |
Thank you so much to all the Asrin team: Casper for looking after our machines
so well, Kim for the massages and for someone to talk to when I needed a girly
whine, Andrew for organizing us each day and Zac for all your delicious food
and recipes! Thank you also for
Deon of Cyclefunatics for my Specialized Epic 29er, to Squirt Lube and of
course to Asrin for all the support for the last two years as well as my folks
and Nizaam’s family and friends who have been following, supporting and
motivating us along the way.
Next race: Joberg2c
April 24th – 3rd May
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