Team BBB Cape Epic 2008 Race Diary

Cape Epic made history today with the running of a time trial prologue type event. First riders left at 8am and the last ones at 2pm. We rode from Knysna to the start at Pezula and got a bit more of a warmup than we had bargained for going up Sparrabosh hill.

Everything went according to plan and we hit the track at 10:20 with a target time of under 45min which seemed to be a good pace. It was a fun route with some testing climbs, a bit of single track and some fast rocky downhills. We rode hard but paid the price with Albert getting a cut tyre and a flat. With the fat bastards behind us we did a speedy plug and bomb repair and got going again as they passed us. The second half of the route was easier with more downhills. As we hit the finish circle I also started to flat but made it across the line.

The finish was festive with the pros leaving between 11 - 11:30 so we could see them go off and come back. Kevin Evans and David George wrode into the lead with the fastest time of the day.

Turns out that I also suffered a cut tyre, so two brand new maxxis crossmarks later and our bikes are good to go again. It was a gentle reminder that we need to ride carefully to preserve bike and body for the next 8 days.

Today was fun and interesting and it was nice lying around on the lawn feeling good after the ride, but it will be quite unlike the 8 days ahead. So tomorrow the real riding will start and the truth serum will be administered.

It was a great day for riding day 1 at the epic. We have ridden this day 1 route twice before, one in the wet and once in the pouring rain. So today with sunshine and dry ground we were smiling and hoping for good day.

The seeding from the prologue worked out great as you could get a seeded start with similar level riders. The start was full of excitement and anticipation. Today was climbing climbing and climbing! The tracks through the forest were awesome with a good variety and changing surfaces all the time.

We rode quite hard today wanting to get a good first day. Our quick stop strategy worked well as we wasted little time at the water points. We finished comfortably and spent the afternoon recovering. No bike or body issues means that we should be in good shape for tomorrow.

Today was a really tough day out in typical epic style. A fast start into George and the lead up to Montague pass. It was a long pass and we tried to maintain a good pace without over doing it.

Down the other side and rolling dusty Karoo roads before we turned off and went through some farm jeep tracks. This section of the route was nice because there were lots of technical bits to takes your mind off the 140km for the day.

The route became more and more technical and it got hotter and hotter. Eventually we got to the final climb of the day at the 102km mark. It was loose rock with 4 false peaks with a total ascent of about 1000 metres. Two sections were too difficult to ride due to the loose rock and gradient. The descent on the other side was equally challenging with steep loose rock and concrete path sections. It reminded us of a route from one of our training camps that simulated the heat and conditions very well.

The last bit home was almost the worst with me running out of water and not able to stick with some passing bunches. I was very happy to see the finish to one of the more difficult days that I can remember. We finished in the top 50 but have taken the whole afternoon to recover. Candice and Belinda have been our saviours helping to recover as quickly as possible with plenty food and drink.

There were quite a few non finishers today and some very weary but happy faces at the 6pm cut off.

Day 3 at the epic was both good and bad. It was a good day with a comfortable route with lots of flowing jeep track, technical sections and karoo scenery. The last 30 odd kms into Riversdsle was on a tar pass - a piece of cake compared to the nightmare climb of day 2.

On the bad side I seem to have developed a cold, surprise - so we had to take it a bit easier today. We also had our first real technical problem with my front derailleur breaking just before the first water point. I could shift up but not down, so I had to use my foot to shift down. We tried a quick fix but that didn't work. So I had to stick it out to the shimano tech zone at wp 2. Bonus was that the break was a warranty claim, the Shimano guys were excellent and fixed it quickly so that we could continue.

I thought I had issues until we saw this guy at the end with a broken bike and completely missing seat post. His bike broke with about 80 km to go so they made a plan and managed to make it to the finish before cut off. Check the pics below.

Today was hard for us, and the finish made it one of the toughest stages so far. We started fast with the front bunch but could only hold on for so long. Then we filtered through the field a bit until we reached Grootvadersbosch. After that we held our own until the end including the killer finish that had 3 nasty steep hills before Swellendam.

There were lots of casualties today with some really bad falls. Also a few more teams pulled out including some top names. We also started to see singles today as partner-less riders soldiered on.

It was another long hot day out making this one of the hardest epics so far

Stage 5 from Swellendam to Bredaarsdorp was the longest epic stage so far 147km. We made it in under 7 hours, it was another long hard day day. This has been a really hard epic so far with 5 long hard days in a row.

Today had a really fast start and we did the first 48 km to wp1 in well under 2hrs. Then through de hoop it was rocky and sandy but very scenic right next to the sea. After wp2 there was an awesome 3km rocky downhill leading to an isolated dam in a valley. The last stretch was windy and long, another rocky section broke the monotony before a fast tar finish.

The Cannondale leading team finished today after riding the last 16km on a bare rim! - amazing!

Stage 6 Bredaarsdorp to Hermanus was a great day for us. I finally felt good again and even found myself on the front a few times. The start was comfortable with no dust because the nights rain had settled the ground.

Today we had some real racing on our hands, we were riding together with all the teams who are close to us on the leader board so everyone was watching each other. After the first climb most of us regrouped and headed to the second water point. We got out of the wp first and stated the long Salmansdam climb first. It was a long hot climb on typical sandy rocky cape fynbos type ground. The scenery was beautiful but you had to concentrate on the track to stay upright. The decent was fast loose and rocky pushing your bike in all directions. We made it over the climb and descended quickly to stay ahead of the other teams.

From there it was pretty flat for the rest of the way with a brief tar section, more rolling sandy and rocky farm tracks, a terrible sandy corrugated road, bumpy sandy dune tracks, short beach section and then the finish at the old Hermanus harbour. We helped a team with a chain breaking tool and then rode with them to the finish joining up with another bunch. 6 hours in the saddle again earned us 50th spot overall, and we had to work hard for that.

Our support team were at two vantage points today to encourage us which was great, and then they were at the finish feeding and helping us recover. Tonight we broke out of the race village to get some burgers at the spur with team weaseldoo.

Day 7 was average for us, we started well but I was completely exhausted at the finish. I struggled to eat and had no power in my legs. I also had a mini sense of humour failure with riding my third epic with a cold again. We still managed to finish in the 60's and actually moved up a few spots in the gc into the 50's. So all was not lost.

The route was great with some nice scenic climbs and many kilometres of singletrack. One more day to end off a hard epic, I will have to see how I feel tomorrow.

After a great start to Cape Epic 2008 we finished day 8 and the end of the race with a real downer. My cold got very bad at the end of Day 7 so I woke up to Day 8 feeling half dead. Normally the last day is great fun as you give you last bit of energy, suck up the atmosphere and arrive at the finish feeling a great sense of achievement. But this time around it was very different for us as I struggled straight off the start line.

There was no chance of not riding, so off we went. By day 7 we had moved upto 56 GC, but it quickly became evident that there would be no improvement to that, instead it would be all damage control. The route was great again with alot of climbing to make up the 1700m ascent over 62km. Albert was feeling good so he was able to pull me over most of the big climbs. Halfway through the day at the first water point most of the major climbs were over and I had a little bit more power so we managed to maintain our position in the field and ride into the finish without loosing more time. It was one of the longest and hardest 4 hours on a bike ever for me, I am glad and lucky to have made it. But am now paying the price with a long slow recovery period.

The dinner at Spier was great and it was nice to spend more time with our lovely wives and start the re-integration process back to normality after yet another Cape Hectic.

We also got our customary winners photo with the Team Cannondale winners Raul and Jakob

Race Report and Cape Epic 2008 photos and Video