Thankyou!

We might not have won the main event but we most definitely won our race (as did every other finisher) and so just like the Oscars winners I've prepared a little 'thank you' speech...

Firstly thanks must go to the folk who organise the amazing event that is the Cape Epic and sort out a huge amount of stuff. The Epic truly is a world class event! Thanks too to the other riders who help to make this whole experience a lot of fun.

Petie, Jacques, Enoch and the crew at Helderberg Cycle World were great. Not just in fulfilling the service contract during the race but in going the extra mile so many times prior to the event. More than once they sorted my bike out at the drop of a hat, much to my relief. Petie is a star in putting together regular rides which helped to form the basis of my training plan.

Thanks too to all the great guys I've had the privilege of riding with here in Somerset West, Stellenbosch & Grabouw. You're a great crowd.

Thanks to Barbara my pilates instructor. Had I not known how to 'tilt my sit-bone' I would have been in a lot more pain than I was.

Special thanks go to Paul's mum for the copious quantities of fruit cake. My boys now refuse to eat Woolworths fruit cake as Paul's mum's cake is SO good!

Massive thanks go to Paul for riding with me. The benefit of your years of racing really paid off and you were such a good guy to ride with as well as being one of the most chilled guys I have ever known. It was a real privilege and total pleasure to ride with you!

Penultimate thanks go to Juliette, Paul's long suffering wife and Lara & Amy who let their dad spend so much time out and about training and then riding the race. Juliette was often at the finish line with other members of Paul's family and they were all very supportive.

There is no way I could not say a truly special THANKYOU! to my gorgeous wife Paula and amazing sons Joel & Eli (as seen above). I can't ever recall you grumbling about the amount of time this whole adventure took me away from you or saying 'no' to spending ridiculous amounts of money on it all. I couldn't have done this without you and seeing you at the finish line in Greyton with the boys was very very special! You were incredibly long suffering through the whole journey and I stand in awe of you! Man I love my wife!!

Well, this is the end of the blog (for now). I started it with a specific purpose in mind and having crossed the finish line of the Cape Epic I've achieved what I set out to. Should I undertake the Epic again or participate in some other event worthy of blogging about I'll revisit this blog. Until then, adios amigos!

A Photographic Pause

Whilst I compose my thoughts about what we've just done and achieved I'll leave you with a few photos from our Epic adventure.

Paul and I in the start pen on Stage 1 in Gordon's Bay


Filthy and tired after Stage 1


Paul relaxing in the chill zone


In the dining tent


Right on the start-line in Greyton


The Bizweni Bundu Bashers (we never got round to changing the name to something better)


Welcome Home Daddy


Paul with family and friends at Lourensford


Relieved to be back with my family after 8 hard days!


Finally, here's a very brief video of the Bizweni Bundu Bashers crossing the finish line at Lourensford Wine Estate

Stage 7 Photos

This is one of my favourite photos and it was taken by my mountain bike buddy Greg English on the finish line in Lourensford. I bunny-hopped the timing mats on every finish line and was delighted when Greg told me he'd captured this.

After the fun of Stages 5 & 6 and having sorted my nutrition etc I was really looking forward to more of the same for this stage. Sadly the day was pretty grim and not particularly enjoyable. I felt that I had little in the tank and after the climb up Nuweberg I felt completely done-in. Thankfully Gerrard met us at the top with an ice cold beer which did help. Once again Paul was on hand to push me up the final hill on the Wedderwill estate after which it was downhill and flat all the way into Lourensford. Crossing the finish line was a really sweet moment!





We came across this large puddle with everyone queueing on one side to walk around it. I decided to ride it (one of the few that did) and was rewarded by passing a lot of other riders. Paul reckoned it was bad manners to queue jump but it was race day and those who chose to walk could easily have ridden. They probably didn't want to get their feet wet.


I love the fact that the photographer appreciated my effort to ride through the puddle. The strange face is due to the fact I was chowing an energy bar part of which was still in my hand


Almost home. This was a compulsory portage section over the Gamtoe Pass, a national heritage site.

Stage 6 Photos

Stage 6 was another fantastic day. Like Stage 5 it played to our strengths and we had a blast. The highlight was the technical descent of Wolfkloof in the Kogelberg as this is completely forbidden territory.

The singletrack was great and our local knowledge was starting to pay dividends. Paul slipped into full race mode and at one point we managed to work our way through about 20 riders to get onto a stretch of singletrack ahead of them, after which we dropped them bigtime, all thanks to Paul's technique.





The singletrack through the forest between Thandi and Oak Valley was fast and flowing and a real blast


The silly grins say it all


We really enjoyed this stage and were well set for a great ride on stage 7

Stage 5 Photos

Having spent the night gorging myself on all the right food stuffs and continually snacking on nuts & dried fruit as well as drinking more recovery and electrolyte rich drinks than I care to remember (I never seemed to stop weeing) we were set for a great day. Stage 4 was billed as the 'easy day' but in truth it just favoured the roadies and sprinters. We held our own but it didn't play to any of our strengths. Stage 5 on the other hand was our best day by far! We loved every minute of it and eventually crossed the finish line with huge grins on our faces. We'd worked out a good nutrition plan for me and we were religious im ensuring we had drained our water bottles by each water point. On top of that we were uber religious about eating on the hour every hour and it really paid off! Stage 5 felt like we'd finally started mountain biking properly and we were loving it.

The highlight of the Stage (for me) was seeing Hansekop in the distance as we climed out of Botrivier. As soon as we saw our old friend (I've ridden to the top of Hansekop twice) we knew we were 'home' and the rest of the Epic was to be ridden in our own back yard.

The single track coming into Oak Valley was brilliant.
Look at the slack on the chain!


We both had a huge amount of fun on this Stage but the singletrack was the icing on a very sweet cake!


Having a blast!


Paul's family were out in force at Oak Valley and it was great to see them, especially as ey had brought burgers and beer. This was also the end of our time in the tented village as the next two nights were spent at home in our own beds. Blessed relief especially as it poured one night.

Stage 4 Photos

This one sums up the very nature of the Epic to me. It's about team work, looking out for your partner and making sure you cross the finish line together. For the majority of Epic finishers, your finishing position is far less important than actually finishing. Of all the riders I've met who have completed the Epic I've never known anyone to ask where they finished or in what time. Quite simply finishing the Epic is far more important and that's why I like this photo so much. This sums up team, looking out for one another and being determined to finish together come what may! Just for the record I did tell Paul to take his hand off me once I'd seen the camera.






Stage 4 was billed as "The easiest day except for stage 7" but I was not experiencing that. In fact by now I was really struggling as I was desperately failing to replace the calories I was burning. The wheels were on the verge of coming off and by the time we crossed the finish line in Greyton I knew that I had to get myself sorted out. I spent some time with the guys at Polar who were fantastic and as a result of their advice(they downloaded the stats from my heart monitor and analysed it properly) I was able to save my Epic and turn things around.

Stage 2 & 3 Photos

Crossing the finish line in Villiersdorp at the end of Stage 2. I was exhausted by now as I was not consuming anywhere near enough calories. I hadn't recovered from my 8000Kcal expenditure the day before and was struggling to eat without wanting to throw-up. somehow I made it through the day, having wondered how on earth I was going to get back on the bike in the morning.

Despite getting my nutrition horribly wrong I still enjoyed the day and Paul and I got on really well. Paul was immensely patient and at times a real physical help as he pushed me up a few hills.





Nearly at the top of the 'hike a bike' section on Stage 3. This was a tough 40 minute, 3km climb with bike up a very steep and rocky hill. I was knackered at the top


Finally back on the bike again. At the top it was very quiet as no-one was talking or joking around. I guess we were all too shocked by the experience and very tired


Later that day things improved although my nutrition was now seriously compromised.

Stage 1 Photos

Here we are on Stage 1 of the Epic. This was a monster of a day and at dinner in the evening Christoph Sauser was quoted as saying that this particular Stage 1 was: 'the toughest ever'.

Here's a bit more of what he had to say about the day:
"I felt super up Groenlandberg, this is almost a hour climb, but the descent was so rocky and for ever. Everything went numb!
On my stage profile the last 35km look easy and fast, but it took for ever and my energy went low."*

Whilst I'm nowhere near Sauser's level we were at least on the same page on the day.







I'm guessing this is somewhere near the top of Groenlandberg, maybe even on the Villiersdorp side of it. Either way, I was stuffed and still had quite a long way to go!



Finally we rolled into Villiersdorp for a hard earnt rest. Paul had clocked his family at the finish line and it was great to see them, especially as they had muffins and cold beer



This picture seems a bit repetitive but I've included it as our mates Dan & Anka are right behind us (Dan's in green to the left). Dan struggled big time on this stage with cramping. Eventually they went on to beat us by almost 6½minutes finishing 277th one place ahead of us

This was a really tough day! To understand how tough you had to be there. The temperature was up to 46°C at times and the climbs were long and tough but also quite technical, particularly Groenlandberg. The attrition rate on this Stage was minimised by the fact that the cut off was extended by about 90 minutes. Many of the riders who had done previous Epics were saying this was VERY VERY tough. Personally this is the biggest day I've ever had on a bike and I came close to blowing it.

* Taken from Sauser's blog

Photos - At Last!

Over the next few days I'll be posting a series of photos of myself during the Cape Epic taken by Sportograf.de and where possible, if I can recollect the moment through the sweat & tears, I'll add a few notes on each one.

I've also added a complete slideshow on the right of the photos I'll be posting here so you can have a sneak peek. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

This one is of the Bizweni Bundu Bashers aka Dean & Paul on the Friday at registration (Table Mountain makes for a stunning backdrop) looking very calm and clean! We had planned to test ride the Prologue route but only got about 1km into it when we had to bail as my rear cassette was stuffed. Thankfully a quick trip to the bike shop remedied the problem and all went well the next day on the Prologue itself. At this point I had absolutely no idea what i was about to undertake and experience. What a mug!








In no particular order during the Prologue:

This is a great picture with Lion's Head in the background. The bike and my kit look so clean here, but that soon changed!


The riding was a lot of fun


I've developed a bad habit of sticking my tongue out for the camera


The scenery on Table Mountain was stunning but it was tragic to see the devastation caused by the recent fires

Learning To Ride A Bike

The title pretty much sums up my Cape Epic. I feel that for the first time in my life I actually learnt to ride a bike properly and it felt great!

I've already said it a lot but will keep on telling anyone who will listen that riding with Paul was a real privilege particularly as he has a very natural racing mentality. Paul could strategise and see opportunities to pass teams and drop other riders whilst I was happy to sit back, relax and get my heart rate back to normal. Riding with someone like Paul is a real education as suddenly you realise there's a whole lot more going on than merely pedaling your bike.

My lowest point was on Sunday evening after Stage 1. I blew my ride by spending over 4 hours in the orange zone and burnt almost 8000Kcal's, most of which I failed to replace. I was left wondering how on earth I was going to get back onto my bike in the morning and was convinced it was physically impossible! Somehow my mind overruled my body and I did indeed ride again on Monday in Stage 2. I really didn't enjoy it much and after burning almost 5000Kcal's was getting myself into a real mess. I knew I had to eat but each small mouthful I took caused me to gag. I really wanted to puke big time but somehow managed not to. Not sure how but I held on. Stupidly Stage 3 was pretty much a repeat with a ridiculous number of Kcal's being burnt and nowhere near enough being consumed. I really was hitting some very low points and simply not helping myself. My only other really tough day was Stage 7 when I felt like I simply had nothing left to give. Somehow I had to dig very very deep and with a bit of help from Paul (pushing me uphill again) I managed to get myself up to the top of Wedderwill which was the very last hill. Hooray!

After getting my nutrition sorted with help from Polar we began to race properly and Stages 5 & 6 were far and away the best days. The riding was proper mountain biking with plenty of technical stuff and great singletrack. I really enjoyed these two days, particularly the singletrack leading into Oak Valley and the stuff in Lebanon both of which are local rides for us.

The 'Bum Tent' run by the Medi-Clinic was an interesting experience. By the end of Stage 2 I really needed some help as my saddle was set incorrectly and my bum was getting very sore! The initial visit to the bum tent was a bit odd but very quickly you lose any inhibitions and really don't care who's got their hand up there. I got to know the Dr's quite well and Sharon was an angel. Initially they gave me nappy cream then I moved onto an anti-septic cream but by Stage 6 my bum was screaming with pain. So on seeing the Medi-Clinic 4X4 at a waterpoint I jokingly asked for the 'under the counter stuff' to which the medic said "OK" and pulled out a small tube of cream. Within 2 minutes of applying it my bum was numb. Blessed relief! I forgot to ask what it was but that night (I was staying at home) I saw my GP and she gave me a prescription for what she thought the cream was. Sadly she was wrong, so the next morning at the first water point I grabbed the medics and made them give me a LOT of the cream. It turns out it was a purely anaesthetic cream but it was glorious and I managed to continue riding pain free.

Besides crossing the finish line in Lourensford, one of my key highlights was being told by Paul that he was 'happy to follow me downhill as I was picking some sweet lines'. Now I'm not normally noted for my downhilling but for some reason it all came together on the Epic and I was really happy to throw myself (plus bike) down the rocky loose hills with almost complete abandonment. Wolfkloof in the Kogelberg on Stage 6 was exceptionally good fun. Part of it was born out of the confidence I have in my bike, the BMC Fourstroke 02 is a very sweet machine!! But I think mainly it came from the many hours I spent in Jonkers and Eden practising my technical skills on singletrack and rocky downhills. The Rock-garden that links Eden and Coetzenberg was great practice as nowhere on the epic was worse than that.

Having said all of that, the best thing by far was crossing the finish line in Greyton on Stage 3 being cheered on by Paula and my boys! I knew Paula would be there but I hadn't expected her to take the boys out of school for the day. I was so emotional on seeing them and they really lifted my spirits. Later as they drove off home I realised just how tight we are as a family and how much I really adore them!

Stats & Facts

I’m still coming to terms with exactly what it is that Paul & I have done in completing the 2009 Cape Epic and as my thoughts crystalise over the next few hours and days I will write about some of my experiences, the highs and lows etc. of an amazing journey.

For now here are some cold hard facts:

600 teams of two were due to line up at the start of the Cape Epic Prologue on Table Mountain on the 21st of March but for some reason only 598 made it. Apparently there were a number of serious accidents the day before during the test riding of the route. Of these, 503 made it to the finish line at Lourensford.

We finished in 278th overall and 180th in the Men’s category with our overall time being 46:29:21.0

Officially the race is 743kilometres long with 16650m of ascent. However my Polar heart rate monitor disagrees with the official stats but I’ll go with them. What my Polar can confirm however is my calorie expenditure which stands at a whopping 35539Kcal for the whole event. That is about 14 days worth of food in 8 days! Amazingly I lost no weight at all.

We had two key aims at the outset and a third one of lesser importance. These were: 1) To finish 2) To have fun along the way & 3) To finish in the top half. We achieved all three and as such are very pleased with ourselves.

We had agreed at the outset not to hit the Prologue too hard and were reasonably pleased with our time of 1:11:32.3 This put us in the G starting group which was the last seeded group followed by the Open category. By Stage 3 we had worked our way into the F start group and for Stage 6 & Stage 7 we were in E. Each day we managed to be in the front of the start pen and this really helped on a few occasions, particularly around Greyton when there was a bit of chaos which we were able to take advantage of and work our way through the group in front of us.

We were very blessed not to suffer with any technical issues as our bikes ran perfectly and neither of us picked up any serious injuries besides sore bums, stiff legs and a number of scratches and bruises. We had a Face Plant Sweepstake which meant whoever fell off the most had to buy the other a bottle of champagne. Sadly I lost this 2-1 but Paul more than deserved the bubbly!

Other than pushing ourselves way too hard on Stage 1 on Sunday, the only day we didn’t really enjoy was Stage 4 which was around Greyton. This stage favoured roadies and sprinters of which we are neither. Also by this stage I was seriously struggling with my nutrition. Thankfully the guys at Polar were really helpful and after a lot of eating to get myself sorted Stage 5 was fantastic, definitely our best day! We crossed the finish line with stupid grins plastered across our faces on that day. Stage 6 was also a highlight as we entered the Kogelberg Biosphere. The Wolfkloof descent really played to our strengths and the long sandy patches which followed allowed us to drop a lot of other teams around us and again we finished with huge smiles on our faces. They were two fun days on the bike and more than made up for the pain of Stage 1.

Overall credit for our performance must lie with Paul and his instinct for racing. Having done the Cape Epic last year as well as the Cedarberg, Sani2C and years of adventure racing he has a good handle on how to play to his strengths and maximise any opportunity to gain ground on his competitors. Paul would often see a gap and go for it whilst I would have been happy to sit back and get my heart rate back down. However Paul would always say I could rest on the downhill which was frustrating at times as they were often nowhere near as long as the uphills! One of Paul’s key tips was to ‘ride over the hill’ as opposed to ‘riding to the top of the hill’. What this means in short is that most riders (me included) would ride to the crest of a hill and then back off and freewheel whilst attempting to recover. Paul’s technique is to ride for 5 pedal strokes beyond the crest, working on the theory that if you freewheel at 5k’s you’ll do 5k’s all the way down whereas if you freewheel at 25k’s you’ll do 25k’s all the way down and thereby drop a number of other riders. Trust me, this works like a dream!

A few more facts (or rather, stats of friends and other teams I was watching).

Matt (& Ryan) - Snowmen 130th
Dan & Anka - Hansgrohe/SantaCruz 277th (one place ahead of us)
William & Jannie - Oak Valley Wines 226th
Mario & Andy - Mondipak 348th
Vic & Mark - Pimp My Ride 466th
Erica (& Willie) - ABSA/JAG Legends 81st
Johan Cilliers - DHL Logistics - Individual finisher: 39:57:12.6 (would have been 125th if partner not dropped out)

Cyberspace friends:
Roons & Wimpie - Google 452nd
Paul & Dennis - Times Boardman Halfords Bike Hut 478th

Stage 6

The penultimate stage of the Cape Epic and we're feeling good. Like most riders we've got sore bums, stiff legs and are very tired but with the finish line in sight and two really good days of riding we're really positive about the final stage.

Today was a case of riding in our own back yard which made it all a lot of fun. The main privilege of the day was riding through the Kogelberg biosphere which is NEVER open to riders so for the Epic to get access is truly amazing. The riding in there consisted mainly of long rocky descents and long flat sandy patches both of which play to our strengths. On one of the rockier sections I was told I was "@#$%@ nuts!" and at the first water point another team were praising us for our technical skills in riding through some rock patches that everyone else walked.

The single track in Lebanon, Thandi and Oak Valley was all fantastic and a little local knowledge was very helpful. Paul was in full race mode and gave a class lesson in race strategy. At one point he managed to work us through a whole pack of riders so that we were at the front as we entered the singletrack. I stand in awe of some of his skills!

We started in Group E having worked our way up from G on Sunday and being in the earlier start group has really helped as we've managed to be at the front of the pack each morning and then pretty much hold our own for the rest of the day. Tomorrow will be more interesting as everyone will be wanting to improve their overall standing so the racing should be a bit more intense.

Tonight will be dedicated to feeding, drinking and resting ready for a full-on day tomorrow.

Stage 5

Today was a great day for us! After spending time with the amazingly helpful guys from Polar discussing my energy expenditure and nutritional problems, I simply was not eating, I managed to get myself sorted last night and then we put a plan together for eating on the route. Basically we made sure that we ate on the hour every hour, grazing at least one energy bar but topping that up with GU's and Jellybabies etc. Last night I ate more than I thought was humanly possible as well as drinking gallons of electrolyte drinks. Thankfully it all paid off and today was near perfect. We took the first half easy but steady and gradually worked our way through the field. Then as we climbed out of Botrivier we caught sight of Hansekop which really lifted our spirits as we knew we were close to home. After Botrivier we stepped it up a bit and gave it some horns. We finished in 233rd today which takes our overall placing to 287th which we're pleased with.

Today was meant to be one of the tougher days with 2200+ metres of climbing over 111k's but it was my easiest day yet. Today was a proper MTB stage (unlike yesterday which favoured roadies and sprinters) which played to our strengths with plenty of technical climbing, fast descents and some gorgeous single track right at the end. Initially we were stuck behind a fairly nervous rider in the singletrack but naughtily managed to get past which was great. Now we're really looking forward to the next two days, especially finishing in Lourensford.

Tonight we surprised our wives by coming home. No more camping!!!

Grinning Like An Idiot

The prologue was a complete blast and has left us with huge smiles on our faces!

The build up was great and whilst waiting for the off we met up with a few other teams that we know. It was great to be distracted and to have a laugh to ease the nerves. We also watched a few guys riding (or walking as was mostly the case) down the last short sharp downhill which was quite fun. It also helped to prepare us for what was coming.

We set off at exactly 09:52:00 (the organisation of this event is very impressive!) and were very quickly passed by the more athletic teams which started in 30 second intervals behind us. I am not a sprinter by any stretch of the imagination so I held Paul back but he was happy. The climbing was technical in places but to be honest it was fairly standard stuff that we ride most days of the week. Some guys have been quite horrified by the technicality of the climbing but they need to deal with it as riding around Grabouw will really test the technical skills!

On the long loose hill (no idea what it was called) we stopped for a minute to talk to James, a friend who came to cheer us on. From there we remounted and continued to the top and were congratulated by some other riders for getting up without pushing. Truth be told the 60 second breather really helped.

The only sad aspect of the whole thing was to see how extensive the damage is to the slopes of Table Mountain from the fire earlier this week. The burnt smell was also very strong.

In brief, the first half was mainly uphill and the second mostly down with one notable exception towards the end and the ride was nicely rounded off with a lovely bit of rocky singletrack which we both relished. This led straight onto the short sharp downhill (as mentioned earlier) which we cruised down very comfortably.

We finished in 1:11:31 which is fine, it's actually a few minutes faster than I was expecting so we're happy with that. Full results of the prologue are here.

My bike was still playing up a little but I managed to isolate the problem to sticking brake pads so we stopped off at Helderberg Cycles on the way home and the problem seems to have been resolved. Time will tell as we get stuck in properly tomorrow. At least it's nothing majorly mechanical so the bike is still ride-able and if it continues to be a problem Petie's mechanics will deal with it at the end of each stage. Really glad of the service package he offered us!

Now I'm off to FINALLY pack.

Almost A Disaster

We went through to Cape Town to register for the Cape Epic and to test ride the prologue route. All was going well, registration was a very professionally run event. I met up with Matt (a friend from Wimbledon) and we all set off to do the test ride. Sadly Paul and I only got 1½k's as my chain was jumping on two rings on the cassette so we had to turn back. We quickly got into the bakkie and raced back to the bike shop where they put a new cassette on and all seems to be OK. Phew! We did however miss the race briefing, ho hum.

We now have the official Epic Adidas tog bags which means that the packing can no longer be deferred so I must bid my blog farewell for a few hours whilst I tend to the necessaries.

Cape Epic Live

The Cape Epic website went 'live' overnight which means it's ready for raceday. On the site you'll be able to follow all the riders and get a load more info about what's happening etc. Each day there will be two complete list of standings, one with that days stage results and the other with overall results.

Enjoy!

Planning Meeting

We had our final Epic planning meeting last night and I now feel a bit calmer about the whole thing although the list of things to do keeps growing.

We now know exactly what we still need to get, who's carrying what etc. etc. So now the packing will start in earnest. All I've got to get today or tomorrow is a spare hanger for the rear derailleur and four pairs of MTB socks. It's all been ordered so there should be no problem.

Paul also got us our kit which looks great. Most days we'll be wearing the new First Ascent Peloton Jersey in Spice which we think looks great. Also, on the Sunday and the last day we will be wearing Helderberg Cycle World shirts as a free bit of advertising for Petie but also to thank him for his help and support. It will also be nice to wear a local shirt on a local ride.

As of now I have my socks, bit of a panic but not worth recounting the tale. Hopefully that hanger will be in today's post at Petie's...

Oh Dear! We're On Fire Again

This summer has been a continual string of fires which have left the Hottentots Holland mountains completely scorched from Gordon's Bay (start of the Epic) right through to Jonkershoek which by all accounts is decimated. I've been lamenting the fires in the Helderberg for most of the summer on my main blog.  The fires have even gone over to the Grabouw side of the Hotties and left a lot of the area there scorched. Consequently much of our Epic riding will be across burnt land which will ruin the view in many places. The ash also makes the riding more difficult as it masks obstacles such as dips, rocks and roots.

To top it all off Table Mountain is on fire again! The Cape Epic organisers have released a statement: Fires on Table Mountain - Latest in which they say they have cancelled all prologue test rides on Thursday but are hopeful for Friday's test rides. The good news is that it has just started raining which should help. Hopefully the test rides and prologue will proceed without problems.

Race Countdown

It's all getting very close now! My bike came back from Helderberg Cycleworld after its pre-Epic service. Thankfully the only major item needed was a new chain. It looks like rotating two chains over the last 6 months has paid off as the drive train is still in very good shape. Unfortunately the cost was bumped up a bit as I needed to replace the rebound adjuster knob on the shock. My angelic 3 year old lost it for me which was helpful and expensive.

I'll ride with Petie and the gang on Wednesday morning for 2-3 hours and then again on Friday as we test the prologue route with a very gentle ride. Hopefully everything will be running sweetly on Wednesday and there will be no major adjustments to make.

We're planning on a final pre-Epic meeting on Wednesday evening when we'll finalise who's carrying what etc during the race. Thankfully being local and with the service package we don't need to arm ourselves with loads of spares which is a real blessing.

According to the Epic website there are only 4 days and 14hours to kick-off so it's all a little tense but very exciting now.

I guess most of us doing the Epic get asked the same question: "Are you ready?" to which I've taken to replying by saying "Well, it's too late now if I'm not!" There really isn't anything one can do now, the training is done, the taper is being enjoyed and Saturday is feared and eagerly anticipated in equal measure.

TV Promo

Want to see a bit more of what the Cape Epic entails? Watch the 2009 Cape Epic promo and be inspired!

Supersport in South Africa wil have a highlight programme each night so who knows, there's a slim chance Team Bizweni Bundu Bashers might make it onto TV.