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!

Post Epic Riding Begins

I rode my first post-Epic mountain bike ride yesterday morning with Petie from the bike shop. It was one of the regular rides but only the two of us rocked up which was great. We rode for 2½ hours around the southern side of Stellenbosch starting from Paradyskloof onto Onderpappagaiberg and around the hills through the vineyards. A lovely ride and a fairly gentle reintroduction but man I was exhausted afterwards! I think it may take a while longer to fully recover than I had anticipated.

The photo is looking towards Gordon's Bay and Hangklip point from Stellenbosch.

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

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Our final results for Absa Cape Epic 2009 stage 7: Dean (213-1) time 4:26.13,8 cat Men 198. GC 304. overall 46:29.21,0 cat 180. GC 278. / (final result)

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.

Face Plant Friday

Life is only funny until someone gets hurt...


Then it's hilarious!

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!!!

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Results for Absa Cape Epic 2009 Stage 4: Dean (213-1) time 7:15.52,3 cat Men 199. GC 312. / start zone F. Sent by MTN

Madness!

Isn't there someone out there with more sense than me who can come and pick me up and take me home?
Seriously this is an amazing experience but incredibly tough!
I struggled today on what was said to be am easier day. Thankfully the guys from Polar have sorted me out and given some sound advice about eating. Basically I need to eat 24/7 especially carbs & protein so I'm a man on a mission.
Today's ride didn't play to our strengths but we seem to have done ok. We're pleased which is main thing.

Stage 3

Paula and my boys were at the finish line so I was delighted!
The ride was tough but that is immaterial 'cos I saw my peeps.

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We're well pleased with today's result as it was another tough day. Here we go...
Results for Absa Cape Epic 2009 Stage 3: Dean (213-1) time 5:45.52,3 cat Men 177. GC 278. / start zone F. Sent by MTN

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Today's results:
Results for Absa Cape Epic 2009 Stage 2: Dean (213-1) time 6:41.24,7 cat Men 185. GC 297. / start zone F. - sent by MTN
We worked hard to get into F from G and are pleased with out overall standing of 297. Let's see what tomorrow brings.