Team USN comprised of myself and Sally Bigham as we set out to ride the ABSA Cape Epic. The Epic battle began a few days ago with a prologue in Tokai. How much fun can one have on bike? Beautiful singletrack, and sitting close on Sally's wheel- she is technically gifted. We were fast, but lost about 3 minutes- 2 minutes because my chain got jammed and another 1 minute because I flew over the handlebars. I do believe that we are favoured in the universe because the battle could have ended right there after just 25km's. Always a front brake involved, and on such a steep drop I was going one way only, and that was down. With my rubber bones in tact we finished second on the prologue and the first 2 stages, closely behind the Colnago team.
Stages 1 to 3 were challenging days. The days were long, technical and temperatures high. The best part of the day was finishing on the podium and being invited into the ABSA winners lounge. Here you got to sit down, water buckets with sponges, hand held showers and recovery drinks awaited. Stage 3 was one of the hardest rides I have ever done. Sand, stone and plenty of bike wrestling made this stage a very rewarding one to win.
Stage 3 gave us confidence as we were surprised the night before to be handed the brown leaders at prize giving. "Team USN inherited the race lead after Stage 2 when early leaders, Schneitter and Lechner were handed a one-hour penalty for infringing the race’s ‘outside assistance’ rule." This was a surprise, as our initial strategy was to ride consistently and conservatively over all 8 days. We had to stay really focused now as we were now being chased and not chasing.
All of the racing excitement is really hard to tone down in an event like the Epic. I have heard that recovery is the most important part of a stage race, and being it was critical to stay focused each and every day for the next day's race. There are so many variable and if your eye is off the mark for one moment everything can change. So this meant waking up before 5 am to eat, warm up, race, having a shower after the race, getting a massage, getting back to the guest house, eat pasta, prepare bottles, bikes and race food, try and relax, sometimes do a recovery spin, get to prize giving, eat more, get home, sleep- force yourself...
Support on at the Epic is key. John Hooper looked after our massages. After the 4th day, the massage turned into a mere stroke but it helped a lot. Jake came for support and cooked me pasta for the first time :-) Amongst other things of course. Bike mechanic is critical, Dave Paddfield (Sally's man) serviced our bikes every day. The bikes take such a beating and they need constant attention. Dave was a dream. Although he made us carry more spares, heavier tyres and extra sealant... This was well worth it because with our technical abilities, we would have been far worse off had we taken risks.
On equipment, we both used SRAM xx. Light but it served us well. We were both on Continental UST's and these proved to be bomb proof. Spokeworks built me some ZTR podiums which were great. Sally is hard core she rode a Canon hardtail! I went for comfort with my Cannondale Scalpel full suspension- the bike is light so it was nice to have the suspension on the really rocky bits.
That was that, months of preparation and Epic build up. My coach Dr Carol Austin has taken a few athletes through this proces. Her experience in managing expectations and prescribing a goal focused training program was key.
In a nut shell, it was about training for long hours, racing hard, nutrition, recovery and support. On nutrition USN served me well. Epic pro is a great drink with right amount of carbohydrates, protein and electrolytes. I had 2-3 servings during each stage and another for recovery. Of all the products available this specific one made my Epic experience a lot easier.
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