blog

Stages 6

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:26:31 +0100

Ok yes, this is 2 weeks after the event, which is terrible form on my behalf! I came straight off the Epic into a 8 day straight study session for test week last week (It didn't go particularly well but that is neither here nor there)

Stage 6 was a BIGGIE! at 100km and 2900m of climbing it was scheduled to be one of the harder days at this years Absa Cape Epic. To put it in perspective for those of you who have ever ridden Chapmans Peak which has a 5% gradient for just under 2km. We rode on average at a 3% gradient for 100km! That is a long hill!

The first climb was a monster, but Rich and I had the the second half of it before in the Gravel Travel Ultra Marathon last year. We started the climb from a different direction though which was great as it is always nice to ride some new routes! We rode for a bit with Ann Harrison and her partner, but eventually they fell behind as Ann's partner was still suffering from her sickness. The climb took just over an hour and was followed by a nice little single track section to bring the fun level back up after the grueling ascent! A quick descent in the valley followed by a short and steep climb (in comparison to what we had just done) took as to water point 1. Always the best place to arrive at on an Epic stage!
As I am sure you know by now I took on a lot of everything and filled myself to the brim with coke & more coke, the fuel of cyclists!

The next 40km were advertised as 'free riding', I must admit I felt a little bit cheated! Undulating ups and downs around the farm lands into a headwind is not exactly free, but it was certainly easier than the first part of the stage! Here we caught up to Trevor and Darryl and we rode together for almost the entire stretch. Trevor and I did a lot of rubbish talking to pass the kilometres as we trundled up towards the second water point. The landscape was quite dire, having had a fire pass through in the months preceding the race. It was quite an interesting place to be riding but as always, very enjoyable. At water point 2 we saw a lot of folk who came out to see us! Thanks to Bev, Jess, Anton & Oom Willie for making the trip...

After wp2 it got really interesting, we had a lot of climbing to get done in not many km and were immediately provided with the solution to this: A very steep 1km section where we probably went up about 160m, I always enjoy a climb like this as you can really get your teeth into it and its a personal victory to get to the top without getting off! We were taking the long and windy way over Helshoogte Pass to get into stellies. Lots of sharp ups and sharp downs with marshalls all over the place warning us of the impending doom to come. At this point we caught up to the leading ladies pair, not something we normally would have done, as Yolandi had come off earlier and managed to crack a few ribs and completely break her collar bone. She was riding in extreme pain (very loudly) and managed to soldier through to the finish, amazing!! They even managed to hold on the next day and take the overall win for the week! I don't think I would have been able to ride with that many broken bones!

Water point 3 came quickly and we saw more of friends and family who had come out to do some shouting! A quick check with Larne revealed that we were still ahead of Trevor and Darryl, but not by much! More eating, followed by more climbing until we crested the top of the Helshoogte Pass. I was convinced at this point that we had done all the climbing for the day and were going to be rewarded with a nice smooth tar run in to the finish....This was not to be

We descended on the Old Helshoogte road for about 1km before we turned left and went under the national road! Going through the tunnel was quite hair raising as it was about 100m long and completely pitch black, not to mention the fact that the marshall was playing the James Bond theme music at the entrance (weird, but a nice touch) A quick walk after the tunnel put us onto the final climb of the day, a small and easy gravel drag up to the top of the plantation. By this point we were more than ready for the run in to the finish and we FLEW down the hill at a break neck speed! The last section was a very steep grass section going past the supporters village and I hit 68km/h on the way down. In hindsight - unwise - but a lot of fun at the time!

It felt great to finish the hardest stage on a good note, the views coming up the hills into Stellenbosch and looking out over the wine farms were truly breathtaking and it is always a privilege to ride on such routes!

Stage 5, Wellington to Wellington

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 15:54:03 +0100

Firstly, I actually just typed out almost the entire blog and then I somehow managed to delete it...This second attempt may be shorter out of frustration!

At only 75km with 1900m of climbing stage five was intended to be a short day out, a bonus day with some fun on the single track. Things, however, started off badly with Rich forgetting to bring any water bottles to the start, a fact pointed out to him by another rider. I always carry 2 so I gave him my spare and our first problem was solved. I was chatting to Joel and Owen in the start chute and we came to an agreement of "no racing for the first 70km and then the last 5km will be a flat out sprint" - like stage 4 the finishing kays were all downhill and most of them on tar!

Almost 500m into the first hill it was obvious that we would not be challenging anyone for any bragging rights today. First Rich said he could not breathe properly and this later turned into stomach cramps that had him moaning each time he hit a bump on the descents and minutes behind me each time the gradient went above -1% The damage he did to his body on monday by not eating properly had set in properly. Additionally I haven't exactly been going easy on him and he has been at his max for the last few days, digging away at his immune system until it finally cracked. We got to the first water point at 15km fairly quickly - I hadn't even had a sip of water - and after smashing down some cokes and filling up with the standard amounts of sweets, marmite sandwiches, naartjies, potatoes and dates we carried on through the forest.

The "theme" of the day was one big loop around one big mountain, no flat what so ever. We ramped up the mountain and then went straight back down through all the single track. We cycled through a truly beautiful area and I really got to enjoy it all and take in the views, the Welvanpas area is famed for its single track and we got to enjoy 22km of it! The second water point at 30ish km came less quickly but the time spent getting there was a lot of fun: swooping single track descents, tough mini-climbs and a good bit of sweet-eating helped pass the time. The third water point was at 49km and we had been told the day before to make sure we fill up here because a good solid bit of climbing was to come. Obviously noone needs to tell me to eat and I, once again, filled my pockets and cheeks to the brim with the food laid out by the Woolies crew and volunteers!

The next part of the route I was all too familiar with and knew what was coming. An awfully steep and tricky climb called "The Black Mamba" (rather ominous) There were a good couple of drags before we even got to tackle this one, I always try to ride these tough climbs and this one is a really toughie! You are rewarded at the top with a nice bit of track - I think it is called the "rodeo"

All in all stage 5 was quite a frustrating morning, but that is the them of a team race. You have to be there with your teammate through the tough times and try get him to the finish! We came across the line in 4h50ish, only 40 minutes ahead of my dad and uncle..By comparison they are normally 1.5-2 hours behind us every day and a stage like stage 5 should actually play to our strengths. My average heart rate today was 118, so for me it was a good day to rest up and recover before the massacre of stage 6!

Stage 6 report coming up

Stage 4. Tulbagh to Wellington!

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:12:57 +0100

Today was an awesome day on the bike!

We started with the front batch at 07h00 and the pace lifted immediately, heading out on the same road as the day before and then we turned onto some very fast gravel track. We were cruising at over 30km/h in the bunch and I couldn't even see more than one rider ahead of me! Very hard to keep track of a partner in these conditions, luckily Rich was right alongside/in front of me for the first 25km. The first hour was very fast and even involved some tar before we entered the forestry on the slopes of the mountain. The first climb was about 300m and Rich looked like he was going strong, we were riding with "new people" today which is quite nice and shows that we are getting quicker as the race goes on! After a quick descent we hit the first water point where I filled up on the standard levels of food. Regrettably I forgot to refill my 1l bottle of which I had already drunk 1/2!

Straight from the WP we hit the first real climb of the day, between the two peaks we would ascend about 700m! It was a very rocky, loose climb but we kept it nice and tidy. Riding with the 2nd placed ladies overall - the french national mtb champion - allowed me to follow some good lines up the climb and helped to minimize the walking! It was quite a long drag though and the rising heat made it all the merrier! The telkom hotspot was at the top of the 2nd peak and I played on Rich's ego a little bit by calling him a "slowcoach"...It had an effect as the next 8km were rolling hills and Rich was flying. When we hit the next little bump I snuck in a comment that we need to take it easy on the hill, mainly for my own legs benefit! I don't really like riding hard on the flats, its dangerous and it hurts...Much nicer to just POWER up the hills!

The descent that followed this "bump" was insane! Smooth and windy gravel with swooping bends and long straights, a perfect opportunity to rest up and regain some much needed energy! This took us to the 50something km mark and I was now certain that I would run out of water - we thought WP2 was at 79km! We hooked up into a good bunch of people and were hammering it out along the flats before we came into WP2 which was luckily at 66km instead! I had just finished my last sip of water and would have been in serious trouble if I had to go on for 13 more km without any! Standard water point consumption ensued and it was nice to see Nicholas Bodenstein helping out at the water truck! WP2 out and we took it easy for 5 minutes so that we could get in a bunch for the climb and also to rest the legs!

We hit the bottom of Bains Kloof with about 18 people in a mini peloton, this climb is tarred and quite an agreeable gradient. Between Rich, Wesley Procter and the 24/7 security team we really piled into the climb. On the first sector we were averaging well over 30km/h and sharing the pace well. Eventually the shallow part ended and the real climbing began, even though this is a mtb race it was really nice to have some smooth tarmac under my wheels! What was crazy is that I could feel the heat coming off the road, it almost comes up through your feet and hits you straight in the face! Keeping with the 2013 epic tradition today was once again incredibly hot! The top of the climb came soon enough and we cruised down on the tar for a few km before dipping into some fantastic single track! I've ridden most of this area before and the track follows the same theme, roly poly ups and downs on hard clay. That translates to a lot of fun and a LOT of pain if you come off (which we didn't!) A few steep ups and downs and single track awesomeness took us to the third and final waterpoint at 100km. Here we saw Jess and Bev for a brief second before heading into the final and longest climb of the day! It was a real tough one and Rich was suffering at this point, we went up the climb as best we could and when we got to the top were joined once again by Owen Hannie and Joel Stransky. I knew that Joel is a big fan of the descents so I made sure we got into it before he did! What followed was an awesome single track section for a good couple of minutes before one last steep little uphill with about 8km to go. We came out of this about 500m ahead of the Absa boys and I was certain that we could beat them to the line (pride points at stake here!)

I put my head down and just WENT for it! Well into the 40's and touching on 50+km/h we were really flying! Rich couldn't quite keep up so each time I had to wait a little for him to catch up the Absa boys gained some ground (they had now realized the competition was in play and were chasing hard) They caught us just as we hit the tar and Owen came sprinting flat out past me on the downhill! Him and I pulled away from Rich and Joel but had to wait for them before we could go full gas again! The finish had some tricky corners and I came into it first before we started up the sprint, Owen (former pro cyclist I must add) just beat me to the line and Joel did the same to Rich. So no victory for us, but what a way to end the stage, a serious amount of fun and it really got the legs going! They now know that tomorrow will be round 2 and I'm sure we're all looking forward to the day!

For the 120km we did 6h13 which is a very respectable time, we even came in 115th on GC for the stage. This has boosted us up to 127th overall which is awesome! Our slow assault on the top 100 is underway, perhaps a tad ambitious but I know we will keep improving in the days to come!

I am sitting in the chill zone now, on to my 3rd ice lolly. it is SO NICE IN HERE!

tomorrow is 75km (short!!!) and less than 2000m of climbing (relatively little) lots of single track has been promised and I think it should be a 4-5 hour day which is nice!!

Thanks for reading

Nick

Stage 3

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:58:54 +0100

I have just spent two hours lying on a deckchair surrounded by a lot of skinny men in compression pants and no shirts, nnot ideal but you do what you have to to get a little bit of sleep! It is absolutely cooking outside, about 40 degrees. In the Rider Chill Zone they give out free ice lollies, energades and water so it is basically an oasis! I have spent every aftern Soon here, got to get bang for your buck!

Today was "only" 95km with 1900m of climbing, considered a recovery day in Epic standards, but I challenge any one of you to ride this route today and tell me it was for recovering! We started off at a medium pace and quickly caught up to our arch enemies Trevor and Darryl. The first climb was quite enjoyable and it lead us to the top of some awesome single track! Twisting and winding back into the valley we really had a lot of fun! We rode for quite a long time today with Joel Stransky (from Rugby) and Owen Hannie (from supercycling) both of which are very strong riders! The first water point was at 33km and was on us before I could even finish my first 1l of Epic Pro! As per the usual I stuffed my face with sweets, potatoes and marmite sandwiches (all very nice on their own but as a combination not fantastic) and we headed off into the valley.

The next 28km to the next water point was fairly flat riding and saw Rich suffering behind me on the climbs and hard parts as I was having a good ride and his legs were feeling the effects of the previous 3 days efforts! Its funny to watch how your average heart rate plays out. As an example my heart rate can go up to about 190. For the prologue it averaged 162 and today it averaged just 136 as my body settled into stage racing mode! The maximums I reach are also less impressive, I don't think I even sniffed at 160bmp today! There was some nice riding before we got to WP2 but the frustrating part of it was that we went straight past the start/finish venue and hat to continue!

At 76ish km we had finally climbed up to WP3, just before we got there we were heading up a climb that I remember from the MTN tulbagh Ultra Marathon last year, I knew where the hill could possibly go and I knew that it would lead to walking! Luckily we pulled a left just before! even though I had convinvced myself I could see people riding up it! After WP3 we had a 1.5km climb where we gained 205m in elevation! That works out to an average of 14% and is quite a tall order! Here we caught up to T&D again (they had left us behind earlier) and worked our way up the hard climb. What followed was a few steep ups and steep downs. These really sap the energy and can lead to a bit of frustration! We were back on the tulbagh ultra route so atleast I knew where we were going and how far it was to the finish.

The last 10km were downhill and flat and we cranked it up a little so that we could get in under 5h30 (we did 5h23) I have to cut this one short as the telkom boys are chucking me out the rider zone. Amazing how punctual these guys are with closing time!

Cheers

Nick

Stage 2

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:54:18 +0100

Today was always going to be a LONG day, with 145km on the cards and 2300m of climbing we knew we were in for a long day in the saddle! I woke up at 04h30 which is so much less than ideal, so I lay in my bed pretending that I didn't have to get out until 05h20! Because we moved villages today (from Citrusdal to Tulbagh) we had to pack up all of our belongings and get them into the trucks. Add this to the 1km walk I had to make to fetch my bike and I didn't really leave myself much time to get going!

Breakfast was the worst attempt at eggs I have ever come across, worse than Easter Cape Suppliers at school and worse than Fedics at UCT! they were blue, dry, powdery, grey and just all round weird. The amount of salt I put on there to counteract the taste was mindboggling (and unhealthy) Luckily I had kept some food over from the previous days Woolworths pack so I had chicken strips for breakfast and some toast.

Because the stage was so long there was a "Mass Start" at 07am in order to give the backmarkers enough time to finish the stage! The cutoff is 11h11min so as I type this the are still people racing to get in on time! I can't imagine anything worse than going through all the days pain only to be a few minutes late and get disqualified (you can be late on one day and allowed to finish the race as a "non-official finisher" but if you are late twice you're out!)

We set off at 07am and went straight uphill....for 18km....with 950m of ascent. Not a small hill by any standards! After what happened to Rich yesterday I emphasized the need for us to start off very slowly - which we did. We cruised up the hill at a leisurely pace and to our surprise went past the leading ladies pair of Ester and Jane. Ester apparently has been having stomach troubles which explains her poor performance (very poor if we beat them) so after 1h20 we finally stopped climbing and had a nice gravel/tar run in down to water point two. We formed a nice little peloton and I just sat on the front and powered along, bunch riding skills coming in handy! I lost my water bottle cage at the top of the climb so I was left with only a 1l bottle for the rest of the day!

Water point one was 33km into the day and I filled up with the standard 2 handfuls of jellybabies, marmite sandwiches, baby potatoes and fresh dates! (dates = added bonus) I stuffed my face, stuffed my pockets and rolled on out! The next 34km were tricky, we would climb our way up to what is the highest point reached in Epic history! (very high) The scenery up there was amazing, huge open mountainside littered with rocky outcrops and free standing rocks which we got to ride through and over! We descended down to water point two at 76km where the above happened again i.t.o food consumption!

The next 40km were fairly flat with rolling hills to keep you awake! Once again bunch riding came into play and we met up with the same Ozzies we rode for a while with yesterday. Myself and Nick (the ozzie) did the large majority of work for our teams and the 4 other teams who had latched onto us! A bit of single track took us somewhere near water point 3 where I once again completely stuffed my face with food....Todays food:

3/4 of a huge nougat
2 pvm energy bars
1/2 an apple
100g of chicken
3 marmite sandwiches
1 naartjie
7 handfulls of jellybabies and other sweets
3 dates (fresh)
1 banana
17 baby potatoes

Not a small amount by any standard! We started heading down a dead end gravel road which I knew would inevitably lead to a nasty climb (it did) We were back with the ozzies again and we cruised on down to the base of the climb. It was a steep one with a little bit of walking but we knew once we were at the top that it was all downhill to the finish! And what a downhill it was, steep, rocky and dangerous! but fun...mainly fun, although I was uncertain as to the existence of my wrists at one point but otherwise we made it safely to the bottom (Rich didn't fall once today! big improvement) We got to the bottom of the descent and I immediately recognised the route we were taking as it was the same as the Tulbagh Ultramarathon dad and I did last year! I really put the hammer down here and dragged Rich into the finish! A result of taking it easy the whole morning was that I had fresh legs at the end and we could really motor, we flew past Trevor and Darryl and even managed to overtake Ann Harisson (a mtb legend!) in the final few km. Don't fear, she put enough time into us yesterday to even worry, she has bigger fish to fry and is currently in the top 6 ladies teams!

Our final time was 7h30ish followed shortly after by Trevor and Darryl in 7h32
The brothers (Dad and uncle) came in after 09h05 minutes, a monumental day in the saddle but well done for coming in well within the time limit! A long day on the saddle for all but I think tomorrow is meant to be easier (unlikely) I just looked properly at the race routes for the next few days and some of them are silly, no idea why I decided to do this thing again but here we are!

Summary of the day:
biggest hill in the world
Lots of bunch riding (felt like a roadie)
No crashes (go Rich)
Very little walking
Some sand ski-ing (we are sand professionals after yesterdays massacre)
snuck up a few places in the standings, closing in on our top 100 goal

Thats all for now, more tomorrow!

Peace Out

Stage 1

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 18:57:50 +0100

Awake at 4:30 - Brilliant. Obviously when you wake up you really need to go to the toilet, and obviously being citrusdal and practically in a mountain it was freezing outside. So I wrapped myself up in my blanket and faced the elements! The legendary bagpiper let rip at 05:15, I always love hearing bagpipes and I find that I know all of the songs as well, thanks to St Andrews for that affinity! We hit breakfast at 05:40 and forced down enough to make it through the day! We started out of "C" batch at 7:10 with Trevor and Darryl so we could keep an eye on them. The stage started on some nice flat tar roads but after 2km we hit the infamous sand that we were warned about, Sand that would result in us walking for about 1.5 hours in total, Sand that was on the receiving end of over 100 expletives on my behalf and the same sand that Rich ate about 5 times (I didn't fall but no one is keeping track - except me).

Rich decided that we were going to win from behind today and set off on a massive mission up the first big climb, we covered 600m of climbing in the first 12km, a decent hill no doubt! I hurt myself a bit trying to keep with Alberto Contador but always kept him in my sight as we made our way up the hills! Luckily for me my legs are 100m long compared to Rich's 22m so when the time came to walk (which it did) I decided to pay him back for making me suffer and I pulled away from him towards the top of the climb - petty I know! The first hill was a biggy and the subsequent descent was fast and treacherous! I put my skills to good use and zoomed down the hill, overtaking as many teams as possible and witnessing some classic tumbles from the other riders! We hit the bottom of the climb and were greeted with some tarmac, luckily we hooked in with two other teams and made some good speed going! The next climb to be honest I actually don't even remember where it was. Alberto was still on a mission at this point and my heart rate was through the roof! At this point your body starts shutting down non essential features - such as sight and memory. So I cannot provide a recount of this experience! What I do know is that this was the last we would see of Alberto Contador as Rich changed personas to Mark Cavendish, a man not known for his ability to climb hills or stay upright.

We cruised in to water point 2 after 52km at a relaxed pace and I filled up my back pockets with 400 baby potatoes and 412 jelly babies - the ultimate combination for stage race succes, to be eaten successively. from here on out we were greeted with a ridiculously large amount of sand (which we were expecting), steep hills (which we were expecting and which we walked up), sandy steep hills (a new enemy) and sandy descents. The underlying message here is that we were in for some suffering. Once again my 100m legs gave me the upper hand, couple this with Richards ultimate bonk (see cycling dictionary, not what you think) and a lot of waiting was done. The problem with "bonking" is that once you start to bonk there is no going back, its like one of those travellators at the airport! The next 40km were slow - super slow, with Rich suffering all around it was quite frustrating! But ultimately this is a team event so I made sure I was relatively encouraging!

The third climb of the day was very up and downy, Up for a few km and down for a few 100m, eventually we made it to the top and were treated to a bit on single track. Following this was a lot more walking and the 4th and final climb of the day, this seemed to be the nail in the coffin for our team and the pace was slow (I didn't feel like pushing just yet). The climb was at least a reasonable surface so there was no walking up this one! Once we hit the top it was all downhill to water point three at the 72km mark, at this point Trevor and Darryl had caught up to us again and we arrived at WP3 at almost the same time. Anni and Larne were at the water point again, its always nice to see friendly faces on days like these! Trevor and Darryl went sailing past us after this (the drugs again I'm sure of it) I decided this was unacceptable and put my biceps to good use. I pushed Rich all I could on the flats and the climbs but there is only so much one can do without depleting your

own energy levels! I am very well disciplined when it comes to eating and ate a huge amount today:

1 huge nougat bar

1 pvm energy bar

21 potatoes

3 handfulls of jelly babies

5 marmite sandwiches (one made a small attempt at freedom)

1 apple

2 oranges

a good few litres of coke and some USN Epic Pro - between the two of them you can pretty much start a motor

on the other side of the table Rich ate:

2.5 energy bars

1/2 a banana

1.5 woolies energy bars

1/2 a naartjie

As you can see, one of us did not eat enough -_- lesson learnt I would say

We limped in after 06:45:59, a long day in the saddle! But with 96km and 2350m under our belts we are confident in our ability to finish this race and finish it strong! If memory serves we are sitting about 153 overall. We lost a lot of time today but will hopefully gain some of it back tomorrow with a more even and disciplined performance!

Crash Counter:

Rich 5 (1 big one, 4 topples)

Me 0

but no one is counting

Thanks for reading! This was a long one!

Currently lying feet up in the chill zone and drinking as much as I can, they also have 'free' ice lollies here which is an added bonus!

Hops out.

Prologue

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 18:36:00 +0100

Sorry for getting the prologue in report late but there was no internet yesterday when we came into Citrusdal! Luckily everything is now up and running so I can up my update! On saturday I went to go and ride the prologue course with the "Brothers Grimm" team of Uncle Alastair and Father Chris. It was nice to go and see where we would be going the following day! Obviously I was well prepared for the ride and brought along absolutely nothing in terms of mechanical tools, pumps or anything else that could help me in a predicament! Coming down some of the nice single track I thought I'd do some ramping, obviously it went badly and I promptly fell on my face - fantastic. All the air came out of my front tire and with some dirty looks (and laughs) from the Brothers we set out fixing my bike. Courtesy of this I bent my derailleur a little bit and my chain kept jumping off my cassette and into my spokes - recipe for disaster. Accidents apart the prologue course looked fun and we were all looking forward to it!

That night we were all treated to the standard "Ernest and Sonja" feast, Sonja always make enough food for 3 meals and I ate until I could eat no more! With a 7:17:30 start time the next day we were in bed nice and early so we could get a good rest! I woke up at 5:30 and Sonja was already up making Rich and I bacon and eggs - WONDERWOMAN! making sure we were well fed we headed off to the prologue course in Meerendal at 6:30, its an 8km ride so it works nicely to warm up the legs a little bit! Nerves in abundance we loaded into the start chute at 07:15 and were ready for the Cape Epic to start! Up and onto the start ramp where they count you down is always a cool experience, makes you feel professional for a very small part of your day! We set off and went straight through the old Manor house at Meerendal and down two surprisingly treachorous flights of stairs! After this Rich's gears were not working 100% and we faffed around a little bit making sure they were capable of getting us round! The single track in Meerendal is fantastic and we immediately got our teeth into a fair bit of it before hitting the main climb up "Stairway to heaven" - a solid, steep, single track climb with about 250m of ascent. We pushed ourselves up the climb but kept being held up by the folk ahead of us -all part of the game. Where the slow folk really get frustrating is on the descents, its super dangerous to overtake and even more frustrating sitting behind someone going half your possible speed! Moaning about the traffic aside the prologue featured tough climbs, tough decents and awesome single track for us to fly through!

We came in after 1:18 and some seconds, a little bit annoyed with a slow time but happy that we made it through the first stage accident free! Dad and Al came in after 1:30 and besides a minor uphill fall from the latter they experienced smooth sailing as well. Singletrack is Dad's kryptonite so big up for coming in with a solid result! Trevor and his partner Darryl came in about a minute behind us (clearly doping) so we are all in a pretty close range going in to day 1!

Argus Cycle Tour & Riding for Radiology!

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:45:10 +0100

This sunday the 10th of March was the Pick n Pay Cape Argus Cycle Tour, arguably the biggest highlight for any roadie (richard) of the race calendar. For mountainbikers like myself it is a chance to show the the roadies how that we can get the best of both worlds!

This year I entered the argus through the Red Cross Children's Hospital trust and we were "Riding for Radiology" to fund the new radiology centre at the hospital. They are trying to raise R20m rand, a daunting task! My dad and older sister Vicky also rode in support of the Radiology Centre and we were given some funky skeletal shirts to wear for race day! On saturday dad and I went to the Trust's "Carb Fest" where I ate 8 bowls of pasta and admittedly some chocolate cake -_-
It was a really nice event and we got chatting with Matthew and Bonita, both who have had a history with the hospital and both riding the argus the next day! Matt was a former heart surgery patient, in fact his surgery was 30 years ago last friday! Bonita's brother spent the first 8 years of his life in and out of the hospital, as you can see both have a history and a reason to ride for a good cause!

Wind was forecast for the day, obviously, and wind it did. Rich and I started in the same group and by the time we got to the top of hospital hill I had lost Rich and the wind was blowing like crazy! Read his "race report" below for a full detail of the days proceedings. There were lots and lots of crashes and I got caught behind in a few of them, but always managed to get back on to the group, wasting energy along the way. Rich and Didi blazed a scorching trail up chapmans peak and I couldn't keep up the pace, my heart rate was high enough to show that I was trying but my size and weight (14kg more than both of them) don't allow me to have the same super high speed up the climbs! Needless to say I still had my sub-3 in mind so I soldiered on. I always find I get dropped early on in the climbs only to make it back up by the end, I managed to catch about 12 people who left me behind on the first few corners and we formed a B team for the B batch midway through the chapmans descent. Suffering even harder on Suikerbossie, analysis shows I did it slower this year than I did last!, helped me to catch up with a few more people and we were able to form a sizeable group to take us into the finish! I knew we had 23 minutes to get from the top of the climb to the finish so I drove the pace hard along with a man in a Spur outfit (he kept slapping his thighs aggressively, I was quite concerned) To cut a long story short I managed to get in to the finish in 2h59m47seconds! A very small margin but sub-3 none the less! My excitement about this reveals that I am a little bit of a roadie, but I am trying to squash that part of me.

Special mentions to the following people:
David Bryant and Vix Dreyer for finishing in a sprightly 6h20 and managing to not break up with eachother on the suikerbossie climb!
Vicky my sister who proves that with one training ride in 12 months you can do the argus in just over 5 hours
Stuart (Smack) Smallwood my housemate who started the race on a mountain bike and finished on a road bike, 6.5 hours and R600 lighter
and anyone who started after 09h00, by which time it was already really hot and I was almost done.

Here is what Richard the Roadie has to say!:

The Argus Cycle Tour is a highlight on most people's cycling calendar with the chance to test yourself and to take in some of the most beautiful scenery in the world! I had been eagerly anticipating this race for a long time and was very excited that Hops, myself and Didi Ziady were all seeded in B batch so that we would have the chance to ride together! Hops and I arrived at the start together which helped to calm the pre-race nerves! The first 40km of the race were quite 'nervy' in our bunch with a number of crashes and lots of 'bunching up'. Hops and I tried to stay out of trouble and stay out of the strong headwind. Our bunch was quite slow through the first section and I knew that we were slightly behind the sub-3hr schedule when we got to the top of Edinburgh drive after 21mins, 2 mins slower than the scheduled 19mins. Again, after the first hour, we had done just over 37km as opposed to the 40km suggested. When we got to Smitswinkel, the 3 of us all worked our way towards the front of the bunch as we knew things were going to heat up as we hit the top. The section through the Cape Nature Reserve and Kommetjie was very fast! When we got to Chappies I knew we needed to make up time and went to the front of the bunch to drive the pace up Chappies. I was spurred on by the fact that we were over taking hundreds of riders from A batch on the climb! Didi and I went over the top with 4 other guys from B batch and tucked in behind a tandem on the descent as they tend to fly on the downhills! I again drove the pace hard on Suikerbossie and when we got to to the top in 2:34 I knew we were doing well as the sub 3 shedule gives you 23mins from the top of Suikerbossie to the finish!

I gave it everything in the last km's but didn't have the legs in the sprint at the end! I was very happy to see that Didi managed to win B batch though. I finished a few seconds behind him, 6th out of the 315 in our batch in a time of 2:56:57! All in all, it was an awesome morning and I thoroughly enjoyed riding in a rd race with Hops as this is the first time that we have started a rd race together! We are now only a few days away from the start in Meerendal and I cannot wait!!

PS: EPIC IS IN 5 DAYS, NERVOUS AND EXCITED DO NOT BEGIN TO DESCRIBE

Peace out,

Rich and Nick

Argus MTB, 8 days to go and New Kit!!!

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 10:38:17 +0100

The Epic is only 8 days away now, so mine and Hops’ excitement levels are absolutely crazy. Every day I picture us on the start ramp at Meerendaal ready to take on the prologue and 7 days of awesome riding after that!!

Last weekend was the Argus MTB race held at Boschendal. It was supposed to be 75km long but was shortened on the Friday to 67km due to the ‘extreme weather conditions’. After 4 ascents of Nature’s valley at 2 in the afternoon in the blistering Plett heat in December, Hops and I weren’t overly concerned about the heat! There were a number of top pros, including Sauser and Kohei Yamahato at the start! The race started fairly easily and after doing 24.5km in the first hour I had a false sense of security that I would be finished in around 2:30. This was definitely not to be the case as we began ascending through the vineyards. As we split off from the shorter route we had to tackle a river crossing followed by some very soft sand (which may come in handy considering the rumours surrounding a 15km stretch of soft sand on day 1 of the Epic)! The final 10km involved a 2km stretch of huge rocks and ‘boulders’ that was very unrideable, resulting in a number of angry protestations from the riders around me!! I managed to catch my handlebar on a bush with 4km’s to go and had quite a spectacular crash, but luckily everything was fine. I came into the finish in around 3:23 just over 30mins back from the winner Erik Kleinhans or Christoph Sauser (there were 2 winners due to confusion regarding route marking).

Tomorrow is the Argus and Hops and I are both starting in B batch. We’re both seriously excited for it and have been planning our ‘attacks’ for weeks!

Our Life HealthCare kit finally arrived yesterday and is looking awesome! It certainly is very tight and just a tad see-through but there really is a sense of team spirit riding in it together!! I must say thank you to Scott and Lauren from Craft, Lyle Nesbitt from CANSA who helped get the process started and most importantly to Liesel Van Oudenhove from Life HealthCare who was immensely helpful with everything it takes to get a kit designed and understanding about the nature of the kit required for the Epic! Thank you to Life for sponsoring the kit, Nick and I will wear it with pride.

Hops and I are starting at 7:17 on Sunday and I hope to see as many people supporting at Meerendaal as possible!

Richard

Medical Checkup and other thoughts

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:18:15 +0100

Today I went for my last 'check up' with one of my old Oncologists from the Red Cross Children's Hospital, Dr Alan Davidson. In theory this is the last time that I will have to go back for a check-up for anything related to my cancer treatment.

When you are on chemotherapy one of the main chemicals that they pump into your body is called "Cisplatin" and it is a member of a class of platinum-containing anti-cancer drugs. Its so violent that I remember the Doctors bringing it in in a paper bag because it cannot be exposed to the sun, they even flush out your system with saline before hand so they can lessen the negative effects that it has on your body! Two of the main long term issues with Cisplatin are the side effects it has on your hearing and your heart. Before I started chemo they tested pretty much everything; heart, hearing, sight you name it. This was so that they could create a base level to see how my body reacted to the chemo chemicals. Luckily as of my last test - in 2008 - I had nothing to worry about, except for bad hearing. What is important is that they re-test your heart once you have finished growing, which I hopefully have done, the fact that I'm 21 now stands to reason that my days of going to bed taller than when I woke up are over!

Initially after my chemo I had to go for blood tests and chest X-rays every few weeks. After some time this lengthened to every month, then every two months, 6 months, 1 year. Those finished 3 years ago, its important to know that these tests were to make sure that I didn't relapse ( every cancer survivors worst nightmare) as the 5 years after completion of treatment carry a significantly higher risk of getting cancer, of any kinds, when it comes back it comes back with a vengeance! The tests I have had since then have been to make sure the potential negative effects of the chemo are minimised and to take possible action against them if need be! This one was to make sure my heart is functioning along the right lines and to check kidney function as well!

I thought I was going to have an echo done today (its next week) but instead I just went in to see Dr Alan, a pleasant surprise was to see Nurse Helen there as well! I recently was asked who my favourite Nurse/Doctor was when I was at the Red Cross and I had to chose Helen. I did admit that she was both my most and least favourite as she was the lady who had to take all my 'bloods'. So she had the honour of poking holes in my arms for days on end! Obviously to see someone like that after almost 10 years is just awesome, I even recognised who she was just by hearing her voice! People always ask what I think about when I'm on my rides and I normally say that I just talk to myself - not entirely untrue. In reality I spend most of my rides thinking about my time back in the Oncology Ward and at the Vincent Pallotti, while I am open about being a cancer survivor and I always like to talk to people about it, most of it sits way in the back of my brain and I like to dig it up. Being a cancer patient is a very lonely experience, sure your family are there when they can be and are always supportive but for the rest of the day its just you, your IV line, some vomit and the Doctors and Nurses. Probably why I have always preferred my own company and really enjoy being by myself on a mountain for several hours a day, lots of practice at a young age! What I'm getting at is that people Like Helen, Alan and Prof Hartley are always on my mind as they played such an integral part in my life and its really nice to be able to see them again, brings back memories...

So next week I will have my echo, its a cool machine really and I get to look inside my heart, I'll take a picture to prove those of you wrong who say I don't have one!

Peace out,

Nick