Cape Epic Stage 6
Posted by Nicholas Hops on Saturday, March 31, 2012
Captains Log
There was sun today...good news. But it was still incredibly cold at 07h00 this morning! The start had been delayed to 7h30 with a mass start so that the course could dry out a little and the riders could dry out too!!! I had 4 layers on my torso and my leg warmers on as well, dressed up to the nines! We headed off towards the bottom of the 1st climb and I was keen to warm up so I set off at my own pace and waited for dad 2/3rd of the way up. Turns out he hadn't been able to change down into his granny gear so he took about 15minutes catching up to me, looking bleak and tired. We swapped bikes here and after 2 seconds I gave his back because it shifted into the granny gear immediately...The truth in fathers mechanical issues is up in the air. We than had another little climb before the swift descent down to water point 1. The climb was amazing with beautiful views and what not. At the first water point I stocked up on 1000 sweets and a million potatoes and headed up what looked like the biggest mountain....in the world. This climb took quite a while as dad was really struggling so I rode up at a very quick pace with Andrew Lowndes and we smashed past at least 60 teams before stopping to wait 1/2 way up to wait for our respective team mates. The Sabrina boys had a good day up until this point where Nick was pretty tired and started having brake problems so we didn't see them from there on. The rest of the climb was just long and steady and riding was quite tricky trying to overtake all the slower riders. I think they actually got quite annoyed with me because I kept cruising past them and then waiting on the side of the road every 20 or so minutes for dad to catch up. We flew down the final hill towards the last water point where Anton and Robyn where there to shout out as long as the ever present uncle Alastair handing out food and cokes! From here on was some truly awesome single track, some smashing berms down through fields and amazing track through the forest. The last 22km was really awesome and made the previous 60km totally worth it. The top of the main climb provided amazing views of the Theewaterskloof dam on the one side and Oak valley on the other. A truly beautiful and amazing day in the saddle and A lot of fun! Dad was slow today so it was a very comfortable ride and I really got to take in the surroundings. We came in after 6.5 hours and Mom and little Sam where there as well to welcome us home!
Tomorrow is the final run in to Lourensford, very excited for the final push.
Nick
There was sun today...good news. But it was still incredibly cold at 07h00 this morning! The start had been delayed to 7h30 with a mass start so that the course could dry out a little and the riders could dry out too!!! I had 4 layers on my torso and my leg warmers on as well, dressed up to the nines! We headed off towards the bottom of the 1st climb and I was keen to warm up so I set off at my own pace and waited for dad 2/3rd of the way up. Turns out he hadn't been able to change down into his granny gear so he took about 15minutes catching up to me, looking bleak and tired. We swapped bikes here and after 2 seconds I gave his back because it shifted into the granny gear immediately...The truth in fathers mechanical issues is up in the air. We than had another little climb before the swift descent down to water point 1. The climb was amazing with beautiful views and what not. At the first water point I stocked up on 1000 sweets and a million potatoes and headed up what looked like the biggest mountain....in the world. This climb took quite a while as dad was really struggling so I rode up at a very quick pace with Andrew Lowndes and we smashed past at least 60 teams before stopping to wait 1/2 way up to wait for our respective team mates. The Sabrina boys had a good day up until this point where Nick was pretty tired and started having brake problems so we didn't see them from there on. The rest of the climb was just long and steady and riding was quite tricky trying to overtake all the slower riders. I think they actually got quite annoyed with me because I kept cruising past them and then waiting on the side of the road every 20 or so minutes for dad to catch up. We flew down the final hill towards the last water point where Anton and Robyn where there to shout out as long as the ever present uncle Alastair handing out food and cokes! From here on was some truly awesome single track, some smashing berms down through fields and amazing track through the forest. The last 22km was really awesome and made the previous 60km totally worth it. The top of the main climb provided amazing views of the Theewaterskloof dam on the one side and Oak valley on the other. A truly beautiful and amazing day in the saddle and A lot of fun! Dad was slow today so it was a very comfortable ride and I really got to take in the surroundings. We came in after 6.5 hours and Mom and little Sam where there as well to welcome us home!
Tomorrow is the final run in to Lourensford, very excited for the final push.
Nick
