Cape Epic Stage 7
Posted by Nicholas Hops on Sunday, April 1, 2012
Captains Log:
Today was the last day of my first (hopefully of many) epics! A nice and leisurely wake-up at 06am for the start at 8h30 meant that everyone around the camp was upbeat and chatty. The atmosphere was very festive as the riders and supporters knew that they were just a few hours away from the finish! It was a big mass start and after packing up my tent for the last time, Dad and I lugged our rider bags over to the truck. The start was medium paced, because the terrain for the first 27km wasn't really challenging at all everyone was bunched up and all riding on top of each other! The GoPro came out for an appearance today and I got a lot of filming done! Dad had 2 falls, sadly neither of which were recorded but he came away unharmed which is what counts! There were a few short steep climbs with equally short downhills before we hit the main climb of the day. The main climb wasn't too bad either, it just started with quite a steep drag up to the foot of the mountain. There were still a lot of other riders around so pace was slow and tension was high! Just before the top we hit the compulsory portage section down the Gamtoos (I think) pass where they used to take the oxen and old wagons straight up over the hill. Its a UNESCO world heritage site which we had to walk down in order to preserve the trails. The walk down was insanely steep and very congested with the other riders which gave us time to enjoy the amazing views of cape town and the peninsula. After the walk down we hit some jeep roads followed by some nice flowing hard packed single track through the trees. The last water point of the epic came at 38km and I just ate 3 handfuls of woolies sweets and got on the way. Being the vineyards, there were half a dozen incredibly steep gravel climbs one after the other. Once these were out of the way we had some nice, tricky single track which we just cruised through until the finish. At the 1km to go mark I just got very excited and rode like crazy to get to the end!
What an adventure, 781km, 16300m of climbing in 8 days. It was everything that I expected and more! Thanks to all the family and friends for supporting us the whole way through and especially to Dad for giving me the opportunity to ride this amazing race. With any luck, I'll be at the start line next year If I can convince someone else to pay for me!!!
Thanks for joining us on this journey!
I will post a final update next week with a tally up of our total funds received/donated!
Nick
Today was the last day of my first (hopefully of many) epics! A nice and leisurely wake-up at 06am for the start at 8h30 meant that everyone around the camp was upbeat and chatty. The atmosphere was very festive as the riders and supporters knew that they were just a few hours away from the finish! It was a big mass start and after packing up my tent for the last time, Dad and I lugged our rider bags over to the truck. The start was medium paced, because the terrain for the first 27km wasn't really challenging at all everyone was bunched up and all riding on top of each other! The GoPro came out for an appearance today and I got a lot of filming done! Dad had 2 falls, sadly neither of which were recorded but he came away unharmed which is what counts! There were a few short steep climbs with equally short downhills before we hit the main climb of the day. The main climb wasn't too bad either, it just started with quite a steep drag up to the foot of the mountain. There were still a lot of other riders around so pace was slow and tension was high! Just before the top we hit the compulsory portage section down the Gamtoos (I think) pass where they used to take the oxen and old wagons straight up over the hill. Its a UNESCO world heritage site which we had to walk down in order to preserve the trails. The walk down was insanely steep and very congested with the other riders which gave us time to enjoy the amazing views of cape town and the peninsula. After the walk down we hit some jeep roads followed by some nice flowing hard packed single track through the trees. The last water point of the epic came at 38km and I just ate 3 handfuls of woolies sweets and got on the way. Being the vineyards, there were half a dozen incredibly steep gravel climbs one after the other. Once these were out of the way we had some nice, tricky single track which we just cruised through until the finish. At the 1km to go mark I just got very excited and rode like crazy to get to the end!
What an adventure, 781km, 16300m of climbing in 8 days. It was everything that I expected and more! Thanks to all the family and friends for supporting us the whole way through and especially to Dad for giving me the opportunity to ride this amazing race. With any luck, I'll be at the start line next year If I can convince someone else to pay for me!!!
Thanks for joining us on this journey!
I will post a final update next week with a tally up of our total funds received/donated!
Nick
