Cape Epic - Stage 1

Although we had already started our Epic adventure, Stage 1 signaled the real beginning of the Epic. After the success of the Prologue we were quite confident that we were going to do well. How wrong we were.



After some last minute checks, several nervousness induced toilet stops, and last minute goodbyes we headed off to the start chute. The Epic started with its usual break neck speed, with all our prearranged plans of taking it easy being chucked out the window. We pretty much flew up Simola hill at full tilt, and I was already getting used to seeing the back of Craig. The first hour was fast and tough, through the spectacular forests around Knysna. We had 123km of riding with 3091m of climbing to look forward to. Stage 1 was being described as the toughest stage of the Epic yet.




We made good progress, and eventually got into a comfortable rhythm. The first surprise of the day was to hear Craig's bike make a terrible sound whenever he tried to freewheel - there was a very unhappy bearing somewhere in his rear wheel. As a result, he had to pedal on all the downhills just to keep the bike quiet and in one piece.


Crazy road cyclists!!

The route meandered around the Kynsna forest, and eventually popped out in the Homtini area, the sight of Brenton's brush with death at the hands of a rather large tree. I took it a little slower on the downhills, but this didn't stop Craig at all as he flew down the hill - I just hoped he would be in one piece at the bottom.


And we are off!!

We skipped the first water point, preferring to get the jump on the people we were riding with. In hindsight - this might not have been such a good idea. Things continued to go well, we were still passing riders, Craig's bike hadn't fallen to pieces and before long we were at the second water point. We had a rather quick stop as we spotted some competition arriving just as we were getting some juice. Yet again, this was going to cost us. It was great to see the wives, although I think we caught them by surprise with are speed.



That was soon to be rectified though, as the earlier efforts caught up with us, and Craig bonked quite suddenly and quite spectacularly. Five minutes later, and I would have been the one to bonk. We quickly went into survival mode, and tried to get to the finish in one piece - the hopes of doing well quickly slipping away.

To add to the misery, it was now Svalbaard's turn to have mechanical issues. The bearing in my lower dérailleur wheel had seized, and each pedal stroke caused a blood curdling noise. It sounded like my bike was about to break into a thousand pieces, but there was nothing we could do. We would have to fix this at the end. By this time Craig's legs were in constant cramps, and if you have ever experienced muscle cramps, you will understand the agony. Same thing - not much we could do here. Hopefully we could fix his legs at the finish too.

After several rather annoying uphills and downhills we could sense that we were rather close to the finish at Saarsveld, but in true Epic fashion, we would not see the finish right away. We would have to meander around the forest for just a while longer.

We we did eventually see the finish line, the excited faces of our wives had been replaced by ones of worry and confusion? What had happened in the last 50km that had taken us so long? We had literally been "left for dead" out on the course, and I don't think we thought we could have a bad day. At least we didn't end up on our backs in a ditch!

Russell whisked away our bikes and got them cleaned and serviced - replacing all the dodgy bearings and giving the bikes some TLC. Yolanda and Bonte got us fed, and nursed our wounded egos. We also got lots of TLC, and they did all the chores for us - clean the water bottles, mix the juice, made our beds, carried our bags. I could tell that there were many cyclists that were jealous of all the attention we got.


Nothing like a farm stall for breakfast.

I got my first encounter of Nikki and Karen - our masseuses, and what a proper full-body massage felt like. Craig promised me that by the end of the week they would have me crying like a baby. They almost achieved that on day 1!

Saarsveld put on a good spread, and the spirits in tent town were still rather upbeat after a grueling day on the bike. I managed to bump into Amanda and Sarah Wielopolska - people I had gone to school with, and they seemed to be having a great time.

STG 1 85. Cat, 125. GC