It has been a month since I posted anything, especially anything about the Cape Epic. So sad really. I just haven't been inspired to write about it yet. I don't know why. It was a great race, I had a great partner, we did well and then I went on vacation. Hmmmmmm. Is that it? Sort of but let's try to expand on some to the deets.
The prologue was really cool. Each team got the realu UCI count down with the beeper and the Marshall doing the count down wiht the fingers then pointing you out. Felt like a pro!! Greg and i agreed to take it on the easy side to see where we would land without blowing our brains out. We did well with a 67 in our Cat. The climbing was inter-spaced with some serious loose down hills. Marbles on concrete loose. We survived with no crashes and a good feeling about the race.
Me railing it in the Prologue.
Day 1 took us from the town of Gordon's Bay up over the mountains and into some pretty good moving pace lines. Of course this was after the mandatory dismount area that we had to wait 5 minutes at and some of our friends had to wait up to 30 minutes at. We did well again this day and we believe it was because it was the longest day and Greg and I kept a solid pace each day. Maybe not fast off the start but solid, most solid-o.
Nice berm and bum. That is Greg leading us down some of the precious single track. Notice the SpinSister proudly worn!! Representing!!
Day 2 was something special to say the least. We had a good start and could tell we were with the big dogs. Not THE big dogs, but still some big dogs. We were cruising pretty good when Greg slammed a soccer ball sized rock. Soooooooo...he ripped the side wall of his tire big time. Like 1.5 inch gash. We were at a bit of a loss as to what to do. Greg had a almost big enuf patch for the tear but it would not hold for the rest of the day, 67 km to the finish. I pulled deep on teh strings of memory and remembered that in a Sea2 Summit race we had the same problem and taped it shut. We started with the electrical tape that I had on my pump and that got us to the first aid station. We needed wider tape to keep the tube inside the tire and the onely thing we could find was medical tape from the Paramedics. It is know the tape of choice. It is 2 inches wide, is made of fibers, and has just a bit of stretch. It worked so well it barely looked used when we crossed the finish line 67km later. We lost a lot of spots as we were standing still for 20 minutes but atleast we did not DNF.
Too tired to cut off the zip ties. Lazy Jeff, lazy!
Day 2 was a big hike-a-bike followed by a screaming fast downhill. Double wide road with 2 distinct tracks that would come and go into a single. Being full of bravado and passing on the outside at 50kph I hit a rock and split a sidewall. Just like Greg the day before. Only 5 minutes to fix. Hit up the same medic for the magic tape and we were off. Race experience paid off in one day, go figure. The day went well but we had trouble finding our groove again. We crossed the finish line and pigged out, 3 spaghetti bolognese and a fruit smoothie. I am not sure if it was the quantity or quality of the food but for the next 36 hours it felt like I had a knot in my stomach. I could eat, bu tit was a battle at times just to get in what I knew I should.
Day 3 I had to eat sparingly due to the belly issue and Greg and I found that we were waiting too long to start our eating regime. Each day we were holding our own but in the last hour we would pass 20-30 teams. How can that be? Well Greg set a most impressive consistent pace on the uphills and I could get into flow on hte roads. Together we were nailing the team dynamics and by the end of the day we had stuff in the tanks to keep going while the other teams slowed down. We came up with this saying that described it perfect" C chute start, B chute finish".
Day 4 the belly issue resolved itself by 11am. It was over in a blink of an eye. I could start eating and drinking at will to get the calories in. The day also lent itself to my strength on the team, pace lining. Greg made a bold move and covered a surge by the Scott Bicycle team. I missed the initial move and had to fight hard to get to Greg's wheel. We just sat in while their strong man cranked the tempo and pulled us along. It was a cool feeling to be sitting in and going that fast. We lost them on a hill but as I had sat-in and rested I was good to go. Greg jumped behind me and with his constant words of encouragment we were flying. Teams that we had not seen yet in the race were reeled in and spit out. Greg would come around and give me a break so I could eat and drink then it was back to the front to set the pace. Greg words, the speed, the rabbits, and the day made for a true race feeling. As we approached the finish Greg jumped around me and just hammered. I returned the favor to Greg and just keep yelling positive things to him. We must have been doing 35-37kph down ath dirt road. Greg had 2km of pure animalistic racing. Unfortuneatley the finish line was 2.8 km. We rounded a corner thinking it was the end but no. Lucky we had been going so fast and I was rested we were able to keep the impressive speed to the end.
Spent and dusty. The guys behind were the Colgate team that we caught just before teh finish line. On the back of theirs jerseys it read" I am smiling because I am in front of you!" Nice!
Day 4-7 coming soon.
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