Mark Nel accepted an invitation out of the blue four days before the race from Patrick von Schoor to do the Absa Cape Epic as his teammate. Knowing just how formidable the Cape Epic is to finish when prepared, we think he’s mad! So, we asked him to write a daily diary so we can follow his suffering, er, um progress.
Well that was interesting. My first ride with my Cape Epic teammate, Patrick von Schoor and it was the Cape Epic Prologue. No matter how hard you go in training, nothing quite prepares you for the real thing. We woke up to serious rain, but it eased a bit before we started. The advice we were given from everyone we’d seen was to no ride Plum Pudding descent as it was unrideable. We took that to heart.
Having never ridden together before, I can confirm that Pat is an absolute beast! We found our rhythm and rode well together pretty much the whole way. By the time we got to Plum Pudding it had dried out quite a bit. It wasn’t as bad as we anticipated, but we didn’t ride it as our goal was getting to finish in one piece.
As mentioned previously, I haven’t prepared at all for this Cape Epic so there are plenty of cobwebs. But I knew to expect that. We crossed the finish line in around 1:07. Really cool to part of another Epic. The human spirit is something to behold. There were no people allowed into the start/finish area, but the support on the route was unbelievable! There was so much encouragement, it was so lekker to see!
Tomorrow is Stage 1, where the real race begins. We race about 100km with 1800 metres of climbing. Pat knows the routes there reasonably well. I’m sure it’s going to be real wake-up call!
We are fortunate to not be in tents which really helps. I have done a couple of Epics staying in tents and with this weather, I’m most appreciative that we’re giving those a wide berth! We’re going to enjoy the accommodation because tomorrow the real sufferfest begins!
