Epic Matters Stage III till Lourensford

Stage III

Robertson – Greyton 134km, 1800 m of climbing

“Welcome to the edge of your endurance. Enjoy the view.”

Glasses: check

Keep on eating: in the mind!
Stage III was a connection stage. We moved from one camp in Robertson to the other in Greyton. The longest stage but not the hardest. Getting groups and riding together to clock up some milage very quickly was only our duty. Reality was a fight against the wind in a group that didn't want to work together. A little bit frustrated we crossed the finish line.
Yesterday rain, wind today, the Epic weather is giving us hard times. 

It's hard to go back in time, especially when it's all over. Today it is Tuesday 1st April, 3 am in the morning. 
Can't sleep. Eat to much, drank to much. My body wants to go back to normal life again, but my mind can't let it go. 
"Wake me up when it's all over, when I' m wiser and I'm older." 
I have been riding the Epic every single day with these lyrics in my mind ( they played it at the start line )

The first 20k of each stage I was thinking: "Should I be playing this game? It is only killing me!" 

But I found out that I don't want to waist my time sleeping. And I will be old one day, but wise? I can not wait forever to get wise. 

So I am playing the game, the game of live and the game of the Epic.

And which game is harder? Come and ride it to find out.

Stage IV
Greyton  88km, 1850 m of climbing
"Stage 4 will be the kind of day that makes a mountain biker’s heart beat faster."


Stage V 
Greyton - Elgin 110km, 2900 m of climbing
"This is the queen stage - arguably the hardest of this year’s race, with the most amount of climbing."
The start went hard, but I managed to stay in the group.
A stone at 13k broke the rhythm and my rim. 
The tube couldn't hold the rocky single trail and after another 10k it went flat again.
With much more than a little help from a friend, we made it to the first water point at 50k were we could change the wheel. 
Demotivated we ended this long day at a 7th place, but we kept our overall place at 5th position. 
A roller coaster of emotions and a good night sleep brought us back into the Epic spirit ready for stage VI.

Stage VI

Elgin -Elgin  85km, 1800 m of climbing

"Riders still in the race have definitely earned the rewards of Stage 6. Although there is 1800m of total climbing, riders will mostly remember the amazing single track descents that are dotted along today’s route."

We agree and only remember one thing: FUN - FUN - FUN
A brilliant ride which made us forget every previous little issue.
There do is some fun at the Epic! :-)

Stage VII

Elgin - Lourensford  69km, 1800 m of climbing

Let's say that we tried to finish this stage as save as possible. Laura felt in the start chute her bike had no rear break …. A stop right after the start and at the water point to have it bled costed us 10 minutes but didn't reward us with a functioning break. We finished and kept or 5th position overall. 

Epic Matters prologue till stage II

Epic matters prologue and stage I

Prologue: 23km 700m of climbing

"Glory lies ahead, there’s no turning back now."

I said it last year: I like to meet the Epic’s copy writer! He has such a great fantasy.

In our rider bag we received every year a booklet with a brief description of all the stages. The route is described in such lyric words that I become emotional by just reading it. But you know what the best thing is? While riding the route, you suddenly realize the words are not fantasy, but the hard and painful truth. We could feel it in our legs today and yesterday. Ok, let’s admit yesterday we didn’t suffer so much from the legs, we suffered mentally from our bad luck. I crashed in the first real corner ( okay no surprise J. But than I had a flatty and it was impossible to fix it. I had to ride down at a snails speed and change the wheel in the techzone. Thank God, this year we got a promotion by entering the Meerendal team and one of the brilliant things is that now we can leave spare parts in the techzone at every waterpoint. And there are three in each stage.

With this mechanical issue we ended up 8^th in the women’s ranking. A place we are not happy to defend. We want to do better. We want to win this race, remember ;-).

Stage I

Robertson – Robertson 113km, 2475 m of climbing

“Tough start. Tougher finish. Toughest riders.”

Just for the sake of it: today the story teller was wrong: he ( or she, why should it be a he? ) promised us the day to be baking hot…

Our 8^th place, ranked us in start chute C.  Not happy C. The day started bad. I entered the start chute with a flat back tire. But let’s tell you first about the weather. The weather is bad and when I say bad, it is bad. It was drizzling this morning. And as we speak now it pours rain. But hey we were at the start, a flat back wheel. Went to the first mechanic and had it pumped up ( not the jam ). Arrived in the box, flat again. Oh yes I knew why. As I pumped my tire myself before the start, the valve came out and obviously it wasn’t turned in properly again.

Laura enters our cabin and tells me this great news: It will be raining till … FRIDAY!!! OMG!!! But anyway, life with it, deal with it, this will be the same for everybody.

I just go quickly through the operation of this morning. Amina, Mason, Kathy, Hendrik, Aletta and a stranger with the tool we needed ( een tang , how do you say this in English ? ) succeeded to fix it at the very last moment. We started with only 30 seconds delay. What a great performance of our crew. I want to say thank you to all of you involved. I was so stressed, but it gave us a boost. We made a fast and furious start, about 20k on the flat. The last k’s before the first waterpoint we lived in Luc Bellings wheel. He’s not only a great chef ( 2 Michelin star chef ) but also a great cyclist. He brought us perfectly where we wanted to be. Thank’s luc, you have a great wheel!

The monster climb we rode during the training camp was even a bigger monster today, but we killed it and afterwards, everything went smooth and just perfect. Does it mean we didn’t suffer? Hell no, OFF COURSE we suffered, it’s the Epic!! But we had such a wonderful teamwork ( Laura did everything, I just followed. And I like this to be the recipe for the rest of the week. Thanks in advance Laura! ;-)

In the last 5k I got emotional again and I thought and said it out loud: Laurie, for me today we won the Epic! But let’s do it also for real, that’s why we are here for, isn’t it? J

After the ride, it’s shower, recovery food massage ( a great, long, relaxing and at the same time stimulating massage, just perfect ! ), checking the bikes, checking the tech boxes … busy schedule. I said it before and I repeat: we must enjoy our time on the bike since the after bike part, is harder than the stages.

So long folks, wet and rainy greetings from a normally sunny and warm country!

Results: fifth today, overall sixth!

Stage II

Robertson – Robertson 103km, 1550 m of climbing

“Legends are forged during days like today.”

Rain and mud, sore eyes, that’s what I remember from today’s stage. We were often yelling during the ride: if it had been dry, this track would have been gorgeous. Beautiful flowing trails a thrill for every biker. But it rained… hard… and we were covered in mud as we crossed the finish line in 4^th position. Our teamies Milena ( Landtwing ) and Hielke ( Elferink ) had mechanical problems: no brakes (why isn’t that surprising?) and ended 5 minutes behind us. The worst part of the day for me started after the finish. Anti-doping, spent there 2 hours and delivered two contaminated samples. It was impossible to avoid mud falling into the recipient. Finally a friendly letter to the UCI explained nicely that due to the weather circumstances and the state of the track, every female rider was unable to deliver an not contaminated sample. Amen!

Reminder for tomorrow’s stage: wear glasses, ALWAYS! And refuel constantly, since today I ran out of power after water point three.  

Stage III

Robertson – Greyton 134km, 1800 m of climbing

“Welcome to the edge of your endurance. Enjoy the view.”

Glasses: check

Keep on eating: in the mind!

TBC!!

Pre Epic Matters

And then there was news!

On Tuesday morning we arrived in the Mother city after a 12 h night flight from Zurich where we met the rest of the Meerendal team. It felt like we highjacked the plane since half of it was filled with the black Meerendal polo’s and caps.

A short ride brought us to the Meerendal Wine estate. We call it our second home since we already spent three weeks here earlier this year.

Our days so far have been busy with bike rides, meetings, races, dinners, lunches, massages, and coffee breaks. We are always busy doing something, even relaxing is a part of the program.

Tomorrow though is D-day.Tomorrow we reach the point of no return. We will get our registration done, receive our rider bags and all will be definitive.

Let's go through our days by these pictures, as images say more than words. 

Feels like coming home

Race board for the Champs race in Kayamandi Stellenbosh

On Wednesday we participated to the Champs race organized by Christoph Sauser, founder of the Songo.info project. A foundation set up to keep children of the streets by getting them on the bike. Check it out on their Facebook page. 

Laura got fifth behind Ariane Kleinhans, Anika Langvad and our team mates Esther Süss and Hielke Elferink, I finished somewhere behind in 7th place. 

An example of how far the team goes in branding is these shoes. Apart from t-shirts, polos, sweaters and caps, we all received personalized Takkies ( =  sneakers )

Acrobatic Laura doing some core stability. 

The coolest team of Team Meerendal

And the coolest part of our stay so far: we visited Richard Scotts  atelier and made our own and unique Richard Scott painting. For those who don't know Richard Scott: it's our team mate but most importantly, it's an artist. Remember his name since his paintings are going around the world for a lot of money ...

Knock , knock, it's us! :-)

Silence, the master speaks!

Full concentration

Don't breath!

A sneak preview of a big project