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!!