JohanDiv

And nine beers 🥴😁

Setting off at 07:32:30 on 2 hours of sleep🤦‍♂️

Finally we see some maps of the route:

Here is some info for each stage regarding spectator points: https://www.cape-epic.com/fans/fan-zone/spectator-points

Nah the headwind all the way to Greyton will cool us down 😬

First climb is totally rideable, I don't see any issues there..plus we'll still be in the shade of the mountain early morning so we won't overheat on that climb. Then Helderberg single track pocket down. From there we link to Ernie Els single track pocket with open farm roads. And again from there we link with open farm roads to Dornier single track pocket. All these single track pockets are generally well maintained and manicured with a few tree roots and rocks in places, but nothing to worry about. After Dornier it is the Nek climb back to Lourensford. Here we turned around when our water ran out and it was proper hot by then. Looking at The Nek Strava segment the person that holds the KOM only went up there at 7kmh, so there will definitely be people walking up there. 3km with 410m elevation gain @ 13% average gradient in the heat of the day. After that climb we drop back into Lourensford for the second half of the stage. I don't know those trails, but looking at the profile it looks like the second half of Stage 1 is the easier play part.

Haha no that is just a route I built, we only did the first 40km at around 14kmh. The time you see on Strava is estimated from your average speed that you held over the last 4 weeks.

I'm also sitting here nervous about Day 2 (Stage 1)! From memory trying to figure out what we rode on our Stage 1 recce ride I tried plotting the route: https://www.strava.com/routes/2938721351944686522 This is a comparison of the route I draw vs the profile on the Epic website, looks quite close: I think I got all of the major singletrack pockets and climbs correct, but I keep missing 12km. First 45km looks correct, then dropping back into Lourensford I probably missed a few twists and turns, and again around 75km it looks like they are climbing a bit more on their profile than what I have. The thing is, I'm already close to 3200m, and can't see us climbing less than that. That advertised 2850m seems a bit off, especially with 12km of the route still missing.

Yes we were talking about it this morning.. Few stories coming up that makes you think the organizers might not be as organized as we thought they were. To an extend understandable with the short turnaround time from the previous Epic to have some route hickups to sort out last minute I think. For instance, I had a chat with the owner of Plasir de Merle the other day after Trailseeker, we were suppose to descend over their land on the final day towards Val de Vie, but after having a deal with the organizers to host a night or two as a race village, spending a fortune to plant grass for a race village, they canceled and opted for Coetzenburg that they could get for free. They still wanted to use their trails though, she then basically told them to "F-off!". So now we are being rerouted around Plasir de Merle..I'm sure there are similar stories dealing with hundreds of different land owners where the organizers would have to reroute us last minute. Also heard this morning from my partner(he has a friend that is a townplanner at Stellenbosch Municipalty) that the application for the approval of the race village at Coetzenburg only landed on their desk this week!! That's cutting it a bit close I'd say!

@RichA nothing to worry about on the Prologue route, really!! Few meters of rutted root en rocky sections, but didn't notice any off-camber sections, drops or tricky sections.. really all well maintained manicured trails and easy open gravel road climbs. We expected to do it at 12km/h(probably why we are starting 6th haha), but even at a very very chill pace today we did it at 15km/h. Partner's Garmin read 610m climbing, my Wahoo read 645m, and Strava 719m. https://strava.app.link/RfkYYHDKkob 2km from the finish line they are taking us over a bridge here:

I'm not seeing a dedicated topic for this year's Cape Epic yet, so starting this one. Please delete and direct me if there is already one.. One and a half weeks to go.. glad we are finally tapering now! So here is the Prologue route: https://www.strava.com/routes/2936898477485135392 Looks like they finally added spectator points on the route profile for each stage: https://www.cape-epic.com/riders/what-to-expect/route We did about 75% of Stage 5 on Saturday with a tailwind, pretty much perfect conditions. That made me think that for Stage 2 and Stage 5, the transition stages, the wind will actually be a much bigger factor than I thought it would be on an event like the epic. Headwind on the Theewaterskloof Flatlands(and the wind can pump on that section!) can quickly turn an easy 45min section into a 2hr slog into the wind. I think our prep went pretty well, we rode around 60% of all the routes over the last two months as part of our prep. Nothing that particularly scares me, but I think it will be a different story doing Bakenskop and UFO on four-day old legs instead of fresh legs!

And here is the Prologue route on its own: https://www.strava.com/routes/2936898477485135392

The route builder said it would be interesting to see the pro's blasting through that off-camber sections.. for us slow-going backmarkers it wouldn't be too much of an issue I guess. Here is the Strava route I made from his activity. They did the Prologue plus an extra Stage 1 climb on Saturday.. https://www.strava.com/routes/2936896968458378784

We are riding the Prologue route on Saturday.. friends did it last weekend - apparently nothing too technical, nothing close to plumb pudding.. only thing to look out for is a few off-camber corners that can catch you out at speed. also lots of space for overtaking. Not that that would be an issue for us, we are the 5th or 6th slowest team starting the prologue at 07:32:30 haha

Sho... I did a 2h52min CTCT and kept with my group, pity I don't have a powermeter on my bike. Pretty sure I didn't have to hold anywhere near that power haha. But anyways, that's a lekker tough workout! If you can do that workout, then you'll easily sub 3 if your seeding and the weather plays along..

To repeat... YASAS!!

https://zwiftinsider.com/hue-smart-lights/ I'm basically at a point where I'd try anything to make an IDT interval session more interesting/bearable!

Still need to find space for the tandem... and then mount a few shelves for helmets, spare parts, charging points etc.

I ditched my Dakine and two camelbaks for this USWE. Ordered straight from overseas supplier for R1600 two years ago and took less than two weeks to get here. I struggled with lower back pain with the Dakine and Camelbak. With the USWE the weight is distributed more towards your chest than shoulders I think. Very comfortable fit, and obviously the "No Dancing Monkey" system works. In this one I can fit a 1,5L bladder, all my tools, and a few energy bars. Worked well at Trailseeker this weekend and had more than enough fluids (Also had a single 750ml bottle with me) to skip every second waterpoint.

Just got the start time email.. Batch C @ 06:45. Glad they made it early! Looks like +35°C again on Saturday..

Check who's dishing out the hurt this morning at WP Champs.. @Jbr

I can't comment on the Garmin and Lezyene, but I was very impressed with the Sigma Rox 11's capabilities and used it for years before passing on to my wife.. 5 years later she is still using it. It even has Strava Live Segments. That was a complete surprise for me at that price point. If you are looking at Garmin you might as well add Wahoo to your list to compare. I'm very happy with my Wahoo Roam. The Wahoo Elemnt Bolt might be worth looking at to compare with the Garmin. https://averagejoecyclist.com/wahoo-elemnt-bolt-vs-garmin-edge-130-plus/

Looks like the wheels will be able to light up like the in-game Tron bike?🧐

Just entered for the 70km.. bit confused about the actual start time. Trailseeker website says 07:00, but on my ticket it shows "starts 06:00". Anyone know for certain the start times? Maybe registration and board collection starts 06:00 and the race 07:00?

Ahhh, interesting! No, I haven't done that before.. will look into it!