Absa Cape Epic 2022

[JohanDiv]

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!

['Dale]

7 TIPS:

FRESHNESS: Sleep, sleep, sleep, legs up, legs up, legs up

HEALTH: No emergency weight loss strategies

PRO CALM: Stick to your tapering strategy; no panic training

GUT TRAINING: Do not change your nutritional plan/brand/supplement

MINDSET: Focus on what you did well in preparation, not what you lack in preparation

UNITY: Bond with your teammate away from the trails

SANITATION: Don't mix too much with others and stay gogga-free

Sterkte!

[Shebeen]

18 minutes ago, JohanDiv said:

I'm not seeing a dedicated topic for this year's Cape Epic yet, so starting this one.

jeez that is a firm sign of people really not giving a continental if i ever saw one! it might be because the previous edition was just the other day in october, but normally we would be on page 10 by now.

 

oh. and there's a jaapie defending the crown.

[M L]

Epic routes this year. Lots of climbing. 

 

Looking forward to spectating a few of the stages. Good luck to all participating. 

[ChrisF]

Looking forward to following this race 👍👍

[gerriemtb]

1 hour ago, ChrisF said:

Looking forward to following this race 👍👍

Same!

[JohanDiv]

@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:

[erinbargate]

Anyone else notice that they've added c. 30km total distance to the route recently?  E.g. Stage 2 has gone from 118km to 123km and Stage 4 was about 74km and is now 82km.

[JohanDiv]

1 minute ago, erinbargate said:

Anyone else notice that they've added c. 30km total distance to the route recently?  E.g. Stage 2 has gone from 118km to 123km and Stage 4 was about 74km and is now 82km.

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! 

[erinbargate]

18 minutes ago, JohanDiv said:

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! 

Oh my goodness, that doesn't sound great!  We are a team that was entered in the 2020 race and rolled over to this year and I was wondering whether we have got a better or worse route this year, haha.  I am pleased that there are fewer move days as I found those super stressful when we did the Swiss Epic.

By the way, thanks for the tips you've shared on what you have found from riding the trails!  We are based in the UK (but currently staying with my parents in Durban ahead of the race) so haven't been able to ride the trails. I am personally more scared of super technical stuff than distance, but something like Plum Pudding was totally fine when we rode the prologue ahead of the 2020 race, so if there is nothing worse than that on the prologue this year, I'm happy!

[Carmichael]

Lekker manne, bein al nervous raak, dink dag 2 gaan n etter wees met die hitte wat hulle voorspel, lyk na nog n atta dag in die saal vir ons!

[JohanDiv]

45 minutes ago, Carmichael said:

Lekker manne, bein al nervous raak, dink dag 2 gaan n etter wees met die hitte wat hulle voorspel, lyk na nog n atta dag in die saal vir ons!

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.

Edited March 15, 2022 by JohanDiv

[Carmichael]

Well done , route signs not on yet? Looks like a hard day out... timing wise? long?

[Carmichael]

I see cut off for this day is almost 10hours, how did you go so quick? lol 

[samson99]

3 minutes ago, Carmichael said:

I see cut off for this day is almost 10hours, how did you go so quick? lol 

where do you see the cutoffs?

[Carmichael]

https://www.cape-epic.com/riders/what-to-expect/route