Absa Cape Epic 2022

[samson99]

2 minutes ago, Carmichael said:

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

 

 

thank you sir

much appreciated

[JohanDiv]

2 hours ago, Carmichael said:

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

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.

[Carmichael]

1 minute ago, JohanDiv said:

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.

ah ok...  i see was it hard? I see there is a big climb ( walk ) in the early stages? Stage 2 is going to be a hottie of note

[Stephan]

On 3/10/2022 at 10:00 AM, JohanDiv said:

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

I am not familiar with the area. Where are these spectator points exactly and are they easily accessible by car?

[eala]

20 hours ago, JohanDiv said:

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.

All depends on how much single tract sections in the route and where it is .Last year we rode eighty percent single tract .Stage five last year also had 3000 m of climbing with the last 700m climbing in the last 30km of which 25km was muddy forest single tract .Your average speed just tumbles dramatically .And also ,there are no mistakes in the route .If it says 3000m climbing that what you get 

[JohanDiv]

17 hours ago, Carmichael said:

ah ok...  i see was it hard? I see there is a big climb ( walk ) in the early stages? Stage 2 is going to be a hottie of note

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.

[Carmichael]

Lekker , i know the nek, went up there in 2013.. It is tough yes. but doable... No one worried about stage 2 yet? 38 degrees..

[JohanDiv]

1 hour ago, Carmichael said:

Lekker , i know the nek, went up there in 2013.. It is tough yes. but doable... No one worried about stage 2 yet? 38 degrees..

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

[JohanDiv]

13 hours ago, Stephan said:

I am not familiar with the area. Where are these spectator points exactly and are they easily accessible by car?

Here is some info for each stage regarding spectator points:

https://www.cape-epic.com/fans/fan-zone/spectator-points

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by JohanDiv

[JohanDiv]

Finally we see some maps of the route:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[100Tours]

On 3/15/2022 at 10:20 AM, JohanDiv said:

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.

Have a look at the satellite maps - there are a few obvious different route options in the bits where you are missing bumps on the profile.

[Headshot]

Looks brutal! Good luck boys and girls.

[JohanDiv]

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

[tinmug]

2 hours of sleep, plus a Savanna? 😂

👍Good luck. 

[ChrisF]

56 minutes ago, JohanDiv said:

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

 

Johan wishing you all of the BEST for this event.

 

 

[JohanDiv]

4 minutes ago, tinmug said:

2 hours of sleep, plus a Savanna? 😂

👍Good luck. 

And nine beers 🥴😁