Paybacks are hell – A new partner

At dinner I sat with my Austrain friends and learned of the casualties from the days stage.  The little Austrian with tattoos (the one doing most of the pulling in the earlier stages) had broken his collarbone in the first wreck, and his partner, Peter.  They both went in the van with him, essentially taking the day off.  He asked if we wanted to team up for stage 6 as they had a good starting chute position and he was over his intestinal problems. 

Peter spoke the least amount of english of the whole group, and his partner had been translating for us most of the time.  When he found out how I had done in the stage 5 I told him the legs were knotted up from spinning but still managed top 20, he said in german "I hope he's not feeling much better tomorrow", as if I was going to kill him and ruin his morale. 

But I think he wanted to repay me for my help from 2 days ago so we set out to put out a good showing.  When they wouldn't let us into a top chute he gave a hand gesture and said "this izznt zee woman" refering to a girls gone wild quote I had taught the Austrians. 

His teammate said we were going to have a good time trying to understand each other today J  But cycling is a universal language.  I mean when a guys got the hammer down, you don't have to be told to "snell" go fast.

We both rode very similarly, when I was on my limit, he wasn’t much farther behind or ahead of me,  and at the very end of the day when teams were all blowing apart on the long steep climbs we both came off at the same time. 

I had wanted to contribute to the race, rather than follow, hoping for another 13^th place, so when the top mixed team wasn’t in our group, but the 2^nd place team was, I started working with the male partner, putting time on the Germans – who made us look bad on stage 4 with that attack.  I was feeling awesome due to the coke I was taking at the water stations, and the least I could do was put it to good use for someone.  They thanked me in the end, and as it turned out I could have used it during the last 5 k. 

Peter was feeling it as we finished the last climb – “I am Kaput” but this was as we were cresting.  Descending  to the Ocean was awesome, but I had just enough energy to get me to the line.  His derailleur was screwing up so I asked if he could hang on.  He probably could sense that I was about to have a power outage, so started pulling himself, a couple of k to go he was waving me through, and I came around barely.  He pulled to the finish, and I’ve never finished with such an enthusiastic teammate.  Arms in the air from 200 meters out, it was a real celebration. 

He certainly paid me back for my help on stage 4, we finished 14^th.  We both knew this was a satisfying accomplishment on this hard day, as we both road well as gave it our max.  This was an example of both members being on, and equal on the same day, which is difficult to do in this kind of stage racing.

The fastest stage with one mega steep step climb in the middle.

Another fast start had me time trialing, leap frogging quickly at the beginning, and I made contact with the principle contenders within 20 minutes.  Wide open, dusty roads, so much so it wore off the iridium surface on my new Oakley lenses.

As the leaders were resting a bit, the group swelled and when nervousness, fatigue and lack of concentration were combined, this led to several crashes in the middle of the field.  In the first one, I was right behind and saw it coming.  The strong Austrian had come close to a relaxed Dutch masters rider and the dutchy couldn't control his bars when was brushed.  He went down left on top of the Austrian, flipping his bike onto me.  I avoided most of it, but he trapped my rear wheel and deraileur.  I pulled it out quickly before I got piled on from behind, but when I got going I had only half my gears - I was missing my 11,12,14.  On this fast day I needed a big gear, and was alone ahead of the crashed traffic jammed group but behind the leaders and not catching.  So I stopped to pull the deraileur out, and it gave me the 14 back.  Oh well, I needed to practice my spinning any way. 

With so many riders in the race, if there is nothing to string out the field, these things are bound to happen -- Another reason to stay at the front.  I worked together with some of the others caught behind the crash and we regained contact with the large lead group.  As we approached the mega stair steps (which was really a mountain pass if you look at it on a topical map), another similar crash happened right beside me.  This time I was better positioned and he brushed right off my leg. 

The group split predictably on the selective climb and I was now in a second group with about 8 other teams behind the lead group of 8 teams.

We went through some nice rocky, grassy, thorny single track and I came out in front (special thanks to the tubelss TTs for not flatting the entire race, unlike those who were using tubes who flatted up to 7 times in this stretch).  It was so far to go to the finish though we waited for a group to form to work to the end.  The criterium style sprint felt like my tire was washing out because of the low pressure and I ended up about 15th.

I tried the "squirt" wax based lube, but it didn't last, and went back to the wet lube, which was a staple for most of the stage race.

Pumped 35 lbs in the back, 32 in the front that evening for some lower resistance riding, but it turned out the bumpier ride wasn’t worth it.

Cape Epic Stage 4 - Riversdale – Swellendam

A visit with almost everyone - 2500 meters of climbing

The old legs weren't as snappy right off the bat this morning, and there was no neutral start.  With the effective 2 minute penalty for having no partner I didn’t have a chance of riding with the top 15 or 20 teams today.  Instead I rode solo the first hour bridging about one group every ten minutes or so till I found one that I could rest in before getting going again.  There were a lot of groups to target today by starting so far back and it being strung out from the get go. 

Eventually I was in a group with the mixed Austrian team that I came to know through their support person, Oliver, who had also supported the winning Austrian team at the RAM last year.  I was trying to encourage them to catch the next large group of about 20 riders you could see about 2 minutes up the road.  They weren't willing so I sold my services for 5 rand and took of the chase for about10-15 minutes.  I flew down and up the hills hitting 80k / hour with the group in tow.  Today I wasn't going to get a best finish but I was getting a lot of compliments and glowing comments -- where can you spend those?

I bridged to within 30 seconds myself, waiting after a few climbs for my comrades in tow, then Trevor from Arizona came up to help and closed the remaining gap – I was grateful.  At this point I’d say I was up in to the top 60 or so.  We settled in with this group for a while till we hit a 6k climb with some granny gear action.  I worked my way up through the climb, and finished off the group flying by on the technical descents. 

Euros must not have the single track we have here in North America because, except for the top pros,  they lose way more time on the down hills than the up hills.  The series of grassy, rocky, swampy down hills allowed me to bridge to the next group.  We had about 10k of flat tar before the next set of climbs so I tried getting everyone involved rotating through with a small degree of success.  I had people come up to me afterward thanking for the organization.  I was feeling better and better as the stage went on and when we hit the climb I stood a lot of it and one guy stuck up the climb but as we hit the bumpy downhill he was off and I heard a lot of swearing behind me.  I saw only one last target ahead of me, a pair of Austrians who were coincidentally wearing maple leafs on their jerseys (the symbol of their sponsor - Bieme).  Evidently, they had come off the second group up the last climb.  I started pulling them but the big guy on their team was having intestinal and saddle sore problems due to the millions of studder bumps (wash board gravel). 

We caught one more team who had a very strong rider and a very weak one, so they got dropped.  Then I had jammed my chain in the 11 and frame.  I got off, and chased back on and started working with the Austrians.  The guy struggling wanted me to go ahead (ie, leave him in his misery) but the next group was 5 minutes up.  I certainly didn't want to go back to the group I left so I pushed the big guy so he could stay with his teammate, while he pulled into the wind over the studder bumps.  1K to go and we sprinted up the last hill, while I pushed the big guy and we came across with a decent time.  I was thanked with the german "supa" (super) and felt good about contributing to the race at least.  We were probably around 25th in 5 hours 10 minutes.  As it turned out I picked a good team to become allies with as I would be repayed by the big guy 2 stages later. 

On the first stage, this Austrian team was 19th, when Mario and I were 20th, so it wasn't a bad spot to work my way up to.

When you lose your original team mate, you are no longer in the official team results.  Consequently you don't get a starting chute assignment and you must start in the last group (chute F).  I estimated there were probably 200 people in this chute and growing each day.  I timed how long it took to get to the start line from the time the gun went off till the time I crossed the start and it was 2 minutes!  Anybody reading this knows how difficult it is to close a gap like this especially on the caliber of riders that would be driving the pace.  Luckily on this day there was a neutral (well, neutral for everyone else but meJ) start on "tar" as they called it.  So I was able to pass about 800 riders before we hit the single track today and got into about 10th spot.  I didn't know it till after the stage but I was running about 20 pounds of pressure in my Larsen 2.0 TT tubeless tires.  This worked out well for the grassy rocky start of the race.  After about 20k of rocky undulating terrain we were in a huge group until we hit the first decisive climb.  It was a good feeling when everyone got to threshold and I was able to occasionally make a pass.

The group split ahead and one guy came around me and eventually made it into the first group.  I wasn't maxed out here and was wondering if I had blown it by not trying to go with him.  This was the top 4 teams group and as it turned out, this was my best climb and best opportunity to try to hang with the first group.  I was climbing between groups 1 and 2 with 30 seconds or so between each.  I had plenty of fuel on board so when I reached the top I blew the water station.  No way was I going it alone on the wide open plateau so I waited for help.  It came in the form of the top 2 mixed teams.  They had broken away from the 2nd group and were shadowing each other so I still didn't have anyone to work with.  The top mixed team (Ghost) was towing his partner (who happened to be a shouting married couple) about 80% of the entire Cape Epic. He was amazingly strong and probably would have been in the top 3 men if this was a race for solo riders.

Eventually the group caught and I took shelter for the upcoming steep gravel climbs.  It was a good thing too, as at about the half way point (60km) it turned up and rather long.  About 8 guys gapped off the front and the guys were pushing their partners.  This blew the group in half and I chased on with another guy from Germany as my last hope.  We made it on and now I was in a good manageable group and the guy in the lead mixed team started driving the pace as the 2nd place team had been dropped. On each and every hill I was concentrating on good positioning and  I was looking forward to the sprint finish to notch my best stage finish.

Even though he drove the pace for 40k when we hit the tar with 5k to go the lead mixed team guy attacked the last climb hard all the while towing his partner.  It was the most amazing thing to see this guy attacking with a tow cord (dog leash) and get away from us.  After being stunned we chased and couldn't bring him back.  Just like a crit, we went though some fast corners at about 45-50k / hour and I sensed some sprinters sneaking up on me.  About 5 guys got ahead of me at the line so I estimated a 13th place unofficial finish, which was my best to date, less than 15 minutes back from the leaders in about 4 hours 35 minutes for 120k.  I was happy with the finish but a little disappointed I couldn't do better in the sprint against mountain bikers, especially since I was on a good stiff hard tail (Jamis Reynolds 853), was in good position with 400 to go and wasn't dead or anything.  It was probably my best opportunity for my best placing (top 10 is always the goal)

Maybe I should have put more air in those tires :)

Bad Front Scur/Quick Release = Mario Breaking his hand and Fingers, ending his Cape Epic

You are supposed to be in your privileged chute 15 minutes before the start (which was at 7:15am each morning), otherwise you were supposed to start in chute F (about a 2 minute penalty as the first 800 riders or so in chutes A through E role though the start).  We were headed to the bag drop off as they were counting down 5 minutes till the chutes closed. 

Today this is where the real race began, as I have plenty of practice being late :)  We checked in our bags and I heard 3 minutes to go.  I wound through the maze of people heading towards the line, checking only once that Mario was with me.  I had my eyes on getting on the line by going through to the front and backing up to the second row at --  an important crit start tactic.  I made it, and secured an excellent position behind Sauser and Bundi but Mario was no where to be found...  He had his eyes on the A chute letter and went to the back on the A chute riders as he lost me in the maze to the front.  I walked back through the crowd till I found him 10 rows deep.  He couldn't move up, so we had to start quite far apart.  As the gun went off I waited to regroup with him, giving up valuable singe track positioning till we were together and I could officially put the hammer down.  Sure enough the good positioning would have paid off as there was a pile up in front of me 5 minutes into the race.  I pushed the guy’s wheel away with my knee and got a nice red burn mark to wake me up.  We chased, closing gaps all over the place, up and down a relatively hilly start.  Initially we had blown what would have been a good efficient start, as the select group I wanted to be in was dangling 30 seconds ahead.  We kept fighting to the max (like a cyclocross start) and a few times as I surged to make contact Mario was getting gapped off.  Rather than finishing the last bit, and risking him not getting on, I paused until we could try it again as the terrain was changing and we were mixing it up with other teams who were also desperately trying to not miss the boat.  After a couple more similarly failed attempts, the rolling became more climbing than rolling, and the windy jeep track widened a bit.  This must have caused the lead group to slow a bit, and much to my relief we were closing the gap smoothly, although we were still at max.  When we did make contact at the back, Mario realized that this was it, and we couldn't lose this group but needed to recover so as to not go off the back.  He wisely grabbed my camelback on a couple of the ascents to give him some recovery.  It was relatively short hanging on, and he was so light I hardly noticed it.  I realized that it was important to get off the back so wherever I saw a hole in the group I pushed him through it, then I followed.  He downed some of his magic potions similar to day one and started feeling good.  I know from road racing experience the best place to move up is when the group swells on the down hills as you can overtake many people with the same effort that it would take to pass one rider when it is strung out.  We are both good on the down hills so I wanted to efficiently move up to give us some insurance in case the group starts splintering again.  I asked him to try to move to the front where he could.  I'd gain a few spots on the little downhills and he'd slither through with me and keep going on the up hills till he was at the very head of the group.  I was about 8 back, and we were with all the strongest riders except for the leading handful teams that snuck off the front, so we definitely didn't need to drive the pace.  I let him know that, and we started settling in nicely with this top 15 group, which I thought we'd ride out the race with.

From everything being back in control and according to plan, the whole stage race was about to change for us on one small mechanical problem.  We hit a nice twisty downhill and I got though it wide to carry momentum up the next climb with minimal braking.  Mario must have been following everyone’s line through the turn and had to brake.  He sensed something was wrong and noticed his front scur was undone, but before he could do anything about it his front wheel locked up and the guys behind him told me he went over the bars and hit his head and neck.  As I was climbing the next hill someone said to call a medic as there was a bad crash behind.  I asked if he was wearing a red jersey, and sure enough the witness said yes.  I didn’t see Mario in the group so I immediately turned back down the hill and found him dazed, but already up on his feet.  He couldn't use his hand to tighten the scur but eventually we got it back on and started riding.  About 2 or 3 minutes later teams started catching us but Mario couldn't go down hills fast because the vibrations hurt too much and he couldn't use his left had for anything (braking or shifting). 

We eventually got caught by what felt like the "bus" and road easily with them most of the rest of the way.  But there was a big rocky technical section which broke up each group and it was hard for him to negotiate this.  The favored mixed team male partner had crashed here and hurt his ribs.  We road on with them as well as a strong team that must have also had problems.  From the last aid station to the finish Mario was pretty sure that this was going to be his last day so he sucked up the pain and stayed with the strong team as we bombed a lot of bumpy downhill then road at crit pace for the last 5k. He was persistent to not let them drop us.  I was getting hungry at the last aid station so I had some coke and another magic potion of his called "sustained energy"  which is a white paste of dense calories.  He told me that in the 3 big gulps I took I probably got 600 calories, which was enough to get me through the 6.5+hour day. 

Mario mentioned the steep downhill stairs with 800 meters to go so I hopped off my bike and ran down them thinking that’s what would be best for his hand.  Much to my amazement, he road down the carpeted section and we sprinted to the line. 

For all the delays we had we took some conciliation with 35th place finish.  We were now in 18th on GC and we'd know our real fate after a trip to the hospital.  Sure enough the prognosis was a broken hand, and they taped it all up and two fingers together and told him it would take 6.5 weeks to recover and that he couldn't ride.  Talking with the mechanics afterward they said that those third party scurs (the kind with the thick wire closures) have a problem when it rains and is muddy because the resistance you feel when closing them is front the grit and not the closing cam, and therefore they aren't really closed.

To come all the way around the globe (Mario trip was 6 hours longer than mine as he comes from Southern California) and be so well prepared and poised to place well, would have (and was for many others throughout the stage race) been really hard mentally for most people.  But Mario's terrific positive attitude was remarkable.  Over half of the 1000+ riders had some sort of ailment, and had to officially DNF.  Many of the remaining ones who ended up finishing were covered in bandages for one reason or another (many due to overuse injuries, tendons, ligaments, muscle problems etc).  Some guys had more tape showing than skin!

Mario had the best attitude of them all though.  In fact if you didn't see his hand you'd think he was still as healthy as ever - his personality unwaivered throughout the whole trip regardless of what happened.  He followed the race for a couple of days supporting the people he knew.  He mixed my new found race foods and drinks from what we called magic potions.  He took our (Lou and Eric the mixed team from California) laundry in to ensure we had enough clean clothes to make it to the end.  He met us at the finish, let us know where everything was, got us water, and time splits from the leaders.  He went to Cape Town and rented a car and did some hiking and sight seeing and met us for the last couple of stages.  Not before giving me another one of his secre@t packing tricks.  The REI air compress bags shrunk some of my suff in half so I could close the zipper on our one allotted race bag – a nice trick I’ll use for any future stage races I do.

The organization of this race was top notch as advertised.  The massages were awesome and done by The Stalenbosch University graduating class.  Theirs is  a 5 year program and they really knew there stuff.  Only 80 rand for half an hour ($13usd) I went in for an hour on the really hard days with a lot of climbing.

We had done over 12 hours of racing to this point as a team and it looked liked I'd do the next 30 or so by myself.  This can be an advantage since the co-ordination of having two people on isn't there, and it can also be a determent since you don't have someone else encouraging you, keeping you honest with the pace, and there in case of trouble such as mechanicals and lost water bottles etc.