Race review | western cape

Absa next race 19-26 March 2017

The 654km route took riders from Meerendal Wine Estate in Durbanville to Tulbagh, Wellington, Stellenbosch and back to Meerendal over eight days of tough climbs and long country roads. An Amabubesi reflects… After completing six Absa Cape Epics, Robert Vogel thinks he has had his fill… Or will the FOMO set in again? Looking back over six tough races – and a sixth that was the toughest of all – he wonders what keeps riders coming back for more year on year. It’s not a route you take lightly – and if you do, you pay the price. So why is it worth the suffering, the injuries and the emotions that go up and down to rival the route profile? Words by Robert Vogel 126 | MTB | the big one the big one | MTB | 127 Race review | western cape

was done! After Stage 3 watched my weight and spent “I’ll get through the Epic, compromise to accommodate of this year’s Cape Epic hours and hours riding my I’ve done five, I know what’s the weekend warriors. We are I was lying on a bed in bike, both on and off the road. coming,” I thought. I was trying held to the same standards as Mediclinic with a drip I had a healthy respect for the to reassure myself that, despite a , sticking in my arm. My Cape Epic and wanted to leave carrying the remnants of a cold or Ariane Kleinhans. tanks were empty. I had nothing to chance. and having two gammy hands, The Cape Epic has stuck to been suffering for most The hard work certainly I could rely on muscle memory the two-rider team concept, of the stage and could hardly paid off and I had good rides to complete Cape Epic No.6. even when the chips were talk to my waiting family at the those years, able to help my down. The race has stayed finish in Wellington. partner (we raced in the Mixed Take nothing true to itself, and I believe that Lying there, with other riders category for three years) along for granted is what gives it that mythical in various states of ‘disrepair’ the way, as one always does in But you can’t take the Absa status and has made it a around me, and another one a team race. Cape Epic for granted. That’s bucket list event for so many being stretchered in with a So what went wrong this what I learnt. Irrespective of mountain bikers globally. suspected broken hip, I could year? I underestimated my own your goal, you have to train How many events in South have embraced my situation abilities and paid the price. properly, otherwise you’re in Africa have deviated from their and pulled out of the race. I had My partner and I had spoken big trouble. original concept of two-man been suffering since Stage 1, about riding this year’s Epic, The Epic is essentially a teams and are allowing solo with only a small glimmer of the but didn’t have an entry nor race for professionals, where riders to enter? Some have legs of old on Stage 2. sponsors. All of that came amateurs are merely invited gone from ‘serious’ to ‘social’ But, you know what, I never about very quickly – around (for a princely sum) along for and some even offer a ‘Lite’ entertained the thought. I was the time I fractured my right the ride. option. The organisers keep not ready to walk away from wrist. Alarm Bell No.1! Nobody takes the Epic filing away at their original the Epic with an ‘incomplete’. I asked the surgeon whether lightly. When those first 100 concepts, trying to get more Forget about my responsibility my wrist would recover in time Early Bird entries are sold in entries in the dog-eat-dog to our team sponsors. They to ride the Epic. He said yes nine seconds on the Monday world of South African stage “we are held to the same standards as a karl Platt, christoph sauser or ariane Kleinhans”

would have understood. I (he’s a cyclist too), so I pulled after the Grand Finale, the racing. It’s almost like they had a partner who wanted a the trigger and bought the threads on Bike Hub are don’t believe in their original third finish and I wanted to entry. Sponsors were found already speculating about next event idea anymore and I ask help him achieve it. But, most and soon we were good to go. year’s route and training plans, myself, “Why should I?”. importantly, I wanted to finish Next thing I was sitting on a ex-riders are dispensing advice But the Epic hasn’t deviated for myself and I knew I could – Wattbike, sweating through my by the bucketful and others are an inch. You want to ride the Tulbagh hosted Stages if the doctors let me line up for cast, thinking I’d be disciplined moaning about the cost of the Cape Epic , you do it on their 1 and 2, which featured lots of new singletrack, Stage 4. enough to hang in there and do race and how they would love terms. Fair enough, it’s a while the big feature The doc gave me the green my training staring at a wall. to do it if they had the money. choice you make. on Stage 3, which took riders south from light (with Ts&Cs attached) The cast came off two weeks Some call the Epic the ‘Tour It’s an expensive choice, too. Tulbagh to Wellington, and we finished the Cape Epic before Epic and I spent five de France of mountain biking’. When the dust has settled, the was the steep trek over the Saronsberg. stronger than I had started. days riding the Cape Rouleur. I used to think it was because total cost per rider is enough In all of my six Cape Epics, I Great training for Epic, I of how tough the race was, and to go on an overseas holiday. have never experienced such a thought, but I came out of that even the professionals Without the aid of sponsors, I level of personal suffering that I it feeling sick and was man suffer over the eight days. couldn’t justify that cost to my had gone to seek medical help. down, in bed before the Cape But, let’s be honest, how do family. But yet the 600 entries Okay, I was a regular at the Town Cycle Tour. Alarm Bell you compare a Prologue and are sold out year on year. ‘Bum Clinic’ in 2014 and 2015, No.2! 7 Stages to three weeks of It’s clever marketing. The but that doesn’t count. Alarm Bell No.3 started almost continuous riding over race never really focuses on In previous years – especially ringing when, four days before some of the steepest terrain the suffering that’s happening 2013, 2014 and 2015 – I the Prologue, I went over the that the Alps and Pyrenees mid-pack. It’s always focused had prepared for the race bars in Deer Park and my have to offer? on the racing snakes or the by starting my training in left hand swelled up to the I’ve now come to the teams fighting with the cut-off December (and forgoing point where I couldn’t see any conclusion it’s because the at the end of each stage. That’s the treats of Christmas) and knuckles. My right hand was in Cape Epic is organised to one helluva emotional contrast had a schedule with regular, a brace and was fine, all things UCI World Tour standards – and it’s probably part of what supervised indoor sessions. I considered. – and the organisers never makes us want to enter as well.

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The lure TEAM WORK & PERSEVERANCE of the race I didn’t really know much about For the 2016 Absa Cape the Epic when I was asked by Epic, Absa set out to reward someone to team up with him team work and perseverance for my first one. But, once Epic with the #ConquerAsOne No.1 was done, No.2 was almost campaign. At each stage of a given. I had ‘survived’ my first the race, a #ConquerAsOne Epic, having gone into it like most moment was identified and Newbies, just wanting ‘to finish’. recognised, where a team With the next Epic I got a little showed immense human braver and said, “Okay, let me spirit to overcome their try and improve on last year’s own personal challenges to result and try to race it”. Bang! My conquer that stage together. new partner and I (now you start The winning overall selecting your partner based on #ConquerAsOne moment where you want to finish in GC) went to brothers Sean and moved up 120 odd places. Adam Greve. With 8km “I can handle this race and to go on Stage 4, Adam I’m one Epic away from my took a serious fall and tore Amabubesi. Let me enter one his shoulder ligaments, more.” Another clever organiser preventing him from ploy to keep you coming back. peddling to the finish. Their Now you’re part of the Epic inner bond as brothers gave them incredible,” says Adam. “The “Between holding onto circle. You get a nice photo and the motivation to go on, not first three stages were the the bike with one arm and an extra medal at the finish. You only to complete the stage hardest days I have ever running I eventually found get invited to the Amabubesi but the Epic as a whole. experienced on a mountain my way close enough to the breakfast on registration day and “Sean was the person bike,” adds Sean. “The heat, finish. By that stage the pain you get extra t-shirts, buffs and everyone in the family terrain and climbing all had become too much and I cycling tops in your race bag. looked up to and, when compounded to make the could not hold my bike. Sean Nice touch, massaging the ego! he started to mountain race extremely challenging. then took over the bike and Amabubesi status reached… bike, it became a goal that But it was worth it to hang in ran by my side to eventually Now what!? Let’s look for a I set for myself: to be the there: Stage 6 had the best get us to the finish. With the sponsor and keep the Epic person cycling next to him, singletrack I have ever had support of my other arm I dream alive. to keep pushing him and the pleasure of riding.” could hold my shoulder in a Epic No.5 I thought would be ultimately to relive the Asked about the fall, position that eased the pain.” my last. I like doing things in fives, Stage 5 included five passion our late father once Adam says, “We came into a Questioned about the I told myself (five Cape Pioneer rugged climbs between had for the outdoors,” says descent known as the Super stages following the injury, Treks in a row and I was done). Wellington and a new race village at Adam. “Slowly our love for Tubes, famous for its corners the younger Greve says, “I But then, disaster struck and my Boschendal Wine Estate the sport grew and we got and amazing scenery. We don’t even remember the partner got sick and had to pull while Stellenbosch’s famous trails, recent fire better, faster and stronger. got caught behind a slower stages. I was lucky enough out. I finished on my own, which damage still evident, There was only one thing group, which made me lose for my mind to switch off. was an emotional experience. I hosted Stage 6. left, one thing we needed to concentration. I started The doctors at the race were gave it a good go and tried to race cross off the bucket list – the slowing down to give them incredible and they helped it. When I crossed the finish line great Absa Cape Epic. For a gap, so that I could go me manage the pain.” in Meerendal, I was physically 2016, we got our ducks and, hard and fast and enjoy the Says Sean, “I am not sure spent and emotional, too. I most importantly, funds Super Tubes. I looked back how Adam was able to pull stopped my bike, put my head in a row and were blessed to see where my brother was through the later stages. on the handlebars and cried. enough to get an entry.” and at that exact moment I become a shepherd, Don’t ask me why – it was just an “The ride in itself is I lost the grip in my front riding in front of him on the outflowing of all of the stresses self-explanatory: ‘Epic’. The tyre and went over the downhills, calling out all the you deal with at an Epic. forests, the singletrack, handlebars onto the side of obstacles and making him Then the 2016 route was the people, the vibe, the the mountain, landing on my walk where necessary. I also announced and the FOMO set in. mountains, the landscapes, shoulder. The pain hit me kept an eye on our time, to Strange, I have never experienced the emotion and the instantly and I immediately make sure we made the cut- it around any other race. With my passion felt are absolutely knew something was wrong. off every day.” sponsor of three years sending me the ‘Dear John’ letter, I was

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free to choose a partner that I week of hard mountain biking. actually rode with socially. He Five Cape Epics may have was undoubtedly the stronger helped me to prepare better link in our chain, but that was mentally and visualise what fine. We knew each other well lay ahead, but if your body and had ridden a couple of ain’t right, you’re in for a stage races together. When world of hurt. you get on, you work well You can’t afford to cut together, no matter if you’re corners with the Epic. You’ve evenly matched or not. invested financially and Initially, we thought we’d physically. You’ve spent the have a go at getting into the equivalent of weeks away from Johannes Malejane and Top 100 (that gets harder the family, and probably pissed Lawrence Mogano from DMA each year as the riders train off your mates many times by worked as mechanics. more and improve in leaps and leaving a braai early because bounds). But, my fracture and you’ve got a seven-hour then the injury to the other training ride the next morning. working in the wings hand, forced a rethink of our You’ve inconvenienced your Absa provided 14 young “It was an opportunity Cape Epic ambitions. nearest and dearest – and interns from the Diepsloot I couldn’t say no to,” We decided to go out there made your local bike shop Mountain Bike Academy says 20-year-old Nomsa and ‘have fun’. But you can’t richer. For months you eat, (DMA) with hands-on work Mutungwa, who worked in really call the Cape Epic a fun drink and sleep Cape Epic. experience during the 2016 a concierge role at the race. event – it’s almost an insult to You hear riders who’ve got Absa Cape Epic as part She enjoyed engaging with the other teams! the medal talk about it, but of a programme aimed at different people and says you have no idea until you’ve empowering these youngsters the most valuable lesson No regrets tried it. with the requisite training for her was taking on more My ‘fun’ Epic turned into You don’t need to ride six and support to enhance responsibility, which helped t zp i c s a bit of a nightmare, but I Cape Epics. Try one. When you their employment or self- her to believe in herself. “I got s p o r never regretted a moment roll over the finish line, you’ll employment prospects. a chance to work with new of it. Sure, I saw some dark have completed your own Absa has supported people which resulted in my places along the way, but the personal Tour de France. It’s the DMA since 2014. The communication skills being support around Epic time is an amazing feeling of personal Academy provides a safe boosted and sharpened. I was truly amazing. Out of the blue, achievement. platform for youngsters from able to gain self-confidence people you haven’t seen or I think I’m done for now. disadvantaged communities when communicating with heard from in 20 years send to learn about cycling and also new faces each day. Travelling you messages of support. fosters strong educational to the Western Cape was also Friends and family urge you on. support for its members. a highlight, seeing all the big Tough hours in the The most arbitrary people are The 2016 internship mountains we do not get in saddle – the race featured more climbing rooting for you along the way. programme is aligned to Johannesburg.” She’s a keen per kilometre than ever It gives you such a lift and you Absa’s ReadytoWork, a pan cyclist and says she would before – were balanced by colourful support and don’t want to disappoint them. African initiative launched in love to do the Epic herself. proud moments on the You look at the riders around 2015 that is aimed at helping Lawrence Mogano also podium for the Overall Jersey Winners. you (on the route and in the young people build the skills travelled from Diepsloot to medical tent) and the pain is they need to make the critical the Cape, where he worked etched into their faces. You transition from education as a mechanic at the race. He can totally relate. They keep into the world of work. “We says it was a great challenge going and so why shouldn’t are well aware that the high but he learnt the importance you? It’s a Brotherhood of level of youth unemployment of teamwork. “It was a very Suffering and we’re all fighting is a significant challenge in demanding job and required our demons. ROBERT VOGEL our country and continent. loads of hard work but I Day job: CEO, Pedal When you enter your first Power Association Hopefully our internship am very happy to have had Cape Epic, you have no Based: programme will, in some the opportunity to work on e p i c/ a nd emm h ill /cap p e rk in , domini c b ar n dt , ni ck m uz i k, s a m c l ark, m ark s a p son , g ary benchmark, no comparison. Mostly rides: Table Mountain, small way, enable some of various bicycles.” He says he’s How do you train for an the Constantia Greenbelts and the interns to realise their grown as both an individual Elgin Valley a ld s die eight-day-long event? You get Favourite riding spots: work-related ambitions,” said and a mechanic by interacting advice, you get a coach, you Table Mountain trails – they’re Matshepo Majola, General with different people and get a training plan. Something our cycling group’s ‘home trails’ Manager Group Marketing, gaining confidence in himself

o graph s ew Years riding a MTB: 7

t to cling to as you try to prepare Barclays Africa Group Limited. and his work. Age: 46

ph o your body and mind for over a

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