Stage 7...... Final day

Oak valley estate has been wonderful. The mountains towering above the race village are surreal, it looks like middle earth form Lord of the Rings. Last night was great sampling some of the local wines and visiting. We have met great people from around the world and have been in the company of some of cycling's royalty for 7 days. The last stage to Lourensford estate is very exciting, everyone wants to finish a tough week of racing. We are all in the starting gates, ready to go, and they tell us to look up, out of the sky comes the Red Bull stunt plane, dive bombing towards us. This guy put on a unbelievable show right above our heads. Only in Africa would you see a show like that directly above the crowd. If this guy had have passed out or lost an engine he would have killed us all. The gun goes,,,,, and off we go, only 65kms to the finish. Gary and I had a strong ride with no crashes and passed many riders. The finish was fantastic, 15000 people, live concert and great food. It was great to be done the race. I am happy that Gary decided to carry on after that very rough day that took him out. He only missed 100kms of the race, but received the full experience of the Cape Epic adventure by choosing to carry on. The Red Bull plane showed up again and put on another crazy show overhead...... WILD. It was great to get to enjoy the day with our family, Gary and Joleen, myself, Kim daughter Lisa, inlaws Marnie and Charlie. They all made our race experience that much sweeter buy sharing it with us. We return home April 6 and i am looking forward to spring. It's a first for me to go from fall into spring. Africa and it's people have been wonderful. Please visit if you ever get the chance.... It's EPIC. I would like to thanks Syngenta for their sponsorship over the years. This race brings to a conclusion my quest to race the big 4 mt bike stage races. We have raised money for Canadian diabetes association and have experinced countries a prairie boy could only dream of. It has been a wonderful experience. I would also like to thank my family on the farm for allowing me the time to persue my racing dreams.

Stage 6

Got up this morning to the sound of cool African music, they pound it each morning to wake us up. This race is so unbelievably organized. The breakfasts are great and coffee is ready at 5 am. Gary tells me he is ready and I feel super charged. I have changed bikes, yesterday I tore the sidewall off a tire and had to tape it and use a tube to finish. My front shock also blew up for the second time this week and my new XTR brakes are loosing pressure. My second bike is the Flash, 16 lbs of cruise missile, the perfect weapon for the biggest vertical climb day. Once again we are at the back starting gate. 500m out of the race stadium I tare a sidewall off my rear tire. Because we are now in separate categories in the race but choosing to stay together as a team we wouldn't be penalized for not crossing the timing mats along the race course. Gary continues on solo and I run back to the start area, find a young guy crawling out of his tent after working on bikes all night and together he sets me up with a new tire and stands fluid. 32 min later I head out again but this time I encounter that the signs and race course marking ribbons have already been changed for our return to the finish line later in the day. I decide to follow the 1000 tire tracks and soon feel I'm heading the right direction. I don't catch my first rider until the 14 km mark. Then my front tire has begun to loose air. I throw some CO2 in it and continue on, not seeing signs of a hole in the tire. 8 kms down the trail it's flat again, so I inflate it and hope to reach the first water stop. When I get there I'm low again so I open the tire and dump 3 stands sealant in, inflate and head out. I've lost over 45 mins on tire repairs but feel strong and the bike loves to climb so we put the hammer down and finally catch Gary at around 100kms. He has had a steady day but doesn't want to flow up in the last single track so sends me on. Without the downtime I would have won the individual competition that day in the standings. It felt fantastic to have had such a strong ride and was without doubt my favorite riding day.

Stage 5

Cooler cloudy day, 26c. Because we are a blue and black plate, but still riding as a team, we start in the last gate. We are on fire, passing hundreds of riders. It's all I can do to hold Garys wheel, he seems really strong until 100km, then the wheels come off for him on the big climb of the stage. He was hurting bad but sucked it up for the wild technical descent to the finish. I cant imagine the feeling of riding that rock strewn decent bonking... But he did it.

Time trial.... 32 km

Gary is ready to give it a go after resting yesterday. I am feeling, "rode hard and put away wet" after my solo run yesterday. It rained hard last night which should make for a rust free race which will be very welcome. Our start time is 7:30 am. The race goes well, Gary seems much stronger and the 2 hr race time allows us to rest for our king stage tomorrow of over 140 kms. This stage will show if Gary has recovered enough to continue. Yesterday was very exciting for me being able to open the throttle for the last 2/3 s of the race to hunt some two horned young south african bucks. Not having time to adjust to the heat and technical riding has costs Gary a competitive race. I hope he can finish the next 3 stages, they will be very tough.
One more thing I want to add. This race has been alot of fun, reaching out to high five so many black kids, they all seem so happy and will often be singing together for you as you fly past. The kids all wear uniforms to school no matter how poor they are. The workers on the farms live in much better homes than the townships. 47million south Africans, 5%of them pay income tax, it will be interesting to see if that economic profile can sustain itself with the blacks fully in political control. They have grand schemes of liberal political correctness, but are very corrupt. We will see

Stage 3

125km day. Morning brought cloud cover but still hot. The race today took us straight into hell. The first climb of the day was loose rock and 4-6 inches of dry loose sand. The descent was extremely difficult to maintain control. Gary has had some awful crashes but today he rode the technical very well considering conditions that even the pros were saying were unreal. The first feed station 40kms in was the end for Gary. He was too dehydrated from the heat and not being able to eat to power his body spelled the end. I continued on for a very difficult, fast paced stage, solo. The mountains are beautiful here and different than anything I have ever seen. It is difficult to look around and feed when the rocks and sand are endless. Finished very tired, very common theme around camp. Gary will be given a blue plate which will allow him to continue if he can't start or quits during anymore stages, he will not be allowed to race further. I have the option to race solo or stay as a team with Gary. I will stay with him, I would really love to see him finish the last 4 stages.

Stage 2

Big day with consequences. Sunny and hot. Not quite as bad as yesterdays +43 in the mountain canyons but still high 30's. The riding is extremely technical. Gary is feeling rough, he was sick to his stomach for the last 3/4 of the the stage. Not being able to keep anything down makes for a near impossible stage but he sucked it up and finished. The race clinic gave him 2 IV bags that evening, but he still couldn't eat much. Hopefully a better day tomorrow. It was a 104km day!

Stage 1

Tough and hot, did I say hot and with that dust. Dustiest I have ever raced. The mountains are big here and get snow in the winter, the country is a mountain desert. The vineyards are everywhere. The water comes out of the top of the mountains from winter rain and snow and flows down the steam year round. They collect the water in reservoirs for irrigation for the growing season. The race went slower than I had hoped, the heat is a huge factor for Gary. I have been in country long enough to adjust. When I first arrived I found the riding very difficult with the temperatures. Two weeks ago we had 40c plus in these mountains. I am very pleased how Gary handled the technical today. I am sure tomorrow he will again be strong. 6 more days to go.......

Prologue

Hot and technical, with lots of loose sand and sharp rocks that float in the trail. Big league setup, more so than the other classics. Gary has not adjusted to the heat yet and finds the technical relentless. But we had a relatively clean run and look forward to tomorrows cross country stage at Saronsburg.

Registration Day!!!!

All ready to go, didn't sleep to good last night.... I have pre race jitters!!! The prologe course is made for tv ratings, grinding uphills and crazy technical descents... Should make for a wild Sunday. Capetown has been great but we are ready to move on. Our start time will be 9:36 am, expected temp to be around 25-28C. It will get much hotter as we move in country. Last week temps were in the 40's in the mountains.
The race statagy will be simple, stay hydrated and take race time out of each day where the opportunity presents itself. Lots of tough talk about losing 20% of the field in the first 2 days.......Banter for the first timers to fret about. I have told Gary to love everyday, look around at the beauty and suck up as much great vibes as possible from fellow competitors and spectators. Tomorrow with 10,000 expected on course and many more watching live in Africa and Europe, it will be a day to remember.

Epic

Six hours in the saddle. 9000+ feet climbing. Feeling good. Tim Friesen and I are riding well. Epic ride. One of the other fellows responded that he couldn't feel his legs any more. Moderate ride tomorrow; five hours and about 6000 feet, then start the long drive home just in time to catch the flight to Cape Town. Jolene and I are really looking forward to meeting back up with Kim and Don.

"Wow Man!!!!!"

"Wow Man!!!" that's south African for "cool". The safari was amazing!!! Way better than I was anticipating. Our game ranger Amy was great, we did 4 game drives in a open land rover, 4-5hrs duration, first at 6 am and then 4 pm. The reserve was called Amakhala, 15000 acres of awesome topography. We saw close up giraffe, lions, monkeys, zebra, wildebeest, ostrich, warthog, kudu, springbok...... The list goes on. The highlight was a mother cheetah and her 5 young feeding on a fresh impala kill, also the elephants moving through a dry river bed bottom to a different grazing area. One of the saddest things was the rhino poacher watch that was on high alert. We saw 3 female with young, the horn demands $100,000 US dollars per kg in China, so the poachers are very serious. They come in by helicopter at night with GPS coordinates , possibly by someone employed on the reserve. Our lodge was in the reserve so riding was not a option. A hungry cheetah will definitely ruin your training ride. This blog entry has nothing to do with racing but everything to do with the wonderful people and adventures I have had the pleasure of experiencing thanks to cycling. It has been very special to have been able to share this adventure with my wife Kim, daughter Lisa and mother and father in law, Marnie and Charlie. I will be back in the saddle tomorrow after a few days off. I'm getting super pumped about the upcoming race. "Wow man!!!". Later.... Don

Climbing Climbing Climbing

I'm in South Carolina preparing. Not a flat road in sight. Apart from the rain yesterday, the weather has been great; mid 20's. 5 1/2 hours riding and 7000+ feet climbing today. The harder day is tomorrow.

Thanks for everyone's good luck wishes!