The 2006 Cape Epic 2006 arrived but all did no go to plan… 

Making the Press…

The tales of two mad bikers have made the local rag. The article appeared in the Guensey Press & Star. Click the image for the full story and to hear the story of one man’s “unfinished business” in Africa.

 Unfinished business in africa

The story as penned by Phil Smith…

It was back in September last year that I joked with my work colleague Lawrie Chandler that we should consider riding the Cape Epic mountain bike race in South Africa. It bills itself as “The Magical + Untamed African MTB Race” and “the the largest full-service mountain bike stage race in the world”.

So it came to pass that 8 months later, after a diverse Ann Bowditch-inspired training program that started with the GVC Sark race, continued through the South Downs way in September sunshine and January ice, crystal clear Spanish mountain air, blistering 46-degree heat in South Africa, torrential rain on Dartmoor and finished with blizzard-like conditions in the Cotswolds (interspersed of course with miles and miles of good old Guernsey tarmac) we found ourselves lined up behind Olympic medallists and the likes with 1,044 other nutters on the start line in wet and miserable Knysna, South Africa.

The tension, with the race start delayed by 15 minutes due to poor visibility, (can that helicopter overhead really see where it’s going?!!) gave us reason to focus even more on the stats of the event:-
* 8 stages back to back
* 921 kilometres in total
* 16,605 metres of climbing
* day 7 looming with almost 3,000 metres of climbing over 140 kilometres.

But suddenly - no time to reflect - we were here - we were ready - and now we were off! Rain pouring into our faces, dark clouds over the mountains, spectators cheering from under their umbrellas and hoods, Lawrie singing out loud in his hyped-up state and the locals telling us “poms to take our b*****y weather back with us to England”. We both felt strong, but I sensed unease in the big peleton of mountain bikes - no slick group-hardened roadies here - just a huge bunch of guys (and girls) who couldn’t wait to get off the tarmac and onto the rough stuff.

Then it happened - a smack from behind - back wheel knocked sideways and I was down. Up in a flash ready to remount when I felt the protrusion on my shoulder…… and then the pain! Subsequently diagnosed as a dislocated shoulder joint - my race was over. My Polar read 13mins and 5km!.

The race is a paired event and so technically if one rider pulls out the remaining rider cannot finish. We immediately agreed, however, that Lawrie would continue. I climbed into the ambulance while he set about catching the field and racing 916km on his own.

Eventually, over 200 riders would pull out, including the top mixed pair on the last stage with leg and arm fractures. But Lawrie was not one of them. He ground on and finished a very respectable two thirds down the field on time. Although not featuring as an official finisher on the web site due to my crash, he was afforded all the finisher trappings of tee shirt, medal etc!

The event is an amazing experience - high mountain passes, deep river crossings, underprivileged kids cheering you on and serious riders hours and hours in front - the winning Swiss pair of Christoph Sauser and Silvio Bundi were some 29 minutes ahead of the second placed team.

Completing the Cape Epic 2006 was possible thanks to these folks. Special thanks to Ann Bowditch for her training me towards this huge event.

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