The Epic Journey: Part 2
Top XTERRA pros Greg Krause and Josiah Middaugh spent the past few weeks battling the wild of South Africa in the multi-day mountain bike stage race, Absa Cape Epic. We followed the boys through their winter of training, racing and gearing up for the slog. Greg dished on Stages 1 through 3. Now Josiah tells all about the second half of their epic adventure.
It was hard to believe that after four days of mountain bike racing, we still had not reached the halfway point of the Absa Cape Epic. The days were all starting to run together in my mind. It was like the movie Groundhog Day. Each morning at 5 a.m., we would awake to the sound of honking truck horns and begin scurrying around in the dark. Put on the racing kits, pack the pockets with nutrition for the day and head to breakfast—always oatmeal. My tastes were becoming more and more selective, but Greg didn't seem to mind the sampler platter. After breakfast, we would get the bikes and make any last-minute adjustments. Then back to the tent to pack all belongings into one duffle bag and put it on the semi truck with the 1,200 others. By the time we started to stage ourselves in the start chute, it would just be getting light.
Another funny note was that they played the same four songs over and over on the start line, at the finish line and at the awards every night. I think it was a social experiment much like Pavlov's dogs. Once the race started, it was pretty much all-out all the time for five to six hours. Most days we would finish with our energy bars still in our pockets because we were breathing too hard to eat. Once we finished each day, it would be the same 12-step program:
1. Lay on the ground until the legs worked again
2. Take the bike to the bike wash
3. Find our bags and a tent
4. Shower
5. Find something to eat (no ostrich sausage for me)
6. 30-minute massage
7. Dinner
8. Awards and Google Earth preview of the next stage
9. Prepare water bottles for the next day—five bottles each full of First Endurance EFS drink (two to be checked to the second aid station) and one bottle each of Ultragen recovery drink
10. Lube bike chain with Squirt bike lube and make any necessary adjustments
11. Beer tent or “chill zone” for a quick drink and some good stories
12. Retire for the night in the tent city
Stage 4 from Riversdale to Swellendam didn't look to bad on paper—121km with rolling climbs (at least that's what it looked like on the profile). We stayed with the lead group for much longer than we had in past stages. At about the halfway point, things broke up a bit and we found ourselves in the second pack of riders. The final 12km of the race turned out to be the toughest finish of any stage. Based on the profile, I counted out three main climbs over the final kilometers. The terrain was as steep as anything we would ride and the route was an unused doubletrack overgrown with grass. After two big climbs, I told Greg, "This is it—last climb of the day." We started hammering at the front of our group and started to break away. Little did we know, we still had about seven climbs to go. We did an effective job of separating out the group, but two teams got away and we finished 14th on the day in five hours, one minute.
Just when we thought things were starting to get easier, Stage 5 was the longest in the history of the Cape Epic—146 km, from Swellendam to Bredasdorp. The course offered some amazing ocean vistas, which sounds good until you realize that ocean views means riding on miles and miles of sand. Long sections of rugged jeep track broke up most of the groups and we cruised in on the road with a strong local South African team in a hair over five hours, 40 minutes. That put us in 13th place for the day and the effort moved us up to 13th in the GC.
Stage 6 from Bredasdorp to Hermanas was only 130km (When is this going to get easier?). At 60km there was a 14-mile steep climb on rugged jeep track. We decided we would attempt to make a move on the climb and see what we could do. We were sitting in 13th overall in GC and were doing nearly all our riding with the GT/Mongoose team in 12th and the Trek boys in 11th. Figured if we were going to move up this was our chance.
Greg set the tempo and we broke up our group of about 30 riders to just three teams. Unfortunately, it was the two aforementioned teams ahead of us in the GC that were able to match our pace. We stayed together, and with 8km to go, we had a lovely stretch of beach sand and then a smooth paved road to the finish. After over five hours of racing, it was another sprint finish with our friends on the Trek team, this time with us on the losing end.
You might wonder why we wouldn't just be civilized and cross the line together. Well, after hours of racing full-tilt, it just didn't seem right to let up at the line. After all, it is a race.
Stage 7 from Hermanas to Oak Valley was probably the best course of the Epic. At 91km, it was the first day under 100km. After some tough climbing, we were rewarded with some sweet, Colorado-like singletrack.
After five stages of riding in the small second pack and working together with other teams, things broke up quickly in Stage 7 and we found ourselves alone after the first climb. It made for a long, hard effort. Eventually we rolled through the wine estate of Oak Valley to the finish and secured our 13th-place position with a 14th-place finish on the day.
Stage 8—Oak Valley to Laurensford Wine Estate. Is that it? We thought the race would never end, but now with one stage left, it felt like time had passed to quickly. Stage 8 was the shortest stage yet, only 68km. A mandatory two-kilometer portage through a historical site made the stage interesting, followed by a bumpy ride on railroad tracks (perfect for the Ellsworth Truth). Some time off the bike was a nice break and it made us wonder what things might have been like if there were some other sports involved. The last few rolling climbs wound through wine country and we had the pleasure of riding the last few kilometers alone, making for a good finish-line photo. We ended up 13th on the final stage and held on to 13th overall in the General Classification.
Cape Epic was everything we hoped it would be. I know people like to throw around the word "epic,” but for me this experience certainly qualifies, as the total distance of 966km with 18,529 meters of climbing had us in the saddle just over 40 hours in nine days. We did our best to take it all in, from staying in the tent city to sucking dust in the peleton to swapping stories in the beer tent with our South African friends that were nice enough to speak English.
It was very humbling riding with some of the world’s best and we accomplished all of our goals—our 13th-place finish put us just off the front pack and just ahead of the old guys. No major injuries to report, although the recovery may take a while. I tried to run the other day and ended up walking home after cramps seized up my left quad. I tried to swim as well, but the tendonitis in my wrist put an end to that. I think I might try a bike ride today and if that doesn't work out we still have some Easter candy that needs finishing off.
