Stage started at a furious pace. A cyling peloton seems to have a mind of its own. Unfortunately its not a very bright one. Mark was showing his age early and we got dropped on Montagu pass.:-) He had picked up a heavy crate of grapes the week before and hurt his back. This came back to haunt him on the pass and the poor guy suffered like a dog with a really sore back. Fortunately he carries a small pharmacy in his back pocket and we soon had him high on drugs but cycling with less discomfort. Was nice seeing some enthusiastic Upington supporters at the top of Montagu Pass. Was able to leave my vest with them and get some sunblock.
The majority of the day passed quite quickly with some nice riding. There was however a sting in the tale. A real bitch of a climb in some really hot weather. My polar measured it at 39deg. Had some blokes strolling around on the mountain, their partners pushing the bikes seeing pink elephants. Took us 1hr15 after much wailing and gnashing of teeth to reach the top. unfortunately the descent off the top was even worse. What a nightmare!!! Loose stones scarily steep cement sections sharp hairpins you name it! Fortunately we made it off in one piece. Heard of quite a few brake failures and some spectacular crashes. In fact the whole Calitzdorp hospital was full of casualties.
Rumour has it that already 40 teams have had enough.
Well tomorrow its off to Riversdale. Traditionally an easier day and a fun stopover. (The school kids ask you for your autograph)
Monday, March 31, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Tracking us in Real Time on the Internet
Remember, thanks to our sportstrack transmitter you can track in "real time" on the internet as we progress along the stage. Just click on the link to the right. We start at 7am everyday. So if you log on at anytime after that you can follow us on a google earth map. Zoom in using the +/- buttons on the top left. The "map" that we are tracked on can also be changed. Click on the tabs at the top of the screen. ie street or hybrid etc.
Stage 1 (Knysna to George)
Today was a good day. Not an easy day but a good day. Mark and I wanted to put in a good effort and see how things panned out. Things went well and we finished the 124.7km in 6hr42min. I'll be honest the 3100m of climbing was getting a bit much towards the end.
Had a bit of a giggle at one stage, we'd just come round a sharpish bend on a nice downhill just in time to see Eppie and bike coming out the bush, looking very sheepish. Not long after that, had some plonker get thrown by his bike on a high speed descent right in front of me. Looked quite dramatic and I was quite lucky I didn't go down as well. Wasn't sticking around to see if he was OK. Mark's response words after that were "did you see that yellow bi-plane". Missed the whole thing!
For the record Burry and Christoph took the stage in just over 4hr30. Kevin and David George got caned and dropped out of the top 10.
Just had a massage from Martie which will hopefully sort my problems before they become an issue.
Some photo's from before and after the stage. Didn't get a chance for any pictures during today's stage. Maybe tomorrow!
Had a bit of a giggle at one stage, we'd just come round a sharpish bend on a nice downhill just in time to see Eppie and bike coming out the bush, looking very sheepish. Not long after that, had some plonker get thrown by his bike on a high speed descent right in front of me. Looked quite dramatic and I was quite lucky I didn't go down as well. Wasn't sticking around to see if he was OK. Mark's response words after that were "did you see that yellow bi-plane". Missed the whole thing!
For the record Burry and Christoph took the stage in just over 4hr30. Kevin and David George got caned and dropped out of the top 10.
Just had a massage from Martie which will hopefully sort my problems before they become an issue.
Some photo's from before and after the stage. Didn't get a chance for any pictures during today's stage. Maybe tomorrow!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Prologue
Don't really know what to say about the prologue. It was nice to finally get this epic thing on the road. But I think everybody is nervously awaiting the extreme violation that the next few days holds, so this prologue thing was a bit of a "tease".
The route was pretty straightforward. Took us 47in42sec. Avg of just over 18km/h. All the Upingtoners had times in that region. Eppie and Dirk posted the quickest time so they get the Upington Yellow Jersey for tomorrow. We were 2min down on them. For the record Kevin Evans and David George won the stage in 31 odd min!!!!!!, putting over a minute into the second placed team.
Below are some photos taken today. The "beds" Mark and I are lying on are "Magnetic Mattresses". They are supposed to help all manner of ills including fatigued muscles. Oh well if nothing else at least we'll be "postively charged" for tomorrow's stage!
The route was pretty straightforward. Took us 47in42sec. Avg of just over 18km/h. All the Upingtoners had times in that region. Eppie and Dirk posted the quickest time so they get the Upington Yellow Jersey for tomorrow. We were 2min down on them. For the record Kevin Evans and David George won the stage in 31 odd min!!!!!!, putting over a minute into the second placed team.
Below are some photos taken today. The "beds" Mark and I are lying on are "Magnetic Mattresses". They are supposed to help all manner of ills including fatigued muscles. Oh well if nothing else at least we'll be "postively charged" for tomorrow's stage!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
1 Day to D Day (B Day)!
Cape Town airport a circus. Still, managed to get an earlier flight to George and had Mark pick me up at the airport. Straight down to registration which really has been streamlined. Bought another Epic shirt which brings my collection to......a lot. It won't be long now and the Acid Heads will be able to do each stage of the epic in a(different) "official" shirt. 
After hooking up with all the other Upington boys briefly we went up to our home away from home here in Knysna, The Wayside Inn.
The evening saw us attend the Amabubesi dinner. Nice to see some of the familiar faces again. Sat with Tony and Marcel from George and, Achiem and Coenie rom Kby.
We've come quite a long way with Coenie and Achim. They also rode the first epic together in 2004. And being the only other team from the Northern Cape we had a friendly rivalry going. Tony(Conlon)I met at my first To Hell and Back. He had a wicked crash that year, but he's in superb shape now and a serious contender for the Masters section. Mark remembers Marcel with some amusement as the bloke who chucked his bike into the bush at the Attekwas in a fit of rage after one mechanical failure too many.
Ended up buying the "Coffee Table Book", "Guts and Glory" which is a pictoral history of the epic interspersed with some "quotes" from the riders. And since 3 of my quotes made it into the book I felt almost compelled to buy it. That and the fact that while I was paging through the book considering the purchase, Christoph Sauser came up to me and just "sommer" autographed it! This attracted the attention of a photographer who had us "pose" for a whole bunch of photo's.
After hooking up with all the other Upington boys briefly we went up to our home away from home here in Knysna, The Wayside Inn.
The evening saw us attend the Amabubesi dinner. Nice to see some of the familiar faces again. Sat with Tony and Marcel from George and, Achiem and Coenie rom Kby.
We've come quite a long way with Coenie and Achim. They also rode the first epic together in 2004. And being the only other team from the Northern Cape we had a friendly rivalry going. Tony(Conlon)I met at my first To Hell and Back. He had a wicked crash that year, but he's in superb shape now and a serious contender for the Masters section. Mark remembers Marcel with some amusement as the bloke who chucked his bike into the bush at the Attekwas in a fit of rage after one mechanical failure too many.
Ended up buying the "Coffee Table Book", "Guts and Glory" which is a pictoral history of the epic interspersed with some "quotes" from the riders. And since 3 of my quotes made it into the book I felt almost compelled to buy it. That and the fact that while I was paging through the book considering the purchase, Christoph Sauser came up to me and just "sommer" autographed it! This attracted the attention of a photographer who had us "pose" for a whole bunch of photo's.
How to view the days stage.
You will need google earth installed on your computer. If you don't click on the following link to install it on your computer.DOWNLOAD GOOGLE EARTH
Following are step by step instructions for all you hard tail riders out there.
1) Click on the highlighted link for the day's stage in the Blog text.
2) This takes you to the site that hosts all the days' riding text.
3) Scroll down and click on the download file link.
Easy as that!
Following are step by step instructions for all you hard tail riders out there.
1) Click on the highlighted link for the day's stage in the Blog text.
2) This takes you to the site that hosts all the days' riding text.
3) Scroll down and click on the download file link.
Easy as that!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Finishing Touches
Received my SportsTrack transmitter/receiver together with a quick briefing as to how to use it from Robin this morning. Couldn't wait to go and try it out in the Tokai forest.
If you click on the following link ( http://myfreefilehosting.com/f/45e17ba385_0.01MB )you should be able to see the track of where I rode.You'll need to have Google Earth installed on your computer.I'll put a link on each day's blog entry during the epic.
Rode my uncle's Giant Anthem. Very sweet bike. (see picture above). Would never advise anyone to buy the SRAM X0 trigger shifters mind you. Even though the shifting is crisp and easy, the shifters dig into your thumbs while you grip the handlebars. VERY annoying.
Also went for a spot of physio. Don't really have any niggles but thought it might be a good idea to get rid of the 2 Oceans efforts of the weekend
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