On the training side:
1. Joined the local Virgin Gym last September, and used their computerised spinning bikes, alternating between endurance and cardio for an hour/day. 4.30am starts aren't fun....
2. Would ride either Saturday or Sunday (or both for roughly 2 to 5 hours). Most of the riding was in and around Tokai Forest to the top of Silvermine.
3. Would take one rest day/week, and all of the training was done using a heart monitor.
4. When summer arrived properly, we would ride to work, for those of you who know the Cape, the route was up Constantia Nek - Hout Bay- top of Chappies - Hout Bay - Suikerbossie - Kloof Nek - Town.
5. Riding home we would take the shorter route past the Blockhouse.
6. So yes, we did a lot of road riding, with a good load of hills.
7. Did Tankwa Trek to see where we were with our training and this ride taught me not to screw with your nutrtion during a race. Tankwa is the most unbelieveable ride and if there is another race that must on your bucket list this this it! Temps during this ride got to 44 Celcius over the 3 days. It was hot!!
8. With the endurance sorted, we concentrated a bit more on interval training and getting up hills as fast as we could. I'm not too sure this helped, and we should have possible spent a bit more time walking and pushing our bikes, as some of the route was impossibly steep!
9. Did a few more races before the Epic, the last one The Cape Argus, which is a 109 kay road race a week before the Epic. I would recommend doing this too just for the atmosphere and to annoy roadies when you cycle past them with your full fat tyres on..
10. We went into the Epic with the aim of finishing at the back. We calculated the average time we needed to do each day, with an hour spare for stops and mechanicals. We rode exactly acording to this and also made sure to keep our hearts in Zone 2 for as long as possible.
11. Choice of partner is critical and you have to make sure ride according to the weakest partner. 8 days in the saddle is a long time to have to nurse someone through if you cook them on the first day...
12. Tents are not fun when it is chucking down with rain... all our kit, sleeping bags were soaked. So I'd recommend hiring a campervan. Also get a flu jab - I had a snotty nose from day 3 onwards which spoilt the fun a bit.
13. We finished 515th I think oit of around 620 starting teams. The vibe at the back is phenomenal and we met some amazing characters from around the world.
14. The scenery is amazing. I stupidly did not take my Go Pro, and I was too lazy to stop and take pics with my phone.
15. The Tracker system is great for your friends and family. I don't think anyone in my family or office did a days work during the ride. Stage 5 was very close for us (finished with 13 minutes to spare) and we had everyone sending us messages asking what was happening.
16. We were unaware that extra kays had been added on to Stage 5. When we got to waterpoint 3 and they told us we still had over 20 kays tp ride in and hour and 50 minutes we had to dig deep. So to be safe, add on an extra 5 kays and 200m climbing per day if you're going to approach the ride the way we did.
17. Have fun and don't just say you'll only do one like I did. Getting through the ride is extremely addictive...
18. Choice of kit..... if you plan onnspending almost 58 hoirs on your bike make sure you have very good bibs... my bike is an alu Pyga OneTen 29er. It might be slightly heavier than your average carbon or marathon mtb, but the only issue I had all week was one pucture on Stage 5.
Thst in short is what we did to finish. Feel free to pm me if you have any other questions.
Tom
