Absa Cape Epic
Absa Cape Epic, Stage #4
Rebecca Rusch / 26.03.2009
This stage was reported to be an “easy� day. I think saying any day of the Cape Epic is easy is a bit of an oxymoron. We are tired, bruised and the affects of this many days of racing are starting to show. Matthew and I are both feeling fine, but the legs are sore and the 5am wake up call is taking its’ toll on me!The stages begin with a mass start of 1200 racers. Teams are lined up in zones based on their overall time and placing. Since we have been sitting in the top 5 in the mixed division, we are allowed to start in Zone A with about 200 other riders. You can feel the weight of the other 1200 riders pressing behind you and the starts are always fast and furious with a cluster of athletes jockeying for position. The first 30 minutes of these days are my least favorite part of the day. It’s difficult to keep track of your teammate, hard to stay safe in the jumble of riders and quite a rude awakening with no warm up.
Today’s start was a neutral roll out through the sleepy town of Greyton. A car was leading us out through the town and onto the open roads. Unfortunately, the course marshal must not have had his Red Bull this morning because he took a wrong turn and lead the whole entire field into a dead end road. The whole field was stopped and confusion set in. We were only 5 minutes from the start and rumor circulated through the field that there would be a re-start. The pack mentality made people push other riders and trample through gardens. The group was making its’ way back toward the start and then just kept going. The re-start never happened and in the confusion, Matthew was pushed over and I lost track of him. Hundreds of people passed us before we realized the race was proceeding despite the botched start. I rode for about 30 minutes not knowing where Matthew was. He was behind me working hard to catch up. When we finally found each other, we were among hordes of recreational riders. We’ve been riding in about 40th position overall for most of the race, but today’s start put us somewhere in the hundreds.
We spent the rest of the stage working through groups, passing people and trying to catch back up. Much of the day was on fast roads with a headwind. It was truly road racing for ¾ of the day and since we were back with slower riders, we were not in packs that could share the workload. Matthew put his nose into the wind and his head down to work. It took us about 2 hours to move into the top 10 mixed field. It took us another couple of hours to work into 6th place in the mixed division. The whole stage took us 5:41 and most of our effort was spent passing teams and working back up through the field after the botched start. We finished the day in 6th and maintained our 5th place in the GC. However, we now only have a 4 minute advantage on the next team, which leaves very little room for error.See All Event Posts
