It Was the Night Before the Cape Epic....

This week I have a guest blogger.  Remember The Cyclist and all the training he was doing for the Cape Epic?  Well he has flown to the other side of the world and is about to race.  Here are his thoughts the night before the Prologue:

Cape Epic entrants collect their race packs

It was the night before Christmas...well at least that's the way it feels for me tonight. 

It's almost a year ago that I watched the finish of the 2012 Cape Epic from 11000km away at a PC in Sydney.  I had a good friend in this race and watched his progress with much interest.  Over 8 days of racing this interest turned to desire and by the time my friend crossed the finish line my decision was made : I will race the Cape Epic again in 2013.

An email to my long time race partner was well received.  Now all we needed was an entry. The Cape Epic is advertised as an 8 stage race (Prologue plus seven race days) , but I believe there is a 9th stage which is by far the most challenging.  This stage is the effort of securing an entry.  For most it involves putting your name into the lottery and hoping, praying, begging that it will be drawn from the hat.  But there are a lucky few whose resolution is so absolute that they will attempt to secure an Early Bird Entry....a handful of next year entries the race organizers make available soon after the conclusion of the current year race.

I had that absolute resolution.   At 3pm South African time on 2 April, Cape Epic early bird entries would go on sale and I would get one...this was my resolution.  So I prepared.  3pm in Cape Town was 1am in Sydney.  I stayed up.  I had a PC, a laptop and an iPad all prepared.  PC and iPad were logged onto the Cape Epic website, the laptop logged on to the world clock and as it registered 00:59:58 I hit the refresh button on both PC and iPad.  The PC refreshed first, registration was open and I pounced. Keyboard and mouse frantically did their task and within seconds a screen appeared --"Congratulations!".   I have crossed the Cape Epic finish line twice before and the sight of this word on my PC at 1am was just as rewarding.

I had a great 2012, both on and off my mountain bike.  But in November the stars started aligning towards the Epic.  I was invited to join two friends in a challenge to complete 600km in 26hrs unsupported on road bikes with just three weeks notice.  I put some effort into training and three weeks later three blokes rode 626km in just over 24hrs.  Epic base training had begun and continued into December 2012.   January 2013 arrived and my New Years resolution was to give everything my best: my family, my work, my cycling. 

So here I am, the night before the start of Cape Epic 2013, reflecting on that New Year's resolution will a smile of achievement and a lot of excitement for the opportunities and experience that await us over the next 8 days.

The Cyclist with his number for the Epic

I look forward to sharing the experience and my thoughts with you over the next 8 days.  All I ask is that you excuse my typing.  :)

Tomorrow's stage is the Prologue.  Just 22km long with 700 vertical meters of ascent.  It's going to be fast, tough and painful.  I can't wait.

The Cyclist's Home, food and water for the next week

(You can tweet The Cyclist on : The_Cyclist_AU)

What do you think of how The Cyclist got his entry to The Epic?  Would you go to such extremes?

Have you ever entered a multi day event that involves a partner?

You comments for The Cyclist?