Full Sus’s eyes and legs in the 2014 Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek is Diana Carolin (follow her on @di_carolin). Di is racing with Rob Cragg for Craft SA in the Mixed category and she’ll be providing daily updates exclusively for Full Sus throughout the race. Here’s how Stage 1 went for her went:
#RedstoneRumble – 100km & 1 794m ascent
Today’s stage was 100km and it was a fast day today! After a neutral zone for a while, which was pretty nerve wracking, everyone took off and we were racing. It was dry and dusty. And we flew along for the first 50km.
There was some amazing singletrack through the red stone mountains, sketchy, but it was very cool to be riding so high up along the rock formations. A while after that there was a loose rocky hill that needed walking up and that was a little rough on the legs. But we were soon on the bikes and off again.
The major part of the climbing for the day was just beginning. It was feting hot and I was beginning to suffer a bit. Rob said “dig deep” and that was all I could do! We hit the bottom of the last major climb and caught two of the other mixed teams. This spurred us on up the hill. Rob pushed both bikes while I drank as much as I could. I had dropped a bottle earlier and was starting to really need the fluid badly.
We descended fast down into the valley below and had a quick stop at water point 3 to get water and pump Rob’s back tyre, which was losing air.
Once on the open road we hooked it as fast as we could to the finish in Calitzdorp. Rob was brilliant! I hung onto his pocket for dear life and we managed to keep ahead of the other teams who were hot on our heels.
We came in 5th today and are very happy campers, after a great and safe day.
Tomorrow is going to be a tough one! We’ll do our best and see what happens.
Stage 2: SwartbergShowdown – 85.9km & 2 781m ascent
Stage 2 of the 2015 Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek is the Queen Stage and offers the biggest single day’s prize money in the sport R125 000 to the first men’s and first women’s team to crest Swartberg Pass for the mountain top finish. The final 10km forces the riders to climb 1 100m! It’s the day to be an armchair expert rather than a rider.
GC Results:
Men:
1st: Team Bulls, Tim Bohme & Simon Stiebjahn 04:20’35”
2nd: Scott Factory Racing, Matthys Beukes & Philip Buys 04:21’02”
3rd: E S M T B.Com, Ismael Ventura & Ramon Sagues 04:26’04”
Ladies:
1st: Cape Brewing Company – Biogen Toyota, Jennie Stenerhag & Robyn De Groot 05:00’11”
2nd: Asrin Cycling 2, Catherine Williamson & Alice Pirard 05:07’22”
3rd: Meerendal Wheeler 1, Theresa Ralph & Esther Süss 05:15’07”
Mixed:
1st: Klein Karoo Mixed, Kobus & Fienie Barnard 05:04’21”
2nd: Firebike Tomotion by Blacktusk, Max Friedrich & Jana Zieschank 05:05’17”
3rd: Sasolracing Mix 1, Anriette Schoeman & Vickus Boshoff 05:06’43”
Click here for the full results after stage 1 of the 2014 Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek.
Get Social
Follow the following for all the Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek updates:
@FullSussa – Us (we’ll retweet the rest)
@bridgeCPT – The official race twitter handle (Run by @OliverMunnik for 2014)
@di_carolin – Racing for Craft SA and providing you with daily updates via Full Sus
@Team_RECM – RECM team manager, Kandice Buys, provides the best info from within the race
@TeamBulls – the UCI pro team and prolific tweeters
@Geralddekock – The voice of cycling
@oakpics – Full Sus’s photographic partners and a mad-cap bunch of photographers
@bigshotmediasa – The team behind the amazing daily TV productions
@ZoonCronje – Xtreme Media’s sharp shooter and the eye in the sky
@KathCrabbe – GM of songo.info doing her first Cape Pioneer
Catch the Pioneer on TV
| Date | Stage | Channel | Time |
| 13 Oct | Stage 1 | Super Sport 8 | 21:30 |
| 14 Oct | Stage 2 | Super Sport 8 | 21:00 |
| 15 Oct | Stage 3 | Super Sport 8 | 21:00 |
| 16 Oct | Stage 4 | Super Sport 8 | 21:00 |
| 17 Oct | Stage 5 | Super Sport 8 | 21:00 |
| 18 Oct | Stage 6 | Super Sport 8 | 21:30 |
