Next month rigid-fork-singlespeeder-slash-cyclocrosser Steve Smith will be doing the ABSA Cape Epic for the first time… on a carbon dual-susser. He is nervous. And conflicted.
What? The Epic? Not a chance. No, totally not my vibe. I’m more of a soul mountainbiker. A purist. Steel-framed singlespeed 29ers and cyclocross bikes are what I’m about. I don’t race either. I ride. And I do it because I love riding bikes – that’s the sole motivation I need.
Right. Only not.
Because here I am looking at a shiny new Cannondale Scalpel over the top of my computer screen. It happens to be my, shiny new Cannondale Scalpel and of late the two of us have been spending some quality time together. Yes, for all my merino-wool-wearing, Reynolds-steel-worshipping retro cyclist sentiments, it turns out I will indeed be competing in the mother of all mountain bike races from the 15th of March. And the really surprising bit is the all-of-two-seconds it took me to say yes to Craig Kolesky’s invite.
Craig: “Hey Steve, how’s it going?”
Me: “Craig! Hey, all good bru!”
Craig: “So… do you want to do the Epic with me?”
Me: “Okayyyyyes!”
That’s what my mouth was saying. Large parts of my brain, however, were going “Wh… hey! No! No! WTF are you doing?”
Cue following weeks of hand wringing and angsting. WTF was I thinking indeed. Doing the fairly manicured route of the 3-day Sani2C Race on those steel bikes was one thing, but the Epic is another ballgame altogether. Over its eight gruelling stages I’d need all the help that the lightweight carbonfibre and suspension would provide. Craig’s invite included the Scalpel courtesy of sponsors Omnico, as well as an entry into the race.
“What an opportunity, bru!” said one voice. “This is bucket-list shit for any mountain biker”.
“Sell-out!” said the other voice, “Ja, go and join the herd of MAMILS. You’ll see that’s not really you.”
I had made a commitment though and here I am. Three months in and, to be frank, I remain a tad conflicted. The two voices have developed into an out-and-out slanging match after Voice No. 1’s “Your mama was a MAMIL!” jibe (which, on one level, is hard to argue against, but insulting nonetheless). Plus all this training is… really hard.
It’s hard in two ways. One: the sheer amount of riding you need to do is hard. Finding space between a fairly demanding job and a family means a lot of waking up at 4:30am to get in a quick 50km before work, long 100km plus weekend rides with a minimum of 2 000m climbing and, worst of all, the weekly hill intervals session. This last bit is immensely kak and it goes like this: do a 20 min warm-up getting to your chosen hill… blast up the hill for 6min at max heart rate… and then coast back down taking a 5min rest. Do that six times in a row. It’s not fun.
It’s also when Voice No.2 is at its most irritating. “You see? You see? I told you this was a bad idea. This isn’t cycling. This is self-flagellation. And you’re not even Catholic.”
The second hard part is figuring out just how much training is the right amount of training. Opinions seem to differ quite a lot, which doesn’t help. Take my four mates – they’re also doing the Epic for the first time this year and they are piling on the hours. We’re talking in the region of 15 to 20 hours a week in the saddle. They’re on tailored training programs and say stuff like “Something something Watts” and “something something zone 2”.
I nod, but I have no idea what they are talking about. I don’t ride with a heart rate monitor, power metre, or training program, relying instead on my body to tell me when we’re nudging the rev limiter, Stravatimes (obviously I have Strava!) to indicate any improvement in my performance, and a basic training regimen of 50% long and slow rides, 20% shorter race-pace rides, 20% slow recovery rides, and 10% dreaded hill intervals.
Based on the advice of some other folk who have done the Epic, I’m targeting 10 to 15 hours a week. They’ve warned me against over-training and being knackered by the time March rolls around. “Ten to 15 hours a week is enough”, “Rather ride yourself into the race over the first four stages and then accelerate from there” and “You don’t want to start hating your bike” are the key pieces of advice I have kept.
Besides, I’m riding with Mr Craig Kolesky – not only a cyclist who has completed the last two ABSA Cape Epics but one of the most organized individuals I know – and he reckons our training is on track. And I’m still riding my singlespeed and cyclocross bikes once a week, which, for the moment at least, is providing Voice No. 2 with some gratification.
I’ll let you know next month who was right…
Bio:
Steve Smith is the editor of Car Magazine by day and a devoted cycling purist (read hipster) by late afternoon. He’s riding the 2015 ABSA Cape Epic with one of SA’s top photographers, Craig Kolesky, for the charity: Epic4OneSight. Follow Steve’s training and race progress on Twitter at @SteveSmithZA.
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