Day 5 Time Trial

Well after a very long hard day yesterday with the mishaps in route was also a long hard night as those looming rain clouds in the morning developed into pissing rain which didnt let up. our little tent town is very non-rain compatible. The ground was soggy our stuff was getting soaked and when it started to rain INSIDE the tent we had no option to look for somewhere else to sleep. So we grabbed the sleeping bags and headed for one of the big marquis where we actually scored a comfy couch and eventually got to sleep.

But in the morning the rain had stopped and the day was looking mostly fine for our 27km time trial and we were looking forward to a nice 1.5 hr on the bike instead of the 5-6hr plus of days previous and days to come!

After hanging out our gear to dry, a good breakfast, basic bike maintenance and pre ride rub down (thanks to Carrie), we climbed on the blocks after 12:40 and were off! Our aim was to not push too hard but we had a decent ride with no issues and feeling good and strong and finished in a time of about 1hr 27min which we pretty happy with.

Tomorrow is the big one 147kms as we make our way from Worcster to Oak Valley. We feeling good, but the plan is to not go out too hard and take it a little easier on the downhills and try not end up visiting the mechanic or the medic! But will be a long hard day no matter what and we will be happy to get through it!

The challange of Day 4

With rain clouds looming on the horizon we lined up the start for what was to be a day of challanging events as we tackled the 127km stage from Sorensberg to Worcster... We had a bit of a stressy morning getting organised, sorting out last minute issues with tyres and missing GPS, but once on the start line all was good and when the gun went off we were rearing to go and feeling strong. Things were going smoothly and swiftly and by the 40km our position was looking good, but with 80 odd kms to go anything can happen and it did at about the 50km mark when I snapped a pedal! De ja vuex of the Argus! We were 25km away from the next water point where there would be a mechanic and a hope for a new pedal, the only option was to carry on and try not lose too much time. But the terrain was tough, steep and rocky decents, sand everywhere, so was not going to be easy. Then five kms later the other peddal slipped off! so working my hardest for the next 20km to rest on the spindles during the down hills and running up the hills there wasn't much Roeloff could do to help . But eventually we got to the water point where was very happy to find the mechanics had pedals on hand (at premium cost) but was still using time as also had to change the cleats over, fill our water bottles and camel backs and stock up on food to see us through the final 60 odd kms. We crossed the line in about 6rhs 45min which with a lot of disappointment dropped our placing considerably down the field from 50 to 60. But we still feeling positive. is a hard race and these incidents are part of what happens when you push you bike and body over these distances and rough terrain. Time trial tomorrow, a nice short day allows us a bit of a rest and plenty of time to recover, and hopefully pull a few places back!

Stage 3 complete

Stage Three 104kilometers once again beginning and ending in Sorensberg, circumnavigating the surrounding mountain ranges. We were feeling good, but decided to pace ourselves as still a good few hard days to come. Although having a plan and putting it into practice are two seperate things! as is hard to hold back once you're in the race! The weather was pristine which meant freezing morning and scorching temps throughout the day. The route was super dusty, loose and rocky as expected, but Team BOS stayed on their bikes and flew down some very long, steep decents.. but unfortunately some walking was unavoidable going up! We finished the day in good time maintaining our position around the 50 mark so we are happy about that. Having the whole afternoon to recover and with the help from extra long massages and refreshing BOS ice tea we feeling fit and the muscles feeling loose and with a nice chilled head space to take on our longest stage yet tomorrow of 125km! Its an early start up at 5:00am and racing at 7am so we about to go have a feed, eat as much as we possibly can and hit the hay or should i say tent!

Early morning preperations

Massage and recovery and Paris and Carrie's private spa

The Epic 2011 has begun!

Well the Epic has begun! Always hectic getting organised for the first stages so bit of a delayed post! We kicked off with the prolouge in Tokai forest formatted as a time trial was a very fast paced 27km as we raced against the clock for our initial seeding. But we managed to hold our own with a 1hr 18 min finish time holding the number 1 spot until the pros kicked off a few hours later. We ended up in the top 50 over all (including the pros) with a 43rd position for the category. Yesterday Stage one 89km starting and finishing in Sorensberg and was a tough day for us! A very fast A group start with the pros had has pushing the limits the first 20km and very loose rocky terrain which saw many unstuck on the ups and downs if not walking them! The day claimed quite a few casulties, many had to pull out due to injurys, including a few broken collar bones in the field. Team Bos coming out mostly unscathed with a few tumbles that left Roeloff with a sore hip, but we feeling good for the 104km stage 2 after some much needed massaging and recovery in the afternoon including a refreshing swim in the Tulbah public pool. We finished the day keeping our top 50 position and even reclaiming a spot or two which has us hungry and motivated to maintain!

Turns out race organisers wouldn't allow us to do our own massage in the race village so we found our own epic spot in the veld

Team Bos kicks off Cape Epic on Sunday

Look out for fast racing Zebra's on bikes.

Hay All the Absa Cape Epic kicks off with a time trial prologue on Sunday

All teams will participate in a team time trial of approximately 27km in Tokai Forest, which forms part of the Table Mountain National Park. The start and finish venue is at Chrysalis Academy in Tokai Forest (Cape Town), on Sunday 27 March 2011.

Teams will have a pre-allocated time slot for their time trial and teams depart at 25-second intervals from Team Bos kicks off at 7:40am and should be be on the line in 1:30hrs odd.

Each team's time in the prologue will add to their overall time and will be used to determine the seeding for the start of the first stage on Monday morning. The prologue allows the entire field to be seeded in a transparent manner.

Live TV - The prologue will be broadcasted on SuperSport from 09:00 - 14:00, so tune in if you want to follow from the comfort of your home.

Just another day in perfect Africa

One can travel around the world in search for isolated waves and epic trails but for us it generally is right on our doorstep. Here is yesterday's session all to myself which was followed by quick Team BOS ride around Tokai forest to get familar with the loose surface we will be racing on Sunday. Ps: we kick off at 7:40am and should be back over the finish line +-9am :

3 days to the start of the Cape Epic 2011 and things are hectic: bike prep, nutrition prep, massage table sorted, GO Pro’s HD camera, bike spares, etc. Weird to be tapering after so many months of rarely spending 2 consecutive days off the bike in some way shape and form, but now am forced to try and chill. For most of you who know me ‘down time’ is not my forte.

However after doing the rounds of connecting with everyone in Cape Town time is still short especially when sorting out the exciting stuff including ordering 7 x new boards (6.3;6.3; 6.6; 8.0;8.6, 9.2 and 9.6) from Ant Butler from Lazy B surfboards (check Ant’s site http://www.lazyb.co.za/about.htm) who after 20yrs shaping performance boards for me I still believe he is pumping out some of the sickest sticks in SA. However I am still in the market for a good Jetski for those Tow-day’s.

Some exicting news is that we will be fuelled by BOS ice tea’s, which are filled with all the good stuff: Rooibos extracts, Ginseng, Ginko and Dandelion to name a bit and we will be riding under the BOS brand for the Cape Epic. I am personally passionate to be supporting a core South African branded company in its infant stages that stands for an all natural approach along with fun, innovative, and big idea’s. With fresh branding and afro pop packaging I believe that this company is going places in the near future and am excited to be apart of the building blocks. Check their sweet website for a refreshing take on a flash loaded site: http://www.bosbrands.com

BOS has set us up with some sick team apparel, totally unique and sure to be standing out or should I say blending in with the African terrain. Not to give away any hints about our race tactics as we race through the African Fynbos slicker than all other native animals: be sure to look out for the :


Also we will be diarising the days events and will be filming in HD as much as we can to feed you and the media the inside story of the worlds toughest MTB race- see keep em peeled!

Cape Town- Argus Cycle tour and Wave fes

I am going to find this pretty hard to put into words, so will try play it down as my past week in Cape Town has been insane! So I am going to let pictures tell most the story.





As I arrived in CT few days before the Argus cycle tour I was in taper mode on the bike, so was conveniently hit with the best swell CT has had all year. It has just kept on coming and building throughout the week so have been able to engulf myself in some seriously mind boggling waves. Ranging from clean 3-6ft barrels to 15ft plus heaving monsters shared with only few mates at any time. The only down side of my week is that we have had to drive around with so many boards in the Landy from 6.0,6.3 6.6,6.8,7.2,8.0 and 9.6 cos just don’t know what we could end up surfing during the day and owe Seth 1 x 8 footer already (which was worth snapping for the waves we had).







The Argus finally was held on a day with light winds, after 2 yrs of 70knt SE winds. Sunday was just perfect, light winds, crisp morning mist and 35000 people lined up at 6:30am on the starting gates. As we set off I was feeling good and was loving the feeling of getting the legs spinning again, first 20km the pack was tight knitted and pace was averaging +-40 kph as we hit the fast open freeway of the M5 a pro ladies had a blow out and hit the tar at 60kph in the middle of the pack. I slammed on the brakes and ripped my foot out of the cleat with some urgency to avoid the few who where sliding along the tar at pace! I managed to avoid the crash but as cleated back in found my cleat would not go in, a slight panic crossed my mind with thoughts of that was the end of my race after 20km's. But with a pedal and a half I thought I would just ride on and see how I faired.


As we hit the first semi climb of the day (Boyes drive) my legs felt that good I felt like I could just hang in with the front pack and not push things as to jeopardize my leg muscles as really the Argus is a training ride and the Epic is my focus. I screamed at a few people asking for tape to see if I could tape my shoe to the pedal, as that was going to be the plan. But wasn’t to be and just rode on in the pack for the rest of the 80km. The pace up Chappies was good and split the field a bit, I sat back and climbed in the saddle as could get out the saddle as my foot just slipped out. 600m to the line things hotted up and the pack was about 80 odd and the guy in front of me went down hard 500m from the line my heart jumped and I swung to the right and slipped by his head by 10cm and then choose just to sit back and play it safe as my nerves where a little shattered after thinking beautiful new BMC SL01 and gold Campy wheels skaved 2 near misses in 2:49 mins that was enough to make the choice with one functional pedal the sprint for the line was not going to happen, even though I felt like I had the legs to contend! All up was a great day. Carrie got in 26 mins behind me.





Few pics of past weeks waves:











Few late 15ft+ drops due to only riding an 8ft board (all other ou's where on 9ft+ boards):





This is the waves I ended up with 2 x 4ft boards and a 35mins swim in:







The long swim in took 35mins and no sight of the board amongst the white soup:


The boys on the pier discussing the epic session we have just lucked into: