April 2, 2008 — Today’s stage was in fact the longest ride time wise that I’ve done in my life! I had it at about 152kms and guessing from my watch about 6h 20min. That’s a long day on the mountain bike especially after the previous four long stages already. I think many found today’s route a bit excessive, however that’s part of the culture of events like this it seems.

For us the day started fine enough – a tarmac road start to a wide rolling gravel road. I don’t need time to get my engine going in the morning, but for my partner Pia it was the perfect way to get her diesel motor warmed up. At 50km we hit some double track that was more demanding and after a short very steep climb we had a gap on the Trek team. We cruised to some sandy riding and on one of the small rocky downhills I cut the side wall of my tire. There was no way the sealant could fix it, it just poured out through the hole. It took time to do a proper fix and finally we were on our way – but now we were behind the Trek team.

The track now had sections of deep sand which made many riders walk. On our chase back Pia was flying through the sand and after we’d bridged to Trek she explained it was like riding in Finland. I did not know my partner was a sand riding specialist. There was a lot of wind, gravel road and tarmac today so it wasn’t easy to get away from another team easily.

In the last 50km we (or I) had two more flats and a couple other small mechanicals to deal with. We chased back to Trek once more and after the 3rd flat ran out of road. After all the chasing today I was really feeling the effects of the heat in a not so good way. Well I guess that’s inevitable if one is riding a mountain bike out in the elements for over six hours!

We are feeling a bit beat up now after six days racing – only three more to go. I think I’d assess us as fatigued but still feeling solid. We’re lucky to have Charl, a great massage therapist helping us. He drives the motor home from one stage to the next and sets the site up for us each day. He usually also shops for some supplies for us on the way.

When we’re done Charl meets us at the finish line and we head to the area set up for the top riders of the day and wash legs, do interviews and then he takes us to the camper site where we head for the showers and back to the motor home to cook some lunch. After we eat one of us gets a massage while the other naps, then we reverse roles. When the massage session is finished it’s almost time to go to dinner. One hour before bed I get things ready for the morning, write this Cape Epic report etc. and that’s our day. And on that note ill sign off as it already a bit past my 9pm bedtime.

Canadian MTB cycling legend and Pedal columnist, Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain), is competing at the 9-day 2008 Absa Cape Epic with her team mate, Marathon World Cup winner Pia Sundstedt (Fin), and will be sending us daily reports as conditions allow for an inside look at this amazing race with 1,200 riders from 41 countries.