Cape Epic – The long haul to luxury
I find myself sitting on the second plane for the day. After 14hrs from Sydney it was a rushed transition to my connecting flight from J’burg to Cape Town. The in laws or as they are affectionately known in Australian colloquial terms, “The Outlaws” were waiting with great anticipation to meet their first Aussie born grandchild. It was a wonderful moment and one I would’ve liked to savour a little more with them rather than have to hightail it to my next flight. That aside it will be a great time for Christelle, Bo and the Safas to connect without the stresses of race prep and registration going on around them. I found myself looking through sleepy eyes at photos in my iPad and there are plenty of our little treasure Bo in his first 5 months of life. I checked myself a little wondering how the hell I managed to squeeze in solid enough training to be here in decent shape for the Epic and be feeling confident enough to really tackle the race. Let me tell you, it’s only with good grace and power of work that Christelle has done with Bo and afforded me the time to sleep better than she has been and fit training in where possible amongst our very full lives. I know for fact there are very few men around lucky enough to have that understanding of their partner to pursue the time orientated fashion of bike training at such a tough period of life with a First newborn. While there have been some trying times, on the whole Hoogs, (Christelle) has been amazing and I thank her whole heatedly (I’m tipping Foz thanks her too). The fact that She has done this race twice certainly goes a long way to her knowing what’s required and giving me the space to train for it. I look forward to seeing Hoogs and Bo after the race, to celebrate Her birthday and have some nice family time along the famed Garden Route up to Knysner.
Bo was a little Gem on his first flight and a long one at that. He had all the lady’s gushing over his sweet smile and blue eyes. Lady killer already. He didn’t sleep a lot but is so well natured and a chilled kid. Foz, his brother Dave and Damo were supposed to be as far away from us on the plane as possible but got stitched right up being seated right behind us. Lucky for them the baby’s on board were all pretty good. I have already noticed that Damo is afraid of the dark. He was the only passenger on board that needed to sleep with the blind up and lit up our whole area when everyone was trying to sleep in the dark of the cabin. We eventually got a flight attendant to intervene. Damo got a hot chocolate a back rub and was told it would be ok when the lights went out. I’m not sure how much sleep the boys got but I know I had about 1 short hour at best. The Bay Hotel will be catch up time and fingers crossed jet lag stays tucked into my bike bag for another day.
Rusty travelled via Dubai on his own and has been laying by the pool deck I’m sure since midday waiting for us to arrive. I think it may be the only time he is waiting for his ride partner at least Damo is in rare form and Rusty has his work cut out for him over this Epic journey. Rusty is a gun rider in his own right so I have no doubt these two will smack the majority of the masters field up. It will be a half hour wait for me in Cape Town for the 3 Amigos Mike, Dave and Damo to arrive then it’s pick the big spacka wagon up and it’s off to our little piece of luxury. A nice big feed for dinner in Camps Bay and then some much needed shut eye. Hopefully waking to see the sunlight and not 2am on my clock.
Bo was a little Gem on his first flight and a long one at that. He had all the lady’s gushing over his sweet smile and blue eyes. Lady killer already. He didn’t sleep a lot but is so well natured and a chilled kid. Foz, his brother Dave and Damo were supposed to be as far away from us on the plane as possible but got stitched right up being seated right behind us. Lucky for them the baby’s on board were all pretty good. I have already noticed that Damo is afraid of the dark. He was the only passenger on board that needed to sleep with the blind up and lit up our whole area when everyone was trying to sleep in the dark of the cabin. We eventually got a flight attendant to intervene. Damo got a hot chocolate a back rub and was told it would be ok when the lights went out. I’m not sure how much sleep the boys got but I know I had about 1 short hour at best. The Bay Hotel will be catch up time and fingers crossed jet lag stays tucked into my bike bag for another day.
Rusty travelled via Dubai on his own and has been laying by the pool deck I’m sure since midday waiting for us to arrive. I think it may be the only time he is waiting for his ride partner at least Damo is in rare form and Rusty has his work cut out for him over this Epic journey. Rusty is a gun rider in his own right so I have no doubt these two will smack the majority of the masters field up. It will be a half hour wait for me in Cape Town for the 3 Amigos Mike, Dave and Damo to arrive then it’s pick the big spacka wagon up and it’s off to our little piece of luxury. A nice big feed for dinner in Camps Bay and then some much needed shut eye. Hopefully waking to see the sunlight and not 2am on my clock.
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Day one is upon us now in Camps Bay and I did manage a good solid sleep. Massive buffet brecky and a short spin along this magic coastline from Camps Bay to Haut Bay. Christelle’s brother Ben joined us for the ride and a lazy coffee on the beach front. The weather is amazing here at the moment but with rain predicted for the Prologue on Sunday it could get interesting. The boys are all pumped and you can really sense the excitement amongst the group.
More to come…….
BUZZ!
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