Last Day of Preparation

#waitformeDamo!!!

We were up early, around 6.30 after a good nights sleep. Rolled out of bed for the big buffet breakfast that they have at the Bay Hotel. We took off around 8.30 into the Waterfront district of Cape Town, which is similar to Darling Harbour in Sydney to go and register for the race as well as collect more goodies!!

Damo with a biltong stick!!

The boys were having a bit of fun at the photo booth and after hectic rush of registration we piled into the local Tu Tu taxis for a burn around the Waterfront. Damo and Rusty took an early lead, however Buzz and I fired up our driver and in the end we took a comfortable victory in the race back to the Van

It took a couple of hours to sort it all out. More bags, jackets and bags came our way. David also registered for his one day race next Sunday, so he was pretty excited about that.

We then went back to the Hotel to collect the bikes and pack them in the van;. We went up to where Sundays race prologue will commence, at Meerendal. We got changed and headed out on the course.

The course is very tough, more than what I expected and it is going to take some work to belt out a good time. Last night we went with Christelles Brother and Sister to dinner at the Beach club( yes it is a restaurant that serves dinner on the beach. There were quite a few riders there and some had done the Epic 6 times!! A big effort.

To give you an idea of how deep the field is here, one of the guys we had dinner with, was the 3time Sth African MTB Champion. Last year his team was only 37th overall!! There are at least 3 Olympic Gold Medallists, World MTB Champs and top professional teams in the field. And we would like a top 50 to 70th finish!!!! The prologue course is hard and plenty of hills. I was struggling in a few spots today as we rode it in practice, however we all managed to stay together. Tomorrow is going to be very tough.

After practice, we headed for a very nice toasted sandwich and smoothie, while Damo tried the local Biltong (dried smoked meat) - it is a acquired taste

We are hoping for a top 70 finish in a prologue, and top 50 overall, however we will have to wait and see? Early dinner, packed the bags in the van and early start tomorrow......5am wakeup!!