The Cape Epic is now a well known race in the World. It takes place every year around the last week of March and the first week of April. The race is held over 8 days and includes a time-trial prologue. The route changes every year, and leads aspiring amateur and professional mountain bikers from around the world through approximately 800 kilometres of the unspoilt nature of the Western Cape and up approximately 1500m of climbing over some of the most magnificent passes in South Africa. This year the route was dry, rocky and in many places very technical and riders came off their bikes more often, first 3 days were very hot, temperatures of well over 40 degrees and the stages long, then heavy rain and cold temperatures on the next two days. The Cape Epic 2012 became a world-renowned as one of the toughest mountain bike stage races in the world – categorised as “out of category” by the International Cycling Union (UCI). I was happy to be of help to two Russian bikers: Grigory Popov and Dmitry Solovjev, the only Russian participants in Cape Epic, who had been training for couple of years before they come here, but they had never experienced something similar before. The race relies on scores of volunteers without whom the riders wouldn’t survive. It was nice to meet Anastasia Solovjeva – a daughter of Dmitry, 18 years old student from Moscow who worked as a volunteer and had to get up at 4am, and travel to a water-point at 5am, experience very rough weather conditions, be back at the Race Village in the late afternoon and start the process for the next day immediately. But is was really fun and Anastasia thinks already to come back next year, working in a team with volunteers from all over the world is a good opportunity to make friends and enjoy life every day! And who knows may be in a year or so she will be a rider of Cape Epic!? What makes riders returning year after year… Possibly a reflection of the Epic-madness…

Rinaldo at 10/04/2013.