The Prologue

The prologue is done! I am so happy to be finally racing at Cape Epic! Our race plan was executed perfectly. The race today started at the Meerendal Winery with teams going off time trial style every 30 secs. We lined up in the starting tent and nailed the start on the green turf. We passed the team ahead of us before leaving the opening chute. We wanted to go out hard but not too hard. We didn’t want to blow our legs up in the first day. We had a great pace and were rolling past so many teams. The terrain was mainly loose gravel and rocks. The climbs were modest today but there were great views of Cape Town and Table Mountain from the tops.The singletrack downhills were so fun, and I did a decent job keeping up with Brad, since I tend to take descents somewhat more cautiously than he does. The last downhill was so fun and flowy with great berms! We ended up in 6th place in the co-ed division, which is a good spot for us. Jenny Rissveds (women’s Olympic gold medalist in Rio) is racing with Thomas Frischknecht in our category, and they won the prologue, 6 minutes ahead of us.

Thanks to Ridge Supply Socks and Handup Gloves for the sweet gear

10 seconds till start time

Check out my Go Pro video of the prologue here: https://youtu.be/UKLF8WnzO9U

Cooling down after the race

The Prologue Village

After all the CTS teams finished, we loaded up the vans and headed to the town of Hermanus, about 1.5 hours away. We stopped at a farm stand for lunch which served yummy quiches and then continued on the hotel. We are staying in a hotel right by the ocean. It is a beautiful spot. Tomorrow’s stage is going to be tough; 100km, 2300m of climbing and 100 degree heat so we are doing our best to stay cool and hydrated tonight and rest up our legs!

CTS teams at lunch

Our hotel in Hermanus

The view from our hotel