Attakwas 2018

The 2017 Attakwas resulted in some serious FOMO for me. I recalled the pain and suffering from my 3 Atta’s from 2009 to 2011, but also remembered the profound sense of accomplishment when I crossed the finish line on those occasions and decided that it was time for number 4.

At the time my training was going reasonably well and I managed to lose some excess weight as well. I entered, but with work pressure, some personal and family matters and life happening the training was not enough and I picked up some of the weight I lost as well. 

The object was to enjoy the 2018 given my limited training, to ride within myself and to try and enjoy the experience. 

My long time race partner and I headed to Oudtshoorn for registration on Friday. 

Registration was done quickly and we headed to our accommodation for the weekend in Groot Brakrivier. We got some Pizzas from Pollock’s Pizza Cafe on the way and had an early night, as we had a 4am start on Saturday. 

Early start, car dropped off in Oudtshoorn, a 6.5 km cycle to the start, seeing some familiar faces, start chute butterflies, and we were off.  

It was a relatively cool morning for Oudtshoorn standards and while Werner and I were not going to ride together, we were both on a similar strategy and kept each other company during the starting  kms. We kept our heart rates down and resisted the temptation to go with the faster groups. The route to water point 1 takes you through typical Klein Karoo landscapes. You are exposed to the elements and the terrain is tough going. A small head wind can slow you down and you cannot relax as the trail is loose and sketchy. 

We made it to waterpoint 1 without much fuss. The waterpoints were well stocked and no small detail was missed. Proper bike rails to park your bike (even though there will always be a chop who thinks that its ok to visit the feeding station with his bike, essentially blocking others from getting to the fare), cold water, Biogen and coke, ice, someone cleaning your glasses, people lubing your chain, koeksusters, banana bread, sarmies, droe wors, energy bars, gels, the kitchen sink! 

The ride to waterpoint 2 was more of the same. The wind picked up, the temperature climbed, countless climbs and drops, passing riders who later pass you again... the key is to not lose concentration. A quick stop and we were on our way again. 

By now the abrasive terrain starts to eat the hands, feet, shoulders and back (not to mention the butt). This is the point where my heart rate monitor decides to die on me. I usually ride on my heart rate and losing such a key piece of equipment relatively early on in the day was a bit of a setback. Werner kept me from overcooking it by quietly telling me every time he hit 160 beats per minute, i.e. we need to take it down a click or 2. Some tough steep climbs forced me to dismount while Werner rode these with apparent ease. I told him to push on as I was slowing him down at this point, but he flatly refused (and for which I was silently relieved). As we crested the King of the Mountain point the drizzle became driving rain. The smell of the recent fires was mixed with the fresh scent of water on dry soil. The wind made it hard to get our gilets on and the temprature went from mid 30’s to below 20 in seconds. On one of the descents Werner got a pinch flat on his front wheel. We inspected the damage and plugged the tyre. Our prayers were answered and the plug worked. 

The weather kept switching from hot and humid to cold and humid, the wind was gusting and the trail was quite sandy. By now the medics on their quad bikes were working on everyone’s nerves. The sickening smell of petrol fumes and having to dodge flying rocks while grinding up a climb followed by tricky overtaking much slower and wider vehicles on very tricky descents was becoming tiresome.  While these services are essential on such an event I was thinking that there must be a more sensibleway to provide support for such an event. 

Waterpoint 3 is always a bit of a milestone. It marks the end of the hard Klein Karoo section, but means that the big clims are about to start. After a longer stop we head off into the headwind. Some big climbs took us into the forest section where it was wet and muddy. By now I was deep in the pain cave. The going was slow, but Werner was assuring me that he was also on his limit, so we forged ahead to Waterpoint 4 and 5 respectively. Those last few climbs on eithe  side of Waterpoint 5 nearly broke me. I made a deal with my legs. I’ll give them a good sports massage and a week’s break from all riding if they will just get me through to the finish.

Suddenly we saw the 4km to go sign. The mood lifted and a sense of accomplishment overtakes your psyche. You cross the finish line and take it all in. Number 4 done and Werner’s first. It seemed like we carried each other 121km and now we’ve done it!

I must give a big shout out to my wife. Being 1 week from her due date with our second son, she had no hesitation to send me off on this weekend. I must also thank each and every friend and family member that had us in their thoughts and prayers. I kept reminding myself that with so many people willing us on we could not fail.

Will we be back for 2019? Watch this space... 

Buco Origin of Trails 2017

Balancing family life and your cycling interests can be tricky. Weekends are packed with so many activities and it is just not always possible to cycle all weekend. With this in mind I entered the short route for the Buco Origin of Trails. With a good training block behind me and getting my weight back down again after falling off the banting wagon a bit, I would probably have coped very well with the long route, but spending time with the family is a priority that I don't want to shift, particularly after an eventful and challenging year for us.

Doing the short route afforded me the opportunity to go at it really hard. Usually with the longer stages the thinking (with me at least) is to ride within myself, look after the body and come out to fight another day tomorrow. The mind-shift was refreshing. I pushed hard both days and I am feeling surprisingly fresh.

As far as short routes go, the Orgin of Trails routes are some of the best around. Day 1 saw us going from Coertzenburg to Jonkershoek via some of the private wine farms dropping us into the second contour. The long route split up to go to saaltjie and we continued on the second contour to the red trail that took us to the first water point. The long route continued to the Fire Hut while we had some respite on the tar road back to Ride-In to the second water point and a short section of single track. We crossed the Eerste River again at the suspension bridge and enjoyed some of the XC course before rolling into the finish line at Coertzenburg.
1h53m and 20th overall was a hard, but good day out.

Day 2 saw an increase in the short route numbers with the medium route riders (who did the long on day 1 and short on day 2) joining the short route. We made our way to Eden where we enjoyed the single track and climbed our way out to Mostertsdrift again where we moved over to Uniepark and onto the big climb of the day. We climbed up to Banhoek where we got the water point for the day. Some more climbing took us over into the Banhoek valley where the short and long routes split. Some of the most fun single track followed and if you ignore the few service roads we crossed, we had some uniterrupted fun for around 7km. The traffic was not too bad and I used the time to recover somewhat before we made our way back to Coerzenburg, with a nasty little bite at the end of the race, and some of the XC course to finish off with.
2h03m and 19 overall GC was a solid enough ride.

Here is my evaluation of the event:
Route: 5/5. It was interesting and challenging, but for those that are not that fit or technically minded most would still be ridable, even if only at a slow pace. The beauty of it is that most of the route is available outside of the event as either part of the STF network that is accessible with no charge (I would encourage a donation to the STF if you ride the routes), Jonkershoek and the Banhoek Trails.
Route Markings and Marshals 4/5. A few riders got confused with some of the signage and ended up doing some extra riding. There were also riders on both days cutting sections out of the course where it was clear that the course was looping back and crossing. Usually this sort of thing would not bother me, but as I was in racing mode for once, it annoyed me to no end. A few marshals recording race numbers where riders did not complete the course or a timing station at the far end of these loops would sort this sort of thing out.
Venue 5/5. It is a huge improvement on the start at the Old Collage in the centre of town and Blaauklippen with more than enough parking and ample space for sponsors and vendors in the race village.
Value proposition 5/5. The entry fee on face value seems on the expensive side, but a good quality T shirt, a cap after stage one, some free photos from the Under Armor crowd, free coffee and some really nice lucky draw prizes all added to the value proposition.

I am however dismayed to hear about bikes being stolen (again!) at a cycling event. This is becoming the norm these days and is probably one of the biggest threats to these events going forward. People will not stay to be entertained after events if security is not addressed. While the bike park seemed secure and riders were encouraged to make use of this facility, one would expect that bikes locked onto the back of cars would be safe. It aparently takes a good bike thief less than 30 seconds to cut a lock and remove a bike from the rack, so clearly we need to re-think our strategy around securing our bikes.

Well done to all that tackled this year's Origin of Trails and I hope to see you all again next year.

Lormar Endurance Farm Trail

It was time for Werner (a.k.a. the Ginga Ninja) and I to team up again for a relatively unknown event in the "Bo-Karoo". The Lormar Endurance Farm Trail 3 day stage race.

With a relatively good website, some good sponsors and some exposure on Super Cycling last year it seemed like it would be a worth-while event to enter. With a relatively "affordable" (I say that with caution) price tag and a sold out event, we were eagerly anticipating what the event organisers and local community can produce.

The adventure started on Friday morning at 6am when we took the road to Fairview Farm (not to be confused with Fairview outside of Paarl!) around 65km from Richmond (not to be confused with Richmond in KZN!).

A quick stop at Matjiesfontein for Breakfast and singing a few songs with the local historian, barman, pianist and all round good oke (Johnny, who's mom was the "Grootbaas se hot chocolate" and who is now the "Grootbaas se cuppachino" and we were off again.

8 hours after leaving Somerset West we arrived at the race venue. The village was neatly laid out and had good visible signage.

Registration started an hour late due to some technical issues, and took quite a while to get the 250 riders registered. We queued for almost 90 minutes to get our boards and race packs and it seemed like people were a bit disorganised. We took the time to sample some of the craft beer on offer and was watching the cricket in the background.

With the last riders registering at 17:30, we were ready for the running of the horses and start of the first stage, a 23km nigh ride.

The wind was pumping (a theme throughout all 3 stages) and we started a bit too far back in the self seeded start, so we quickly realised that we would have to get through traffic to get some relatively open track.

Night riding in the Karoo is just special, even with the wind howling, fox holes appearing after irrigation bumps on the jeep track out of nowhere, and sand almost magically appears and disappears without warning.

Karoo lamb on the spit, garden saland, potatoes and bread with many beers made for a good supper and koeksusters and melktertjies for dessert was awesome.

The wind kept on howling through the night and had me worried about stage 2, as it was coming from the general direction of Nieu-Bethesda, our destination for stage 2.

Stage 2 started with a much lighter southerly wind and took us through the grazing camps of the wild horses that we saw running for our benefit the night before. The horses were in a playful mood and were galloping next to the batches of riders, and weaving their way ahead of the field. A magnificent sight... pure unrestricted motion with every tiny well developed muscle flexing and relaxing as they made their way ahead.

Next up a herd of Gemsbok crossed the trail ahead of us at such a speed that we were expecting a lion or 3 to be chasing them. Fortunately no lions appeared and we made our way encircling Kompasberg on our way to Nieu-Bethesda.

The bulk of the climbing was done by the second water point with not too much of the dreaded wind to speak of. We were looking forward to the fast rolling tracks from the second water point to the finish, but the wind made an appearance again. We were fortunate to get a good pace line going with another team and finished the stage strong in 3h16 minutes for the 62km route.

Upon arrival at the finish we were informed that the luggage truck had a flat tyre and was only expected later. Fortunately Werner had cash on him so we could get a cold beer and sort our bikes out in the meantime. Once the luggage arrived it was a mad scramble for the showers. There was no hot water and with only 2 showers for the ladies and around 8 showers for the men (open showers) it was a bit of a challenge to get everyone cleaned up. We were fortunate to only wait around 20 minutes for a shower, but some of the ladies had to wait over an hour.


Nieu-Bethesda is a gem of a little town and well worth the visit. The brewery in town is top notch, and was the venue for the 3pm brewery ride. We opted for a walk instead to the brewery and had a wonderful afternoon under the trees with some fellow cyclists.

Bad Peter Band was performing after 3pm and with beers flowing, a lovely spread of fresh artisan bread, cold cuts, cheese, preserves and pickles it was quite hard to leave for the race village.

Dinner was due to be served at 6pm, but it was clear that we were not going to eat before 8pm, so we opted for another stroll through the town to kill some time.

The Karan Beef steaks went down well and dessert were lemon tarts and date fingers.

Sleep was a bit hard to come by with a wedding reception that were partying until around 2am in town, so getting up for stage 3 was a bit of a struggle.

The stage started with a climb and a headwind, and 40km later we were still climbing and battling the same headwind.

Riders bunched up and battled the gusting wind throughout the day, at times Werner and I looked back at the train of riders following us hoping that some would share the pace making. A few riders came to the front only to break away after sitting on for almost and hour. Poor form chaps! They ended up missing a marker and got lost, finishing a fair bit after us ...KARMA...

We rode with a lady rider and managed to help her move up from 5th in the ladies to a podium. It felt good to have helped her along as we had many short chats and having company helped to make a boring and gruelling stage more bearable.

At the finish line the luggage truck was still missing in action, so we loaded our bikes, had our Kerrie Vetkoek lunch and waited around for the luggage to arrive.

We got a nice hot private shower in the suite that our lady riding companion and her husband booked before the event as part of the luxury upgrade and it felt good not to have to queue for a shower for once.

The long road home felt quite short with the knowledge that we met some cool people over the weekend and had some great memories to share.

My overall impression of the event was that there were not enough facilities for the number of riders. Queuing for registration, showers, toilets, food and drinks spoiled what could have been a much more smoothly run event. On Saturday afternoon some teams could not get tents, and extra tents had to be put up for them, also a bit of a slip.

Things like trucks breaking can happen, but having a few beers / cooldrinks available at the finish would have helped a lot to lighten the mood of tired and dirty riders waiting for their luggage so that they can clean up.

The routes on days 1 and 2 were pleasant and although there were no real single track on the routes, riding jeeptrack for long sections made things interesting and surprisingly tough. The route for day 3 felt long and tedious. I am sure that the wind played a role, but investing in building even a few short sections of single track could make a dull route a bit more interesting.

The positives were a good timing system, good communication via sms, for those of us who got reception at Fairview and Nieu-Bethesda and good food, all be it that it was not always ready on time.

While we met some amazing people and had a good time in general I will not be returning next year for the event. If facilities were sufficient and execution by the organisers were better I would have been much more tempted to return.

Some of the photos, courtesy of the Ginga Ninja.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNuG5osbHRI-45GlBaUPG4AHoGPG1azMUqvIv5DlM9Qudkns_HSd_CAxXaNTM0cZA?key=T2hyN0puTFRlbUcxSTlCZ0RiVC1EX1p4U3pjWVl3

Thanks for reading! Keep the rubber side on the dirt.

Time out with the boys

So a few weekends ago a couple of mates got together to ride bikes, drink beer and talk crap for a weekend. Or as we like to call it "Mannenaweek".

The crew: Coenie, who I met for the first time on this weekend, but going by the Whatsapp banter the weeks leading up to the weekend, was going to keep us on our toes, Philip, batchelor turned husband and recently father, who's company I've come to enjoy more and more, Shaun, who I've spent time with at the GRTP a few months ago, who is not only a great bike handler, but a stand-up bloke to boot, Werner, a.k.a. The Ginger Ninja, as he manages to do things with a mere 120mm travel and no dropper post that most of us mere mortals can only dream of and who I've made many a journey with  and will be my first pick as a wingman, should I need to go to war anytime soon, as he will always have your back. And of course me, who jumped to an extremely good deal on a new 2017 Trek Topfuel 2 days before the weekend, after crashing my beloved Stumpy into A replacement frame due to damage on impact to the frame.

The destination: Greyton. In rencent years Greyton became a haven for me. Once I take the turn-off from the N2 to Greyton and Genadendal its like a mist of calm and well-being descends on me. With some fun and not-too-challenging trails as well we were guaranteed to get some good riding in as well, and still be fresh enough to enjoy some of Greyton's other attractions.

Once we arrived in Gteyton and worked out the sleeping arrangements, we were set for a short ride up Rocky Horror and down Luislang. The riding on the new bike was different. Going from a plush 140mm bike to a snappy 100mm racing machine not only requires a change in technique, but perhaps a change in approach as well. You have to be switched on and the margin for error is so much smaller, but there are massive gains as well. Some finer tweaks for Saturday's ride was made amd after a braai and a few beers we retired for the evening.

Saturday's ride took us up Bakenskop and I was pleasantly surprised at how well I managed the 20% plus gradients with the 32-42 gearing on the bike. I am still under no illusions that a 30T up front is a better choice for me and will be shopping for an Absolute Black 30T oval chainring very soon, but for now at least I can get up the steep stuff, all be it at a bit of a grind.

The single track down had me much more focussed than on my Stumpy and it started to feel much more comfortable. The market was well supported by the manne, slome banter and laughter afterwards and a visit to Vanilla Cafe to watch the last round of the 2017 DH world cup, another awesome evening with a few beers, some of Coenie's mushroom sauce and Werner's very potent Mampoer, and the rest will have to stay in Greyton, I'm afraid...

Sunday ended up in a longer than planned loop around to Bereaville to hit Davey's Sprocket and then through Voorstekraal to hit Rocky Horror and Luislang once again before heading back home again.

All too soon we were saying our good-byes and heading home. The weekend was a tonic for what can only be described as 6 months of dirty board room maneuvers and seeing the worst of people. Again I am grateful and humbled by how only a few days with genuine friends can restore your faith in humanity.

Dankie manne!

And a big shout out to the ladies in our lives who willingly and lovingly sends us off on these precious weekend. Know that we appreciate your love and understanding way more than what we can ever express.

Demo Derby!

I had the misfortune to have crashed on my bike at the end of July. Besides a few very tender ribs, I also managed to hit a rock square on with my Stumpjumper frame, essentially wrecking the frame. A few weeks off the bike to heal and go on a much needed break was perhaps not all a bad thing, and as I returned to SA I now have the unpleasant and time consuming matter of dealing with the insurance on my damaged bike. The most likely scenario is that the insurance will replace the frame only, as Specialized still has a 2015 Stumpy frame in my size to which my components can be built to without much fuss, but if the insurance decides to write off the entire bike, I have been toying with the thought of a more XC orientated bike going forward. The next year sees me doing the Eselfontein 3 day race, the Lormar 3 day race, Attakwas, possibly the Cross Cape Cycle Route and Joberg2C. A trail bike poses a rather large penalty on the longer days and I would like to think that my riding has evolved to the point where I would be able to enjoy most of the technical sections on our races with 100mm of travel .

The first bike that I have demo'd is the Giant Anthem 29er 2. The 2018 model is sporting a Shimano SLX group set with a 32 T crank and a 11-46 T cassette. The stock bike is fitted with a 780mm handle bar and combined with a relatively short stem, the bike felt very stable and solid while I put it through its paces today at Meerendal. The stock saddle was also not unbearable, but will probably be replaced by my trusty Specialized Phenom or Power saddle, which took me years to settle on.

Now what is important to note with this bike is that from a price point, it is 50% cheaper than my current bike, so a like-for-like comparison cannot be made. I have also not recently had any XC bikes in my stable, so my frame of reference needed to be updated as well.

The bike is well specced and not much will have to be changed from purchase to the first ride. Some frame protection on the down tube, crank protectors, front mud guard (the Marsh Guard type), a reliable bottle cage and the Specialized Enduro lock on grips would probably be the extras that I would put on along with a new pair of Shimano pedals.

After setting the bike up I took the bike through its paces and was pleasantly surprised by the Maestro suspension that seemed very compliant in descent mode and very efficient in lock out mode. Combined with the Fox 32 Float up front, the boost hubs and the wide handle bars the bike had a more "light trail" feel than a pure XC / marathon feel.

The SLX groupset was also crisp and responsive and the gear ratio was more than sufficient for what Meerendal was throwing at me. On a multi stage race I might be tempted to drop down to a 30T chain ring up front as the difference between the 37T and the 46T cog at the back is quite a huge jump. I found myself not wanting to ride in the 46 that often because of the jump in range, but perhaps this is something that I need to get used to.

The bike seems well designed with good cable routing and a clean cockpit. The only design question I have for Giant is why the Seat Tube / Top Tube joint is not yet reinforced as this is seemingly where previous frame versions had a very noticeable weakness. Furthermore a 30.9mm seat post would just give the bike a much more solid stance and gives much more options to those who want to fit a dropper post to their ride. The 27,2mm seat post is therefore for me a bit of a let-down.

In terms of pricing, the bike offers an excellent value proposition at under R40K list price. If R40K was my budget, I would be hard-pressed to find a better value proposition.

Overall the bike scores a 4/5 from me. I was seriously impressed and have added this to my short list of bikes to consider.

Just a final word of thanks to Williams Bike Shop in Somerset West for the use of one of your Demo Bikes. Being able to take a bike out for a weekend and to go and ride my usual trails with it just adds to visualising yourself on the bike, and I have come to realise that there are still some very capable bikes in the under R40K range out there.

GR 300 2017

After a turbulent time at the office (things aways seems to be turbulent!) the last weekend of April could not come soon enough. Put a couple of mountain bikers in a car on the way to Knysna and you get a recipe for awesome!
Destination: Knysna
Crew: Braam Gericke, Brandon Smook and myself
Mission: Garden Route 300

The car and trailer was packed to the hilt with our kit, bikes, 30 boxes of wine and wine tasting accessories as Braam and Brandon was on official company business for Wildekrans Wine Estate who was one of the main sponsors for the event.

The digs was Tyrone (who owns a local bike shop in Knysna)'s place. Tyrone and Faren were the perfect hosts. Their beautiful cottage have amazing views of the lagoon and Heads and it's homey feel made us all feel at home from the onset.

Friday's stage 1 started at the Knysna Yaught Club with a neutral zone up to the start of the climb to Simola. The day's riding took us on a 75km loop with just under 1300m of climbing.

Conditions made it tough as temperatures peaked at 38 degrees celcius and it was a fine balance for Braam and I between getting to know each others riding capabilities, riding fast, looking after the legs and not being exposed to the heat for too long. A time of 5h12 was respectable and with day 1 in the bag, we capped it off with SMOG pizzas from Chatters. Wow! Rob from Chatters can make a mean Pizza, so put this on your must-do dining spots in Knysna please.

Day 2 was at the Garden Route Trail Park. With a recent weekend spent at the park, We knew what to
 expect. A shorter day, but with no respite as trail park riding gets quite physical. Mountain mania was a gas and was also the only proper enduro staage on the 3 days. Day 1 and 3 was more like king of the mountain followed by dirt road downhill, but we'll let the orginisers work on the Enduro element of the event for next year.

Another 38 degrees day meant that Braam and I. were doing damage control in the last 15 kms. We had a good day out and came in with a time of 3:26. Brandon was relieved from sponsorship duties for the day and joined in on the short route for the day.

A good fillet on the braai, great wine, excellent company... the off-the-bike moments often make weekends like this. We laughed, we laughed a lot! There were almost 3 new bikes coming home after the weekend, but Tyrone gave us the head shake as there may have been some wine speaking too. The bike in question is the latest Trek Top Fuel 9.8 with a 2 x 11 group set (I'm a little old fashioned when it comes to gearing, particularly for stage races). Its a beautiful machine. Black on black if anyone out there is sponsoring 😉🤘🏻.

Day 3 started at Simola with a neutral zone to Phantom Pass. My legs were struggling on day 3, but Braam was a machine all day long. A ride through Homtini, Millwood and the dreaded Hydro climb, back to Kom se Pad and up Simola to the finish was a 69km ride with  1450m of climbing in another 36 degree scorcher was done in 4:06.

With new friends made, memories that will last a lifetime and tired bodies the drive back was a time for relaxed conversations, good music and reflection.

Roll on Greyton in June. Its going to be Epic 😏

Absa Cape Epic 2017 - a non-rider's perspective on what it takes.

With quite a few friends participating again this year, I was not only following the professionals progress, but many of the mid-packers as well (and a few back-markers, if there is such a thing in a race as tough as this one).

One thing was clear, whether pro or not: There are a few very basic ingredients to be successful at this event that I have picked up on from friends who have been successful.
- Focus
This is required not only for the training, but for all other aspects of your life when you prepare for a race like this. For the non-pro's this is even more important, as you have to apply focus to your job, the demands of daily life, your health and training. All these areas requires focus for a successful Epic.
- Discipline
Now while this may sound like focus, its not. Discipline is your mind overriding your heart when you need to make a decision. Am I going to bed at 9, so that I can have a focussed training session at 5 tomorrow morning, or do I stay up and watch TV until 10:30? Do I grab a second beer after my race on Saturday or is 1 my limit? Learning to say "no" is a very good quality to have if you need to be focussed
- Support system
Many underestimate the value of good support, until it is absent. Preparing for something like an Epic is just much more manageable if you have buy-in and support from your employer, family, friends (and perhaps your banker) as there will be areas where others may need to pick up slack that you simply cannot get to.
- Flexibility
Now this is not the opposite of focus, but a complementary quality to work on. Things don't always work out as planned, and one needs to be able to adapt from time to time. A last minute meeting may can your evening gym session, but tomorrow during lunch you can make up the session.
- Mental strength
With most endurance events, your mind can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Being in a good mental space during the whole race will be impossible, and you will have to find ways to get yourself out of those deep dark holes your mind can throw you into from time to time to make it through.
- The right team mate
Now this is different things to different people. I have done events with fantastic team mates and less fantastic team mates. Now regardless of their own preparation, the team dynamic is very important. Simply getting along is not enough, but understanding when your partner is suffering, when they are feeling strong, when to let them take care of you, or when you take care of them... it boils down to an almost instinctive understanding of what makes them tick to make a success out of such an event. Like-minded goals (are you in it to finish, or are you going for a top-200?) and being able to complement each other all helps to get along.

I often wonder how my 2009 Epic would have turned out if I did not dislocate my shoulder and broke a few ribs less than 2 months before the big day. I do know that I had no idea back then about many of the characteristics mentioned above, so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.

Maybe one day I will be able to test myself in what must surely be the ultimate test of focus, discipline, my support system, flexibility, mental strength and a team mate -to-be.

To all those who have that finisher's medal. Well done and know that you inspire and motivate so many around you to become better.