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Going Epic: Myriam Saugy prepares for the Cape Epic
29-year-old Swiss endurance racer Myriam Saugy is training for the Cape Epic mountain bike race to be held in South Africa from March 24 - 31, 2007. She set a goal of participating in the Cape Epic two years ago. In this diary, she documents her training and preparation for the off-road stage race.
Saugy began mountain biking in 2000 and racing in 2002. She now rides for Team Texner BMC (www.team-vtt-texner.ch) and is a member of the Swiss endurance national team. Saugy races as an amateur; she is also pursuing a teaching degree in history and geography.
Switzerland, March 15, 2007
The countdown begins
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Departure in 10 days! I am feeling more and more excited as it gets closer. So what has happened in the last 2 weeks? As I told you, I first went to the South of France for a week-long training camp. This was my last chance to have a lot of volume [training] and I am really happy that I could stick to my training plan.
I trained mainly on my mountain bike, which was really good as I had not found the perfect position on my full suspension before that. I had to make quite a few stops at first but in the end I was really feeling comfortable on it. The place was very nice, the temperature was mild and on top of everything I had just a few drops of rain in the whole week, whereas it rained a lot back in Switzerland.
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The comeback was hard. I switched from legs and lungs training to intense brain training. Instead of sitting on my bike seat I sat in front of my desk for over than 40 hours between the Sunday and the Wednesday day of my last exam. I knew it would be hard so I was kind of mentally prepared to it but still that was harsh.
Anyways, it's all over now I just have to concentrate on getting all the gear I need for South Africa. I must say I am happy, I have some experience in such stage races so it's not all unknown. The big issue will be the weight limits on the flight. I will make sure I don't have to leave something behind at the airport…
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Shape wise, I feel stronger and stronger. Today I took part to my first road race and managed to stick with the men's second bunch. We had a strong headwind on part of the course and were not quite well organised but I really enjoy that.
Road racing is quite different from mountain bike racing but I guess I will do more of it if I can. You will find attached to this diary some pictures from the South of France - it's a Nice place, isn't it? I'll update you before I leave and again after race-day.
All the best until then,
Myriam
www.myriamsaugy.ch (personal website)
www.team-vtt-texner.ch (team website)
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Myriam Saugy
- The spectacular coastline in France's South.
- Training with backdrops like this certainly helped motivate me.
- I took some time to enjoy the scenery while training in France.
- A small village in the South of France.
- The weather was much better in France than Switzerland.
- Mimosa road in the South of France.
- An example of the trails I trained on.
