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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.
South Africa, March 28, 2007
Stage four: Beating the bonk
Hello All,
Hope you are well. We have done half of the race. Wouah.
I must admit I have no clue in which town we are today. All I can say is that we went through beautiful landscapes again and that we ate quite a lot of sand again. Sand is good then your mouth gets all crunchy mmm, mmm.
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Fabienne and I had a very good day today. Actually I think we couldn't get a worse day than yesterday anyways. The route was slightly easier. We still had a 120km long stage but with half as much climbing as yesterday. It was a mixture of very fast gravel roads and sandy rocky jeep tracks. To give you an idea, the best is to check today's (photo) gallery. We were lucky as we got the help of quite a few teams on the gravel road sections including the Cannondale world-class rider Kashi Leuchs and his partner who were having a rest day. Hmm hmm.
Then we pushed quite a lot on the sandy sections. We could stick to the second position for more than 90 km. The only problem we had is that we were so much into a racing spirit that Fabienne didn't eat enough, so she bonked just before the third water station. We got caught up then by the Danish sisters who are just behind us overall.
Fabienne got over the hard time and we worked our way back toward the Danish sisters. The important (thing) for us was not too lose too much time on them. We finished just one minute or so after them which is great. The other piece of good news is that we are now very close to the second position overall. I haven't checked tomorrow's profile yet, but hopefully we will be as strong as today.
Today, I must give a special thank to our mechanic, Fanie Van Zyl and his team who take care of our bikes everyday after the race. Without them we would have to look after our bikes on top of looking after ourselves. For us, it's very handy, and I can tell you that having one thing less to think of is really nice.
The Cape Epic is definitely quite an adventure. Ok, for once I might be able to get a nap and relax before dinner which I will do. Keep your fingers crossed for tomorrow.
All the best,
Myriam
www.myriamsaugy.ch (personal website)
www.team-vtt-texner.ch (team website)
