www.cape-epic.com
Behind the Scenes Presenting a fully supported stage race for 1 200 riders requires a huge amount of planning and support from professionals as well as volunteers. Here’s a glimpse of their world.
Technical support and volunteers While every component of the race is essential, the riders spend a lot of their time thinking about the work of course designer, Leon Evans (Dr Evil). Faced with particularly tough sections, riders sometimes imagine that he might not have gone exactly where they have to, but perhaps they underestimate the challenges he faces: “I cover approximately 2 000km and about 12,000 vertical metres designing each stage – thankfully not on a bicycle! I normally use the Land Cruiser, but lately the nature of the route with all the single tracks has ruled this out. Instead, I chose a motorbike – wrong option! The motorbike weighed 200kg and was very difficult to handle. After crashing many times, I was bruised and battered for the next 6 weeks. Someone once said to me that when I design the route I should do it on a bicycle. I should have listened!” 34
2011 RIDE GUIDE I The Absa Cape Epic presented by adidas
While the cyclists are the focus of the race and get all the glory, not many people realise that the volunteers are often already on their way to positions around the course long before the riders have had breakfast in the mornings. Maya Kägi was a water point volunteer at the Absa Cape Epic in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and she thoroughly enjoys the adventure and camaraderie that develops among the volunteers: “I work as a medical assistant in Switzerland, so I just enjoy doing something completely different for a week… Most of the volunteers hardly know each other, but we soon become a family, and I also keep in touch with many of them after the race,” says Maya. It is not hard to understand why many of the riders remember her from previous years, as she sees it as her mission not just to hand out food and drinks, but also to share a few encouraging words with the riders when they think they are really suffering, and need