The longest stage so far was on Friday and took us over 140km and 2300m altitude away from Worcester - mostly into a head-wind. The course followed a wonderful mountain lake surrounded by vineyards and orchards along an old rugged jeep track uphill and into a national park in which a particularly large leopard population resides. Directly after this long ascent lay the Oak valley which seemed to be shaped following the exact desires of every extreme mountain-biker.

For this reason alone, a visit to “Eichental” without the Cape Epic schedule is an absolute must. Fantastic singletrails flow endlessly down into the valley. Tight turns complete with berms can be found between countless small wooden bridges which are scattered amongst hot downhill forest trails which snake not between oaks, but pines and other tree obstacles.

For myself and other Cape Epic participants, the Oak Valley has proved itself a real singletrack secret location! Every ounce of concentration is required in such a terrain and Saturdays 128km/2700m Altitude course would teach us that! The Multi-World-Champion Jose Hermida and his Swiss partner Ralph Naef conquered the course best. The Multivan- Merida Team pushed the Songo-Spezialized Team (Sauser/Stander) back to 2nd place. In turn, they were closely followed by Team Trek World Racing (Lukas and Matthias Flückiger).

As an Individual participant, I had to start behind group H - 30 minutes after group A and thus I rode with the professional athletes suffocating deep within the pack which of course cost me ample amounts of extra energy. That said, todays route suited me well and my time meant that I had managed to climb up to 19th place amongst the solo riders.

Today is judgment day! the final stage of the Cape Epic...I just need to come in safely and get to the front of the pack quickly following the 08:30am scheduled group start. This last stage would take us over 1700m altitude and 65km from Oak Valley to Lourensford - this should be a fairly quick stage and then I would have made it. 

Further Information can be found under www.cape-epic.com.