The Cape Epic 2007 route has been announced:

Knysna - Lourensford
Total distance: 886km
Total ascent: 15045m

Day 1 - yikes....

Finding some interesting info on the www.

As I research this upcoming trip I keep finding blogs and photos from last year's Epic. Some are pretty descriptive and in some cases are scaring me a bit! I will try to link some of the better ones here:

• Tredz
• iafrica
• some photos
• live2ride

Some Cape Epic sponsors are coming together...

Thanks to everyone for their support in our African adventure!!!

Special thanks to Jen for her incredible artistic talent in designing our team kit!

a nice definition of cyclocross

Thanks to boxedbee for this nice definition of cyclocross...
For my peeps who don't know what cyclo-cross is....let me explain. Imagine you're being chased by three guys with clubs who are just a bit slower than you and intent on having a little ultra-violence fun for the night. They are slow enough to not catch you as long as you keep running as fast as possible, but you can't stop or rest or even lose them because they are always breathing over your shoulder. Do that for an hour.

An old post about a good trip to Moab

(from Feb 06) MOAB - Tom Hayes, my Xterra buddy from Seattle convinced me that I should meet him for a little training camp in the high cold desert. What a kick... Two guys who just want to do a little riding. I blasted out of work early last Thursday for a quick flight to Salt Lake. Tom picked me up and we headed out to harass the yahoos at Kinkos that were struggling with the simple task of copying (isn't that what they do??) some work documents of his. Once the last minute work obligations were out of the way we spent a lovely night at one of the nicest hotels in Provo Utah - yeehaw. The next morning presented us with one of the biggest challenges of the trip: finding a good ole cup of joe. I thought that Mormon issue with caffeine was just a stereotype.... ha. Even Starbucks with their global domination hasn't cracked that religious resolve. After stumbling upon our best bet - a Noah's Bagels with halfway decent coffee, we hit the road for a beautiful 4 hour drive south to the motherland of mountain biking.


No, I'm not really grumpy... though it was a bit of a climb to get to this point.... This is the top of Hurrah Pass... I guess that's what you say when you get to the top?


Tom, psyched to be in sunshine.... I did tell you he is from Seattle? Here prepping for Slickrock trail.

After a quick stop at our respective shops - I picked up what would turn out to be a rather fun Gary Fisher Cake as a rental - we rode out of town towards the famous Slick Rock trail. Tom kept telling me that I was putting on too many layers and that I would start sweating like a pig on the first climb out of town. Good thing I am a bit stubborn as the added gear not only saved my skin from the piercing cold wind but from a nasty slide down a particularly steep rock face. What a blast ripping up and down all those whoop-de-doos of solid rock. The views of the snow covered LaSalle mountains were incredible! Killer was the brutal wind we experienced Friday afternoon. I estimate 40 knots on some of the ridges? Both Tom and I had trouble staying upright at times!
3.5 hrs of riding Friday was a great start to the weekend! We celebrated with some good local brews at the Moab Brewing Co - that and a hearty pasta dinner!
We had an epic ride planned for Saturday and that's just what we got! 6 hours door to door - it was the longest ride I have done in a long time! This incredible ride started from town, went out past Amasaback, to the top of Hurrah Pass, down to Jackson's Hole (there was a bit of route finding involved here), up Jackson's ladder (I think that's the name) - a hike-a-bike straight up a cliff!!!, then down Amasaback, and back to town...... wow. That evening we added to the beer and grub a nice soak in the hotel spa...
Sunday Morning we were both beat. A casual spin was what we wanted to finalize the weekend. The only problem was timing - we had to go early. Early + Moab in Feb = 13 degrees Fahrenheit.....brrrrrrrr. So, we shivered our way through a 1 1/2 hour ride along the Sovereign trail.
All in all a great weekend escape!

My first win

4th cross race of the year... I won! Nice feeling... Velo Bella's Tiki Cross in Santa Cruz, Master men 35+ B's. Here are a couple of pics from the B's race I did later:

Ahhh.... California cross racing - gotta love that dust.

Me having too much fun - actually - getting heckled from the sidelines by Fred Huxham...

Indian Summer training ride

View down towards Mill Valley, to Sausalito and SF

Rocky Ridge fire road

View towards Alpine Lake from Rocky Ridge fireroad

What a glorious fall day!! Though I was planning on heading into the office, I technically had the day off. With a perfect Indian Summer day shaping up the office plans went out the window. Hard to believe they have already been getting snow back East!! It was shorts and short sleeve riding weather - probably in the 70's.

My planned long ride ended up at 4hrs and 48 miles with a bit of climbing. As typical, I started out the front door (Sausalito) and headed North up the bike path to Mill Valley. From there I head up West Blythedale to Railroad Grade fireroad. This gradual climb takes you all the way up to West Point Inn and then on up to East Peak. From there I rode the paved road towards Mtn Theater where I turned off right on Rocky Ridge (I think) fire road and followed that down to Bon Tempe and Alpine Lakes. From there it was out the paved road towards Bolinas Fairfax Rd. I took a right down another fire road to 5 corners and then left on Concrete Pipeline out to Bolinas Fairfax - then took a right and headed down into Fairfax.

There were tons of people out enjoying the sun in Fairfax and San Anselmo today!

From Fairfax it was down the paved roads to San Anselmo, and Ross, then I headed back up onto the trails through Natalie Coffin Park and Phoenix Lake. Up Up Up again! The route from there was pretty traditional up to Alpine and Bon Tempe Lakes, around Bon Tempe, up Eldridge Grade, down to HooKooEkoo, across back to Railroad Grade, and then out to Panoramic Hwy and Mtn Home Inn. A little more road riding took me to Hwy 1 and Miwok Fireroad. Miwok leads up and over and down practically to the beach at Tennessee Valley. From there it was a short spin up the valley, back onto the bike path and home!

Xterra Nationals

5th in age group, 68th overall .... 3:13.46 - ten minutes faster than last year!!! What a beautiful weekend of racing and running into Xterra buddies...