Is there someone going to ride Absa Cape Epic in 2020? I somehow got a spot thru lottery and now are in the middle of preparations. I have ca 2,5 months left. As a true fan of Traineroad most of my training’s are done indoors. Living northern part of this planet makes it difficult to train outside so TR is a perfect tool for me.
I am curious if there is any other TR user participating this year? How do you train and prepare? How many hours in week, What training plan do you follow? How much outdoor riding? Do you work on your riding skills? I am wondering how much technical skills do I lose when all the preparation is done on the trainer… How many days before the race you travel to Cape Town?
I know that everybody (especially Nate) are waiting already for 2021 and Cape Epic will be big topic next year in Trainerroad forum/podcast
Whilst I’m not competing…I am jealous of anyone who is, so I will chime in with some advice…
I would focus on banking as many (quality) hours as you can with the aim of raising your CTL to prepare for those long days in the saddle.
Get out and do some back to back endurance rides so your body gets used to the long days in the saddle. If I was following a TR plan then I would be looking at high volume or certainly transitioning into that kind of plan. If you have time to dedicate to a training camp, even if at home, then do it.
If you’re worried about losing any technical skills then head out to the trails whenever possible, in fact, do this anyway so your body is used to the abuse of the off road nature. This is also a great time to practice your nutrition strategy.
Do you currently live somewhere hot? If so, then you might not need to arrive too early, but if you’re coming from a very cold climate then I would want to arrive as early as possible to try and acclimatise.
Congratulations on getting a spot in the lottery! That is so cool. I’m racing this year with my partner in the mixed pairs, it is our first Cape Epic.
I think how to prepare depends on your background and experience with MTB and multi-day racing. For what’s it’s worth we’re finishing our Build phase at the moment, then onto XCM specialty. We have a 4 day MTB race in Lanzarote as a B race at the end of Jan.
I’m on mid-volume with extra rides sprinkled in midweek. My partner is on high volume. We try to get out on the MTBs when possible but living in London (UK) those opportunities aren’t as often as we want.
We raced the Swiss Epic in August as a test run for Cape Epic on a similar program and were happy with the outcome.
Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck with your training. See you in March!
Thanks for reccomendations Dave. I live in Estonia and conditions for long outdoor rides are limited. So I need to stay on trainer. But ofcourse, I try to do some rides in outdoors to keep my skills and body prepared for tough days on the saddle:)
Nice to hear that there are other TR users racing this year at Cape Epic.
I just finished Mid volume base plan and start Build plan from this week. I hope to keep developing and have good legs in March.
Your plan to have a B race one month earlier sounds like a good plan. Unfortunately we dont have that possibility to race or train in warmer climate before the race. So we need to trust earlier experience from previous races. I have done Transpyr in and Alps Epic in previous years. Both are similar in length and duration than Cape Epic, so we have some experience.
Good luck to you and your partner! See you in March:)
