The Last Push
A couple of days ago I caught myself doing something I hadn't done before. I started counting down the number of training sessions left until Cape Epic.
Eight.
Not twenty. Not fifteen. Eight. Funny how that number never felt worth counting at higher numbers. At twenty you're still somehow in preparation mode, head down, following the plan. But eight? Eight did something to my brain. Small enough to count. Small enough to make it feel real.
Which is strange, because the race has been real since we signed up. It's been real through eight months of structured training, two lab tests, a Girona (1 day) camp, countless Tuesday morning Kickr sessions and long weekend rides through the provincial countryside. It's been real every time JOIN threw another threshold block at us and we just did it. But somehow, standing here with eight sessions left, it feels different. It feels close.
The ten days in Switzerland were exactly what I needed, even if part of me felt guilty about it. No bike, no training, no structure. Just mountains, snow, and the girls. And if I'm honest, my body was grateful. Coming back from a third winter virus in as many months, with Cape Epic eight weeks out, the decision to leave the Kickr at home was the right one — even if your ''athlete'' instinct was screaming otherwise.
Still, coming back to the first session after ten days off wasn't without anxiety. The question mark: how much have you lost? But surprisingly the legs felt more than okay. Not amazing, but definitely not bad. Two days later I did a proper session — 2x15 minutes at threshold — and got through it. Not easy, but solid. The fitness is still there. Eight months of work doesn't disappear in ten days.
When I look back at where this started, the progress is almost hard to believe. August 21 at SEG Cyclinglab: 230W FTP. That was the baseline. Humble, to say the least. Now sitting at around 300W, having dropped from 82.7kg to 78.6kg in the process. Not through some dramatic intervention, just consistent training, sensible eating, and somewhere along the way the body responded. Jeroen has made the same kind of leap. Two guys who set an arguably ridiculous goal — top 20 Masters at Cape Epic, and have spent the better part of a year quietly trying to make it less ridiculous.
Whether we've done enough, we'll find out soon. And we're excited about it 😄
The sessions still on the calendar? I'll do them, but I'm not grinding them out with the same obsession as three months ago. Realistically, you're looking at 2-3% of potential gain between now and March 11th, when we fly out. That's not nothing, but it's also not where the race gets won or lost. Tomorrow I'm riding with a friend instead of following a structured workout. No intervals, no power targets. Just riding because I enjoy it, which feels like the right headspace to be in right now.
Because here's the thing: the mind has already started moving towards Cape Town.
I keep thinking about the stages. All eight of them. The 134km transition stage that will test patience and pacing as much as fitness. It's the kind of day where you can lose the race by going too hard, or lose it by not reading the race correctly. And then there's the queen stage. 128km. The day that Cape Epic is built around, the one that separates the field properly. Everything we've done — every threshold session, every long weekend ride, every morning dragging myself onto the Kickr before the rest of the house is awake — gets tested on that day. Considering we make it to that day of course....;-)
Packing lists. Flight logistics on the 11th. Getting the bikes packed and sorted. What the start village will look and feel like. And then, eventually, stepping off that start ramp on March 15th with Jeroen next to me.
Out of the last eight, there's only six more sessions left.
Until then, Keep Chasing!
