With the biggest race of my life upon us the following day, we enlisted the services of the lovely Gavin to take us to the V&A Waterfront for registration (I really do mean "lovely", too... Gavin and Sarah have been the most hospitable hosts... A very hard act to follow!). The waterfront was busling with support crews, teams carrying around their huge team bags, and probably a bunch of other people whol had no idea what was going on.
We made our way around the waterfront. There were Cape Epic displays and signage up everywhere, and a huge stage set up for the briefing and some entertainment in between (including some random 25 minute spin bike challenge). There were also gigantic screens displaying, among other things, TV broadcast times for the event. It was a really cool vibe, and bloody exciting. My heart spent a good portion of the day apparently trying to escape my chest.
After soaking in the atmosphere, registration was first, where they explained what the multitude of tags and stickers were used for... a number plate with a timing transponder attached for the handlebars, a number plate with our name on it to pin to the back of our jersey, a tent identification tag to reserve our tent when we arrived at our nightly stop an identification sticker for our bike, and a wrist tag withour race number that also looked suspiciously like one of those wrist bands they give you in hospital.
We then ventured on to our next stop to pick up a duffle bag with our number on it that would contain all our possessions for the next eight days, then off to the nutrition tent to pick up our numbered drink bottles which we would hand in each morning for volunteers to pass to us as we rode through feed stations. We then went around to every other tent basically just to see what we could get for free and ended up with a bag full of Buffs, t-shirts, towels and a laundry bag with our very own number embroidered on it. We have two allocated laundry days... The 26th and the 30th. John also purchsed his coffee vouchers, of which I think I may be just as grateful for as he will be!! As we strolled around with our race bags, me with mine on my back like a pack, if you were walking behind me, you would have been forgiven for thinking that you were behind a large bag that had grown legs and was walking of it's own accord.
I then headed off on a small mission to find myself a pair of shorts that would fit (it was time to resign myself to the fact that I had maybe under-packed when I only brought one pair with me). We then went to sit in front of the huge stage in the sun for our race briefing and to watch some guy named Kenny break a world trials record for basically the longest bunny hop at 2.9m!!!
Back home, it was time to crack into the preparation. Over the last week, I have been collecting things that I thought I may need... Snacks, clothes and gear... And it currently all lay in a huge pile next to my bike box in my room. Armed with enough ziploc bags to supply a small army, we took over Gavin and Sarah's living room for the afternoon and got packing with some sort of organised chaos. I used a separate ziploc bag for different things... A bag for my nutrition, a bag for my after-race snacks, a bag for my undies and for my spare parts... Then it was all shoved very elegantly into this huge bag, sure to turn into my worst nightmare sometime later in the week.
Number plates and stickers also took their place on our bikes and jerseys, and I was left with a neat little pile of gear for the next day, plus a "stuff to pack in the morning" pile (this pile included bum cream and toiletries).
So it's finally here... And I have a sneaking suspicion that day zero will be as easy as it gets. John asked me this afternoon how I was feeling about tomorrow, and to be honest, I don't quite know how to sum that up in one word... Nervous, excited, keen to just get in and start, maybe a little bit scared. Either way, whatever comes of the next 8 days, the journey to date has still been an amazing experience, and I couldn't think of a better dude to share that experience with than John... Thanks buddy... Let's go rip up some South African dirt and have a wicked time!!!
We made our way around the waterfront. There were Cape Epic displays and signage up everywhere, and a huge stage set up for the briefing and some entertainment in between (including some random 25 minute spin bike challenge). There were also gigantic screens displaying, among other things, TV broadcast times for the event. It was a really cool vibe, and bloody exciting. My heart spent a good portion of the day apparently trying to escape my chest.
After soaking in the atmosphere, registration was first, where they explained what the multitude of tags and stickers were used for... a number plate with a timing transponder attached for the handlebars, a number plate with our name on it to pin to the back of our jersey, a tent identification tag to reserve our tent when we arrived at our nightly stop an identification sticker for our bike, and a wrist tag withour race number that also looked suspiciously like one of those wrist bands they give you in hospital.
We then ventured on to our next stop to pick up a duffle bag with our number on it that would contain all our possessions for the next eight days, then off to the nutrition tent to pick up our numbered drink bottles which we would hand in each morning for volunteers to pass to us as we rode through feed stations. We then went around to every other tent basically just to see what we could get for free and ended up with a bag full of Buffs, t-shirts, towels and a laundry bag with our very own number embroidered on it. We have two allocated laundry days... The 26th and the 30th. John also purchsed his coffee vouchers, of which I think I may be just as grateful for as he will be!! As we strolled around with our race bags, me with mine on my back like a pack, if you were walking behind me, you would have been forgiven for thinking that you were behind a large bag that had grown legs and was walking of it's own accord.
I then headed off on a small mission to find myself a pair of shorts that would fit (it was time to resign myself to the fact that I had maybe under-packed when I only brought one pair with me). We then went to sit in front of the huge stage in the sun for our race briefing and to watch some guy named Kenny break a world trials record for basically the longest bunny hop at 2.9m!!!
Back home, it was time to crack into the preparation. Over the last week, I have been collecting things that I thought I may need... Snacks, clothes and gear... And it currently all lay in a huge pile next to my bike box in my room. Armed with enough ziploc bags to supply a small army, we took over Gavin and Sarah's living room for the afternoon and got packing with some sort of organised chaos. I used a separate ziploc bag for different things... A bag for my nutrition, a bag for my after-race snacks, a bag for my undies and for my spare parts... Then it was all shoved very elegantly into this huge bag, sure to turn into my worst nightmare sometime later in the week.
Number plates and stickers also took their place on our bikes and jerseys, and I was left with a neat little pile of gear for the next day, plus a "stuff to pack in the morning" pile (this pile included bum cream and toiletries).
So it's finally here... And I have a sneaking suspicion that day zero will be as easy as it gets. John asked me this afternoon how I was feeling about tomorrow, and to be honest, I don't quite know how to sum that up in one word... Nervous, excited, keen to just get in and start, maybe a little bit scared. Either way, whatever comes of the next 8 days, the journey to date has still been an amazing experience, and I couldn't think of a better dude to share that experience with than John... Thanks buddy... Let's go rip up some South African dirt and have a wicked time!!!
damn I am enjoying these blog updates! It's like being a fly on the wall looking down at what is going on.
ReplyDeleteGive it heaps guys and keep the rubber side down.
Good stuff, Megan! Go hard!
ReplyDelete