Cape to Cape 2015

[turboknapp]

G'day guys,

I know there is a few cycling people out there, been asked to join a team for this years Cape to Cape.

Seriously considering it, have a good bike to handle it and a reasonable fitness level re: extra is certainly required.

Just wondering if anyone has done it and can provide any insight to the ride itself.

Cheers

[Darkside]

Have done it twice now. It's a great event. Really well run. With reasonable fitness and average mtb skills getting through it will be no drama. Just become a case of how long you spend out there each day :)

Will be riding again this year but planning to ride with the missus and keep her company.

The ride itself... Day 1 is about 45k from Augusta to Hamlin bay. Not particularly technical but there are some big climbs early on (heartbreak hill among others) and a beach section which can be difficult to actually ride. Is regarded as one of the tougher days.

Day 2 from Hamelin bay to Xanadu winery. Mixture of fire trail with some single track (boranup) and about 60k.

Day 3 highlight was the Margaret river pines single track. They are just about to get logged so will be some reworking of day 3 I reckon was also a 50 odd km day for memory. From Xanadu through to colonial brewery

Day 4 is about 60-70 km and is a smash fest from colonial brewery in margs to dunsborough. Other than the middle Earth single track in Treeton it's flat out on fire trail and sealed roads until you hit the final single track in dunsborough.

Main thing is to try to do a good job of recovering from each day so you can keep backing up and stay on top of bike maintenance so you don't suffer any mechanicals.

[Greg Rust]

Good write up, I'm doing my first one this year. Still trying to decide between Dually and hard tail.

[Darkside]

If you are serious about going fast, hard tail for sure. The course really isn't that technical. My preference is dually. Less fatigue over the 4 days and a decent one is almost as light and fast as a hard tail. Your 140mm of travel is prob 20-40mm more than you need :)

[Greg Rust]

It's actually 150mm but whats a couple of mm between friends. :) you're correct as it's an all mountain bike way over done for that course.

I'm going to ride the Scott Genius 720 for training and then decide based on fitness which way to go.

Anyone got any good training plans?

[Darkside]

No set plan,

but general vibe was interval training during the week on roadie or trainer (some spin classes thrown in) and then long MTB rides on the weekend doing two days back to back. Seemed to do the trick.

[vy ss ute m6]

Done it 3 years now, although no training at all for 12months last year meant I cooked it on day 1, skipped day 2 and thrashed day 3 for a bit of fun :).

Course description above is pretty accurate - Day 1 is tough, the beach is mellow really compared to the dunes in and out - that's the killer I find.

I've rolled a Cannondale F29 hard tail for the last 3 years and will be upgrading to a carbon superlight hard tail this year, just undecided yet on whether its a carbon F29 or Trek Superfly. A dually would probably be quicker/nicer for Day 3, but everywhere else, 29er hard tails can't really be beaten for the race.