Cape Epic Q&A

Photo credit: @hillwillie

Q: First off, how did you go about preparing for the Cape Epic's unique challenges—the two-person team format, the notorious summer heat, and the eight-day length—as first-timers to the event who had to deal with the daunting travel from North America?

Lespy: When Rob and I decided to take this challenge on, we knew we would be good in the team format. We did a point-to-point training camp down the coast of California together in 2024, and those 1550 km in eight days were more than enough to convince us that we work well together. While we did not do any specific training together before the event, we did have five days on the ground in South Africa before the race started to figure things out. Knowing that the trip to South Africa would be arduous, I spent a little more time at home this winter compared to previous years, though my one trip was a big one, spending the month of January in Australia. There were some hot days down there, especially in Tasmania, and that kickstarted my heat prep. Once home, I did another block of more specific heat training, during which I would supplement sessions on the bike with 20-25 minute sessions in the sauna post-workout. My wife and I have a barrel sauna in the backyard, which makes things super easy. As far as the challenge of an eight-day race, both of us are well-versed in stage racing and we were confident that we had the depth and experience in pacing that we needed to race strongly day in and day out.

Rob: I took a two-pronged approach. First, I knew I had to become a much better technical rider—definitely my biggest weakness. Second, I needed to be fit enough for what would likely be the hardest week of racing I’d do all year. Unfortunately, we had a brutal winter in Victoria, so the technical work got scrapped and I went all in on fitness. Thankfully, my background as a road racer made the idea of eight days of racing a little less intimidating!

Q: The travel from North America to South Africa is a bit of a haul, to put it lightly. Were there any obstacles in getting there, or in the lead-up to the race start?

Lespy: It is certainly a haul! To be honest, though, it all went very smoothly. For me, it was two back-to-back overnight flights. The first was Montreal to London with a 10-hour layover in London, then on to Cape Town. The best move we made was to get a hotel room at the London airport and have a good sleep partway through the journey. We weren’t arriving super early for the race, so doing everything we could in travel to reduce the load was important. I did my best to eat right on the plane and packed single-serve EFS hydration packets to make sure I was getting electrolytes to stay hydrated. 

Rob: Honestly, while the travel was excessive to say the least, it couldn’t have gone more smoothly. I had an 18-hour flight from Vancouver to London with an eight-hour layover, booked a hotel, got some sleep, then took a 12-hour flight to Cape Town, where I lucked out with a full row to myself. I actually got a solid amount of sleep. As far as long-haul flights go, it was a dream.

Q: Tell us a little about the atmosphere in the race villages each night, as far as the accommodations, food, overall vibe, resources available to the riders, etc.

Lespy: We opted to stay out of the race village and booked accommodations that followed the path of the race. This gave us a lot more control over our nutrition and recovery. In some cases, we were able to spin back to the house after the stage and be showered and in recovery mode within an hour. That being said, the race village is a huge production, unlike anything I have ever seen. We got to experience it before and after the race and that was awesome. 

Rob: Lespy and I are way too soft to be sleeping in tents for something like this! I truly don’t know how people did it—between the extreme heat and excessive humidity, you’d never cool off or dry out. We stayed in an Airbnb, and that was challenging enough. We did take advantage of the hire-a-mechanic service, which was a total gamechanger. After day one, just being able to hand off the bike and pick it up the next morning clean and dialed was amazing—just like the good old days.

Q: Describe the biggest challenge you faced during the course of the event, whether physical, mental, mechanical, logistical or otherwise. 

Lespy: I think the biggest challenge was the logistics in the days leading up to the race. We were a relatively big group, with two teams racing (my wife Haley Smith and Aussie Ella Blood teamed up and crushed it) and two support staff. There was a lot to do in terms of planning, bike prep, checking out courses, race registration, media, organizing wheels and spare parts for out on the race course, and more. Once we rolled down the start ramp for the prologue and got things rolling, all the stress went away and we could just focus on riding and working together. 

Rob: Honestly, every day was a challenge. Technically, I’m nowhere near Lespy’s level, and even from a fitness standpoint, this kind of racing is so different from what I normally train for. I was in the box pretty much the entire time. When I say the challenging part was everything between the start and finish line, I’m not joking. It took 100% focus and effort every single day to barely hang on while Andrew patiently waited for me. I’ve never been under that kind of pressure so consistently.

Q: Was there one stage in particular that stands out in your mind above the others? (and why?) 

Lespy: Stage two stands out to me for a few reasons. First off, it was a very unique stage: a 66 km time trial race, which is not something they have done in recent years. Rob and I were both riding strong and working well together that day, and we had the benefit of starting behind some riders that were well within our reach of catching. It is always a big boost to get to overtake your one-, two-, and three- minute people in a TT. We kind of came apart in the end, but it was a really good performance overall. It also happened to be my birthday. Our legendary soigneur Fraser told the announcer and they played a song and announced it when we came across the line. Pretty special.

Rob: Oh yeah—stage two, the time trial. I was feeling strong and confident, as time trials are my thing. We were absolutely ripping, passing every one of the 15 teams that started ahead of us. Then, with 10 km to go, my legs completely seized, and I had cramping like I’ve never experienced. I had to get off the bike three separate times, and Andrew even had to push me up some of the climbs. We got caught by almost every team we had passed. It went from being our best day to our worst—just like that.

Q: What sort of expectations did you have for yourself going into the Epic and how did it compare with the reality?

Lespy: I don’t think I set clear expectations for myself in terms of a result, but I did know exactly what I wanted to get out of the trip to Cape Epic. This race has been on my radar for a while, and it is one where I believe I have the experience and skillset to compete at the front. Being a pairs race, the partnership really matters. With much of Rob’s time in his career being spent on the road, I knew that we likely would not be able to compete at the very front, so my goals for the race were to learn as much as possible about it for future editions, get some time at race speed, and get a good training benefit for the rest of the season. And, it goes without saying, that another big goal was to enjoy the experience of racing with a good friend and good crew. 

Rob: Ha! My expectations couldn’t have been more off. I knew it would be hard, but I didn’t expect this. It wasn’t especially technical by West Coast standards, but the speed and intensity exposed every inefficiency; the heat, which I thought I was prepared for, hit way harder than I expected; and the daily demands were far beyond anything I’ve done before. I knew it’d be tough—but I was still surprised.

Q: Did you have any “earworms,” in terms of a song or mantra that consistently ran through your mind during the race? 

Lespy: There was a song that I put on during the drive to one of the stages that the rest of the crew was not happy to have in their ear during the race. Not sure I have the guts to share what it was, though. 

Rob: My inner monologue basically went: “Don’t crash. Don’t die. Don’t get dropped. Don’t forget to drink. Don’t forget to focus. You’re too stressed—relax! Wait—too relaxed! Focus! Don’t die. Catch up!”

Yeah… that, for eight days.

Q: How did you and your teammate support each other during the more difficult moments?

Lespy: Communication, empathy, and patience. If you followed along, you know that Rob was putting in 100% every day, and I know firsthand what that is like, so I tried my best to be the teammate that I would want in that situation. In a race like Cape Epic, there is no individual, there is just the team. Over the eight days we worked together to extract the best out of ourselves each day. 

Rob: Andrew was probably the most patient person on the planet, and I’m so grateful for that. If the roles were reversed, I’m not sure I would’ve been nearly as good of a teammate. Beyond that, I mostly tried to hide behind humor—tears of a clown kind of vibe. Every day was tough, but it wasn’t hard to shake it off and start joking around shortly after the finish.

Q: Were you able to implement and maintain a specific nutrition strategy throughout the race or did it end up evolving as the event wore on? 

Lespy: My nutrition strategy on the bike was very simple, aiming for 1000 mL of fluids and 120g of carbohydrates per hour. I would adjust the “concentration” of carbs/fluids throughout the day based on temperature, consuming a bit more carbs early in the day when it was cooler, and a bit less later on when it was hotter. I did this mostly with EFS-PRO High Carb and it was really easy. Because it is such a light tasting drink, it was never a struggle to drink, even after eight days of consuming it in huge quantities. I have been using the product for two years now, and it was comforting to be able to rely on something that I knew would work. There were many other things to worry about with this race, so just sticking to my nutrition plan consistently worked perfectly. 

Rob: Andrew can handle more carbs per hour than I can—he’s just better at training that in advance. I didn’t want to push too hard and risk GI issues, so I stuck to around 72–90g/hour, mostly from high-carb mix. The spacing of the feed zones made that pretty manageable, and I’d fill in the gaps on longer stages with Liquid Shots.

Q: Did you have to deal with any injuries or specific physical setbacks? 

Lespy: I had one small crash on the queen stage, when I slid out over a slippery bridge. It was not a big deal, but I did come down on my left hand and pinky finger, which I broke last year at XCM World Champs and had surgery to repair. Initially I was worried I had injured it, but in the end it was all good. 

Rob: Honestly, if there was one thing I was really impressed with, it was how well my body held up. Aside from my thumbs getting destroyed from shifting so much, everything else was solid. I’ll absolutely take that as a win!

Q: What was the funniest thing that happened during your Epic?

Lespy: We had a lot of fun with our crew–there is a dynamic when you get deep into a stage race and feel super fatigued where it doesn’t take much to make you laugh. In hindsight, I imagine they were mostly funny little moments like that, but there were a lot of them. 

Rob: Looking back, the funniest thing is probably that Andrew actually convinced me this would be a great idea. Now I realize it was payback for last year’s coast ride, where he brought a pen to a gunfight. Lesson learned! 

Q: Was there a particular piece of gear that proved invaluable during the trip? 

Lespy: It’s tough to pick just one piece. Cape Epic is a race that pushes every piece of gear to the limit. I will choose two: tough tires and good sealant. There were goat heads everywhere on course that could poke a small hole in your tire. I ran a special version of the Maxxis Aspen, made specifically for this race, which has a slightly tougher casing. I paired it with a generous serving of Stan’s Race Sealant, and the setup worked flawlessly over the whole race. 

Rob: Does our second “volunteer” soigneur count? Fraser—the roommate of Haley’s race partner—loves a good adventure and said he’d come over and help out for fun. Looking back, I don’t think we could’ve pulled the week off without him. Not exactly a piece of gear, but he was absolutely invaluable.

Q: What is the one thing that surprised you most about the Epic and do you plan to go back? 

Lespy: I was definitely surprised at both the level and popularity of this event specifically, and marathon mountain biking in South Africa generally. I knew it was a big deal, but to experience it firsthand was something else. It reminded me of some of the bigger World Cups or World Championships I have done in XCO. I am hoping that this scene or movement toward marathon mountain biking makes its way back to North America because it truly is an amazing way to race bikes and experience a place. 

YES! I am definitely going back. From the moment the race finished I was ready to go back.

Rob: I was pleasantly surprised to see glimpses of my old self by the end of the week. When I raced on the road, I’d usually get stronger as the days went on, or at least fatigue slower. That seemed to happen here, too, as we started moving up the standings after a few days of beatings. I’m not sure I’ll go back to the Cape Epic specifically, but the organizers are putting on a gravel race of similar quality this fall—and that’s definitely piqued my interest.