Notes from the Cape

Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Distance: 110km
Race Elevation: Approx 2,000m
Total Participants: 40,000

Welcome to my preview of this years’ 2009 Cape Argus sportive, a spectacular ride in the surrounding mountains of Cape Town on the southern tip of South Africa. 

Its six days to go to the race and I have been acclimatising myself to the 30 degree plus conditions which isn’t hard to do having come from Britain’s worst winter in 20 years!  Stepping off the plane I was greeted with deep blue skies, a refreshing breeze and mountains all of which there seem to be plenty of.

I have been out on the bike doing some reconnaissance on the roads of the Argus for the past few days and so far it has been great riding – smooth roads, sun beating back off them and flanked by the many vine yards of this region, namely the Constantia wine valley.  The mountain passes are different to the many I have ridden in Europe in that they are shorter (5-10km), fairly direct in their ascent and with wide open roads meaning that when there is a sea breeze this made the climbing pretty tough.  I still have my compact chainset of 50/34 from last year’s Tours and fondos and I’m glad I left it on as I have been able to keep a good cadence up the climbs otherwise I would have been slightly laboured with a 53/39 chainset.  I have already made the ascent of two of the named climbs of the Argus, Chaplain’s Peak, which is the penultimate climb of Tour and is followed by Saigabossie making the end to the course much more challenging than the beginning.  On the western cost of the peninsula the climbs where outstanding.

The race starts in the Central Business District (CBD) of Cape Town (see map) nice and early at 6am in a huge starting zone with some 20 pens.  International entrants are allocated separate pens and this year I am in pen ‘FF’ with a start time of 8AM.  Having been on the roads and chatted to a number of riders I get the sense that this race is like no other.  That’s because it is – it’s the biggest race of its kind in the world in terms of numbers of participants (some 30,000).  I have ridden the likes of the Grand Fondo Pinarello and L’Etape du Tour (also catered for by La Fuga) as well as numerous sportifs in the UK like the Northern Rock Cyclone and I get the sense that none of these, even L’Etape, comes close to shear scale of the Argus.

Riders I have met talk of wide open main roads, even motorway for a few kilometres, being filled kerb to kerb with cyclists the whole way round.  Those of you who have done rides like this will know that groups of this size will ultimately end up in a number of stacks and this is certainly the case with the Argus but as long as you ride carefully and pay attention then the ride will be spectacular.

The town I am currently staying in (Hout Bay) is on the course and lies between the climbs of Chaplain’s and Saigabossie.  The locals talk of the race like a national holiday where everyone goes out to see it.  They fire up the ‘bry’ (or barbeque) and line the streets to watch the race.  Cafes and bars fill with riders looking to cool off and take on some fluids.  Everyone I have spoken to knows the race well and talk of it like a major sporting event like the World Cup or Tri-nations rugby.

The Cape Argus also differs slightly from the European sportifs in that this one is for the whole family – dads, kids, wives, granddads, aunts and uncles.  I have seen families training up and down the roads since I arrived and even articles on the national TV station tells of how families do it for the challenge as well as raising money for charity.  So I guess the nearest match I have for the Argus would be the London marathon – same scale, same people and same objectives.  But there are also a number of seeded pens, some containing professional riders and those pens are up at the front to they can escape the crowds and ride up the road.  Having not been on the bike much over the winter I’ll happily let them go eye-balls out for the first hour which is what always happens in these kinds of races.

Hopefully this gives you a quick insight into this years’ Cape Argus and I’ll be back with a full race review next week.  I’ve never experience such hype leading up to a bike ride, other than for the Grand Tours, so am really looking forward to it.  I need to get some miles in the legs before hand though!

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