Average Joes

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Ok to kick off, how old are both of you and where are you currently located?

Deon: 28 years old, I live in Vredehoek, up above Cape Town (I did spend some time in Jhb living with my dad - hate that place.)
Sean: 31 years old, living in Woodstock. Originally from Durban but living in Cape Town for the last 4 years. Definitely miss the warm water.

How many years have you been in the water and what are your local breaks?
Deon: 15 years on the boogie and I would def say the Weskus, Derdesteen North.
Sean: 17yrs, I haven’t been in Cape Town long enough to say I am a “local” at one particular spot, but I do have a love for places like Llandudno,  the Hoek and the West Coast.

So a crew of boogies are riding the Epic this year. Give me a brief introduction into what exactly the Cape Epic is?

Deon: The ABSA Cape Epic is one of the world’s toughest multi stage mountain bike races. It is the world’s largest fully serviced mountain bike race. It's a very exclusive race and entries are very hard to come by. Olympians, world champs and the cream of the crop of world mountain biking converge on the race to take part in the Cape Epic to battle out for the R1 000 000 prize pool across the 5 categories. It runs over 8 days over 700km with over 16000m of altitude gain (equivalent of climbing Mount Everest twice) through some of the toughest terrain the Western Cape can throw at you.

Deon, you have ridden the epic before, but didn't finish, what happened?

Deon: Yes, I competed in the 2009 edition. It was on the 3rd day, all I recall was descending at about 45km/hr down a very rough section. I was sitting 2nd wheel behind a German rider when he suddenly came to a complete stop and the last thing I remember hitting him and rolling down a very steep cliff section. I had a compression fracture in my neck c1-6 and concussed to the max. I recall coming to in the ambulance on route to the hospital. That was my race. I was devastated to say the least. 6 months of recovery. I'm very lucky. So some unfinished business this time around.  

When did you guys start training? And what does training involve?

Deon: We started training around June/July 2012. We are with daisy way coaching systems. We are Ina very tight program, our week days would involve some high intensity vO max and lactic threshold work including gym and core. Weekends are for the long 5-6 hour training rides.

What bikes are you riding?

Deon: I am riding a Trek Superfly 100 AL pro 29er. That baby is bulletproof!
Sean: I'm on a Giant Anthem X2 26er, pride and joy!

Who is the fitter one of the two of you?

Deon: Hahah.  My ego! We are both very similar at the moment. Our heart rates are very close all the time which is a very good sign.
Sean: I did a lot of trail running last year with my last big race being the one day Otter Trail run but definitely think we both have our strengths and weaknesses; I do think Deon is stronger on the bike though.

Do you eat lots of Pasta?

Deon: No. Not much at all! There are so many better meals out there to load up on. Plus, I don't think they make xxl sized bikes...
Sean: Hell yes, I love pasta, can't get enough of it but I do try eat healthy and mix it up a bit.

What part of the Epic is the hardest? The mental or the physical?

Deon: Good question. Yes you have to be in pristine condition and super fit. But 70% of the battle sits in your head. If you can conquer those demons in your head then half the battle is won.
Sean: I think what eventually happens is that you push your physical to its limits and then it's the mental aspect that goes beyond and gets you to the finish line.

So are you professional, do you have some big corporate sponsor, I heard the entry ticket to this costs 40K? How do you get a ticket?

Deon: No we not pro's, we the average joes! And no, we have no big sponsors, heck that would be amazing. We all self funded at the moment. When you on the bike, the seat owns your ass, when you off the bike, the bank does ... The organisers release a limited amount of tickets after the completion of the epic every year.
Sean: 100 tickets went in less than 60 seconds.
Deon: We were lucky to get one. My heart dropped when Sean called me ...

Ok so you are self funded, hectic. So how does that work in relation to equipment and medical on route? Do you have a back up team following you?

Deon: Well being self funded means you are really stretching your equipment to the limit. All aspects of it, bike, tyres, bibs and drive trains. In the Epic you are not allowed to have any outside assistance so we do everything ourselves. When it comes to the technical’s whilst racing, we just hope and pray the bike gods are kind to us and keep the breakdown easy to repair.
Sean: We do have options to purchase maintenance and massage packages for after each days racing which basically gets our bikes and bodies ready for the next days racing.

You guys are doing this all for a good cause, tell me more about this.

Deon: Yes, we are trying to raise R50 000 for the Cansa association through the give and gain foundation. Cancer is the one disease that affects almost everyone. My father passed away from cancer and my mother is a breast cancer survivor it is a very personal mission and if we can give something back to CANSA through our Cape epic effort then it is the least we can do.

If people want to donate how do they do so?

Deon: People can donate directly through the give and gain account we have set up or they can contact either Sean or me and we can assist in anyway. There is links on our Facebook epic4cancer page and on our blog.

Are you guys going to full new age media on this and will you be providing updates and photos of your missions on the epic?

Deon: Yes we are going to be providing full day-to-day accounts of the every stage till the finish on all of our media platforms.
Sean: Hopefully updating during the event as well depending on coverage plus we'll both be riding with Go Pro cameras to make sure we have everything covered.

After the Epic is done and dusted... got any surf plans?

Deon: Sumatra and Philippines cloud 9 thanks!
Sean: Sumatra for a well deserved surf trip! Amped! 

Nice one guys, good luck with the Epic, will be holding thumbs you finish. Rather you than me.

To follow Epic4Cancer check out the following:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Epic4Cancer
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Epic4Cancer?ref=hl
Blog: www.epic4cancerblog.wordpress.com 

For donations in a secure enviroment please use the Givengain site: http://www.givengain.com/activist/75684/projects/3795