[Cape Epic 2016] 序幕戰 Prologue

Derek
中文 by Fitz.hk

Today was the big day – the first and one of the most exciting days of the Cape Epic. The tension was so strong that I was up at 3am and couldn’t get back to sleep.

終於都來到了 Cape Epic的第一日，也是整個比賽最刺激的其中一天，緊張的心情令我半夜3點醒來後，再也睡不著了。

The prologue is held in the wine estate of Meerendal. It was a bit confusing at first to find where we needed to be but we soon ran into Tanya who helped us get everything sorted. Unfortunately our plans for a warm up ride were derailed when i tried to shift gears and my Di-2 battery was dead. Immediately we started trying to get a charger but a kind shop owner took his battery out of his personal bike and lent it to me for the prologue. The mountain biking community is so helpful.

序幕戰在Meerendal酒莊舉行，到達起點時，我們完全不知該往何處報到，幸好中途碰上單車店的Tanya，在她幫忙下終於找到了方向。本來，我和鄭澤誠打算在起步前熱個身，可惜的是，我的Di-2電池竟然在這個時候沒電了! 多得附近一位單車店老闆，立刻拆下自己單車上的電池借給我，才得以順利起步。南非的山地車社群，真的令人感動。

We had just enough time to line up for the start of the prologue. Unlike last time we knew to pace ourselves rather than going hard at the start. This would pay off as some of the teams that overtook us in the first few kilometres we saw again on the climb having clearly used too much energy too early.

幾經波折，我們終於也趕得及排隊起步。與上次(2014年)不同，我們一早已打算要控制車速，不要一起步就花大量氣力去衝。這個留前鬥後的策略，後來也證實成功了，因為到上山路段，我們重新超越了不少早段排過我們頭的隊伍。

We set a moderate pace and focused on getting the first major climb out of the way. After that was a fast, loose descent down to the Quarry. Then it was over to the single track of Hoogekraal farm where we rode on Friday. Tanya’s advice here was invaluable and allowed us to go fast and stay safe.

由起步到第一座山，我們一直以不算很快的車速前進，爬過之後就是快速的落山路段，再之後，就去到抵埗當日當日Tanya帶我們練習的Hoogenkraal單車徑，她的心得在這時候真的很有用。

Then it was back over to Meerendal. There were a few steep climbs to keep us on our toes as well as very strong winds and at times we had to lean the bike into the wind just to go straight. Having overcome that, we finally got to ride up the famous “Stairway to Heaven” climb. The training at Black Diamond in Tin Fu Tsai really paid off as we could fly down the fast sweepy berms all the way down to the finish.

接著，就是騎回起點Meerendal的路段了。除了斜路，強風也是一大挑戰，有好些時候，我們要將單車傾向強風，才能保持直線。征服完這一站非常出名，有「天國的階梯(Stairway to Heaven)」之稱的上斜後，就一直落山衝回終點，之前在田夫仔的特訓，今之真的大派用場，這一段踩得很爽。

Overall, it was a good start to our Cape Epic and hopefully we’ve had our share of mechanical bad luck!

總體來說，今屆Cape Epic我們有個好開始，希望機件已經故障夠了，之後不要再出現!

Prologue大會精華片段：

You can follow all the action each day at http://epic.tracker.co.za/ (we are Team 264). Tomorrow we start at 2:00pm Hong Kong time, so don’t forget to tune in after lunch! Next report will be after Stage 1!

大家每日都可以到 http://epic.tracker.co.za/ 實時跟進我們情況，星期一的Stage 1 會在香港時間下午2時起步，到時見!

Thank you everyone for your support!

Prologue Summary

Distance 距離: 26km
Climbing 總爬升: 800m
Time 時間: 1 hour 51 min
Men Open Category Position 公開組排名: 246
Overall Position 總排名: 551

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Fitz.hk Facebook專頁
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[Cape Epic 2016] 到達開普敦 Arrival in Cape Town
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