Professional endurance competitor Rebecca Rusch has tackled her fair share of adventure races and 24-Hour mountain bike races throughout the years. Now, the Idahoan is in South Africa competing in the Absa Cape Epic, a nine-day endurance mountain bike stage race across the country’s scenic Western Cape. And we’re along for the ride. - Editor

Today's report is from Ryan (Specialized mechanic and DJ for the camp)

The day begins at 5:15 am with the horn of a tractor-trailer. This is the wake-up call at the Cape Epic, and for most people it’s time to put the chamois on, get their bag onto the transport vehicle and get some food in them before the 7 am start. For those of us staying in motor homes it means that we have another 45 minutes of sleep to look forward to. When 6 am rolls around I pull myself up off the 2-inch thick foam mattress that I’m “borrowing” from the event so that I can sleep comfortably under our Specialized 10X10’s.

Bongo serenade

After a much needed cup of joe I give Reba’s bike a quick once-over and tire pressure check. I brush my teeth and get my toolbox packed up about the time that Rebecca is taking off for the start. After the tent, tools, dishes, laundry, luggage, spare parts, and everything else is gently placed inside the RV, Claire and I go to a nearby café for a real breakfast, which is nice for a change. Then we book it towards the stage finish and on the way we actually get to see our first bit of the race, on day seven, as it passes across the road. That’s the bummer about this event: the supporters don’t actually ever get to see the race. We get to the race finish, which today is at a wine vineyard, set up and wait for Reba. Today I decided to get into the African spirit by bringing Rebecca’s newly purchased African drum onto the course to provide the racers with a beat.

When Reba comes in, it’s time for my real work to begin. I bring the bike over to the bike wash and while waiting in line I spray the bike down with degreaser before getting my hands on the power washer. I then carry the bike (we don’t want the tires getting dirty do we) back to our little home on wheels.

The first thing I do is completely wipe the bike down and inspect the tires and brake pads for wear and parts for damage and suspension for functionality. I replace anything that’s damaged or worn out. I replace the chain often (once a week or so) because it’s the cheapest thing on the bike to replace and a new chain makes the bike feel like new again. Plus it means that you don’t have to replace expensive chainrings and cassettes as often.

Then I go through the bike in a specific order so that the chances of me missing something go down. First I do complete bolt check. Then I go through the brakes, pedals, and finally one more bolt check. Today everything was good on Reba’s bike, so my job was easy. I rebuilt the pedals and bottom bracket yesterday and replaced the chain two days ago. She’s running tires with Armadillo Elite (a lighter version of Specialized’s Armadillo puncture resistant tire casing) which are holding up nicely in this thorny African Karoo.

Ryan cleans another bike

Mostly I worked on other people’s bikes today. People see the Specialized tent and come running for help. I can use my own discretion for which bikes I work on, since my job doesn’t require me to be at the service of randoms. But when I’m in a good mood or having a slow day, I love helping others out. Today I loaned a shock to a guy who blew out the 4-year-old BRAIN on his Epic. I made the swap for him and installed a few new bearings in the linkage while I was at it. He was nice to me, so I was nice to him.

The next guy who came around wasn’t so nice, so I didn’t help him. So, a word of advice to all you amateur racers: be very nice to the team wrenches, it might just get your bike to the start line on time.

On with my day: After tuning Reba and the other random bikes I was prompted to write this day-in-the-ife blog. Currently, I’m sitting under the 10X10’s listening to Dire Straits, Green Day and the frogs in the irrigation ditch next to us and Rebecca is bugging me to finish up so we can go to dinner and find out what the final stage has in store for the racers.

Now some notes from Reba:

Stage 7 was one of my favorite so far. I’m not sure if it’s because the mileage is winding down, or if I’m just getting into the lifestyle here. The biggest “whoohoo” moments for the day were the 20k or so of single track to finish the stage. It was much like riding in Bend, Oregon, with fast, winding trails through forest trees. It was smooth and so much more fun than riding in sand. I’m proud to say that I wasn’t passed by a single person on the single track section.

We finished in the vineyards and I can’t believe tomorrow is the last stage. I finished today unofficially to find Ryan playing the drums for me as I crested the hill at the end of the day. It was a sweet, very personal finish line. My time would have placed me third today in the womens’ field, just 10 minutes behind Sue Haywood and Jenny Smith. Tomorrow is rumored to be more technical riding again and will be our shortest stage yet. Sue Haywood reminded me today that there IS a 10th stage where we are all expected to perform well. That’s the MOYO, the official party tomorrow night!