Pinner’s Paincave: Putting our efforts into perspective
Sombre is the best way to describe Zone and my emotion this afternoon. While we had a brilliant Stage 6, our elation at moving up to 55th on GC was dampened after we learnt that a rider, who we have been riding around over the course of the past few days, had suffered very serious […]
Pinner’s Paincave: Let Them Eat Cake
The most important thing to take away from today is that it’s over. Zone and I are safe, healthy and even snuck past a few ous on GC. Winning. Photo credit: Wayne Reiche. Stage 4 certainly lived up to the pre-event hype as 2018’s “Queen Stage”. Reflecting on our time in the cave today, it […]
Pinner’s Paincave: No Heroics, Got The Job Done
Photo credit: Gary Perkin. Stage 3 was one of those days where you just had to get it done. 122km is not to be messed with. There were no heroics from us today. It was a case of focusing on keeping things consistent. This sounds simple, but it’s often harder than one thinks. Especially when […]
Pinner’s Paincave: Unwrapping the Radness
Unveiling the Blur’s decals after today’s Stage. Photo credit: Gary Perkin. Today was a great day. It not only marked another solid effort by Team MCL on Stage 2, but also the culmination of months’ worth of preparation that came together with this morning’s global unveiling of Santa Cruz’s all-new XC / Marathon machine, the […]
Pinner’s Paincave: Danger! Gevaar! Ingozi! on Stage 1
#LightBro. Photo: Gary Perkin. Stage 1 got off to a roaring start… pan flat and on good, albeit loose surfaces. As A Batch hurtled down narrow vineyard roads, bar to bar, riders jostled for position. Every single one of the 80 odd riders wanted to be towards the front. Those who know the Epic will […]
Pinner’s Paincave: Epic Prologue
Photo credit: Gary Perkin. No matter how many Epics you’ve ridden, every rider shares a common emotion ahead of the Prologue. Butterflies. As your team number is called and you shuffle into line waiting for your turn to step up and into the start hut, your swarm of butterflies relentlessly up their tempo, swirling around […]