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<\/a>Nick Muzik\/Cape Epic\/SPORTZPICS<\/span><\/p>\nMountain-bike racing is very much like life \u2013 you have good days and bad days. To be happy, you have to know how to deal with the bad ones. In bike racing, it\u2019s easy to handle a good day, because it\u2019s all smiles, high fives and hugs, the true test however is how you manage the bad days.<\/p>\n
Now that the dust has settled on one of the most exciting women\u2019s races in Absa Cape Epic history, Team Spur-Specialized\u2019s Ariane Kleinhans reflects on what was a far tougher race for her than most know. In fact, it very nearly ended after Stage 1 in Tulbagh.<\/p>\n
Broken<\/h2>\n
\u201cCrossing the finish line after Stage 1 I just didn\u2019t know how I was going to manage another six days like that,\u201d Kleinhans says, explaining how on the longest stage of the 2016 race \u2013 a 108km loop around the Tulbagh Valley from Saronsberg Wine Estate \u2013 she and partner Annika Langvad got away early and were working hard to claim back the women\u2019s orange jersey Team Ascendis Health had won on the Prologue. \u201cThen a little crash happened, I kind of felt that my brakes weren\u2019t working as well as before but I didn\u2019t think about it too much and just tried to get on with it and get to the finish,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Langvad tried to keep the pace up to cross the finish with a good time buffer, but Kleinhans simply couldn\u2019t hold her wheel, something that was hugely frustrating for both. \u201cAnnika was just riding away from me and I could feel she was also frustrated because she couldn\u2019t understand how I could be so slow, even on the flat sections,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was absolutely horrible, I tried my hardest and then when Jennie [stenerhag] and Robyn [de Groot] caught us with 2km to go it was like a hammer in my head. We were leading the whole way. The entire stage\u2026 How could I be so useless?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kleinhans took the defeat as confirmation that her build-up had not been what it should\u2019ve been, that she had not done enough. \u201cIt was like: you\u2019re not going to win this race,\u201d she says of the demons in her head.<\/p>\n If the physical part was tough for her to deal with, the mental aspect was nearly impossible. It was a symptom of a trying, emotional time for Ariane during the crucial training months leading up to the Epic. Ariane was wrestling with a painful divorce from her pro mountain biker husband Erik Kleinhans.<\/p>\n \u201cIn December and January I really struggled with motivation,\u201d she says. \u201cSomething which is really hard to admit, because it\u2019s a privilege to do what I do. You know, you feel like you should be happy and enjoy it, but I just struggled with myself. I was depressed for a long time there and just a normal day was quite difficult to manage sometimes. Despite the ups and downs, I knew I just had to do the training, so I got it done and never missed an important training session,\u201d Kleinhans says.<\/p>\n \u201cI just wanted to train alone and be by myself because I always compare myself to others and feel bad if I can\u2019t keep up and that puts me down,\u201d she says, admitting that she\u2019d often be crying on the bike.<\/p>\n In later February \u2013 a crucial stage in her build-up to the Epic \u2013 there were two big hiccups. \u201cI couldn’t do Tankwa because of a fever,\u201d Kleinhans says. \u201cThat was quite a knock mentally because part of Tankwa went through the [Cape Epic] route\u2026 and all that sand and stuff\u2026 it would\u2019ve been good just getting into stage race mode again. So missing out on that was quite difficult,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n A week later Kleinhans finished second behind Robyn de Groot at the Ashburton Investments National MTB Series event at Sabie, a race she\u2019d won for the previous three years and had always used as a gauge of her fitness. By her exceptionally high standards, she took the loss as further confirmation that her form was poor. \u201cIt was a really hard day for me,\u201d Kleinhans wrote on her Facebook page after the race. \u201cI was suffering horribly trying to chase her down and was only left with disappointment after crossing the line. Coming second is just not good enough for me at this race. It hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n There was another factor at play that Ariane didn\u2019t properly examine at the time, as she was locked in her own self-doubt. Both Robyn de Groot and her Acendis Health teammate Jennie Stenerhag had done the hard work to reach Ariane\u2019s level, and even surpass it. In 2016 the South African women\u2019s marathon race scene was transformed into a genuine world-class showdown.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething really helped me to not spiral into the dark hole of depression that time,\u201d she says. That something, was adoring fan little Emma Charlotteaux. \u201cWith Team Spur we planned a question and answer session for the kids at the race venue on Sunday, the day after the race. As ambassadors for the Spur School Mountain Bike League, our team is trying to inspire kids and young adults to follow their own passion and motivate them to live an active healthy lifestyle,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Emma came up to Ariane at the Q&A and asked how she could be like her. \u201cIt\u2019s very humbling that people would find me inspiring. Kids like Emma make you want to be a better person, it took me back to when I was a swimming coach [in Switzerland]. They really copy you if you are a role model for them, they look at what you are doing and then do the same,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was challenging for me because I was suffering in my heart a lot. Obviously then you get frustrated and you appear grumpy and it is difficult to be nice and be a good person. But when you think of those kids who look up to you, you get some perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n If the serendipitous meeting with Emma had been the mental catalyst she needed to kick into Epic race mode, then the arrival of Ariane\u2019s Team Spur Specialized partner Annika served as the physical bullet. The pair teamed up at the five-day Tour of Good Hope road race in early March.<\/p>\n \u201cTo really go into the hurt zone and to know that I can still do it, I would have never trained that hard on my own \u2013 [former British road champion] Sharon Laws pushed us really hard and that was good,\u201d she says, reflecting on her third place overall. \u201cIt was very good racing it with Annika because she is kind of the benchmark. Although I couldn\u2019t keep up with her, I knew I was feeling strong and ready to race the Epic and that did a lot for my confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n That self-confidence all but evaporated at the Stage 1 finish line in Saronsberg, until Team Spur mechanic JP Jacobs examined her Specialized S-Works Era.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the stage, we first had interviews and press to do, I didn’t know about the brakes until much later.\u201d Ariane\u2019s support team rallied around her when she crawled across the line. Team Spur soigneur Brent Botha and Specialized team manager Kandice Venter wiped away the tears and dirt etched into her face and readied her for the podium presentation. Ariane was broken and it was a tense 15 minutes just getting her ready to receive the bouquet for their second-place finish.<\/p>\n JP had picked up the problem in the wash bay, hosing Ariane\u2019s bike down: a high-pressure washer applied directly to the rear wheel wouldn\u2019t turn it. When Ariane had crashed roughly 15km from the end of Stage 1 she had bent her rear disc brake rotor, effectively jamming her brakes for the remainder of the stage.<\/p>\n It was an insignificant crash, something that happens countless times over eight days of challenging terrain. In her rush to get moving again Ariane didn’t check the rear wheel was spinning freely, and in her end-of-stage fatigue she just assumed her legs had given up. Ariane had been dishing out huge power just to keep her bike upright and edging along on Annika’s wheel…<\/p>\n \u201cWhen JP showed me how bad it was, I thought, okay, it\u2019s not your training and preparation, you still have something in the legs,\u201d she says. The feeling of dread was starting to lift.<\/p>\n The following day Kleinhans and Langvad won the women\u2019s category of the 100th stage of the Absa Cape Epic. And they did it in fine style. Playing a classic tactical game, the pair bided their time in third place behind Team Sport for Good\u2019s Sabine Spitz and Yana Belomoina and Sally Bigham and Adel Morath of Team Topeak Ergon for much of the stage as it explored the rugged Witzenberg Valley. They were closely marking erstwhile race leaders, Team Ascendis Health. Then, on the final steep and technical singletrack descent back into the Tulbagh Valley, they let rip. Ariane led a wild charge down the mountainside and caught both Sport for Good and, towards the bottom, Topeak Ergon. They dispatched Bigham and Morath on the flat run into the finish line and turned their 58-second deficit to Ascendis Health into a three-minute, 17-second lead.<\/p>\n The Stage 2 win saw them slip into the women\u2019s orange jersey. \u201cI had a lot of doubt in the build-up,\u201d Ariane admits. \u201cIt came in waves \u2013 sometimes they were huge and I felt like I couldn\u2019t even do a two-hour training ride. But Tour of Good Hope helped with confidence and I got more positive then. So in the week leading up to the Epic and round about the press conference I started getting that feeling again, you know, we had done it the past two years so maybe we could do it again,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the Prologue and Stage 1 that feeling was gone\u2026 so to win Stage 2 was really special, it was the turning point.\u201d The win ultimately set up an emotional third straight overall victory when the world\u2019s most prestigious stage race finished at Meerendal Wine Estate some five days later.<\/p>\n Yet the racing was far from over and Team Spur-Specialized had to cross swords with the powerful and highly-motivated Ascendis Health as well as Topeak Ergon and the late-charging Sport for Good. The new separate start batch for women had transformed the battle for supremacy and the honour of wearing the orange jersey. The stages were fought at close quarters and the margins were tight. It was undoubtedly the most exciting women\u2019s racing ever at the Cape Epic.<\/p>\n Stage 3 saw a monumental battle with the top three women\u2019s teams hitting the final singletrack together and arriving at the finish line in Wellington within just over a minute of each other. Sadly it also saw the sudden withdrawal of form team Ascendis Health\u2019s Jennie Stenerhag, with heart complications on the finish line.<\/p>\n \u201cStage 3 was another long one. We were hanging with Topeak all the way and that\u2019s when I knew it was possible to take the overall, but that it would be a fierce fight toward the end,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cI was very sad to hear of Jennie\u2019s withdrawal. Robyn and Jennie are up there. South African racing is tough. I hope people appreciate that you have to be world-class to race with Yana and Sabine. It would have been very interesting to take on Ascendis all week.\u201d<\/p>\n Ariane and Annika claimed Stage 3 and 4, before veteran German multiple World Champion Sabine Spitz and Ukrainian U23 World Champ Yana Belomoina took the race by the scruff of the neck and won the final three stages.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t quite expect Sabine and Yana to come so strong towards the end. I thought our battle would be with Ascendis and then Topeak, but there were a few surprises and we were racing all the way to Meerendal!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>Photo by JB Badenhorst\/Specialized.<\/span><\/p>\nPrelude to a Breakdown<\/h2>\n
Perspective<\/h2>\n
Bouncing back<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo by JB Badenhorst\/Specialized.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>Photo by JB Badenhorst\/Specialized.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/a>Photo by Gary Perkin\/Cape Epic\/SPORTZPICS.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>Photo by Sam Clark\/Cape Epic\/SPORTZPICS<\/span><\/p>\nPushed to the Line<\/h2>\n