![\"ccs-62657-0-17371600-1451990396.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-17371600-1451990396.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Howard Grotts is set to pair James Reid as Team Spur-Specialized in the 2016 Absa Cape Epic.<\/span><\/p>\nGrotts added: \u201cI haven\u2019t done anything like the Cape Epic before, so I don\u2019t really have any expectations. But, that being said, I\u2019m focused on coming into this race with good form and being competitive. I’d love to get a stage win.\u201d<\/p>\n
The American said that the only comparable race he\u2019d done was the Marathon World Championships in Val Gardena, Italy in 2014: \u201cThat had 4 000m of climbing in 87km and I felt pretty good overall, but that was just one day of racing, I\u2019m curious to see what it\u2019s like to race huge days back-to-back.\u201d<\/p>\n
They are both 23-years-old and relatively young for the marathon stage race discipline, but their outstanding pedigree of both riders suggests that they could become highly competitive combination in the Epic format.<\/p>\n
The unique nature of the 2016 route will also suit them.<\/p>\n
Reid said it looked \u201crough, tough and challenging\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompared with previous years it does look like it\u2019s becoming more refined, with a closer focus on the quality of trails on the route,\u201d he added. \u201cI like the fact that there is more singletrack than ever, and it\u2019s also exploring some different host venues, like Boschendal, which is 10 minutes from where I live (in Stellenbosch).\u201d<\/p>\n
Grotts is of course not familiar with South African conditions: \u201cIt looks incredibly challenging, even if it\u2019s shorter than previous versions, so I can\u2019t imagine what it will be like to actually race it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe amount of vertical gain alone makes the route daunting, but I like climbing so I hope that\u2019s in our favour.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two riders know one another from the World Cup circuit but have not ridden together as a team: \u201cJames and I have raced against each other but never trained together,\u201d said Grotts. \u201cI\u2019ll be in South Africa a full five weeks before the Epic, so that gives ample time to train together and even do a few races.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grotts will travel to South Africa at the beginning of next month and Reid said that \u201cHoward and I will line up at the Tankwa Trek in mid-February and then we\u2019ll have a lot of preparation time together between that event and the Cape Epic\u201d.<\/p>\n
The American will be coming out of winter and said he had not been spending a lot of time on his bike towards the end of last year: \u201cI was mostly doing gym work and cross training, like running, to keep good overall fitness. The serious bike training begins now, which is plenty of time for a couple of big training blocks before the Cape Epic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reid, by sharp contrast, has been revelling in the local sunshine: \u201cWith the weather being great down in the Cape at the moment it\u2019s easy to get out and about. That being said I\u2019ve also been focusing on a fair bit of gym work and running too.\u201d<\/p>\n
They will both be riding on S-Works Epic WC bikes: \u201cA full-suspension seems mandatory for the rough trails – especially with 110km of singletrack,\u201d said Grotts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South African Cross Country Champion James Reid will partner his American counterpart Howard Grotts in the 2016 Absa Cape Epic and the young pairing could provide a glimpse into the future of the world\u2019s premier mountain bike stage race. Both Reid and US champion Grotts cut their teeth in cross country racing but have also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":45001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[76,24,1648,2157],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-18897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-cape-epic","tag-howard-grotts","tag-james-reid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18897"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=18897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}