Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Mt Hood Classic Photo ©: Swift |
|
Going Epic: Myriam Saugy prepares for the Cape Epic
29-year-old Swiss endurance racer Myriam Saugy is training for the Cape Epic mountain bike race to be held in South Africa from March 24 - 31, 2007. She set a goal of participating in the Cape Epic two years ago. In this diary, she documents her training and preparation for the off-road stage race.
Saugy began mountain biking in 2000 and racing in 2002. She now rides for Team Texner BMC (www.team-vtt-texner.ch) and is a member of the Swiss endurance national team. Saugy races as an amateur; she is also pursuing a teaching degree in history and geography.
South Africa, March 27, 2007
Stage three: Trying hard to keep smiling
Hello everybody,
It's 5.30pm (after Monday's stage). My legs are sore, I feel tired and today I started to wonder what I am doing here…But don't worry - I think there are a lot of people out here feeling the same way. The good thing is that we can cheer each other up.
Today was another very long day. We spent just over seven hours on the bike. My pulse is lower and lower as the days pass. I might be under the 120 beats per minute by the end of the week.
Today has been a day of ups and downs not only the course took us up and down but both Fabienne and I went through ups and downs. The first down is actually kind of funny: Fabienne set her alarm clock an hour to early this morning she was all ready as the first people started to get up. Then I was so unorganized on my side I couldn't believe it; I was still trying to pack my bag I told you about as everybody was already walking to the start - terrible.
Anyways, things got better once we started the race. Actually, we had a very good start today. We kept passing and being passed by the Rotwild team (who are our direct competitors). It lasted for about 50km until we got to the steepest climb of the day. We couldn't actually ride it and had to step off. It's where Fabienne realized that she couldn't walk well as she also hurt her ankle during her fall yesterday. And that when things got harder because Fabienne also hurt her knee so she couldn't push hard on the pedals in the steep hills but walking them was not easy either. We made it to the finish in pain but we made it. She was really courageous today and hopefully she will feel better tomorrow. She is at the physio at the moment.
Having said that, we went through beautiful scenery again. The others racers are very friendly with us and are always here to cheer us up and let us ride their wheels as we hit gravel roads against the wind.
Tomorrow is supposed to be an easier day. I really hope that things will go better for us. We will try to get some more sleep as last night we got a very late massage and didn't get to bed before 10.45.
Hey, our smiles faded a little bit today but we keep smiling and we will get them fully back very soon.
Think of us as ever we really need all your support.
All the best,
myriam
www.myriamsaugy.ch (personal website)
www.team-vtt-texner.ch (team website)
