Lachlan Morton has raced the Absa Cape Epic before but even so he had to think hard about whether he'd accept Keegan Swenson's invitation to partner up for the gruelling eight-day mountain bike race in Africa. The US national champion in the discipline and Life Time Grand Prix winner, after all, was clearly entering the event with a spot at the front of the pack as a target.
“He is probably the strongest and most experienced partner I am ever going to get for this race," said Morton in a media release from his team, EF Education-EasyPost. "When he asked me if I was interested in doing it, I had to think about it, because I was worried I was not going to be on his level.
"Then, I realised that I had a few months to focus and get ready to test myself against the world’s best mountain bikers. It is kind of a daunting prospect, but the fact that I was scared about it, and am nervous about it, means that it is a worthwhile thing to take on.”
The former WorldTour professional who is now following an alternative calendar, has shown up on the road a couple of times over the Australian summer, racing the Buninyong circuit at the National Championships and the 267km Melbourne to Warrnambool, with a bikepacking trip from Ballarat to Adelaide thrown in. However, there was never any doubt where Morton's focus lay. The adventure rider, in between his road forays, blocked out a chunk of time in Port Macquarie to continue his specific training for the eight-day 658km mountain bike event while in Australia.
“I have just been doing a lot of very specific and really intense training on my mountain bike with the focus of trying to be as ready physically and technically come the start line,” Morton said. “It has been a fun process.
"Regardless of what happens at the race, I am glad to have gone through the process of getting ready for it, and being a bit scared and accountable to someone else, because I think no matter what it is going to set me up well for the season, but I am also just interested to see how it all goes, putting everything together for eight days."
Morton last raced the Cape Epic in 2021, partnering with Kenyan rider Kenneth Karaya and finishing in 35th place overall. Swenson lined up at the event for the first time in 2022, racing with another experienced mountain biker, Maxime Marotte, to finish 11th overall and take third on the final stage.
"Lachlan brings a lot of good tactical advice and tactical race smarts from the road and has been doing a fair bit of mountain biking," said Swenson, who races with Santa Cruz. "I think he brings a lot to the table. I have been racing mountain bikes for a bit longer, so I can help push the pace on the descents and set a good tempo for us when it gets rough.
"It would be nice to try to win a stage or two and go for the GC. We are going to have a good time. We are going to make a good team out there.”
The African race for teams of two packs in 15,775 metres of climbing over eight days from March 19 to 26, with hardy amateurs among the field of up to 680 teams testing themselves against seasoned professionals.
“You just have this superfast bunch of world-class mountain bikers ripping across epic terrain — singletrack, rocky jeep roads, and gravel roads — day in and day out,” Morton said. “There are so many things that factor in like equipment, fitness, technical ability, your ability to recover, heat.
"There are a million things to put together to have a good performance out there. Even the people who win normally have a bunch of things go wrong and have to adapt. It’s the original sort of adventure race ...," Morton said.
