Wines to what?
Wine 2 Whales is a 3-day mountain bike stage race in South Africa, put on by the same group that hosts the Cape Epic. The Cape Epic is a tortuous ordeal, high on suffering, low on frolicking and is not something I would ever aspire to do. Wines 2 Whales (W2W) is the little brother of the Cape Epic where you get to ride trails in some of the same region but without the high likelihood of certain death. It’s name comes from riding through some of the Western Capes finest wine country and ending in Hermanus, a little seaside town know for its whale watching. What’s not to love about it? It sounded like a fun thing to do one one day … one day in that way that you never really expect the planets to align.
In February 2023 I was training hard for my first bike race: Moab Rocks is a 3-day mountain bike stage race with the single goal of not dying. The goal eventually advanced to just finishing each stage of the race. I was also registered to ride the 100 mile course at SBT GRVL in August with the fabulous folks at All Bodies on Bikes because it was such a great opportunity to go and try gravel racing with other people who had bodies that were wonderfully different than what society traditionally expects bike racers to look like. Spoiler alert – some of us are fat and have zero need to “fix” that. So there I was, training hard to survive the race in Moab, and knowing I’d have to continue the work for SBT GRVL. It seemed like the perfect year to also attempt W2W. When else would I have a year of structured training in place which lined up perfectly in terms of timing for this race?
On Valentine’s Day in 2022 I treated myself and bought the race entries. The race requires that everyone races as a team of 2. Who would possibly be patient enough to race Moniera-pace for 3 days, half way around the world? That was a minor hiccup I was willing to figure out later.
Fast forward past last place at Moab Rocks but finishing each stage grinning from ear to ear and having the most fun ever with a wonderful group of supportive friends and a solid race crew. Among them was Sandra who jokingly said she was auditioning for the job to be my W2W race partner. Sandra lives on Maui and is solar powered and is always in high spirits. She’s strong as anything and has a pattern of crushing marathons off the couch. A lot of “are you actually asking for real” and “but you know how slow I am right” sort of questions followed and she was still game – and that’s how team FabulousAF was formed.
Skip ahead past another gleeful last place finish at SBT GRVL – complete with victorious fist pump on the finish line in August. September flew by with a few mad weeks of race prep and then heading out on the road to execute on two back-to-back races and trying to still fit in some time on the pedals. It was alright, I kept telling myself, I’d have one more solid training block and would hit it hard once I got home. Then I got covid. I was three weeks out from getting on a plane and need to get some training miles in. I was a tad panicked. It turned out ok – my covid symptoms were mild and I was able to get back on the bike within a few days. A lingering cough came along to South Africa, but who knows if that was a covid by-product or just my asthma in on the chicanery. I am now like a proper old lady who always has cough drops in her pocket.
I got some final training rides in, and then I was on a plane to the UK to see my precious baby girl. It had been 3 long years since I squished her close. We had four glorious days together; I could gush endlessly about how wonderful it is to see your child as a thriving adult. Then, finally, it was time to head to South Africa.
It has been 9 years since my last visit to South Africa. In the 30+ years I’ve lived here, visits to SA have always been about seeing family. This time was different. This trip was about the race, and I had two decadent months planned after to explore some of the Western Cape that I’d never seen before. Great adventures awaited.