CAPE TO CAPE
Western Australia is about as far removed and in contrast to New Zealand as you can get. It rains never, houses a high percentage of the world’s most poisonous and dangerous animals, and isn’t the first place you’d think of to go mountain biking. But nestled right down the bottom of the state is an anomaly: the fertile and abundant Margaret River region and home of the Cape to Cape. A four-day stage race traversing the area’s best singletrack, knocking out 200km in the process. We were lucky enough to get the callup this year to stretch the pins and see if a couple of Kiwi keyboard warriors had the mettle to take on the Aussies.
First up, I have never done a stage race, my downhill background having drawn me to uplifts at every opportunity. But ageing has a strange effect. Not only are you constantly aching and have next to no time to do the things you want, there’s a shift in how you want to spend your time. Instead of heading to the jumps after work, I’ll likely be riding flat tack into a headwind attempting to better last night’s Strava time—which I never saw
