Professional endurance competitor Rebecca Rusch has tackled her fair share of adventure races and 24-Hour mountain bike races throughout the years. Now, the Idahoan is in South Africa, at the Absa Cape Epic, a nine-day endurance mountain bike stage race across the country’s scenic Western Cape. Following an accident that resulted in a broken collarbone, teammate Cristina Begy withdrew from the race, but Rusch decided to continue, albeit unofficially, on her own. — Editor

Even though Cristina and I are officially disqualified, I decided to ride today’s stage solo. I emailed with my coach and home and weighed my options and it was clear that the training and being able to ride across South Africa was an opportunity I should not miss. I removed my race number and just joined into the peloton after the start. It took some logistical planning to arrange to have Claire and Ryan stay with me to drive the motor home and crew for me. We are now down from a posse of 10 people to just three.

Wake-up call!

I spent the first hour of today’s 146km stage, just sort of rolling casually with the group and warming up. I felt quite odd to be riding alone and in a sea of two person teams. It was as if I had a scarlet letter A (for “Alone!”) branded on my jersey. Probably 50 different riders asked where my teammate was, how she was doing and giving her good wishes. People who I only know from the color of their jerseys seemed genuinely concerned for the both of us. After many hundreds of kilometers of riding and suffering together with strangers, there is a strong bond that has formed among us. I felt a bit guilty riding without Cristina, but I knew she was in good hands with our team manager, Bobby.

After a couple of hours of riding, I started to get into the groove again. I really got motivated when I saw the third-place women’s team in front of me. I wanted to see if I could catch them and stay with them. The riding was a lot of dirt road today mixed in with a 15km sand bog and some very rocky, rolling hills. We got our first views of the sea and could hear the surf crashing as we were on the cliffs above in over 100-degree heat.

Rusch, with Thomas Frischknecht and Tom Ritchey.

I also got my first view of some baboons hanging out under a shady tree watching the race go by. There were very, very strong headwinds today, so sticking with a good pack for the road sections was crucial. There are definitely some riders here who are not used to riding in groups, so it’s a bit of a crap shoot of what quality of rider you will get when you join a group. With Cristina’s crash fresh in my mind, I was a bit more conservative on the downhills, but raced hard today. I even got to ride the last 5km with cycling legends Thomas Frischknecht and Tom Ritchey!

I had to duck under the tape before the finish line, but my time would have placed me fourth in the women’s field, 50th in the men’s field for today and would have moved Cristina and I up to fifth place overall. It feels good to know I can ride among some of the best riders in the world, but is disappointing to be a ghost on the results sheet.

It can be a long and lonely ride

Tomorrow is the last stage that is over 100 kilometers. With three more days left, the mileage is winding down. However, the weather is ramping up. At the moment is pouring rain and thundering like crazy outside. If it stays like this it will add hours onto the stage times.