The Stages Before the Stages... Pre-Cape Epic

Getting to Cape Town, South Africa is almost as much of an effort as the Epic itself.  Three continents in two days and over 22 hours of total flight time left us with a bit of a jet lag.  Luckily our eight hour layover in London gave us a bit of a break to stretch our legs and we took full advantage.  Thomas and Mike rented city bikes and made me chase them around on foot as we tried to navigate our way to the London Bridge.

On our way from Hyde Park, we managed to see Big Ben, The Parliament Building, Buckingham Palace, and we were only yelled at by the bobbies twice, despite biking on the wrong side of the road for most of the time.

After another two flights, we arrived in Cape Town on Thursday morning and we have been enjoying the city since.  

Yesterday, Thomas and Mike road out to Durbanville and Meerendal Wine Estates, where they previewed some trails that they will be seeing again in tomorrow's Prologue.  Meanwhile, I was hiking in Table Mountain National Park.  The spiders that live in these parts are a bit large for my liking... And when I say large I mean bigger than my hand.  Luckily I survived that encounter to attend a wine tasting and picnic at Cape Point Vineyard, which had incredible food, wine and views!

Today brought more adventures as we drove our Sir Richards/Kappius Jeep to Kalk Bay, for lunch at the Brass Bell, and then to Boulder Beach, where we saw the African Penguins!

The views on the drive back to Cape Town were absolutely breathtaking.

 Tomorrow brings Mike and Thomas's third start together as they ride through Meerendal Wine Estate for the 2014 Absa Cape Epic.  This year they will have live tracking on riders and they can be followed here.  Best of luck to Mike and Thomas tomorrow and the rest of the week!