I am in danger of becoming a bore. This is my first Monday column of 2012, the first since I returned from leave, and all I wanted to write about was the Absa Cape Epic. It consumes me, fills me with fear and doubt, and then pride and accomplishment, before breaking that down again and then building me up again. As I write this I am on a flight back from Cape Town after four days of riding around the Western Cape, on some of the roads that the Epic will travel on when it starts on March 25 and ends, appropriately enough, on April Fool’s Day.

I’m not ready for the Epic, but I think I may be in a few weeks … but that’s when I start becoming boring again. Epic this. Epic that. Percentages of inclines, length of climbs, total ascent … I’m rubbish at climbing, but I’m great on the flats. I am the Indian cricket team of cycling – a flat track bully. Ernst Viljoen, the man who organises Team Absa, for whom I will be riding at the Epic, looked me in the eyes on Sunday afternoon and told me that “discipline” was needed for the next three weeks. It could make or break my Epic. It could make or break me. Which prompts me to lead you away from my worries and on to matters of other sporting importance.

Um, let’s see. The Suarez issue. I’m a Liverpool fan, and while Suarez may feel aggrieved and still perceives he has been done a wrong, he has been found guilty of racism and, more importantly, has refused to appeal. He did himself no favours by refusing to shake the hand of Patrice Evra. It made for great television, but a simple shake, a look in the eyes of Evra, would have been the proper thing to do. It might have unnerved Evra a little, given Liverpool an unsettled player – and one who has been decidedly average this season – to attack. Instead, it fired up United.

They kept their composure and Liverpool were done up a treat. Suarez is a wonderful footballer. His save against Ghana is brought up time and time again, but if a Ghana player had saved a Suarez shot with his hands in that quarter-final, would they have been castigated so?

What else has happened this week? Oh, Rob Hunter, South Africa’s most successful cyclist, had a fair old pop at the Sports Minister and Sascoc after the former stated that South Africa were putting big money behind sportsmen for London 2012. Hunter has represented South Africa at three Olympics. Sascoc have never given him any money to train. Hunter has done it himself, as have Burry Stander, the former Under-23 world champion mountain biker (and Epic winner – see, I just can’t help myself), Kevin Evans, the former SA champ (Epic stage and podium place winner), Daryl Impey, Jay Thomson, Greg Minnaar, the former world downhill champion who is regarded as a legend internationally, David George, Ian McLeod … the list goes on. Sascoc’s PR machine said they would send Hunter information on what they were doing to help develop top cyclists. Hunter told me he wasn’t holding his breath. He’s just going to keep doing it for himself as he always has.

Disappointingly, there have been very few Heyneke Meyer stories in the papers this week. Seeing “Meyer says…” or “Meyer will…” on posters has driven me batty during Epic training rides (sorry). My favourite was the poster that announced Meyer had decided to stay in Pretoria and, apparently, not move to Cape Town. Lord, how they must have celebrated in Pretoria at that news. I like Meyer. I find him eloquent and considered when he talks. He does not need the hype, but some people just can’t help themselves. I’m just waiting for the day that someone writes the headline: “Meyer to ride Cape Epic.” But, then, I’m a bore these days …