A surreal, stark moonscape is what awaits riders tackling the Absa Cape Epic next weekend after the fires - which burnt from Somerset West over the Hottentots Holland mountains and into the Elgin Valley - laid waste a significant part of the route.
The Epic is the world's most televised mountain-bike race and from next Saturday, millions of viewers around the globe will be following its new route, which starts in Cape Town before threading its way through the heart of what has been a war zone for the past month as firefighters battled to bring the blaze under control.
Stage 1 of the eight-day race starts in Gordon's Bay on Sunday, March 22, and riders will climb up into the Elgin Valley - a land of contrasts after the fires.
Continues Below ↓
First, they will be greeted by the crisp, Alpine scenes around the Steenbras Dam.
But they then head into the territory of charred forests and decimated fynbos.
"It looks like the moon: arid, dry, dusty, puffs of smoke still here and there," reported Somerset West rider Dan Forsyth yesterday.
Forsyth is set to compete as part of Team Santa Cruz HansGrohe, with Anka Martin, from Oregon in the US.
Then the environment will change again as the cyclists cross to the east of the Elgin Valley, and tackle the Groenlandberg, home to the Green Mountain Eco Route.
"Environmentally, it is a disaster. And the only compensation is that fynbos always recovers, nature always wins in the end, despite all human activity," said Brian Pickering, owner of Nature Discovery Tours and an assistant route planner for the race.
Race founder Kevin Vermaak said on Wednesday: "Riders will certainly remember this year as the year of the fires. It will be like a moonscape compared to the previous vineyards, orchards and forests".
-
This article was originally published on page 3 of Cape Argus on March 12, 2009
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
