Rachel Fenton is a super-fast long distance racer who we are fortunate enough to have onboard here at Bike Magic as a regular contributor for 2013. Rachel will be keeping us posted on the events she races, the places she visits and the kit she tests out for us along the way.

For starters, Rachel will be covering the 2013 Cape Epic, which takes place on the 17-24th March. The event is celebrating “10 years Untamed” so it is sure to be a great Epic and a fantastic way for many top racers to start their seasons. Rachel will be riding a Canyon test bike which she is reviewing for Bike Magic so expect to hear updates on how the bike is performing during the event.

In her own words:

RACHEL FENTON

It’s my sixth year of racing XC, marathon and cyclocross. At the moment I’m concentrating on marathons as they allow you to explore the world and see beautiful places on a bicycle.

My recent results

2011: Scottish Series winner and 3^rd in Scottish Championships.

2012: Silver medal in National Marathon Championships. Represented GB in the World Marathon Championships.

My sponsors

2013 will be a year riding as a privateer, more by necessity than by choice! But I’m lucky to have Torq energy products and MT Zoom components and lots of lovely friends helping me out. Privateer and Rapha are also supporting our team for the Cape Epic.

The Epic

In 10 days time (perhaps less by the time most people read this) I will be embarking on a new adventure. I’m racing the ASBA Cape Epic with Collyn Ahart (who rode last year for Bike Magic).

This will involve a number of firsts for me:

• My first stage race
• My first race in a team
• My first race in South Africa
• My first visit to South Africa

I can’t work out how I feel about it at the moment. I’m excited and nervous all at once. I’ve been asked what specific preparation I’ve been doing and the answer to that is not much. I discovered marathon racing properly last year and had some success, racing the World Marathon Championships after a surprise qualifying result. After that I began to focus on it more seriously. To some extent training for multiple marathon races does not involve much more than training for one marathon and since that is my focus for the start of this year I’m as ready to race the Epic as I can be!

What I have been doing is collecting experience from everyone I know who has done a stage race. Here are the best bits so far:

“On one side of the medical tent is the queue for rehydration drips and on the other side the queue for the bum doctor – you want to avoid both”
“Always take earplugs if you’re staying in the camp”
“After a while it just becomes like posting food into your mouth”
“If you need laundry doing, or bikes fixing remember everyone is open to bribes”
“You will hate your partner at some point during the race”

If anyone else has any gems for me I’d be interested to hear them.

I’ll be updating Bike Magic with my progress and thoughts on the race, people and places as I go so keep your eyes peeled.