Rob Britton takes on Cape Epic

When Rob Britton’s good buddy, professional mountain biker Andrew L’Esperance, texted Rob in late December 2024 to ask him whether he wanted to race Cape Epic, it proved too intriguing a prospect for the Factor-sponsored gravel pro to pass up.

“My first thought was, yeah, I’m interested, but I am worried about how this will affect our friendship. Because I know teams-racing can be really super hard. And it was; it was super challenging on a bunch of different levels. But I also knew that if there was anyone I could do it with, it was probably Andrew because he is just so patient,” Rob admitted.

Rob has been making a name for himself in the off-road world as something of an endurance expert. The longer things are, the harder they are, the more pressure they put on the body and the mind, those are the events where Rob truly excels. How much different could it be to race Cape Epic, which is widely considered the hardest, most prestigious mountain bike stage race in the world? The Tour de France for the off-roadies.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be nearly as hard. I thought I had a pretty open mind for suffering and generally getting an ass whooping. I mean, I have spent a lot of time getting beaten in bike racing. But this was unlike anything,” Rob explained. “With regards to my anticipation of an event and its difficulty, I don’t think I have ever been as off the mark in terms of what I expected and what was delivered. This was just so much harder than I expected, on all levels. So that was humbling, to say the least.”

Testing the mind and body

Though Rob and his teammate arrived in South Africa from Canada with a good week to acclimate, Rob’s overall preparation had already been compromised by a very complicated late winter, early spring. “From January 1st, when I decided to do the race, I had a few months to try to get fit and turn myself into a mountain biker. I think I rode my mountain bike five or six times between when I got that message from Andrew and when we arrived in South Africa. That maybe was not enough.” Insert self-ironic chuckle. An early January crash where Rob displaced several ribs, combined with terrible Pacific Northwest weather and the inevitable head colds that accompany it, Rob really had to accelerate his prep by mid-February.

“It was anything but a smooth spring. It took until about early February to find my stride. I went to Santa Cruz for a good training block. I have a lot of experience going there and effectively putting the blinders on and getting to work. So this year was no different when I was on the backfoot and nervous about not being in shape, I went there,” Rob said. “I did one nine-day block to do some really specific training, and then I had this grand plan to do another solid three weeks at home on the mountain bike, to hammer in intensity and technical work. But two days after getting home from California, it snowed. A lot. Tons in the mountains. Even in the city there was snow. I went from not being able to ride my mountain bike to not being able to ride outside at all.”

Booking another flight to California, Rob was finally able to get in two solid weeks of intense training. From a physical point of view, Rob felt he was in good enough shape. The trails on the Cape would soon teach him otherwise.

Chasing his teammate

“I joke that the hardest part of the race was mostly just between the start and the finish line, but that’s only half a joke because it really was pressure all the time. The starts were way faster than I had ever experienced. It was like an XCO full gas race start and we weren’t warming up for it, you’d just roll up to the start line and go. Andrew has had quite a lot of experience at these things, but I don’t,” Rob explained.

“In the 8 days of racing, there were maybe 30 minutes of that whole thing where I could relax a little bit. Maybe on some sections of pavement or smooth gravel road, I would instantly go on autopilot from my days of racing on the road, where I could produce great power numbers and just be able to flow. But other than that, it was constant pressure. My partner was literally in the form of his life, so that was agonizing. Getting dropped by our competitors, he would just be dragging me along, like a broken toy.”

Coming from a Canadian winter to South African summer inevitably added to the discomfort and pressure. “The first few days keeping my body temperature in check was tough. The heat would cause my body to work so much harder and I would just cramp. There was one stage where we were riding in this “bowl” where it went down into this depression or valley with mountains all around you. And that day was like 40° and you’d be on the sun-baked side so the sun was constantly on you. There’d be no wind, no shelter, it was like you were actually riding in an oven. That’s happened to me a few times in my career over the years, but it is such an awful feeling.”

And even on days when the rains hit overnight to break the heat a bit, the extreme humidity made it feel if anything worse. “It had rained the night before, and then it was overcast, so you were stuck in this humidity bubble. That was almost as bad as being 40° and sunny because you were just constantly soaked. Like your shoes were squishing around because of the sweat dripping down your leg. It was still 26° or 28°C, so still plenty hot. But your body couldn’t cool itself because there was no evaporation. It was like you were riding through rain without actual rain,” he said.

Relying on his big engine

Though Rob and his teammate started off mid-pack in 32nd place after the prologue, each subsequent stage, they’d improve their position until they finished in 22nd place overall. It was quite a turnaround, considering the circumstances. “When I was racing on the road, one of my biggest strengths was my ability to recover between stages. Or maybe I just fatigue slower than everyone else. And deeper into the race, I felt as though that ability was still there. We had our strongest stages on the last three, which were the queen stage and then two very tough stages. I was happy that I didn’t get slower but got stronger as the race went on,” Rob said.

It also helped that Andrew, his partner for the event, proved to be the perfect mate for such a challenging string of days. “I couldn’t find a better partner for this race. I was consistently trying to keep up no matter the terrain. He was just superior everywhere,” Rob explained. “But he never pressured me. I was really grateful he was as patient as he was with me. I don’t think I would have been as patient in his place; I think I would have been much harder on my teammate. Honestly, that ‘Lespy’ and I are still friends has to be one of the highlights of the event!”

An extraordinary experience

Doing anything as difficult as Cape Epic inevitably requires a certain amount of time to gain a proper perspective before it can be fully appreciated. Even just a few days after the race, Rob has realised what an extraordinary opportunity it was to race.

“It was really amazing, just being in South Africa and seeing its natural beauty. I didn’t know really what to expect, but that was a highlight. I know I’m moaning a lot about how hard it was, but in spite of my moaning, it was really something I loved. I love that stuff. I miss stage racing, and I really loved it,” Rob said.

“I love that I can still find these challenges that are completely different from what I did for my whole road career and what I continue to do on gravel; this is still something special. Effectively, Cape Epic is known as the biggest, hardest mountain bike stage race in the world, so just to be able to be competitive, to get in the mix with guys who are professional mountain bikers is pretty incredible.”

LANDO XC: the perfect ride

For the Cape Epic, Rob raced on his LANDO XC with Fox Racing suspension. Though many competitors around him were suffering tons of mechanicals, Rob got away with no mechanicals and just one minor puncture, caused by the quill of a giant African porcupine.

“The bike was awesome. Suspension was great. A lot of other people had some crazy mechanicals, slashing sidewalls in half, all sorts of things breaking. But I had nothing,” Rob said. “The bike performed exceptionally.”

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