HPT Athletes Hannah Shell and Starla Teddergreen tackled the daunting eight-day challenge of the Cape Epic. As you may know, this race has gained the reputation of being the Tour of mountain biking. Hannah and Starla shared their "green" experience as a duo at the world's largest MTB stage race.
Hannah Shell and Starla Teddergreen may have only two and 4 years of mountain biking under their belts respectively, but they conquered Cape Epic as if they had been riding their entire lives.
The Cape Epic
Cape Epic is a grueling mountain bike stage race spanning across eight days in South Africa that you must do with a partner. As best friends who have been racing together for a few years, it made sense for Hannah and Starla to partner for this race.
Prior to Cape Epic, Starla had done one mountain bike stage race: the Breck Epic. That gave her some knowledge and enough confidence to approach Cape Epic, yet it would still be both her and Hannah’s first time in a duo race… with a stacked field of the top riders and Olympic-level mountain bikers from around the world.
A Dynamic Duo
Racing as a duo completely changes the field, as you have to support each other the whole time, never get too far apart, and ride to each other’s strengths and weaknesses. For Starla and Hannah, that meant regulating efforts to support the other person, yet feeling motivated to ride your hardest for your partner.
“Hannah is a total diesel on the climbs. And I'm much more of a punchy rider. And so we have to kind of regulate our efforts to support the other person. But at the same time, having that focus and that motivation to be racing for and with your teammate is unlike anything I've ever done” - Starla
Communication was certainly one of the strengths between these two team members.
“Starla is a better descender, and on punchy terrain, she is really well suited to it. Whereas, I'm more like long, steady climbs are my strength. Whoever was stronger in each area, they set the pace and we did a really good job of checking in to make sure we knew if we were setting a good pace or if we had to back off at all. We already knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses going into it but we both learned a lot about ourselves and each other as athletes” - Hannah
Fueling Plans
When it came to their nutrition strategy during the race, Hannah and Starla had their routine dialed in. Hannah used a high-carb mix in her USWE hydration pack, and added Precision fueling tabs for more sodium. She then relied on a combination of gels and Styrkr Bars for the rest of her necessary calories and ate every 30 to 45 minutes.
Since the conditions were so hot, she added fewer scoops than normal of drink mix to her hydration packs since she knew she’d be drinking it faster than usual and went through two hydration packs per day.
Starla ran the same strategy of two USWE hydration packs per day but used a combination of the Flow Formulas Strawberry Flavor and the Flow Formulas High Sodium drink mix. She supplemented the drink mix with the Enervit Liquid Gel, switching off between caffeinated and non-caffeinated, the Maurten 160, Amacx Mojito, and Carbs Fuel gels to avoid flavor fatigue.
Like Alexis, Carson, and Eli (High Performance Team Cyclists that have also conquered Cape Epic) Starla and Hannah traveled to South Africa a week ahead of the race in case anything got delayed. This also gave them the window to get acclimated to the time and the heat, bringing all of their gear, fuel, and recovery tools with them.
The Challenges of Cape Epic
Getting into and participating in Cape Epic comes with hurdles and challenges for teams. By the time Starla and Hannah decided to try to participate in Cape Epic, the window for registration had closed and they didn’t have enough UCI race points to get in. But that didn’t stop them from trying, and succeeding, in participating. Not giving up on a dream is one of the biggest takeaways they had from this race and advice they want to give to anyone wanting to attempt a dream.
They advocated for themselves to be able to race, and they were able to get in touch with someone on the race organization team that supported them as well. While it’s not always easy, with the right support, team, and drive Starla and Hannah are proof that you can climb over obstacles to get a chance at your dream.
