Gravel Burn 2025

03/12/24 16:58……Why was I sat there hitting refresh waiting for this race entry to open? I had heard of people doing this over the years but could never understand it. I was now one of them. Who was I? What did I want? The only questions that actually matter.

This made sense. I am simple. When things make sense I hit the go button and when I hit the go button I am all in. Funny, as I still remember Holly describing my “all in” mindset in my 2019 documentary Fight For Every Breath. It sits with me, I think somewhere in my heart as well as in my mind as when I am being all in, I remember her and that makes me happy and drives me.

7 days of racing. 800km. South Africa. The Karoo. The inaugural Gravel Burn. A race by the founder of the global standard of mountain bike racing for the last 20 years, Cape Epic. A race that would finish at “Shamwari Private Game Reserve” where Holly and I had honeymooned 15 years ago. There was no way I was not going to enter this race.

Refresh, refresh, bang I am in. 17:03: Registration complete. I can almost not believe it. Immediate focus. 11 months until the race begins!!! I am high.

I do not need races to get me out of bed. I need races to test my shit. To challenge me in ways out of my control. To meet. To learn. To experience. To be. To grow. To live. The ones I enter excite me. I am picky. I enter races with reason and purpose. I know why I am there and I know what I want. This is key and makes the training and my “all in” mindset an absolute pleasure.

Sport and health sit second after family in my life priorities. I had 11 months to tailor my sport to prepare me for this race. I know a few things about training and preparing for a race like this physically and mentally but I also have good people around me to help me. It is key. Jani is a friend and a cycling legend. My colleagues and the team at InnerFight Endurance and the guys I ride with in Australia play a huge roll in my life and I am very grateful for what they all did in their own ways to prepare me for this race. Without them things would have been very different. Mad though it may sound the solitude of cycling somehow keeps me connected to my Mum. I look at the sky. I talk to her. We hold hands. It’s paradise.

For the most part when getting to the race is somewhat of a challenge you know you are headed in a good direction. 9 and a half hours down to Cape Town with my good friend and client Ed Menzies, hire a van, drive to a village 2 hours from the airport, eat in a restaurant that we are the only ones in which use to be a jail, a court, a barn and is now serving us 600 grams of ribs at 10pm body clock time. Stories all along the way as we wake up at 5am the next day to continue our journey to the town the race is set to start in 48 hours later, Knysna. Oh and Ed’s new portable espresso machine that he tests out on me with a cold hit of caffeine. Welcome to Africa. I smile.

A small roll down from the bed and breakfast to the start line had us at the start an hour before kick off. It’s good to be relaxed. However it’s not so great to be soaked to the bone and shivering. Many things you can control, many you cannot. In life and in these races it is key to be at peace with both. Key I said, not easy. My teeth chattered. The rain poured.

An 8km neutralised start through the flooded streets of Knysna truly let us know this was going to be an adventure for us all. Fortunately I had my photochromic Oakley’s on which work amazing in dark conditions and were something I forgot to take to the Traka in May leaving me with some nicely infected eyes from the road spray. A mistake I was not ready to repeat.

Red flag waved, neutralised section of the stage over, road goes up, we are racing! Lovely start with a 4km climb to reach our first bit of gravel for the week. Again rain soaked, big puddles, full gas, full happy. Today’s stage was only just over 80km with 2,100m of climbing. Some way to start a race and for what it’s worth a time for me to set some new “all time” power and heart rate records. Turns out I was not the only one. The plan of easing into the race fully out the window as we all went balls deep finishing with a nice 14km climb into camp 1.

The rain had finally eased as I got orientated with the camp set up that Gravel Burn would be putting on for the coming 7 nights for us. I could hardly believe it as I saw a block of showers. My disbelief hit new heights when I got in and the water was hot. This was nothing like I had experienced before. Not to mention the shampoo, conditioner and body lotion. Was I on a health retreat? Wow these guys are something different.

Admin wins in stage racing and it is something I love. Into my tent, everything organised. The dilemma of how I was going to dry my riding kit for tomorrow in temperatures that were hovering in high single digits. Having a bit of space makes the world of difference and on this event we had a tent each with a cot bed and mattress. Zero complaints.

Next port of call is refuelling as although day 1 was good there were 6 to come and I needed good recovery through good food and sleep. I made my way back to the finish line where there was a huge tent pumping out music, food and drinks to the riders that had completed today’s stage. If this was the standard for each of our camps then we would be in for a good week. As much food and refreshments as you wanted. Of course my 20KG bag allowance was still about 10kg of food as I do not like to be without, but the spread in front of us was perfect.

Call me antisocial but being horizontal was higher on my priority list than making new friends in the camp. Ed and Keith from InnerFight Endurance were close by and I had met Fish (and Nick) who was a school friend of Eduan (an InnerFight Dubai coach) small world. At meal times I was super keen to chat to people and ask a million questions continuing my two decade data grab of why people give up their time with families to be in fields like this with people like me. It remains fascinating and whilst I have a few answers as to why, I am still on the search. There is no definitive reason that is for sure, often very little logic.

Thermal tights, 2 merinos, socks, North Face jacket, sleeping bag liner, sleeping bag, blanket. It was just after 4pm and that was my attire. We were in for a great night here. The rumours of low single digits may become a reality. Waaahaaa.

Night one under canvas is always hit and miss but when you know you have 7 of them you have to relax or you are in big trouble. As I topped my outfit with a beanie, flossed and brushed my teeth, my riding kit still soaking, I smiled as I zipped down the tent for the night. Of course you toss and turn and the cold temps in the tent do not help this. As the night progressed so did the mercury drop until just before day break when I realised there was a frost, both inside and outside my tent. What a start to day 2, this was going to be amazing for sure.

108km and only just over 1,000m of climbing was on the menu today and although we started with frozen bikes it was soon an absolutely beautiful day and the racing was fun. Gravel racing is similar and different to road racing. There are tactics, you can draft and it is mayhem. However the main difference is that the surface is constantly changing and you have to be focussed all the time, if you are not you will end up with a cracked rim or something on you cracked. At the end of today’s stage we were to get on a bus for 2 and a half hours to take us to our camp for the night. My goal therefore for the day was to get to the end as fast as possible so I could get on the first bus, get to the camp and have one of the first showers which would then mean I have more time to relax and recover. Race hard to get good recovery. You can see a theme here.

Based on my result the previous day I was in the first start wave behind the pros. To be totally honest I had no clue who anyone was so no clue who’s wheels to follow and when. I just rode. Free and happy. At the end of the day I was in 3rd place in my age group. I remember sending Dad a message and he said I had work to do as the guys in 1st and 2nd were about 20 minutes ahead. I smiled. No clue who anyone was, just excited about tomorrow.

The great conditions continued with bright sunshine in the camp which is key to making sure I can wash and dry two sets of kit. I did. It was perfect. I think everyone was happy with the 25 degree swing today.

By day 3 I started to figure out who was who in the zoo. Each age group leader wore a leaders jersey so they were easy to spot. Also on our numbers it had our age category so I now could see who I was racing against and start to figure out some tactics. Today’s plan was stay with the guys with the leaders jerseys. Do as little work as possible and have fun. Simple plan which was going super well until I dropped my chain on the first descent at 40km. This had happened a few times before a couple of months back and is a bit of a pain to get back on, needs an Allen key and a few minutes of patience. Not ideal when you are in a strong group and getting pulled along. At the same time nothing I could do about it so I fixed it, got back on my bike and stamped on the pedals as hard as I could. About 40km later I started passing people that had been dropped from the lead group, they had clearly emptied their tanks.

I needed to be smart and not completely empty my legs today. We still had 4 hard stages left. As that thought entered my mind I rode up to an Italian and a Swiss guy, both in different age categories and told them we were going the 30km to the end together. They grunted. I took that as an agreement and went and did a turn on the front. They were not as fresh as I wanted them to be but being with them would keep me fresher and would not have huge impact on time for today’s stage.

All was well. I was still in 3rd but had lost a few more minutes to 1st and 2nd. It was today that someone messaged me and gave me the low down on who these guys ahead of me were. One had won Cape Epic 5 times and the other had spent a number of years (whilst not on a drug ban) as a pro. This only made me want to ride harder. They also had two arms and two legs.

The camp at the end of stage 3 would be our home for the next two nights which is a nice relief. Packing and unpacking daily is not a massive stress but it is one that I was happy to not have to spend energy on tomorrow. More relaxing is better remember. The camp set up was epic again. Hot water, loads of food and sunshine to dry my washing. I like this kind of racing set up.

Two nights at this camp meant that stage 4 was a loop. It felt like a loop in more than 1 way as I was repeatedly stopping to fix my chain. By now I had pretty much come to the conclusion that my front chain ring was in poor health and as soon as I hit bumps going down hill it slipped off. To throw another spanner in the works I got a slow puncture at 60km which needed some air every 10km for the remaining 50. 11 mechanical stops total today. A day on the bike I will remember for sure. But this was a 7 day stage race and anything can happen. One of those anythings was seeing the guy in 2nd changing a wheel 10km from the finish. Not too much movement on the age group general classification today but lots of oil on my Castelli gloves that’s for sure.

I needed a plan and I soon thought of one. I would take my chain guide off as this is what was costing me time. Then if my chain did come off I would be able to flick it back on whilst riding or quickly stop. It was a good plan and I was confident. My legs were in good shape. I may even be closing the gap on the pros if I was not spending time fixing things. “May” we see.

Stage 5 kicked off on the gravel but after 10km we had a 70km tarmac section. Today played out pretty much the way I thought it would for those first 80km. Very relaxed. We rode as bunch, even had a piss stop. People chatted. People were relaxed. I was relaxed as of course on tar it was smooth and my chain stayed on. Life was good.

At 80km I knew it would be go time though for the last 57km of the stage which was on gravel. These were the kinds of days I had simulated in my training. 2 and a half hours of easy riding then into efforts. Anyone can go out and give their best for 20 minutes at the start of a session but you make the difference in races in the back end. This is not sport specific. I had done plenty of sessions which demanded big effort in the last 3rd of the day and today my legs were good. Taking down 100grams of carbs an hour when you are just over 100bpm is not easy but I got them down as you can not catch up fuel either.

As we hit the gravel the race began, dust everywhere, vision poor, attacks left and right. The ability to see who is who and in which age category goes, you just have to ride. It is fast and furious and a load of fun. At the same time it is high risk as you do not see potholes or rocks and even the smallest of either can cause some lovely issues for your bike. Many riders are nervous, others are plain and simply reckless which is dangerous.

My goal for the day had not changed. I wanted to stay in the lead bunch. Aside from some surging which demands additional watts and nicely fires up the heart rate things had been nice and straight forward effort wise and would stay that way until about 17km to go in the stage when the gravel road would serve us a lovely 9% gradient to a mountain top finish.

The road got bumpier and as it did my chain dropped. No stress. I had it down. It would take me around 20 seconds to get it back on. Time I would make up easily to get back on the group. I knew this. I knew I knew this but of course once the chain was back on and I could see the bunch just up ahead I drilled the pedals to get back to them. We then entered a mayhem section of the course. It felt like about 3km through a cow farm riding over compacted mud and cow shit. The stenches varied as did the roughness of the terrain. I was less than 20m from the bunch and happy with my work although I knew again I had been a bit impatient and maybe burnt a few too many matches getting back to them so quickly. I also knew the faster I got back to  them the easier riding would be. It is a hard one. Even harder when adrenaline is involved.

Bang. Another pothole and another chain drop. The ground in front of me looked smooth so I tried to put the chain back on with my right hand. Bang I am on the deck. I knew I had hit the floor hard but I also knew my bones were fine. I could just feel a lot of skin off and see blood immediately. Chain back on. Back on the bike, back chasing the group who would now be about 30 seconds ahead of me again. Fun game this one.

It felt like my water bottle was leaking on my leg. As I looked down I realised it was blood coming out of my knee. Good bye white socks, you were on the way out anyway. Next minute for some reason I put my hand on my jersey pocket and realise my phone is gone. Now I feel like a complete idiot. Why the hell did I have it with me anyway. Ahh I remember. I thought about leaving it in my kit bag but knew my chain was being temperamental so thought I would take it as a layer of safety just in case I got stuck. The irony!

I looked back and saw a moto. Flagged him down and begged him to go and get it for me. He agreed. Wow. I smiled as I got back on my bike thinking about how good life would be without a phone for a while anyway and there was nothing I could do about it. Maybe the Moto guy will find it, maybe he won’t. Either I was fine with. My main goal was drilling myself to get back to the group.

About 10 minutes went by and I passed a few solo riders who had clearly fallen off the group. As the dust gave way to another tar section I could see the group up ahead. Head down, more power. In the back of my mind was the final climb. I had another gel and kept driving. This was fun. This is what I had trained for. To test my legs and my mind. This was racing. Before I knew itI I was back on the group. I had a look around and realised that this was only half of the group. The leaders were up the road, the main bunch had split. I noticed the guy who was in 4th about 10 minutes behind me was in this group so I sat tight at the back, brought my heart rate down, fielded some questions about the blood all over me and kept the pedals turning.

There was a water table at the base of the final climb. My crash and the effort to get back on a group saw me use more water and I was in need. I raced through the water table filling up a bottle and was ready for the climb. I realised two of my competitors had not stopped and could see them a few hundred meters up the road. I could not have been happier. I set a number in my mind. I knew that 3 and a half hours into a ride if I wanted to I could hold 300 watts for over an hour so I sat just over. HR was perfect. No more downhills so the chain would not come off. “Let’s see how deep you can go?” Was all I asked myself. I could not have been any happier with life than I was right now. This was epic.

About not dropping the chain on a climb? Yeah that was a lie. I managed to. 20 seconds no stress but of course just as I had closed the gap to the two guys ahead of me to 20 meters. Oh this game is fun. I smiled and kept searching for more. I found it in spurts. I also found more gels in my jersey and smashed them.

2km from the top Fish rode up to me. I was not in a social mood but I was happy for him. I could see he had worked hard to get there. For some reason he did not know how far was left and asked me if this was the finish. I smiled, told him we had 2km to go and to sit tight. We passed one of the guys ahead on a steep section. His face said it all. Inside the last mile we passed more and narrowed the gap to the guy in 4th on GC to 10m but of course as he saw us he pushed harder.

The last KM is blurry. I was completely f**ked. Every 10m felt like a KM. It was brutal. I tried. I tried with everything to catch the guy. In the end he beat me by around 4 seconds. What a stage. What a finish. What the hell was going on with my body. My left side had plenty of blood, a red sock and a stained red shoe. I smiled. I had experienced a day that makes these races special. A day that even though I try is hard to put into words. A day that even though you feel like at any stage you may have a heart attack and die is a day you feel so incredibly alive and grateful.

Tonight’s camp was 7km down from the summit. After a quick drink I knew I had to move. My body started to hurt. A lot. I rolled slowly down to the camp and as I did I thought about my two issues and how I was going to fix them. I needed to get a new chain ring and I needed to get my wounds cleaned. Crashing in a cow farm could mean infection real quick and we had two days of racing left. Somehow I forgot about my phone. Probably a sign that I was not that bothered about it….yet.

Bike straight to bike wash and a chat with the bike mechanics and we had a plan. Come back in an hour and we try and find a new front chain ring. An hour later we were set. New front chain ring being installed on the bike. Issue one solved.

After a quick shower and trying to scrub my wounds without screaming the bush down with the stinging pain I was off to the medical tent. Seems I was not the only one that had had issues getting to camp that day. The medical team had had two punctures on their drive from the previous nights camp and nothing was set up yet. Come back in an hour.

Recovery time then and another Gravel Burn post ride lunch. Paradise. Well for a while anyway. Ed came into the finish line tent and after we debriefed his day he asked about mine. I smiled and told him how good it was. As I did something clicked. I needed my phone to do payroll for the company in 3 days time. I will not go deep into things and call me an idiot on many fronts but without it I would have had to fly back to Dubai. This would have meant rearranging the trip Holly and I had planned which was due to start in 3 days time. I think naturally my brain either went into overdrive and or panic.

All scenarios playing out. I tried to ease myself and accepted that I would fly out that night from the race. It was only a race anyway and the salaries of the InnerFight team and my holiday with Holly were way more important than my stupid bike race. I calmed down. Went back to the medical tent and got my wounds patched up. 2 of my 3 issues solved.

The job of the race director is a hard one. Over 500 people riding bikes 100+ KM. There are a lot of variables. The last thing they need or I guess care about is some idiot with a lost phone. Giving them my sob story would not have changed a thing but wasted their time. I went for a chat and asked if they can ask the guys on the moto. The lady looked at me with zero hope in her face. Fair enough I thought as she told me to come back in an hour.

A fixed bike. Dressed wounds. I had had a shower. A good feed in me. I had a lot to be happy about but of course my phone dilemma was front and centre of my mind. I tried to relax. I could intermittently. I laughed a lot as I was forced to be. Something I try and train a lot and work on a lot with my clients. I could, then I could not. Yeah and I thought today’s stage was carnage and a challenge. This was a whole different level. I knew it was not doing my recovery much good but I knew I had to ride it out.

An hour went by and I went back to the race directors table. “We think we have it. Come back in a bit.” And onto the next person. I was speechless. I left and wandered how long a bit was in this country. Back to trying to relax but only being marginally successful. This was such a fun game in a sick way.

Phone in hand. 3 issues out of 3 solved. That was a roller coaster of a few hours. I hadn’t even thought how riding my bike with the big hole in my knee was going to be tomorrow. That was not relevant. I had my phone and could do payroll and therefore could have my holiday with Holly and therefore could race tomorrow. Everyone happy. I could have cried.

Night 1 freezing temps. Night 5 howling wind. We were getting everything. I heard a guy say at breakfast. “Anyone who said they slept last night is a liar.” I smiled and moments later we were evacuated from the breakfast marque as they were afraid it was going to fall down. Amazing!

Race delayed by an hour as the wind howled through the camp and brought with it some beautiful rain. Rain that poured into our tents as the wind had taken the waterproof fly sheets away with it. This felt like it was becoming a race of survival.

Are we racing or not? This was the question everyone was asking. To me the answer was super simple but as we know people do not always go to the simple solution of things. For everyone’s safety the stage should have been neutralised from the start. The wind made the course and riding on it outright dangerous. This would later be confirmed 30km into the race when one of the pros crashed, laid unconscious for 7 minutes and had multiple breaks.

We were told to ride easy to water table one at 46km. This did not happen. Yes it was not all out racing but people were not taking it easy. Couple this with the fact that today’s 147km route was probably better suited to a mountain bike. The race was rightly stopped when the pro crashed at 30km for some time, we were then told to ride easy to the 46km water table and wait. It was fun being there actually as for the first time I enjoyed the great spread of nutrition options.

Finally common sense did prevail and we were told there would be no racing today and to pedal easy the 100km to the end. Funny how things go as 5km before the water table my guts were in a mess. I had to pull over for a trail dump. First time I had used a gel wrapper to wipe my backside. Talking of firsts. 30km later was the first time I have ripped my race number in half to once again wipe my backside. Despite having a new front chain ring and not dropping my chain at all I was very grateful there was no racing today as my gut seemed to have different plans. And no the plants in the bush do not make smooth toilet paper. Try one day if you do not believe me.

Stage 7, 111km, 1,250m of elevation. The finale. I was still in 3rd and had a buffer of 8 minutes to 4th with 2nd and 1st out of sight unless their bikes stopped working. My strategy was the same as it had been most days. Be smart with your energy, but ride hard. I was here to ride hard. I was so excited about today. I love the final days of stage races. The vibe in the morning for most is relief. They just want to get to the finish. I am sorry for them. These are the best days. They are not a “get it done” sort of days. They are days that only come round after a truck load of hard work and they are days that you can see how much you want to be there and how amazing the human body and mind is.

We set off neutralised for about 15km which is cool. Gives you more time to warm up and think about the stage ahead. Left turn, mayhem gravel and it was on. This was racing today. More scenes like I have explained all along. Nerves. Dust. Douche bag moves that endanger others. Rocks. Potholes. Punctures. Big rim cracking noises. Relief every 5 minutes that I am still in the race.

That relief strangely turned to excitement at 22km as I hit a rock and immediately flatted on my front tyre. Not one hole but two. Beautiful I thought. This is it. This is the test you want. Now what’s left in the legs. I was back on my way but I knew I needed some more air in the tyre. I could see on my map that there was a water table at 45km which I knew would have a pump.

The lead group was gone and I could not have been happier about it. My new chain ring meant I did not have any power data. 6 consecutive days racing and sleeping in a tent meant my HR data was all over the shop. I was left with the purest and most honest measure of effort….feel. As I pulled into the water table to pump up my tyre I felt unreal. I must have known today was going to need something special as I packed a few extra gels. 2 hours into the race I had taken in 210 grams of carbs and had not needed to use my race bib to clean up after me. This was magic.

Once again I was chasing the riders up the road. Trying to get back to the leaders. Trying to hop from small group to another and get someone to give me a break from working by taking them with me. I got a few takers which was nice, it always is. The stage only had one major climb which kicked off around 70km in and was a gentle 4% for 12km. Another opportunity to try and find wheels to work with as well as continuing to inhale carbs. My mouth getting more sticky but my legs not tiring. I would suffer the former any day of the week.

As we summited the peak for the day at 80km I was once again with Fish. Amazing I thought. We could go to the end together. Now I was ready. Now it was murder mode. Now I was going to have the best hour of my life. I saw no wildlife, noticed nothing around me. I had reached what I came for, my flow state. It was paradise. I smiled and smiled. As I always do I remember those closest to me, Holly, Mum and Dad, and smile even more trying to figure out why and how they continue to support my ideas. And then I shed a tear. It happens. I stopped peddling. For how long who knows. I almost felt like I was no longer sitting on my bike. I was somehow floating. It’s wild. It really is.

After moments like that the finish line is always a bit meh as it is just a bunch of people and some charity finishers medals that are all very nice for some but mean very little to me. The moments is why I do these races. The moments that make the chaos of life, energy and humanity somehow make sense as nothing else matters. Hard to describe and for sure different for all.

It had been a race. The first time for a long time being on the third step of the podium somehow carries some meaning. I am still trying to figure out why but I think that needs some more time. My legs are empty, my heart is full, my lips are burnt and already my body aches. Dad messages me and says well done. Holly arrives a few hours after the finish to the camp to take me back to where we will start our holiday. I am the happiest man on the planet. This life is f**king unreal.

Thanks for reading.

No Weakness.
Marcus