KEVIN MCCALLUM: Big party in Stanford awaits Cape Epic cyclists — and all its free riders

Stanford is giddy, nervous and very, very excited these days. They are ticking off the days, marking the hours and counting the seconds until the Absa Cape Epic comes hurtling through this village in the Overberg on Tuesday.

March 21 will be a big day in little Stanford when they host the first water point of the second stage of the 2023 Epic. The town is planning a big party on the village green, where the riders will stop to eat, drink and contemplate their life choices after a flat 15km dash from Hermanus along the shores of the Klein Rivier Lagoon before heading off for what is officially described by the Epic as an 86km “middle section” of the 116km stage.

There they will find most of the 1,850m of climbing promised for the stage, much of it with right-angled twists and tests on trails through farms such as Klein Modder Rivier, where, given the recent and predicted rains this weekend, they will find “modder”. Throw in a tight romp around the Stanford Valley guest farm, whose fynbos is starting to recover after a fire ripped through the top of it at the beginning of February, and this has the makings of a moving day for the frontrunners and a moving slowly day for those behind.

“Thrills, like the Ultimate Southern Pass and Missing Link Trail, plus the singletracks along the banks of the Waboomsrivier are countered with climbs into the Akkedisberg and Paardenberg ranges. With opportunities for attacking racing combined with a relentless route, stage two is sure to be one of the most captivating days of the 2023 race,” as the Epic describes it.

But, for the people of Stanford, it will be a day to celebrate a captivating village. Just as the locals in France put on a show for the world for the Tour de France as it passes them by, so too will the Stanfordians. They may be setting a precedent of sorts for future Epic stages. You will know you are in Stanford. A 60m sign with the legend “Stanford 1857” will be painted on the green. It will cost R8,000 for a professional job. As of Thursday, after a session at the local pub, they had raised at least R2,500 with more funds promised. All good things happen in pubs.

I was in a pub when I agreed to ride the Epic in 2012, three beers into a lazy afternoon when I was invited and had a think and a drink about it. I said yes. Not all clever things happen in pubs.

There are some similarities between 2023 and 2012. As in 2012, this year’s Epic will start at the Meerendal wine farm with a 27km prologue. While we headed to the bright lights of Robertson and the heady joys of Caledon, this year the riders will settle in Hermanus before shooting off to Oak Valley for stages four and five.

Thirteen years ago we got to Oak Valley on a rain-soaked stage five, where, with a beer in hand on my bike on the finish line, I struggled to unclip from my pedals and fell over with a grace and aplomb I have yet to replicate.

After a two-night stay in Lourensford, where the 2012 Epic finished, the riders head to Val di Vie for a glass of bubble with Ryk Neethling. The Epic all sounds rather fun when you put it like that. But it’s not. It’s as tough as tough can be, mad and maddening, heartbreaking and soul-reviving. How did I finish? Because I didn’t want to stop and so I didn’t. It was that simple and that daft.

But back to Stanford. The Stanford markets will be open, there will be suitable and unsuitable refreshments on sale to welcome the first riders at 7.30am and the last around 11am. I’ll be there. I now call Stanford home after getting out of Joburg while the getting was good.

Stanford is a joy of a village, simple and complicated, quirky and normal, quiet and full of commotion. It is just far enough away from the rest of the world to allow you to take a breath and close enough to the big smoke of Hermanus to make sense.

Stage two will be captivating, says the Epic. Stanford is captivating. The Epic will know it has been through Stanford this Tuesday.