The Every Thing Race

A finisher of the 2016 ABSA Cape Epic remembers how a helping hand from the late Gugu Zulu turned her world around.

- Collyn Ahart

The MacBook Pro under my wrists hums in the heat as sweat droplets bead on my chest and back. The glowing screen is the only light in the room. The temperature’s 40°C outside, 35 inside. It’s August 2015, one of the hottest summers in recent history in Girona, Spain, and I’m about to pull the plug on my failing start-up.

An email pings: “An invitation to ride the Absa Cape Epic, the 8-Day Untamed African MountainBike Race, in March 2016.” Heralded by many as the world’s toughest mountain bike race, it’s 647 kilometres through the steep, rocky mountains in South Africa’s Cape wine region. Temperatures climb to 40-plus degrees, the hot air is thick with fine red dust, and riders, competing in teams of two, spend each night camping in the elements.

Delete. A new email pings: Another polite decline from a prospective investor. For years I’d dreamed of creating an outdoor clothing company for women. Bowndling Adventure wear was my Mars mission – crazy, yes, but attainable. The company had launched eight months earlier with all the fanfare reserved for Next Big Things. We had a team of A-list players from Net-a-Porter, Maharishi, Burberry, and Rapha. But by August, everything had changed. The company was just me. Everyone else had been laid off or decided to leave months before. There was no more money, just a mountain of debt.

I wipe the sweat from my face. Or is it tears? I thought I’d become numb to the feeling of rejection. Here are the reasons we think your business isn’t a viable investment. Three pages later, I close my computer and shut my eyes.