With both the Cape Epic and Swiss Epic titles under her belt, Ariane Kleinhans looks back on a stellar season in both her home country and adoptive nation.
Q: With you and Annika Langvad winning both the Absa Cape Epic and Perskindol Swiss Epic, this has been a truly “epic” season in every sense of the word, hasn’t it?
A: Yes, it feels great to accomplish the goals that we set ourselves. Especially winning the Absa Cape Epic – where we had very strong competition and a difficult start with mechanicals – was a big achievement.
Q: What makes you and Annika such a winning combination?
A: Annika is a very talented rider and not the marathon world champion by accident. She was possibly the strongest lady to ride a stage race with this year. But she is also very smart and understands how important teamwork is in a stage race. We put a lot of thought into that before every stage and, with my experience from racing with Erik, I could tell her exactly how she’d support me best. After all, we get along really well off the bike.
Q: How did the Cape Epic and Swiss Epic compare and differ in terms of the kinds of challenges and conditions you faced as a rider?
A: We covered about the same amount of climbing at the Swiss Epic over half the distance of the Cape Epic. The Swiss Epic took place in the Valais region. We started close to Mont Blanc and finished at the bottom of the Matterhorn in Zermatt, two of the highest mountains in the Alps. In this area climbs of 1 500m are nothing rare, but the effort is always rewarded with spectacular views and really great single-trail downhills. Because of the massive ascents, the Swiss Epic becomes a less tactical race than the Cape Epic. In the Swiss Alps it was more about pacing yourself perfectly to not blow up on one of those big climbs. At the Cape Epic the pace is less steady and it can be crucial to put in a very big effort in certain situations just to stay with or catch a bunch and save energy over the next stretch of flat open road. For me this aspect makes the Cape Epic much more challenging than the Swiss Epic. A short big effort is always very painful and you have to know exactly when and where it’s worthwhile to put it in.
Q: Was it good to be racing on familiar turf in Switzerland?
A: Yes, I really love those mountains and the trails in the Valais are incredibly cool. Erik and I have been for an altitude training camp there every year and have gotten to know the terrain better and better. Coming from South Africa, it’s been good to have practised the steep descents and tight hairpins before.
Q: How did you divide your time between Europe and South Africa this year?
A: It was almost half–half. But I spent more time in Switzerland than usual this year. I prolonged my European trip for the Swiss Epic and after I decided not to do the Cape Pioneer I stayed another few weeks to spend some time with my family. Next year I will probably only be in Switzerland for two months.
Q: You took part in a few European races in the lead-up to the Swiss Epic. Which races did you take part in and tell us about your performance in each.
A: My first race after marathon world champs was the Ironbike in Ischgl, Austria. It is a killer of a race with 3 800m of ascending in just 79km. Coming out of an altitude training camp a little bit tired, I suffered immensely to finish fourth overall. But this race was very good preparation for the Eiger Bike Challenge in Grindelwald, which also served as the Swiss national championship, two weeks later. It ascends over 3 900m in 88km. I was well recovered this time but I couldn’t hold the pace of the leading ladies, Esther Süss and Milena Landtwing, up the first 1 000m climb. I was riding in third position for most of the race until the top of the last big climb. There I managed to catch Milena and leave her behind just before the finish line to take second behind Esther. Only a week later the mother of all marathons, the legendary Grand Raid from Verbier to Grimentz, awaited us. In 125km with 5 025m of climbing the riders conquer a good part of the Swiss Alps in just one day. Milena was meant to be my biggest competition, but a severe mechanical took her out of the race after the first descent. I managed to pace myself well over the seven hours and 48 minutes of my racing time to win the race ahead of Sabine Sommer and Florence Darballey. A new and very different experience for Erik and I was the Skaidi Xtreme. The organisers invited us to this race in the far north of Norway, close to the North Cape and treated us like a king and queen. The race was only 40km but very technical and a lot of fun on my new Specialized Era dual suspension. I managed to win the race ahead of Swedish champion Jennie Stenerhag.
Q: With major wins in Africa and Europe bookending your season, do you feel truly “bi-continental” now? And do you get homesick for both places?
A: I did race a lot of races in Switzerland and South Africa, so I’d say I’m quite bi-national rather than bi-continental so far. The two countries are very different and that makes it very interesting for me. I’m always looking forward to the change of scenery and culture. Of course, if I have a bad day in Africa, I wish to see the mountains and speak my mother tongue but it’s also true the other way around. When it’s miserable in Switzerland, I’m missing the sunny weather and the great trails in Jonkershoek. Some days the grass just seems to be greener on the other side. But the great thing with my life is that it will never take long till I get to be on the other side.
Q: You’ve also had a surprisingly good performance on the road at the Bestmed Tour de Boland. Is there a lot of carry-over from mountain bike stage races to road tours in terms of endurance and fitness?
A: Yes, it’s both cycling after all. The Tour de Boland was just before the Cape Epic, meaning that I was in very good shape by then. In road racing the pace varies a lot more than in marathon mountain biking and you need to be able to ride at a very high intensity. That was a great challenge and the perfect training for me to sharpen up for the Cape Epic.
Q: Will you be kicking off your 2015 season with your title defence at Tour de Boland?
A: I’m not quite sure about the date of the Tour de Boland but if it fits into my calendar I’d definitely like to race it again.
Q: What were your highlights/top five podiums of the season?
A: I had the perfect preparation leading up to the Cape Epic and was in excellent shape in March. My performances that month at the Tour de Boland, the national marathon in Tulbagh and the Cape Epic were my personal highlights. The Cape Epic naturally stands out a bit more as it was my main goal and also because we had to fight back really hard after our bad start with mechanicals. The rest of the season I never quite felt in the same great form again, but was extremely pleased with the victory at the Grand Raid and the Swiss Epic.
Q: Were there any personal or racing lowlights this season?
A: Yes, the marathon world championships in Pietermaritzburg were a disappointment for me. Judging by how I performed in March, I went with high expectations into the worlds. But somehow I just didn’t get it right.
Q: Erik also had a good “home soil” win at the Karoo to Coast this year. Billed as the “Argus of mountain biking”, was this a big win for him and something he’d been targeting for a while?
A: Erik already collected a few podium places at the Karoo to Coast but never got onto the top step. Because it’s close to his hometown of George, he is personally attached to this race and that made this win definitely very special. Also the way he won it was pretty impressive. Normally this race comes down to a sprint for the line as the course is not very selective, but Erik attacked with 40km to go and managed to stay in front.
Q: What are some of the advantages of being able to train with your husband?
A: In the beginning I trained quite a lot with Erik because he was very concerned about my safety on the South African roads. He taught me a lot of small things and constantly pushed me out of my comfort zone. But at the same time he sacrificed his training for me and that had to change at some point, that’s why we don’t really train together anymore. Erik often rides with Christoph Sauser, when he’s in Stellenbosch, and I have my coach Andrew Smith and the Power2Max power meter that keep me on my toes.
Q: And what are some of the disadvantages of having two pro cyclists in the family?
A: I don’t cope very well with the pressure and the stress before races, which leads to a pretty tense atmosphere in the Kleinhans household sometimes. Because Erik’s doing the same races, he has to deal with that at a very unpleasant time for him. To be a great athlete, you need to live for your sport and you need to look after yourself very well. Athletes therefore tend to be a bit egoistic and this is obviously not a very helpful attitude for a successful partnership.
Q: Cycling is a pretty precarious profession – one serious fall and it can alter the course of your career. How do you two deal with that and is it hard to watch each other racing across often-treacherous terrain?
A: I try not to think about it actually. I think if I did, it would just increase the chance of falling because I’d ride in fear. But when I arrived at the finish of the second stage of this year’s Nedbank sani2c and the people told me about Erik’s crash, I was really shocked and shattered. Also to realise that he wouldn’t be able to ride world champs in his own country a month later was extremely sad. But luckily everything healed well and he is back on the bike again.
Q: What does an average day in the life of Ariane Kleinhans look like and, when you’re not on the bike, what do you do for fun?
A: I get up between 7am and 8am and while I’m having my breakfast muesli I do a bit of admin or read the news on the internet. At about 9am I leave for my two to four hour ride. Immediately after coming home, I have my recovery shake, then wash my bike and have a shower myself. After lunch it’s time to rest and do a bit of admin. Later in the afternoon I go for a run, a swim or do some strength exercises or at least stretch and massage my muscles. After that I go to the shop and prepare dinner. I try to be in bed at about 10pm and asleep by 11pm at the latest. During the serious training phase, I basically either train or lie on the couch watching TV. But now at this time of the year, I don’t have to be as strict with my recovery and could go free riding or do a three-day hiking trip in the mountains with friends. Those are really great days.
Q: Are you currently taking a break from training or do you have any more racing goals before the end of the year?
A: I took about two weeks off from training after Swiss Epic and am now in a phase where I train but not too specifically. In November I’ll do the Wines2Whales, the DC and the Origin of Trails, but I don’t put any pressure on myself to perform at those races.
Q: When do you kick-start your serious pre-season training?
A: The training will get more and more serious now in November and by December I will hopefully be in full-on training mode again.
Q: Where to from here for the 2015 season? What goal races and objectives have you pinpointed?
A: The Cape Epic will again be a very big goal for me and determine my training over the next few months. The other two objectives will be the Swiss and marathon world champs at the end of June. Also the South African national marathon series and the biggest classic in Switzerland, the Grand Raid, will be important again. And for the end of the season I will most likely focus on the Cape Pioneer.
Q: Do you believe you’re now at the top of your game or do you feel you can still go up from here?
A: I feel that I can still work on a lot of things, be it on my technical skills or my physical and mental strength. It is my goal to become the marathon world champion one day and at this stage I haven’t quit trying to achieve that yet.
