When Kevin Vermaak left his job in IT to found a brand-new type of bike race, he had no idea how much money he’d lose up front or how successful the resulting event would become. 20 years in, and the Cape Epic is one of the most famous bike races in the world. After leaving it behind in 2016, Kevin began mulling over a new idea — a gravel stage race that explored a completely different part of South Africa. This year, he launched Gravel Burn, a seven-day event in the Great Karoo. It took years for Cape Epic to grow into what it is today, but Gravel Burn attracted some pretty fierce competition from year one, including Tom Pidcock, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Matt Beers, and Lauren Stephens. 

In this episode, Kevin tells Payson about how a series of globe-trotting adventures in the early 2000s inspired him to start the Cape Epic, why he thinks Gravel Burn has the potential to be even bigger, and the logistics of planning such a remote, multi-day event. He talks about the things he hopes to do better next year, why he’s actually glad that the infamous stage six of the race had to be neutralized, and why he needed nearly twice as many staff members as there were race participants in order to pull the whole thing off.

This episode was brought to you by TrainingPeaks and Osprey. 

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YouTube: Payson McElveen

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