Mountain Bike Mantra: Epic riders get some loving

Rob Warner, now retired from professional racing, was the first British rider to win a round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.

A widely known personality on the mountain biking scene for his TV work covering the UCI DHI World Cup Circuit, Warner lent his commentary skills to the 2015 Absa Cape Epic Mountain Bike Race, which ended yesterday.

In a world first, Warner was co-opted by the sponsors of the race, Dimension Data, to appear live via a webcam to riders on large screens during the race to relay messages of encouragement and support.

Speaking from his home in Oxford in the UK, Warner said he was honoured to inspire the men and women riding the Epic, which he considers the most gruelling mountain bike race in the world.

''It is such an amazing undertaking just to finish it, my role was to keep the guys going. I read out messages from their friends and loved ones. The riders could see me on massive screens as they trudged up the hills," he said.

To offer messages to their mates in the race, supporters were required to go to the Dimension Data website, type in their relationship to the rider, their rider number and click submit. Werner received the messages immediately in Oxford, England, and delivered them to the riders as they passed the hot spots.

''What they were faced with each day was so difficult physically and psychologically - over 100km per day of very rough terrain - that it took a lot to keep going," says Warner. ''You need every bit of help you can get when you've hit exhaustion to refrain from giving up. It really is mind over matter."

Warner, 44, admits he's never ridden the Epic himself, but believes it's the hardest race in the world.

"Its so much tougher than a one-day race, which is what I'm used to," he says.

The Epic is 739km and includes 16000m of climbing, taking place over eight days.

Riders have to carbo-load every night and have massages at the end of the day's racing to recover and stretch, says Warner.

"The most important advice I could give was for riders to visualise getting to the finish. Take every day as it comes, don't panic, set realistic small goals, like getting to the next drinks station, or getting over the next climb and know that you will have low points and ride through them."

Warner knows all about the heartbreak of having to exit a race because of an accident.

"You hurt yourself in a crash or a stick goes through your tyre, anything can happen and then it's months of training out the window," he says. "One of the greatest drawcards of the Epic, though, is that you have to ride in pairs so you can look after each other."

Warner got into mountain biking in the mid-1980s when the sport was just starting to grow. "My parents bought me a bike and I'd go off on adventures for days. Then I started doing races and worked my way up to becoming a professional rider in 1993."

He became the first British rider to win a round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, taking a historic win at Kaprun in Austria in 1996 and was the UK National Champion in 1997, 1998 and 2001. He now presents a television show for Red Bull.