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 Mountain-Bike 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…