Ya i suppose the 226ers could argue they'd be only half an hour behind if they both had 32" wheels or two hours back if it wasn't for the one on 32"...
Also, marathon events may be mainstream here but are not that in Europe and the USA. The other Epic style events around the world are also far smaller. Its an extreme niche sport unlike road riding and as you say even there the women's tour is still a work in progress.
226ers should surely be on retro steel 26er HT bikes?
This will be the first high media exposure 32" event I think. Will be interesting to see those big wheel's cruising past the puny 29ers. Now they'll know how 26er riders felt when they came along 🙂
I wonder if they were responsible for the shite goody bag and lack of food along the way as someone else pointed out. Cost cutting and the lowest entry numbers for a long time with the usual entry price increase look like a bad mix for growing the event.
I remember when the tough terrain videos actually showed, well, tough terrain. Latest one is of Klipwerf at Banhoek, an amazing flow trail. Is this the toughest terrain the Epic has to offer this year? Are they trying to scare first time riders? 🙂
I rode what I thought was better than last year but clearly slacked off to much in the final 10km and didn't crack the sub 4 I'd been aiming for. Got PRs on various segments earlier so need to focus a bit better on riding and not enjoying the view.
Post above re the eBiker was similar to my experience. Just after Misty Cliffs a white haired eBiker in turbo raced to overtake the bunch even resorting to off road to do so. At high speed too. The number of eBikes has grown and it does change the experience somewhat. The sound of motorized vehicles approaching fast from behind is more like a training ride on open roads than the tour of old.
Later what looked like the same eBike mutt seemed to have caused a crash. Cut across the path of another ride who went down hard in Noordhoek just before the start of Chappies. Near the end there were clearly guys who hadn't read the memo and were in turbo overtaking everything in sight.
Not cool plonkers.
Ya WTF - its pathetic this year, or I mean more pathetic than ever before. It also seemed that the expo has been taken over by the energy supplements snake oil salesmen.
