Guest EdEdEd Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 9 months of pain Uhm, no... Only a couple of hours of pain (only if you don't get awesome drugs) Some lower back discomfort And you get 4 Months of leave for it. The Epic is tougher
Wyatt Earp Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 I think pregnancy is much tougher than the Epic. 9 months of pain, hormone gets mixed up, you are at work for 8 months of it. You irritate the sh*t out of everyone else. And then there is a living creature coming out of you. Epic, you have food, entertainment by Dan, moral support, messages, injections, pain killers, a staff of about 200+ persons to cater for you. I have done 4 of it. It is only about 40 hours, then it is over. No stretch marks, people sucking on your nipples. Luckily, I am not equipped to be pregnant, and will do 0 of this "Epics" Random, a whole lotta rubbish too, but for the most of it, really random.
V12man Posted April 4, 2014 Posted April 4, 2014 STRONG TOPPIE THAT mmmm........ he has a strong handbag carrier.... who pushes his bike up hills for him as well.... and he can waterski....
Firemeister Posted April 5, 2014 Posted April 5, 2014 Okay so after chatting to a buddy of mine that finished the Epic this year, I think the OP might be on to something. According to my pel, he cruised and still easily made it. Had time to stop and talk k@k at all the waterpoints, stopped to take pictures 5 or 6 times per day and never once had to worry about not making it. He is a big boy at around 95kg and trained around 6-8 hours a week for the epic. So looks like if you have the $$$ you can get an Epic Medal.Care sharing your buddies' overall finish time?
jaxtun Posted April 5, 2014 Posted April 5, 2014 Okay so after chatting to a buddy of mine that finished the Epic this year, I think the OP might be on to something. According to my pel, he cruised and still easily made it. Had time to stop and talk k@k at all the waterpoints, stopped to take pictures 5 or 6 times per day and never once had to worry about not making it. He is a big boy at around 95kg and trained around 6-8 hours a week for the epic. So looks like if you have the $$$ you can get an Epic Medal. Who knew.... Fabes did the Epic!
gummibear Posted April 5, 2014 Posted April 5, 2014 I think pregnancy is much tougher than the Epic. 9 months of pain, hormone gets mixed up, you are at work for 8 months of it. You irritate the sh*t out of everyone else. And then there is a living creature coming out of you. Epic, you have food, entertainment by Dan, moral support, messages, injections, pain killers, a staff of about 200+ persons to cater for you. I have done 4 of it. It is only about 40 hours, then it is over. No stretch marks, people sucking on your nipples. Luckily, I am not equipped to be pregnant, and will do 0 of this "Epics" Wow....you sound like a pretty disturbed individual. VicanZA 1
Wyatt Earp Posted April 5, 2014 Posted April 5, 2014 Wow....you sound like a pretty disturbed individual. Peerlessly disturbed.Priceless and peerless. gummibear, jaxtun, VicanZA and 1 other 4
kandui Posted April 5, 2014 Posted April 5, 2014 (edited) The field gets stronger each year, at least that's my perception having ridden 2011-14. Add a pile of very good foreign teams to the local contingent and it requires hard riding to get the desired result.There is no other mtb event in SA that gets this kind of foreign attendance and with the Epic being an international event, we are taken out of our comfort zone. There is no "homely" vibe like at the Sani or W2W, it's "full focus" for a week. The Epic pushes you past your comfort zone and trying to keep that up over 8 days is probably one reason riders drop out. Add to that 1200 odd riders grabbing stuff at the water tables with spit , dirt off your gloves and sweat and you'll get a bunch of riders getting sick. Then there's teams not pacing themselves for an 8 day event, thinking they can keep up the pace from Prologue to Lourensford.The terrain is no more or less technical than any other event, it's the distance, coupled to the ascent that gets you. If I had to pay to enter the Epic, I wouldn't ride again. I did my "bucket list" Epic in 2011. After that I paid 50% of half an entry in 2012 and the last 2 I was lucky enough to have a very supportive sponsor. It's too expensive for the likes of me, but as long as the sponsor backs my team, I will come back and ride another one.No brainer and worth all the training & sacrifice. If you're into racing ( I'm an "also rode" , finishing in the first 25%) then do an Epic.The personal feeling of achievement is immense. Edited April 5, 2014 by kandui flymango and rmabreu 2
rmabreu Posted April 7, 2014 Posted April 7, 2014 (edited) For those that never did the Epic, there's no other conclusion possible than "it is hard, very hard". But as all things it is hard up to a point, so if you train well and are relatively fit / technical, it's not "impossible hard". What struck me at the Epic (rode it for the first time this year, finishing top 50% exactly - 308) is that even though all days are hard it is the accumulation of hard days that make it harder than average, not any single day. This year the only day of respite we were supposed to have which was Stage 2 converted into a mud fest, draining a lot more energy from everybody than what it was supposed to. But if you go look at individual days of other ultra-marathons there are probably much harder days. Stage 1 of Brasil Ride in Bahia, Brazil (one of the other 2 UCI ultra-marathons) is arguably much harder than this year's Stages 1 or 5 of the Epic, with 145km, over 3k up and through very dense forest with numerous hike a bike sections and impossibly technical single track downhills. The same was heard of some of the stages of TransAlps (though I did not do it yet). So - very hard, but far from impossible if you commit to the training required... As for paying for it, 120% worth it the first time, incredible logistics, attention to detail, organization, everything. Quite can't compare with NO other race I did to date. As for paying for a second time, in my case the sheer need to fly 12hs to get to it make it a much harder proposition, so the entry fee would not even be the worst part of riding it again... Maybe if the course and/or format is significantly changed it would deserve a second time. And I agree with kandui, the personal feeling of achievement is indeed immense. Edited April 8, 2014 by rmabreu Wannabe 1
BennieP Posted April 13, 2014 Posted April 13, 2014 Has the Epic, or any other marathon race become so easy that a Roadie with virtually no real mountain experience can win? I guess it shows which way South African racing is going, which is a shame, because mountainbiking use to be about skill, but apparently not anymore. Am I the only one thinking this?? PS. Don't get me wrong, the Epic is on my ToDo List.I was there this year...first go and do that race then make that statement again....dont think you would! Once you see how those guys ride...they deserve whats they get. Just do the last days portage section and try and run it like they do...roady on not...hats off to them! tunariaan 1
Pierre G Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 I also think the Epic is to easy. I've only been cycling since 2010 and did my first Epic this year. We thought it would be very hard to get a Top 100 finish. We came 5th in the masters and 54 overall. Everybody said that the emotions you experience the last day on the finishline are overwelming, I am still waiting for that. It should be a lot more technical in my opinion. Anybody can finish it. They should make it a lot harder, it is afterall the benchmark off mtb stage racing. Don't get me wrong, I will do it again, it was still a nice experience but nothing to be scared off.
Firemeister Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 (edited) I also think the Epic is to easy. I've only been cycling since 2010 and did my first Epic this year. We thought it would be very hard to get a Top 100 finish. We came 5th in the masters and 54 overall. Everybody said that the emotions you experience the last day on the finishline are overwelming, I am still waiting for that. It should be a lot more technical in my opinion. Anybody can finish it. They should make it a lot harder, it is afterall the benchmark off mtb stage racing. Don't get me wrong, I will do it again, it was still a nice experience but nothing to be scared off. Instead of speaking bull that "anybody can finish it", rather inform the forum how many hours of training you did, to put in perspective what it takes to achieve top 100? Edited August 10, 2014 by Firemeister
'Dale Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 Oh no...Someone did a Lazarus on this baby!!! And how...Bump it until Monday AM, eksê
Captain Fastbastard Mayhem Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 Holy Thread Revival, Batman!
Sworks20 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 Frantiesek Rabon I presume? If he is talking about Rabon, he must be F-ing joking. Rabon is world class.
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