Warthog Posted March 31, 2017 Share I've done Epic, CPT and Sani In terms of rider treatment Sani is by far superior. You can have as much as you like - and all top quality stuff. Reminded me of my days as officer at the Air Force. Cape Pioneer not that far off - and great local food is provided by the local tannies - and lots of ostrich!! Cape Epic was like being a troep in the Army, you felt as if you got screwed.Thanks. At last someone...(I tend to forget how much crap you sometimes need to get through on this forum to get a straight answer....BUT it is Friday then... Vaalhaai, AdamA, Stevo9119 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyK Posted March 31, 2017 Share That's my point. The organisers can sell this race out multiple times so why are you filled with shock & disbelief with the product they deliver? Clearly more than enough people feel they are getting what they pay for. Not difficult to comprehend? You might disagree but that's irrelevant to the current reality. In your naive Utopian existence the the common public might deserve the same treatment, but in the real world of sponsors, media rights, professional works teams, charities and good old-fashioned nepotism, that will never happen on a race of this scale and stature. You made me think of this book we did in High School, in my Utopian world it reads: At the Cape Epic All cyclists are equal, but some cyclists are more equal than others. I get the feeling the best races for the avarage guy iare the new races before it gets to big and commercialised. I don't think the Epic will see me soon for R38k and that treatment. Warthog 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underachiever Posted March 31, 2017 Share So let me get this straight.... An elitist sport elite athlete at an elitist event is complaining there are more elitist elite? This is far more interesting than JZ's antics Bit OTThe layers of elitism is mind boggling. My home is in a bit of an elitist "area". I'm at the entry level. So I see how people live on the upper end.. Then I visited Monaco a few years back. We have no idea. I felt like a squatter... Hairy and TIB 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ians H2Sport Posted March 31, 2017 Share I'm flippin happy to be one of the lucky 100 who got early bird entry's, elite or not, water or no water. For me it is about riding those trails with my mate SCD, Baaisikilist, Li Mu Bai and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcza Posted March 31, 2017 Share So let me get this straight.... An elitist sport elite athlete at an elitist event is complaining there are more elitist elite? This is far more interesting than JZ's antics Rather than shoot from the hip tell us about your Epic please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dev null Posted March 31, 2017 Share Bit OTThe layers of elitism is mind boggling. My home is in a bit of an elitist "area". I'm at the entry level. So I see how people live on the upper end.. Then I visited Monaco a few years back. We have no idea. I felt like a squatter... I don't want to imagine then how I would feel. My wife once visited a wine farm, and the lounge suite was worth what my house was worth. She said to me that those people live in a different reality compared to ours. SCD and TIB 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patchelicious Posted March 31, 2017 Share Like I said before, the Epic is going to be good for the locally owned races that are willing to step it up..... slickandtyred 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patchelicious Posted March 31, 2017 Share I don't want to imagine then how I would feel. My wife once visited a wine farm, and the lounge suite was worth what my house was worth. She said to me that those people live in a different reality compared to ours. Are we heading in this direction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaGearA Posted March 31, 2017 Share In addition, they have sponsorship, so they aren't relying purely on entry fees to pay for everything1400 riders ( mayne 1200 not sure) = R 45 million from entries I'd bet ABSA provides at least that much ^ Than you also have Hansgrohe USNDimension Data just to mention A few. Which just supports how lucrative this event is and why they don't worry about the lesser riders. That 75k will come form someone else and even that is not even A drop of what is in the bucket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIB Posted March 31, 2017 Share Rather than shoot from the hip tell us about your Epic please. Well, it took me some 50 hours to complete. Pretty bad for 24 years worth of trying to be a mountain biker. That makes me a bottom feeder in the cycling gene pool. I did not complain about my parents giving me bad cycling genes. However, I was a guest of the main sponsor. Nice treatment. Did not complain about that either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcza Posted March 31, 2017 Share Well, it took me some 50 hours to complete. Pretty bad for 24 years worth of trying to be a mountain biker. That makes me a bottom feeder in the cycling gene pool. I did not complain about my parents giving me bad cycling genes. However, I was a guest of the main sponsor. Nice treatment. Did not complain about that either. Well done! Genes are overrated anyway, someone remind me again how many grand tours Axel Merckx won. How does one become part of the Absa pride? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaGearA Posted March 31, 2017 Share Well, it took me some 50 hours to complete. Pretty bad for 24 years worth of trying to be a mountain biker. That makes me a bottom feeder in the cycling gene pool. I did not complain about my parents giving me bad cycling genes. However, I was a guest of the main sponsor. Nice treatment. Did not complain about that either.Just finishing the epic makes you A proper mountain biker in my eyes. Who cares about the time. Well done sir Vaalhaai, ians H2Sport and TIB 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCD Posted March 31, 2017 Share Interesting discussion. I happened to be part of the ABSA Pride, invited by a friend of mine who was invited by ABSA. I eventually helped my partner to finish the EPIC, and in return enjoyed some of the privileges, which were: some kit, massages, mechanical service, excess to the ABSA tent with some extra food and water right after the finish, and some friendly smiles by the ABSA staff - all great. Mind, that we had to pay for our entry ourselves. Now to the main food tent: The tables with the free wine, beer and water were not for us. They were reserved for another level of folk sponsored by ABSA. These are corporate day visitors that take part at the day-trippers programme, where they ride 2 or 3 days of a shortened route either 1 day ahead or after the relevant stages of the EPIC. Like it or not but I guess it is part of the privilege ABSA is reserving for themselves after dishing out millions of rands of sponsorship. I personally also found the food appalling (the ABSA tent did not serve breakfast or supper...). The policy around the water bottles was a joke. It was actually worse. They ran out of little bottles so quickly that I didn't bother anymore and brought my own. Just coming from Tankwa Trek I was really surprised by HOW disappointing the EPIC presented itself. Basically everything was feeling cheap. Food, water, village layout... everything was disorganized, badly designed, appeared shoddy, ... The first village wasn't even ready when we arrived, they only had water late in the evening. Didata cocked up the tracking and the permanent need to log into the free wifi again and again drove me out of my skin. All in all like the opposite of what they market themselves, the opposite of premium. Just cheap. Sorry EPIC. Will the EPIC change because of feedback like this? No, why should they? Selling out in seconds! The business model works. Years of really brilliant marketing is bearing fruit. Why spending more money on customer experience if the customers keep on coming back? It will get 'worse' going forward. This year the laundry service was an optional extra, 2018 the bike wash is a payable extra, and in future tended accommodation or food may become options like with other international stage races. And obviously the entry fee will keep on climbing at the same time. So, will I do it again? Yes, the competition part of it is making me want to do it again. But I learned that I would need to budget more for this. Get a serious team partner to gun for a good GC, hunt for sponsorship, get a campervan and become self-sufficient. This may or may not all come together but I am not stressed by that. Do you need to do EPIC to do the 'toughest' stage race on the planet? Nope. The EPIC is in fact much 'tamer' than it is made out to be, provided you are prepared as you should be, and depending how hard you attack it. Being prepared properly and then taking a chilled approach, even the hot days were quite ok, and the rest was a jol. If you look for tough you will find much bigger challenges out there. One example and a good Friday read is this blog about the 'Iron Bike' in Italy (https://bikemagic.com/mountain-bike-events/iron-bike-2013-full-rider-diary-recap-with-matt-page.html). 8 days, 700km, 26000m. Stages with more than to 4000m climbing and then you have to pitch your own tent . The entry fee this year is 750Euro... Free pot of soup for supper included EmptyB, Halfdoesyn, dev null and 14 others 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIB Posted March 31, 2017 Share Well done! Genes are overrated anyway, someone remind me again how many grand tours Axel Merckx won. How does one become part of the Absa pride? You run up your overdraft high enough that they cannot lose you as a customer and you promise not to moan about the bank charges for two years Edited March 31, 2017 by TIB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcza Posted March 31, 2017 Share You run up your overdraft high enough that they cannot lose you as a customer and you promise not to moan about the bank charges for two years Hahaha...... if you owe the bank R10k its your problem but if you owe them R10mil its their problem Underachiever, Beefy, Hairy and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudda Posted March 31, 2017 Share Regarding the helicopter costs ... Isnt that part of the sale for the broadcasting ? Meaning - Epic Video coverage brings in the bucks... it is not an expense ... Hairy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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