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I didn't finish the Epic because.....and the after effects


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Being one of those riders that the Epic klapped(back in 2009),I would like to hear other riders stories of what went wrong.

For me it was essentially poor core preparation. I did no gym work and then busted a gut muscle(herniated my diaphragm) on stage three. By stage four it was hurting so for stage 5, I took pain killers that my (then) doc assured me was safe. The wheels started to come off. I got 30% into stage 6 and my blood pressure got so high my leg muscles locked up(it was still over 200 six hours later). Had to abandon. Subsequently a new doc, who is a Comrades event physician, told me the pain killers I had been given caused many problems for Comrades runners and I should never have taken them. Long term effect is some damage to my kidneys and an ever lasting feeling of having failed. A secondary feeling is that all other long rides since then have been lacking in substance. Those few days of the Epic so raised my personal bar on what is a real challenge that nothing I have ridden since gives me deep pleasure or a feeling of challenge.

I am thinking of trying the Attakwas on a hardtail (at age 63) to see if it can do the job.

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Being one of those riders that the Epic klapped(back in 2009),I would like to hear other riders stories of what went wrong.

For me it was essentially poor core preparation. I did no gym work and then busted a gut muscle(herniated my diaphragm) on stage three. By stage four it was hurting so for stage 5, I took pain killers that my (then) doc assured me was safe. The wheels started to come off. I got 30% into stage 6 and my blood pressure got so high my leg muscles locked up(it was still over 200 six hours later). Had to abandon. Subsequently a new doc, who is a Comrades event physician, told me the pain killers I had been given caused many problems for Comrades runners and I should never have taken them. Long term effect is some damage to my kidneys and an ever lasting feeling of having failed. A secondary feeling is that all other long rides since then have been lacking in substance. Those few days of the Epic so raised my personal bar on what is a real challenge that nothing I have ridden since gives me deep pleasure or a feeling of challenge.

I am thinking of trying the Attakwas on a hardtail (at age 63) to see if it can do the job.

Sounds like you need a double everest in your life.

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Being one of those riders that the Epic klapped(back in 2009),I would like to hear other riders stories of what went wrong.

For me it was essentially poor core preparation. I did no gym work and then busted a gut muscle(herniated my diaphragm) on stage three. By stage four it was hurting so for stage 5, I took pain killers that my (then) doc assured me was safe. The wheels started to come off. I got 30% into stage 6 and my blood pressure got so high my leg muscles locked up(it was still over 200 six hours later). Had to abandon. Subsequently a new doc, who is a Comrades event physician, told me the pain killers I had been given caused many problems for Comrades runners and I should never have taken them. Long term effect is some damage to my kidneys and an ever lasting feeling of having failed. A secondary feeling is that all other long rides since then have been lacking in substance. Those few days of the Epic so raised my personal bar on what is a real challenge that nothing I have ridden since gives me deep pleasure or a feeling of challenge.

I am thinking of trying the Attakwas on a hardtail (at age 63) to see if it can do the job.

 

Unfortunately you never finished cause you didn't do core work. That is little of a myth in training preparation. your overall conditioning was more than likely the cause unfortunately coupled with the hernia but that isn't due to lack of core.

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If I had 90 odd grand to spend on a nice little something for myself and my bicycle addiction I suspect that a trip to Europe to do some iconic rides and enjoy something different might come in higher on the list than 7 days of riding trails which, judging from the YouTube coverage, I have already ridden in other events

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not the epic, but i had to call it quits on the joburg2c last year after breaking 3 ribs on stage 2...

 

lying in bed during stage 3 and 4 I couldn't bear the FOMO anymore, so I came back to the race at stage 5.  To check if I was able to ride my bike without ribs, I opted for a 40km ride around Himeville on a leisurely pace all by myself and convinced myself that I was good to complete what was left of the race (essentially the Sani2c) starting the next day.  It turns out I caught a serious stomach bug from my brother's kid while I was recovering on day 3 and 4 so I started vomiting uncontrollably 30km's into stage 6.  vomiting with broken ribs is a rather unpleasant experience and pretty much feels like a chuck norris roundhouse kick to your chest, so I finally had to accept that 2018 wasn't my year...

 

what I learned was that concentration on long days are key.  I'm normally within the top 10% of the field in any marathon type race when it gets to skills and bike handling, yet I managed to go down hard in a straight jeep track section just because my eyes were not focused in the track

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I saw lots of people on the prologue who just didnt look as if they would cope. Barely able to ride a mountain bike and not very strong looking. It would be interesting to know how many of them finished it.

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I saw lots of people on the prologue who just didnt look as if they would cope. Barely able to ride a mountain bike and not very strong looking. It would be interesting to know how many of them finished it.

I did a 80 km mtb group ride this weekend............there was a lady that does not fit your typical stereotype but she was strong like a train..........don't judge by looks !

Edited by coppi
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My story

 

Did the 2006 event - we were nothing more than back markers TBH but it was also from Knysna to CTN and the event was held at the end of April.

 

It was also the year it rained so much. Barberton was in mud, Sani in Mud and every training ride in the rain. IN March i was strong like a train (Sani was in early March) but i then went downhill. Got flu 3 weeks before and then a week before riding deep in the forest at Kaapsehoop i hit brown moss at speed and fell hard on my LH - left a big hole out of my hip and basically put my back out of line.

 

At the start of the race I had the bike serviced and prepared - the mechanics (who will remain nameless as they are well known and are a good bunch of guys) made the mistake of not checking the wheel was properly in before doing the disc/pad alignment via the shims. As soon as i got the bike the day before i saw the problem and re-seated the wheel, but as a result the brakes were dragging slightly all the time, which i didnt pick up until the middle of Day 2.

 

Day 1 started in pissing rain from Knysna and up Simola the chain climbed off the top of the cluster (also owing to rear wheel alignment) and in to the spokes. That used 20 minutes to fix as it was impossible to get it out without much jimmying. THen on the descents i had resin brake pads in and with the rain i effectively ate a set of pads in the first 45kms. This lead to more time spent changing pads, so we were right at the back in front of the sweep from the outset. PLus my back was agony as my hips were out of line.

 

Day 1 of that race was horrendous. Rain plus Knee deep mud and huge long climbs, so by the end of it all and 11 hours we missed cutoff by about 10 minutes. We had wasted about 35 minutes on technical stuff. THe polar said i had burned about 6500 calories. I had 112 kms and 2400m climbing i think when i got to George to the Forestry place. It was starting to get dark when we came in.

 

I rode day 2 and after the Day 1 was so buggered and back was so sore i started to eat Nurofen. At one point i stopped and asked the medic for more of them and he nearly had a cadenza when i told him i had eaten 8 already, THe back brakes were dragging (which i eventually figured out and corrected) and this eventually just wore me down so far that i was pushing on every major hill. I finished the stage inside cutoff in Mossel bay and was okay but i was not interested in Day 3 at all as i was so totally knackered.

 

I did Day 5 and Day 7. Day 7 was far harder than i anticipated and it was the most vertical ascent for the distance - it was really tough.

 

I reckon i stood a chance without the fall and the flu but with the overtraining caused by the event only being at the end of April i was already on the downhill (which is why i got sick and lost motivation). Mates who started in 2006 and also bailed went on to finish in 2007. I never went back. Once was enough.

 

THe guys dont realize what the back of the pack looks like - its like a Crimean war battlefield with all the injuries and broken people who are riding on despite advice to the contrary. Its truly herois sometimes to see how determined people are to finish.  

 

 

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I saw lots of people on the prologue who just didnt look as if they would cope. Barely able to ride a mountain bike and not very strong looking. It would be interesting to know how many of them finished it.

Yeah I saw some of them, I did have a look on insta, some only started riding a MTB in Jan and made it to stage 5...

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I did a 80 km mtb group ride this weekend............there was a lady that does not fit your typical stereotype but she was strong like a train..........don't judge by looks !

I think he meant looks while riding the bike. Like the poeople walking the "tech" sections on the prologue...Those "drops" can't be higher than 20 or 30cm...fail.

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I think he meant looks while riding the bike. Like the poeople walking the "tech" sections on the prologue...Those "drops" can't be higher than 20 or 30cm...fail.

I think it's amazing how people equate judgement based on what they like to ride.

 

I reckon you can finish the Epic and walk every 'tech'  downhill bit. My judgement would be more seeing guys struggling to maintain a decent pace or decent form up the Deer Park road climbs or looking entirely broken after somewhat pedestrian times over 25km. Never mind just scraping home on Stage 1.

 

All the 'trail' and 'enduro' guys want is for Epic to be more like their riding. More technical, 'real' mtb..... It's not that. I doubt it ever really will be that. I also ride a lot of 'trail' but am quite happy to leave all the Epic 'racers' to the jeep tracks and gravel roads.

 

I'm not having a dig Cuan, just illustrating how perspective changes based on interest. 

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I think it's amazing how people equate judgement based on what they like to ride.

 

I reckon you can finish the Epic and walk every 'tech'  downhill bit. My judgement would be more seeing guys struggling to maintain a decent pace or decent form up the Deer Park road climbs or looking entirely broken after somewhat pedestrian times over 25km. Never mind just scraping home on Stage 1.

 

All the 'trail' and 'enduro' guys want is for Epic to be more like their riding. More technical, 'real' mtb..... It's not that. I doubt it ever really will be that. I also ride a lot of 'trail' but am quite happy to leave all the Epic 'racers' to the jeep tracks and gravel roads.

 

I'm not having a dig Cuan, just illustrating how perspective changes based on interest. 

I get what you are saying, BUT. If you are at the level of riding such a massively strenuous race like the epic you would expect people to have enough technical skill to ride the basic obstacles. I saw the same when i rode W2W a few years back. I race knows to have singletrack. People simply were not prepared even to ride a switchback. That descent on the prologue should not even feature for these guys. Look we're never debating the top people here. They're better than all of us in every respect, but the average joe epic rider. Go for a few skills lessons too like Julien advertised and make the totality of the experience better. BTW, my "riding preference" is to ride uphill and down and be competent on both. So no prejudice here. I just think people doing a race like this should be better prepared to ride stuff you could teach a total beginner to ride in 1 day.

Also, what's with the sudden fetish with using my real name? I mean I don't mind, but it's like you're trying to achieve "something" by it?

Edited by Thermophage
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It was lekker to see that they rode a lot of the trails we rode in last year's Wines2Whales, albeit they rode greater distances. It cost us close to a 1/10 of what they paid all in. I saw an ad by a Spez dealer, they would look after your bike for R8k.....eish people have money to spend....

If I had 90 odd grand to spend on a nice little something for myself and my bicycle addiction I suspect that a trip to Europe to do some iconic rides and enjoy something different might come in higher on the list than 7 days of riding trails which, judging from the YouTube coverage, I have already ridden in other events

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