How do you justify a Cape Epic entry?

[Spafsack]

Sid, thats nasty, my core is also nothing to write home about ???????? I would suggest clean shave, smile more for him, just be a lekka oke.... 

[vanniri]

2 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

 

 

Also lets consider the state of mountainbiking in South Africa pre Cape Epic i.e. 2003.

The biggest race was Giants castle MTB Marathon at about 85km

Knysna MTB marathon was a measly 55km long and was considered extreme at the time. It attracted a field of about 300-400 riders who were considered to be at the leading edge of the sport. A Year later the best and hardiest amateurs have signed up for the inaugural Cape Epic.

Suddenly a 55km race was a shorter by a long way then the rest day of the Cape Epic.

You have to finish 7 days of rugged riding on the frame and wheels you started on.

had to live in a tent and eat the food they gave you.

Overnight th egame shifted from a leisurely trundle trundle through the Outeniqua mountains to a journey form Knysna to Cape Town.

People bought into it. The first Epic took about 3 months to sell out, the 2nd took 2 days and with a much larger field of 1200 riders. 

The Cape Epi Forum was full of riders, local and international looking for entries and If I recall it was R4500 per person back then. hardcore mountain bikers thought it a mad sum of money for a crappy leather medal, two t-shirts and an Adidas riders jersey plus a tog bag. (the sum of the goody bag back then).

In 2005 we still shared showers in some race villages when water was a problem. n 2004 it was the norm.  You carried enough kit for 8 days, spares including shoes. 

In cape town during that time there were maybe 3 or 4 bikes shops capable of servicing Mountain Bikes and their suspension. Bowman's Cycles, Olympic Cycles, Chris Willemse, Bridge Cycles and Crown Cycles. In Stellenbosch Village had folded and moved on. Williams Bike Shop didn't exist till after the 2005 event. Helderberg Cycles Ithink had just started and Specialized wasn't even available in SA. I know this for a fact since my boss called me from Houston in January of 2004 to ask what I thought about the Specialized Epic because he was planning to get one for he and his wife for the Epic. he was probably the first GM to ride the Cape EPic on an EPIC. The only other Scalpels in the field belonged to the Vredestein Cannondale Team or international riders  and okes were still doing their nutt in when looking at this single sided strut and asking why. No one would service it so I made chums with the mechanics at Cannondale Vredestein Racing through my Dutch connections and all was good with the world.

The common rhetoric after the 2005 event was, get a fuss suspension bikes. Mountain biking literally exploded. By 2006 Sani2C was heading for its 2nd edition. It was oversubscribed. Mountain Biking in SA was on its way.

Only in the last 4-5 years has this bubble burst and mountain bikers are realising that there's other ways to compete and have fun. Enduro, and XCO are growing. The last few XCO races of 2021 had a full field with riders being turned away.

This growth spurt in 2005 through 2008 happened independently of what was going on in the rest of the world. There was a always the DH, FreeRide fringe and for a while I into that but proper lone wolf style. That genre was small and very specialised. It's growth was independant of Marathon but before 2004 it was more or less the same thing. from 2005 onward there is a distinct splitting of pathways in SA

Well written. I have been riding a mtb for close to 30 yrs - obviously initially on something only remotely looking like today's bikes.

I also lived in Brazil for a number of years and have done one CE in 2007 and virtually all stage races, most more than once.

No, I will not do another, but I have no doubt in my mind the CE changed mtb'ing tremendously. I believe SA as a mtb'ing destination would not have been on the map if not for the CE. I do think mtb would still have become huge in SA, maybe just slightly delayed. A number of riders have plenty to thank the CE for, as do W/C province. 

I have the utmost respect for anyone completing the CE and will recommend it to anyone who enjoys riding mtb.

Reason for not interested in another CE? Same reason I started mtb, I enjoy being close to nature and the local trails provide me with this and more. I have also not entered any races in awhile and are unlikely to do so for same reasons as above.

 

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by vanniri

[BigDL]

On 9/9/2021 at 7:13 AM, stefmeister said:

Agreed, competition in it's basic form is what made society progress. 

Without it, we probably wouldn't have had cars, or worst, we'd still have gallon guzzling Buicks polluting the air at an even greater rate.

 

 

[eala]

On 9/8/2021 at 8:31 AM, MTBeer said:

okes do it so that they can tell other people they did it. It's the only MTB race that anyone who is not into MTB knows anything about. So if you want to haul your massive phallus out around the braai, then the Epic is the make of forklift you need to move your equipment.

Same with the August race in cape town .First thing people ask me when they hear that i cycle is .Have you ridden the august and Sani .I haven,t done either .I know a few folks that have done ten plus argus races and nothing else .Why????

[ChrisF]

7 hours ago, eala said:

Same with the August race in cape town .First thing people ask me when they hear that i cycle is .Have you ridden the august and Sani .I haven,t done either .I know a few folks that have done ten plus argus races and nothing else .Why????

 

Different strokes for different folks ....

 

Also have friends that do the Argus regularly.  Select few aim for sub-3 ....  for most this is the pinnacle of their years cycling ...

 

 

Also know some athletes that do Trans Baviaans and similar races ... regulary doing 100 to 200 km rides in preparation.  And they have zero interest in the Argus .... 

[Jewbacca]

1 hour ago, ChrisF said:

 

Different strokes for different folks ....

 

Also have friends that do the Argus regularly.  Select few aim for sub-3 ....  for most this is the pinnacle of their years cycling ...

 

 

Also know some athletes that do Trans Baviaans and similar races ... regulary doing 100 to 200 km rides in preparation.  And they have zero interest in the Argus .... 

This term is for those with 5% body fat who compete in open for the win........ 

I was called an athlete last weekend at a running race and had to scoff at the perpetrator. It's a term used pretty loosely by people who sports

[eddy]

13 hours ago, eala said:

Same with the August race in cape town .First thing people ask me when they hear that i cycle is .Have you ridden the august and Sani .I haven,t done either .I know a few folks that have done ten plus argus races and nothing else .Why????

Easy.

I only ride roadraces if there are no cars on the road; so except for 947 (which runs  a block from my house)  CTCT, Greyton Pie Run and K2C it is.

 

[Mountain Bru]

5 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

I was called an athlete last weekend at a running race and had to scoff at the perpetrator. It's a term used pretty loosely by people who sports

What the hell were you doing at a running race?????? Did you lose your bike???? ???? ????

But I get you. I don't really see myself as a serious cyclist because I don't take races super seriously and don't have a strict training plan and will gladly miss a training ride if there's something better going on.... But to the average joe, someone that rides around 3 times a week is borderline pro. 

[eala]

I see it the same way as i see paying salaries .If the market for a good pa is a R20 k a month salary ,but you have a really excellent one and they deserve a higher salary for what they are worth and you pay R25 k a month .The extra cost is only 5 x 12 = R60 k a year and not 25 x 12 =R300k. So the extra R60k should be justified only  .For me the Epic in 2019 was worth R35k for the eight days of riding all the good trails we did ,not worrying about logistics and safety  and all the rest .The logistics of trying to do it on your own would not even be a consideration imo . So i only need justification for the extra R15 k in 2021 .All the extra @TWAK# that riders buy into is for their own justification ,like massages ,coaches ,supplements ,new equipment and so on .For me coming from Gauteng to Cape town to ride the CTCT is an expensive exercise that i have never justified for myself     

[Mountain Bru]

39 minutes ago, eddy said:

Easy.

I only ride roadraces if there are no cars on the road; so except for 947 (which runs  a block from my house)  CTCT, Greyton Pie Run and K2C it is.

 

100% agree... Partial road closure can be flippen dangerous. 

If we're honest though, most non-cyclists only know like 3 races - The Argust, The 94 point 7, and the epic. So if someone is trying to make conversation with a cyclist, they'll ask if you've done those 3. Stands to reason then that guys use those 3 to "display themselves".  

I mean yesterday someone asked me how I find out about all the different races that go on, and I couldn't really answer the guy. I kind of just know about them because I know people that have done them or heard guys talking about them (or saw every second guy on a mtb wearing a certain jacket). But if you're not in that loop, you'll only know about the super public events. 

[Jewbacca]

9 minutes ago, Mountain Bru said:

What the hell were you doing at a running race?????? Did you lose your bike???? ???? ????

But I get you. I don't really see myself as a serious cyclist because I don't take races super seriously and don't have a strict training plan and will gladly miss a training ride if there's something better going on.... But to the average joe, someone that rides around 3 times a week is borderline pro. 

I've actually done double the amount of hours on foot as I have on the bike this year..... 

I have no plan and I don't train, I exercise. If the waves are good I will surf before any other sports and I do a combination of all 3 in various degrees 6 times a week. 

Weird how if I say I surfed 5 times in the week people assume I'm a weed smoking hippie and if I say I rode 5 times in a week people assume I'm just a really fit w**ker who doesn't stop at traffic lights..... ???? If I say I ran 5 times a week people assume I'm poor.....

Other sportsers call you an athlete... It's lose lose really

[J Wakefield]

On 9/10/2021 at 9:59 AM, _David_ said:

WTF who is this guy, some sort of social media Influencer?

Clown more like it. his one "campaign" was self diagnosing himself with depression and went on a crusade to try get followers from that side or have people feel sorry for him. Or both. I know him from way back unfortunately and called him out on it and said this is low as one can go, he blocked me from all his 90490321 accounts he has for each personality. 

 

[Monark]

If you have to "justify" it you either can't afford it or don't really want to ride it.  For me it looks like an amazing event with brilliant organization and trails. It's a pipedream race for me because I will never be fit enough to ride it. I love watching the daily race highlights on super sport. 

[Jewbacca]

4 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

Clown more like it. his one "campaign" was self diagnosing himself with depression and went on a crusade to try get followers from that side or have people feel sorry for him. Or both. I know him from way back unfortunately and called him out on it and said this is low as one can go, he blocked me from all his 90490321 accounts he has for each personality. 

 

Anyone remember this?

https://www.bicycling.co.za/news-people/gave-ballet-built-sock-doping-empire/

I seem to disturbingly remember a picture of him naked on his trainer too....

[J Wakefield]

2 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

Anyone remember this?

https://www.bicycling.co.za/news-people/gave-ballet-built-sock-doping-empire/

I seem to disturbingly remember a picture of him naked on his trainer too....

Yes really original after Cipo and Froome had done it prior. Massively creative and out the box as he calls himself.

 

Isnt his Sako7 kit made by Ciovita now?

[Jewbacca]

16 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

 

Isnt his Sako7 kit made by Ciovita now?

I know it was at some point..... But anyone can make plain black kit surely? ????

Edited September 12, 2021 by Jewbacca