Really, No Epic 2023 Thread?

[TheoG]

2 minutes ago, Bernard and Christell Mtb Bucket List said:

Imagine wout va and vd pool enter as a team next year....going to be strong.

That would be a team thats very hard to beat.  Wout know how to handle a bike but not sure how much he done MTB before .... 🤷‍♂️

[J Wakefield]

52 minutes ago, love2fly said:

He's won with Lars. If he had a matching partner he might not beat SCR in a straight fight but I'd rate them up there...

As an aside I was hoping Kate Courtney would stay and race Epic as a foundation for the XC season but not to be...

 

Throw a box of eggs against a wall 1 or 2 won’t break. 

[DieselnDust]

23 minutes ago, Bernard and Christell Mtb Bucket List said:

Imagine wout va and vd pool enter as a team next year....going to be strong.

Imagine 

[Robbie Stewart]

10 hours ago, ChrisF said:

Huge bottle neck as the masses enters the single tracks ...

Imagine paying over a hundred thousand randelas so that you can queue for a perfectly rideable single-track.

I'd be hopping mad to get caught in that mess. This just confirmed my suspicions about the total lack of skill at the back end of these events. I don't see the value proposition in this type of stuff up.

These people are the ones paying for the helicopters and the hospitality for the elites and corporates to which these same people don't have access.

Baa. Baaaa.

[Stevovo]

So happy for Matt and Blevins. Thank goodness we get something to label proudly SA. Hope he gets a vet bonus. Donnu how he would recover and get ready for the first Life time grand prix race in 4 weeks. We might see him continue training tomorrow, hey @J Wakefield?😆 He can start a bit later to get an extra hour of sleep.

Gutted for Candice and Amy. They gained a lot of respect for their ride but also for how they took the loss. 

scott should sack Nino and get two equally strong riders who can actually win the epic. They will have change leftover for a backup team I guess. No use to have the Goat on the payroll without wins. This is the Tour de France of mountainbiking, who cares about XCO anyways

#tailwipsdontwinraces😛 

[Stevovo]

Oh yeah...congrats with Matts win @J Wakefield

[gemmerbal]

35 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Imagine paying over a hundred thousand randelas so that you can queue for a perfectly rideable single-track.

I'd be hopping mad to get caught in that mess. This just confirmed my suspicions about the total lack of skill at the back end of these events. I don't see the value proposition in this type of stuff up.

These people are the ones paying for the helicopters and the hospitality for the elites and corporates to which these same people don't have access.

Baa. Baaaa.

And potentially resulting in missing time cuts etc?

Edited March 26, 2023 by gemmerbal

[dev null]

3 hours ago, love2fly said:

He's won with Lars. If he had a matching partner he might not beat SCR in a straight fight but I'd rate them up there...

As an aside I was hoping Kate Courtney would stay and race Epic as a foundation for the XC season but not to be...

 

My wife had a nice chat with Kate a few weeks ago when she visited the pathology labs in Stellies. As far as what I can remember she said that she was a bit spent as well as struggling with some injuries so needed to recuperate for the new racing season.

[DieselnDust]

5 minutes ago, gemmerbal said:

And potentially resulting in missed time cuts etc?

I remember back in 2005, on day 2 we had to cross a river after leaving George on our way to Herbertsdale. There was no seeded groups back than so it was just a big mass start. We waited 80min to cross the river because the folks after the racing teams didn't want to get their shoes wet. We had our backs against the wall to make cut off thereafter because the start time is the start tiemand if you lose 80min its tough luck. No cut off extensions and Herbertsdale was 146km away and roughly 2800m ascent.

it happens every year.

[dev null]

2 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

I remember back in 2005, on day 2 we had to cross a river after leaving George on our way to Herbertsdale. There was no seeded groups back than so it was just a big mass start. We waited 80min to cross the river because the folks after the racing teams didn't want to get their shoes wet. We had our backs against the wall to make cut off thereafter because the start time is the start tiemand if you lose 80min its tough luck. No cut off extensions and Herbertsdale was 146km away and roughly 2800m ascent.

it happens every year.

That is why I hate mass participation MTB races. I prefer riding the smaller ones. Same happens on the W2W at tech sections.

[love2fly]

15 minutes ago, dev null said:

My wife had a nice chat with Kate a few weeks ago when she visited the pathology labs in Stellies. As far as what I can remember she said that she was a bit spent as well as struggling with some injuries so needed to recuperate for the new racing season.

That's a way cool coincidence. I've been a Kate supporter for a long time and keep hoping she rediscovers her Mojo....think she broke a wrist or something a couple of years back and just hasn't found it yet...thats why I was hoping she'd ride the Epic...hope she recovers.

[SwissVan]

2 minutes ago, dev null said:

That is why I hate mass participation MTB races. I prefer riding the smaller ones. Same happens on the W2W at tech sections.

It just takes 1 or 2 riders to loose their momentum and to stop, if it’s single track no one can get past and then it’s a massive snowball effect.

10 + years ago my mate and I got penalized after the prologue because the timing system showed we finished more than 2 minutes apart on all the timing mats (after 2 stages we found out the race organizers gave me someone else’s timing chip on my number board) so we started in the last group for the next stage and the next stage. It was frustrating as hell to see how easy some people stop and get off causing chaos behind them.

 

 

[DieselnDust]

1 minute ago, love2fly said:

That's a way cool coincidence. I've been a Kate supporter for a long time and keep hoping she rediscovers her Mojo....think she broke a wrist or something a couple of years back and just hasn't found it yet...thats why I was hoping she'd ride the Epic...hope she recovers.

Kate has  problem in that she's the only woman on the team so ideally she'd need to team up with someone of similar ability from A Scott sponsored team. Her one and only win the ACE was in 2018 alongside Annika Langvad. She hasn't been back since and has never had the same form since leaving Specialized. The Scott SRAM team is really focussed on Nino's success. Thiss year they signed Filipo Colombo to the team. He is at least a match for Nino but wasn't available.

Kate still doesn't have a female compatriot on the team so till she doe's I doubt we will see her back unless she changes teams

 

[Robbie Stewart]

42 minutes ago, gemmerbal said:

And potentially resulting in missing time cuts etc?

Yes. You ride your legs off for the entire week to remain within the cut, only to be impeded by folks who think this event suddenly changed from being TdF a la MTB to Tour de Hike a Bike. I saw that the route today seems as if it intended to include Afterburn on Banhoek. Just as well they skipped it although I'd have liked to see the elite racers go down that line, but I'm pretty sure that most back markers would have ended themselves on that line straight to hospital.

I chose to forego mass participation MTB events after three K2C where people walk underneath the bridge by Avontuur. Let it be noted that they walk because for some inane reason they can't seem to ride in single file on grass. 

But I suppose fattest wallet wins.

[gemmerbal]

15 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Yes. You ride your legs off for the entire week to remain within the cut, only to be impeded by folks who think this event suddenly changed from being TdF a la MTB to Tour de Hike a Bike. I saw that the route today seems as if it intended to include Afterburn on Banhoek. Just as well they skipped it although I'd have liked to see the elite racers go down that line, but I'm pretty sure that most back markers would have ended themselves on that line straight to hospital.

I chose to forego mass participation MTB events after three K2C where people walk underneath the bridge by Avontuur. Let it be noted that they walk because for some inane reason they can't seem to ride in single file on grass. 

But I suppose fattest wallet wins.

I agree, I also stay away from mass participation events because I saw the same thing happen (for example) at CTCT MTB Event when it was still held at Murati and surrounds. Some tannie getting off her bike to push it over a rock on the 60km route, or someone too scared to ride along the steep drop-off you can see them visibly shaking and peeing their bibshorts. People wanting to do a ride for which they clearly don't have the necessary skillset. But I guess it's all in the name of inclusion and not discriminating on the basis of not having the requisite qualities (hey?!).

That begs the question I suppose, how do you deal with it (if at all)? Do you put in place a qualifying event of some kind? Points bases system with minimum requirements needed for entry? If this is a UCI event surely that would be considered to be within reason? I mean you don't see okes rocking up at the Dakar for example without having done a similar event to qualify their desire to participate in a pinacle event.

But, then you stand to lose the many hundreds of entries who come here for the "Untamed" experience, but seeing as how it is being watered down (sorry for the pun) sometimes, it's a bit like tourists coming to Africa to see lions in a cage. I don't know, maybe that's just me...

On a sidenote, I had to laugh at the interviewer today asking about the rider's experiences "up here in the African Wild" (3h20 of YT feed)... I mean, really? haha

[OVERDRIVE]

2 hours ago, Stevovo said:

So happy for Matt and Blevins. Thank goodness we get something to label proudly SA. Hope he gets a vet bonus. Donnu how he would recover and get ready for the first Life time grand prix race in 4 weeks. We might see him continue training tomorrow, hey @J Wakefield?😆 He can start a bit later to get an extra hour of sleep.

Gutted for Candice and Amy. They gained a lot of respect for their ride but also for how they took the loss. 

scott should sack Nino and get two equally strong riders who can actually win the epic. They will have change leftover for a backup team I guess. No use to have the Goat on the payroll without wins. This is the Tour de France of mountainbiking, who cares about XCO anyways

#tailwipsdontwinraces😛 

Fire Nino

1 hour ago, dev null said:

My wife had a nice chat with Kate a few weeks ago when she visited the pathology labs in Stellies. As far as what I can remember she said that she was a bit spent as well as struggling with some injuries so needed to recuperate for the new racing season.

🙂

1 hour ago, love2fly said:

That's a way cool coincidence. I've been a Kate supporter for a long time and keep hoping she rediscovers her Mojo....think she broke a wrist or something a couple of years back and just hasn't found it yet...thats why I was hoping she'd ride the Epic...hope she recovers.

Me too. 

1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

Kate has  problem in that she's the only woman on the team so ideally she'd need to team up with someone of similar ability from A Scott sponsored team. Her one and only win the ACE was in 2018 alongside Annika Langvad. She hasn't been back since and has never had the same form since leaving Specialized. The Scott SRAM team is really focussed on Nino's success. Thiss year they signed Filipo Colombo to the team. He is at least a match for Nino but wasn't available.

Kate still doesn't have a female compatriot on the team so till she doe's I doubt we will see her back unless she changes teams

 

Kate's form has been a bit off, but am sure this is the year she gets it all back.