Really, No Epic 2023 Thread?

[babse]

2 hours ago, Fauret said:

If someone were to seriously injure themselves on the now unrideable trail, in the woods, with all this mud and water rushing everywhere, a medic will have a very slim chance of reaching him and provide emergency medical attention.

I don't believe they had foreseen conditions on the ground getting as bad as it did.

The organisers already shorten the stage considering rider safety!? Not sure what more could have been done in the Tour de France of mountain biking... 

[milky4130]

2 hours ago, Fauret said:

If someone were to seriously injure themselves on the now unrideable trail, in the woods, with all this mud and water rushing everywhere, a medic will have a very slim chance of reaching him and provide emergency medical attention.

There were roving medics on Scramblers on Stage 6 with one or 2 following behind the last riders & the Hyenas so no problem reaching a rider in need.

[J Wakefield]

11 hours ago, dev null said:

Sadly not an event I will ever be able to do. Not that I do not want to put the hard yards in for the training. I have more than enough tech skills for it. What I do not have is the body. I am 6 feet and weight 85, but my biggest issue is that I have insulin resistance and my body shuts down as soon as it gets too hot. I currently have no idea how to fix that. Give me a cool day and I can pedal for miles and miles over the mountains. But give me one day in the mountains with over 32 degree heat and no wind and my body cooks and the power goes poof. And with the Epic you have no say on which weather you prefer so you have to be prepared for anything from rain up to 40 degrees in the WC sun.

You can finish epic on 10-12 hours week of training. The whole tough guy you have do do 30hr weeks and 8hrs in a training session is BS. I know guys who have gone top 100-130 on an average of 10 and they are CEO/CFO's of large companies with family commitments.

Heat acclimation protocols could be beneficial for you as simple as that.

[BuffsVintageBikes]

12 hours ago, Fauret said:

If someone were to seriously injure themselves on the now unrideable trail, in the woods, with all this mud and water rushing everywhere, a medic will have a very slim chance of reaching him and provide emergency medical attention.

As someone who's ridden and then worked at the Epic as a motorcycle rider for the camera crew, I can tell you that there are numerous medics on motorbikes that are posted all over the route that can reach all the places that the mtbers can go and then some. As hectic as those conditions were, a scrambler would have no problem coping with them. In places where the medics struggle on bikes then the camera bike riders can take them up to injured riders. All the bike riders are existing or ex Offroad & Enduro racers and skilled at their own sport.

[Lynskey]

I don't think the Epic wants to have a reputation of their participants dying. Done it 3 times and my gripe is not safety with them. That area is handled very well.

[Shebeen]

1 hour ago, J Wakefield said:

You can finish epic on 10-12 hours week of training. The whole tough guy you have do do 30hr weeks and 8hrs in a training session is BS. I know guys who have gone top 100-130 on an average of 10 and they are CEO/CFO's of large companies with family commitments.

Heat acclimation protocols could be beneficial for you as simple as that.

10 hours a week is a more than enough for some too.

The thing is the race comes with loads of Hype™! The thing about Hype™ is that while it is not tangible it is very expensive if you buy into it.

You(or your company) pay so many shekels for the entry, that you just get on the Hype™ conveyer belt. You could do it on your bog standard bike, but the people on the Hype™ conveyer belt tell you that nothing less than a late model Schworks will do. You can eat normal stuff, but nothing less than the fancy Hype™ version nutrition will do (wonder how many did the newfangled swedish bicarb this week?).

I know @J Wakefield is at the pinnacle of the training game, the one bit of Hype™ that I would probably buy into is getting a training plan. probably not the bells and whistles option but to do it properly with a partner I'd like to be on the same page and train smart with the time I spend on it.

I find it laaaaank interesting that people have finally seen the value in hydration packs for a 5/6 hr+ ride, even the pros. Buuuuut it appears the only one that sees the epic startline is a really fancy one.  

check which model is currently sold out!

https://mellowvelo.co.za/search?type=product&options[prefix]=last&options[unavailable_products]=last&q=uswe

It sucks to me that there's no prize/recognition for the highest placed team who stays in the tent village, that is another layer of cost added where you can really go wild. This week the people who slept in the tents earn my respect! The cloverleaf format has made it easy to not stay in/near the race village for a while now. Even campervans might see a decline as people get organised with BnB options that you can probably do 4 nights at each with short transfer during the week.

 

Hype™ schmype, don't complain about the cost of the epic and the time if you bought into it. There's a photo somewhere on the interwebs of a guy finishing the epic on a pink nishiki. LEGEND

[love2fly]

I guess it could make an already difficult medevac close to impossible.

[DieselnDust]

11 hours ago, babse said:

I don't believe they had foreseen conditions on the ground getting as bad as it did.

The organisers already shorten the stage considering rider safety!? Not sure what more could have been done in the Tour de France of mountain biking... 

I find it hard to believe that they couldn’t see it coming. I posted in the thread that  Saturday would be the determinant in the race for the win because when I looked at windguru it showed really foul weather for the day. Having ridden Lourensford in those conditions years ago I know what a mud fest it can turn into. The route markers must have consulted the Lourensford trail crew about what to expect and how to place medi evac .

if an armchair pundit with a free for use weather app could the poo from the toilet the the professionals must have had better insight 

[Shebeen]

11 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

I find it hard to believe that they couldn’t see it coming. I posted in the thread that  Saturday would be the determinant in the race for the win because when I looked at windguru it showed really foul weather for the day. Having ridden Lourensford in those conditions years ago I know what a mud fest it can turn into. The route markers must have consulted the Lourensford trail crew about what to expect and how to place medi evac .

if an armchair pundit with a free for use weather app could the poo from the toilet the the professionals must have had better insight 

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

I think they might have been more worried about thursday night at the time.

[love2fly]

2 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

I find it hard to believe that they couldn’t see it coming. I posted in the thread that  Saturday would be the determinant in the race for the win because when I looked at windguru it showed really foul weather for the day. Having ridden Lourensford in those conditions years ago I know what a mud fest it can turn into. The route markers must have consulted the Lourensford trail crew about what to expect and how to place medi evac .

if an armchair pundit with a free for use weather app could the poo from the toilet the the professionals must have had better insight 

Having worked for the 947 (when Tanya Harford still ran it -  properly) and in its JOC, I would believe they have contingency plans for a lot of outcomes but it makes little sense to shorten the stage the day before but lengthen it if the often unpredictable Cape weather makes a U turn.

[Robbie Stewart]

3 hours ago, Shebeen said:

You can eat normal stuff, but nothing less than the fancy Hype™ version nutrition will do

then they all suddenly wonder half way into the week why all of a sudden everyone is desperate for a place to go have the runs in private. It would seem the Hype™ nutrition plan is full of s hi t.

[J Wakefield]

There many reason for a stomach bug or having the ****s but a common and simple reason is over consumption of carbohydrates. If riders are suing on average without knowing 60g/ph before epic and now comes epic and they doing 100g/ph on the bike then pasta party vibes after. You will be aiming through a needle by 2 and 3 onwards if you gut is not used it 

 

[Carmichael]

5 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

There many reason for a stomach bug or having the ****s but a common and simple reason is over consumption of carbohydrates. If riders are suing on average without knowing 60g/ph before epic and now comes epic and they doing 100g/ph on the bike then pasta party vibes after. You will be aiming through a needle by 2 and 3 onwards if you gut is not used it 

 

John, do you think that is the main reason for the stomach issues at epic? I am very keen to find out, i had the stomach "bug" last year and had to suffer the last 2 days with it. Then for net year will do the carb intake differently and prep my gut.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Carmichael

[Headshot]

4 hours ago, Shebeen said:

10 hours a week is a more than enough for some too.

The thing is the race comes with loads of Hype™! The thing about Hype™ is that while it is not tangible it is very expensive if you buy into it.

You(or your company) pay so many shekels for the entry, that you just get on the Hype™ conveyer belt. You could do it on your bog standard bike, but the people on the Hype™ conveyer belt tell you that nothing less than a late model Schworks will do. You can eat normal stuff, but nothing less than the fancy Hype™ version nutrition will do (wonder how many did the newfangled swedish bicarb this week?).

I know @J Wakefield is at the pinnacle of the training game, the one bit of Hype™ that I would probably buy into is getting a training plan. probably not the bells and whistles option but to do it properly with a partner I'd like to be on the same page and train smart with the time I spend on it.

I find it laaaaank interesting that people have finally seen the value in hydration packs for a 5/6 hr+ ride, even the pros. Buuuuut it appears the only one that sees the epic startline is a really fancy one.  

check which model is currently sold out!

https://mellowvelo.co.za/search?type=product&options[prefix]=last&options[unavailable_products]=last&q=uswe

It sucks to me that there's no prize/recognition for the highest placed team who stays in the tent village, that is another layer of cost added where you can really go wild. This week the people who slept in the tents earn my respect! The cloverleaf format has made it easy to not stay in/near the race village for a while now. Even campervans might see a decline as people get organised with BnB options that you can probably do 4 nights at each with short transfer during the week.

 

Hype™ schmype, don't complain about the cost of the epic and the time if you bought into it. There's a photo somewhere on the interwebs of a guy finishing the epic on a pink nishiki. LEGEND

I am still waiting for a sponsor to back me to finish on my steel 26er HT. 

As far as Hype and the coverage is concerned, there was a major lacuna. No stories from the middle to rear of the field. No shots of CEO's covered in mud pushing their bikes, wondering why they ever thought getting an employer paid entry was half the battle etc... I guess there are also  many riders who pay their own way and suffer badly at the back but we never see them on TV. Poor show I reckon.

[Headshot]

9 minutes ago, J Wakefield said:

There many reason for a stomach bug or having the ****s but a common and simple reason is over consumption of carbohydrates. If riders are suing on average without knowing 60g/ph before epic and now comes epic and they doing 100g/ph on the bike then pasta party vibes after. You will be aiming through a needle by 2 and 3 onwards if you gut is not used it 

 

That said, I think that a genuine ie bacterial or viral flu bug will manifest in a  different way, eg with additional symptoms like fever? A runny gut on its own without major performance issues would probably be what you describe?

[Lexx]

6 minutes ago, Headshot said:

I am still waiting for a sponsor to back me to finish on my steel 26er HT. 

As far as Hype and the coverage is concerned, there was a major lacuna. No stories from the middle to rear of the field. No shots of CEO's covered in mud pushing their bikes, wondering why they ever thought getting an employer paid entry was half the battle etc... I guess there are also  many riders who pay their own way and suffer badly at the back but we never see them on TV. Poor show I reckon.

Almost like the Comrades...