the unofficial Cape Epic 2024 thread

[babse]

12 hours ago, babse said:

I recon Fini had his bad day and tomorrow will be fresh as a daisy 😶‍🌫️

Okay not... His backing up his bad day with another. 

Grotts looking like the King of the weaker partners 👑

[Jewbacca]

It's almost as if some people on here forget that Nino is almost impossible to pair with, nevermind someone with the same/similar sponsors and timetable.

The guy is relentlessly brilliant and has topped the MTB world for a really really long time. 

Add to that there is always one partner stronger than the other. It's nobody's fault, it is purely impossible for 2 people to perform equally over 8 days. It is what makes this format so intriguing.

The top end of the field are racing within the tightest margins, I mean mere minutes over hundreds of Km.

It is a phenomenal thing to watch and enjoy.

I know I'm certainly a million light years away from criticising or suggesting I know better than the teams and their riders. 

[Scary Rider]

2 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

It's almost as if some people on here forget that Nino is almost impossible to pair with, nevermind someone with the same/similar sponsors and timetable.

The guy is relentlessly brilliant and has topped the MTB world for a really really long time. 

Add to that there is always one partner stronger than the other. It's nobody's fault, it is purely impossible for 2 people to perform equally over 8 days. It is what makes this format so intriguing.

The top end of the field are racing within the tightest margins, I mean mere minutes over hundreds of Km.

It is a phenomenal thing to watch and enjoy.

I know I'm certainly a million light years away from criticising or suggesting I know better than the teams and their riders. 

Jewie, on the topic of partners being equal and all...who's going to team up with you on an BMX? Maybe @Mamil??🤔😉

[Mamil]

6 minutes ago, Scary Rider said:

Jewie, on the topic of partners being equal and all...who's going to team up with you on an BMX? Maybe @Mamil??🤔😉

Thread hijack ...

What we have to understand about @Jewbaccais that he's a proper athlete who doesn't take himself too seriously unlike this mamil who has minimal ability and plans training, nutrition, race strategy meticulously to mitigate this dearth of talent. 

So he arrives at the water point  having ridden the last 30km with empty bidons, announces that he doesn't have anyone to feed him, eats half a banana and the soggy end of a leftover boerie roll, and then takes a short nap before finishing ahead of me and my carefully mixed malto and fructose drink, my imported energy bars and my perfectly timed taper.

It would not be a good marriage.

To wit, I'm carefully curating my bike setup for munga at the end of the year, dynamo lights, losing the Camelbak in favour of saddle mounted bottle cages, painstaking selection of handlebar bag, fussing over whether aero bars will work for me. I'm already training, riding trial events .... Etc etc 

@Jewbaccawill get his BMX out the back of the garage, brush the cobwebs off, do a loop of the green belt in preparation, lube his chain and be asleep at the third race village when I get there.

[Scary Rider]

42 minutes ago, Mamil said:

Thread hijack ...

What we have to understand about @Jewbaccais that he's a proper athlete who doesn't take himself too seriously unlike this mamil who has minimal ability and plans training, nutrition, race strategy meticulously to mitigate this dearth of talent. 

So he arrives at the water point  having ridden the last 30km with empty bidons, announces that he doesn't have anyone to feed him, eats half a banana and the soggy end of a leftover boerie roll, and then takes a short nap before finishing ahead of me and my carefully mixed malto and fructose drink, my imported energy bars and my perfectly timed taper.

It would not be a good marriage.

To wit, I'm carefully curating my bike setup for munga at the end of the year, dynamo lights, losing the Camelbak in favour of saddle mounted bottle cages, painstaking selection of handlebar bag, fussing over whether aero bars will work for me. I'm already training, riding trial events .... Etc etc 

@Jewbaccawill get his BMX out the back of the garage, brush the cobwebs off, do a loop of the green belt in preparation, lube his chain and be asleep at the third race village when I get there.

You had me in stitches, almost choking on my juice🤣🤣🤣

[dev null]

I am enjoying Daryl Impey and Craig Colesky's videos of the real Cape Epic. I know exactly how it feels when you have nothing in the tank and the sun wants to kill you, and every little mountain stream is mana from heaven.

Edited March 23 by dev null

[Max Headroom]

On 3/18/2024 at 10:55 AM, Stephan said:

If you don't like the commentary, mute it. If you don't like the free live feed (technical glitches and all), don't watch it. Watch the highlights reel in the evening. The constant bashing of the commentary and free live feed every year is getting old. The guys are doing their best.  

Yes. Commentators doing their best - but, that doesn't mean it's any good, Gerald needs a speech therapist,  listen to him - cannot concentrate, so he fills the simplest sentences with 'erm' every second word. Cycling needs to find someone better or get him therapist assistance.  (And the; it's 'free' viewing comments, are nonsense. )

[DieselnDust]

6 hours ago, dev null said:

I have been saying that earlier in the week but I was attacked by the Bike Hub faithful. Already with the first stage Lucas was being pushed by his partner on some climbs. Eventually if you ride outside your body limits for too many days your body will shut down.

You should know busy now to not attack fans hope on day0.1. Call in the pre event predictions and then the I-told-you-so will be a softer delivery 😂

[DieselnDust]

3 minutes ago, Max Headroom said:

Yes. Commentators doing their best - but, that doesn't mean it's any good, Gerald needs a speech therapist,  listen to him - cannot concentrate, so he fills the simplest sentences with 'erm' every second word. Cycling needs to find someone better or get him therapist assistance.  (And the; it's 'free' viewing comments, are nonsense. )

Gerald at least adds facts …

Neil is like a parrot trying to repeat but in reverse. Then he repeats again but with different words 

[dev null]

3 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

You should know busy now to not attack fans hope on day0.1. Call in the pre event predictions and then the I-told-you-so will be a softer delivery 😂

My old boss used to say I call a spade a mechanised digger. I was last in the line when tact was handed out.

[DieselnDust]

Just now, dev null said:

My old boss used to say I call a spade a mechanised digger. I was last in the line when tact was handed out.

We can tell😂

But please don’t change. That would be boring

[daveno7]

6 hours ago, Jewbacca said:

It's almost as if some people on here forget that Nino is almost impossible to pair with, nevermind someone with the same/similar sponsors and timetable.

The guy is relentlessly brilliant and has topped the MTB world for a really really long time. 

Add to that there is always one partner stronger than the other. It's nobody's fault, it is purely impossible for 2 people to perform equally over 8 days. It is what makes this format so intriguing.

The top end of the field are racing within the tightest margins, I mean mere minutes over hundreds of Km.

It is a phenomenal thing to watch and enjoy.

I know I'm certainly a million light years away from criticising or suggesting I know better than the teams and their riders. 

the marathon riders seem to have some thing left... Nino has resigned to his position...Beers at al have rode the perfect race....

[daveno7]

2 hours ago, dev null said:

I am enjoying Daryl Impey and Craig Colesky's videos of the real Cape Epic. I know exactly how it feels when you have nothing in the tank and the sun wants to kill you, and every little mountain stream is mana from heaven.

they are making the experience very watchable...

[dev null]

I think Nino will probably try and go for a stage win tomorrow. That is if his partner has it in his tank. At least it is a short and fun one.

[dev null]

I see they start the day with my favourite trails at Jonkers. And end the day with a Eden and G-Spot.

[DieselnDust]

Just now, daveno7 said:

the marathon riders seem to have some thing left... Nino has resigned to his position...Beers at al have rode the perfect race....

Yes Nino and Fini being pragmatic. World cups start in 4 weeks. They need to be ready . The marathon guys don’t have as busy a schedule so they can afford to go deeper. 
matt and Howard rode a very very well measured race. Grotts riding a bit more conservative in stage 1 and 2 proved to be  the best pathway for their team. So good strategy. Not sure how much of a hand Mr Wakefield had in that but I’m sure it was more than a pinky. 
the revelation of the race was Buff Megamo. They surprised. Didn’t see them coming . They had a bad day but bounced back. At first i though they extended their one shot wonder to two shots but it’s been 5 shots so maybe they’ve made a preparation breakthrough.

georg eggar’s interview sounds like Lucas is suffering from exhaustion , the heat would have played a big role in that. Probably not heat acclimated enough. That little feature in the Garmin bike computer is quite useful. Laura Stark is suffering from similar symptoms and did not start this morning. Some saying stomach bug but there’s no gastric flu bug doing the rounds. There is a covid bug going around. 
every year the race does Tulbagh it’s stupidly hot and people suffer heat exhaustion but other things get blamed.

preparing for the heat cannot be over emphasised