the unofficial Cape Epic 2024 thread

[mecheng89]

32 minutes ago, pietas said:

Not sure if it has been said in previous comments but I am really disappointed in the coverage of the other categories at the epic. I realise this is essentially a UCI Pro race now, that allow some amateurs to also ride, but to not even mention these winners? Really?

Yes, in the daily highlights package they perhaps named the age cat winners once. 

BTW, why did Bart B not ride this year? His "pigeon chest" is looking worse as time goes on.

[mecheng89]

16 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

The relative positioning of team mates isn’t a dead cert in hierarchy. One day you’re the hammer the next day you’re the nail. From what I can tell, Matt likes to ride on the front. There could be several reasons for this; sighting the trail , just a better feeling of comfort could be another.  You’d need to be able to hear the dialogue between them to get a better sense of what is going on. Howard seems more comfortable across a broader speed range on the climbs whereas Matt likes a constant tempo. So let Matt sit on the front to set his tempo and Howard follows. You don’t want a faster climber starting to stretch you out when you’re having trouble on the climb. Matt can’t hide behind Howard anyway, he’s a hike head and shoulder taller.

what is apparent is that Bikehub needs to do a podcast with Matt where these questions can be asked. Maybe John can arrange a S2S seminar with some of their top athletes and the audience can ask the milllion and one questions.

just based on the highly variable and sometimes downright weird training and preparation for the epic amongst the back markers there is very clearly still a huge gap in the market for this information 

He was on a podcast a little while ago with some US-based riders, I'll have to go dig for it, it think it was just after this previous Epic overall victory.

[Jewbacca]

36 minutes ago, pietas said:

Not sure if it has been said in previous comments but I am really disappointed in the coverage of the other categories at the epic. I realise this is essentially a UCI Pro race now, that allow some amateurs to also ride, but to not even mention these winners? Really?

The thing is, the UCI teams don't make up many numbers.

Let's round it to 490 finishing teams, 42 were UCI mens and 17 were UCI ladies.

54 men UCI teams started and 19 Female teams out of 720 ish teams. A shade more than 10% of the field 

The marketing is pro centric though. The whole strategy has been aimed at getting to ride the same race, route etc at the same time as the best pros in the world. 

It isn't the L'Etape where you ride the same route but on a different day, you are sold on being a part of the MTB tour de france actual race.

The race coverage follows the pros at the racing end as it is exciting and the big names get people engaged and keen. I have had a lot of messages this week saying 'you, watching the epic coverage has made me so amped to get back on the MTB and do the race' from people who wouldn't last 4 days.

Unfortunately the middle/back of the field is not attractive and seeing the level of suffering and dedding isn't going to sell next years entries to overweight CEOs, wannabe pros or people living on past glories.

One part of the human brain that gets wholly underprepared people to buy into this event is ego and romanticism. They KNOW it's tough, they KNOW it's a big effort to get to the start line but 'it can't be that tough. I'm way more hardcore than those guys/girls who didn't finish and suck that badly.'

I'm all for it. I may sound like I'm being derogatory or mean, but you get the point.

The 'LIVE' feed is also getting shorter and shorter. 

I'd love a 90 second short montage each day of the other part of the epic and category winners, but I'd guess that until the race doesn't generate the numbers, very little will change.

[DieselnDust]

13 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

The thing is, the UCI teams don't make up many numbers.

Let's round it to 490 finishing teams, 42 were UCI mens and 17 were UCI ladies.

54 men UCI teams started and 19 Female teams out of 720 ish teams. A shade more than 10% of the field 

The marketing is pro centric though. The whole strategy has been aimed at getting to ride the same race, route etc at the same time as the best pros in the world. 

It isn't the L'Etape where you ride the same route but on a different day, you are sold on being a part of the MTB tour de france actual race.

The race coverage follows the pros at the racing end as it is exciting and the big names get people engaged and keen. I have had a lot of messages this week saying 'you, watching the epic coverage has made me so amped to get back on the MTB and do the race' from people who wouldn't last 4 days.

Unfortunately the middle/back of the field is not attractive and seeing the level of suffering and dedding isn't going to sell next years entries to overweight CEOs, wannabe pros or people living on past glories.

One part of the human brain that gets wholly underprepared people to buy into this event is ego and romanticism. They KNOW it's tough, they KNOW it's a big effort to get to the start line but 'it can't be that tough. I'm way more hardcore than those guys/girls who didn't finish and suck that badly.'

I'm all for it. I may sound like I'm being derogatory or mean, but you get the point.

The 'LIVE' feed is also getting shorter and shorter. 

I'd love a 90 second short montage each day of the other part of the epic and category winners, but I'd guess that until the race doesn't generate the numbers, very little will change.

The first 5 years of the epic had a half hour highlights package of the main race aired at 10pm every night. In that segment there would be 5mins of interviews with the back of the field , getting their views and feelings. That sold a lot of people into the event and grew its demand. In addition there was a 60min film on super sport of the whole event. Participants would purchase a dvd that contained their race photos , the highlights of each stage pro race and the weekend warrior movie. 

That came to an end with the shift to higher entry fees and the clover leaf format.

Point is the backmarkers sold the event . The pro field wasn’t big enough to sell the event but they set the benchmark for regular Jill’s and Joe’s to measure themselves against. And that’s the ego sell that works a treat. This formula brings people back year after year so why change a winning formula?

it would still be great to have a view form the sharp end of the amateur field, mid pack and those running from the hyenas. Doesn’t cost extra and gives more exposure to the event.

[Jewbacca]

1 minute ago, DieselnDust said:

The first 5 years of the epic had a half hour highlights package of the main race aired at 10pm every night. In that segment there would be 5mins of interviews with the back of the field , getting their views and feelings. That sold a lot of people into the event and grew its demand. In addition there was a 60min film on super sport of the whole event. Participants would purchase a dvd that contained their race photos , the highlights of each stage pro race and the weekend warrior movie. 

That came to an end with the shift to higher entry fees and the clover leaf format.

Point is the backmarkers sold the event . The pro field wasn’t big enough to sell the event but they set the benchmark for regular Jill’s and Joe’s to measure themselves against. And that’s the ego sell that works a treat. This formula brings people back year after year so why change a winning formula?

it would still be great to have a view form the sharp end of the amateur field, mid pack and those running from the hyenas. Doesn’t cost extra and gives more exposure to the event.

I remember that. The live feed wasn't a proper thing back then though, so it was a far more edited outlook.

The e-bikes, wireless networks and transportable editing technology has allowed the live feed to really take centre stage, which makes the montage content less important 

I'm sure they will do a highlights/marketing wrap up which will really get the hearts racing, the amp high and loosen the purse strings of those so inclined.

 

[DieselnDust]

4 minutes ago, Jewbacca said:

I remember that. The live feed wasn't a proper thing back then though, so it was a far more edited outlook.

The e-bikes, wireless networks and transportable editing technology has allowed the live feed to really take centre stage, which makes the montage content less important 

I'm sure they will do a highlights/marketing wrap up which will really get the hearts racing, the amp high and loosen the purse strings of those so inclined.

 

Yeah for the racing perspective the full stages are available on YouTube for your to watch at your leisure. It’s the amateur field that needs some coverage. 

[MongooseMan]

1 hour ago, mecheng89 said:

He was on a podcast a little while ago with some US-based riders, I'll have to go dig for it, it think it was just after this previous Epic overall victory.

That was the Bonk Bros podcast: https://bonkbrospodcast.com/e/episode-42-cape-epic-special-w-the-champ-matt-beers/

[dev null]

40 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Yeah for the racing perspective the full stages are available on YouTube for your to watch at your leisure. It’s the amateur field that needs some coverage. 

It is all about money now. As soon as the pro ladies finishes they land those helis because they get billed heavy for flight time I think.

[Bub Marley]

1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

Yeah for the racing perspective the full stages are available on YouTube for your to watch at your leisure. It’s the amateur field that needs some coverage. 

That’s never going to happen as much as we want to see it. They rely on the YouTubers to provide this content. 

 

If you want to see more of the back of the field guys, watch Craig Kolesky. He’s given you a great perspective of what it’s like. If anything it’s actually put me off it a bit with the amount of walking that would have to be done if you stuck behind someone on a climb and then also stuck behind slower guys on single track and not really enjoying the trails. 

 

I would also subscribe to Jasper Verkuijl’s channel on YouTube. He’s an amateur but very fit and finished 3rd at the epic in the Amateur category. His videos are top notch quality and bring a more racing perspective from the amateurs. It’ll probably be a while though before he edits and uploads it but yeah he’s the go to guy for amateur racing. His content on the Haute Route events are top class.

[saturdayknight]

So many riders dropped out with heat stress - mediclinic apparently was struggling to find hospital beds after day 4 - 40 odd riders in hospital with kidney failure / heat stress - thats not counting all the riders in the race village hospital on a drip. Heat acclimatisation for me seems to key to making it through if this race is held in Wellington / Tulbagh area - my Garmin read 39 degrees with no wind going up the Alp de Huez to Cliffhanger. Was brutal. I did quite a bit of heated yoga going into the Epic and I think this helped, but us back markers are riding in the heat of the day whereas the pros are already done and dusted.

[JohanC]

Time to get Netflix involved? A "drive to survive"/ Cape Epic documentary will be awesome..

[Danger Dassie]

Imho there’s a fair amount of amateur coverage amongst the highlights packages etc. Arguably there could be more depth, at the same time who pays for this?
Using the heli as am example, flying hours are already at their limit, including the pilot, camera operator, editing and producers. So to extend that means an extra crew on a heli, pilot, cameraman and producer hours for editing, or draw down hours on capturing elites. 
As it is, the eyeballs are drawn by what happens in the elite race, this is a fact. It is the driving impetus behind coverage. 

[Danger Dassie]

28 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

That’s never going to happen as much as we want to see it. They rely on the YouTubers to provide this content. 

 

If you want to see more of the back of the field guys, watch Craig Kolesky. He’s given you a great perspective of what it’s like. If anything it’s actually put me off it a bit with the amount of walking that would have to be done if you stuck behind someone on a climb and then also stuck behind slower guys on single track and not really enjoying the trails. 

 

I would also subscribe to Jasper Verkuijl’s channel on YouTube. He’s an amateur but very fit and finished 3rd at the epic in the Amateur category. His videos are top notch quality and bring a more racing perspective from the amateurs. It’ll probably be a while though before he edits and uploads it but yeah he’s the go to guy for amateur racing. His content on the Haute Route events are top class.

Jasper is an absolute mullet and legend, class human.

[pietas]

I am well aware of the cost implications of tv coverage. I therefor do no expect full coverage of everybody that rides. But some footage from a drone of the rest of the riders would be nice.

 

And showing the category results for the amateur classes at the end of the days highlights would also be nice. And yes, I know you can look it up on the internet. Else, why bother with even having these categories. Might as well then be: Pros vs the rest 

[DieselnDust]

I reckon just drop the race office the feedback and see what happens for next year. 

[Jewbacca]

Just now, DieselnDust said:

I reckon just drop the race office the feedback and see what happens for next year. 

This

I think everyone agrees it would be good to see a more rounded coverage, the real challenge is getting that to the right people.

I guess it would also be important to know what the numbers look like in terms of engagement - Number of Saffas, spanish etc and who engages in the non live stuff.

Are we, those watching most years, the actual target market? Is it worthwhile for them to go through the processes for a handful of people who likely won't buy entries down the line?

I'd guess these are all things the company can look at after the feedback and suggestions have reached the right people