the unofficial Cape Epic thread

[DieselnDust]

Post Covid health impacts might be the elephant in the room

[PygaSchmyga]

18 minutes ago, Ozzie NL said:

Same data, different format. The step up in drop out rate for last 3 years is striking

 

11 minutes ago, TIB said:

nou verstaan ek - thanks and thanks

[Robbie Stewart]

1 minute ago, DieselnDust said:

Post Covid health impacts might be the elephant in the room

nah, I watched the whole Craig Kolesky video saga on YouTube last night, and I was horrified by all the people walking perfectly rideable singletrack. To me it seemed more of a case of ZERO skills other than being able to ride a bicycle on a flat, level, preferably tarred road. Anything less than that and there is a global dismount and hike-a-bike for who knows how long.

Another reason to not do the Epic. I would blow my lid every time I get held up by people who have no business riding the epic at all.

[Ozzie NL]

16 minutes ago, TIB said:

Is there a reason you have not included 2023? Drop out was 28.9% that year

[PygaSchmyga]

1 hour ago, Headshot said:

Agreed. And yet there are a whole bunch of riders who view the Epic as the pinnacle of achievement and have enlarged egos as a result of riding it. Or perhaps its just attracts the kind of personality who make lots of bucks and think that way. 

That's a bit bitter and smacks of sour grapes, no?  And so what if people have this view - surely its a good thing to have a goal and achieving it without others pi$$ing all over it?  If I were ever insane enough to try run and actually finish comrades you'd hear about it from the freaking rooftops!

[Ozzie NL]

5 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

nah, I watched the whole Craig Kolesky video saga on YouTube last night, and I was horrified by all the people walking perfectly rideable singletrack. To me it seemed more of a case of ZERO skills other than being able to ride a bicycle on a flat, level, preferably tarred road. Anything less than that and there is a global dismount and hike-a-bike for who knows how long.

Another reason to not do the Epic. I would blow my lid every time I get held up by people who have no business riding the epic at all.

Your argument would therefore be that the average skills level in the last 3 editions of Epic is dramatically lower than in the previous versions?

Personally I think it is rather due to the fact that the increased % of the route made up of single track vs district roads is the biggest contributor to the higher drop out rate. I have looked at correlations with total distance and ascent and found none but % single track has increased dramatically

[PygaSchmyga]

9 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

nah, I watched the whole Craig Kolesky video saga on YouTube last night, and I was horrified by all the people walking perfectly rideable singletrack. To me it seemed more of a case of ZERO skills other than being able to ride a bicycle on a flat, level, preferably tarred road. Anything less than that and there is a global dismount and hike-a-bike for who knows how long.

Another reason to not do the Epic. I would blow my lid every time I get held up by people who have no business riding the epic at all.

"who have no business riding the epic" - lots of judgerigteid around today, yoh

[Ozzie NL]

50 minutes ago, Skubarra said:

We must move in different circles then, I need to meet these people! Most people I know who completed the Epic don't make a big deal out of it, that bike sticker that can't wash off the bike is usually the only Post-Epic vanity I notice.

Think peeps are reading way too much into Burry's comment.

The unremovable bike sticker is a myth ...glo my

[Headshot]

1 minute ago, PygaSchmyga said:

That's a bit bitter and smacks of sour grapes, no?  And so what if people have this view - surely its a good thing to have a goal and achieving it without others pi$$ing all over it?  If I were ever insane enough to try run and actually finish comrades you'd hear about it from the freaking rooftops!

Why say I'm bitter, its not like I've tried and failed. Actually i tried to enter once and failed at the first hurdle. How do you know someone's done the Epic?   They tell you. 🙂 

Met a guy recently who has done 7 Comrades and is aiming for 10, notwithstanding a recent back op. No ego on display at all. Makes me think its just the limited X section of my sample of epic riders. Type A personalities in the main.

[TIB]

15 minutes ago, Ozzie NL said:

Is there a reason you have not included 2023? Drop out was 28.9% that year

Fixed!

[Robbie Stewart]

8 minutes ago, Ozzie NL said:

Your argument would therefore be that the average skills level in the last 3 editions of Epic is dramatically lower than in the previous versions?

Personally I think it is rather due to the fact that the increased % of the route made up of single track vs district roads is the biggest contributor to the higher drop out rate. I have looked at correlations with total distance and ascent and found none but % single track has increased dramatically

your correlation to the increase in singletrack is exactly what I am talking about. People can ride district roads all day long, but the moment there is ST thrown in the mix then everything comes to a grinding halt. Craig Kolesky proved it in his videos.
 

7 minutes ago, PygaSchmyga said:

"who have no business riding the epic" - lots of judgerigteid around today, yoh

What I mean by "no business" is that they should first get the required skills. I am curious how, per example, people would assume to ride Armageddon with very limited to no technical skills. Either the route organisers faulted for adding that rather dangerous line to the final stage, (which I don't think they did - just to be clear) or people again would walk down that entire 3 odd km stretch, holding up the ENTIRE train behind them. 

My take on the Epic is that it should be taken a tad more serious than it seems people do. They spend the wads of cash to get there and "participate" and in the process stuff it up for folks who are capable to handle the tech thrown at them. And that to me is a massive waste of my money, and my time, because someone on the trail is too intimidated to ride over the rocks.

Armageddon 4 rock garden comes to mind. I will bet a fair chunk of people walked that line.

[Headshot]

23 minutes ago, PygaSchmyga said:

"who have no business riding the epic" - lots of judgerigteid around today, yoh

True, but his comment needs expansion. 

Imagine paying over R120k to do the event only to discover numbers of plonker riders  riding so slowly or even pushing their bikes and of course failing to get out of the way (cos they know no etiquette and  their big ego's wont allow it) and therefore ruining your very expensive single track experience. 

Now of course everyone knows that this is what happens on the Epic and lots of other marathon type events so I have to wonder why guys like Kolesky even bother moaning. This and the fact that so many other people come back time and again even though they know the best tracks will be littered with riders makes me think many people aren't necessarily doing this for fun, but rather for a bit of masochistic bragging rights. 

I'll wait for your response 🙂 

Edited March 26, 2024 by Headshot

[Robbie Stewart]

@Headshot gets it.

[DieselnDust]

43 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

nah, I watched the whole Craig Kolesky video saga on YouTube last night, and I was horrified by all the people walking perfectly rideable singletrack. To me it seemed more of a case of ZERO skills other than being able to ride a bicycle on a flat, level, preferably tarred road. Anything less than that and there is a global dismount and hike-a-bike for who knows how long.

Another reason to not do the Epic. I would blow my lid every time I get held up by people who have no business riding the epic at all.

The number of social media influencers in the event has definitely increased. The number of people incapable of riding a mountain bike over anything remotely technical has also increased but these have always been part of the event. 
I don’t think it’s easy to point at one particular  cause for higher drop out rates the last three years other than COVID. 
we can’t prove that having disposable income equates to incompetent MTB skills you’d think that they could buy that also although one cannot buy commitment.

we can’t prove that riders are less capable whilst being offered bikes with lower slacker longer attributes that makes anyone a Danny Mccanskill. 
we do know that covid has hit everyone globally with effects not well understood. If we consider the 2016 cape epic used a similar route to 2024, had longer stages in more adverse temperatures whilst suffering a lower drop out rate of riders on steeper angles bikes with narrower tyres and longer stems then it is clear that 650B was a far superior wheel size…

 

 

Edited March 26, 2024 by DieselnDust

[Ozzie NL]

6 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

your correlation to the increase in singletrack is exactly what I am talking about. People can ride district roads all day long, but the moment there is ST thrown in the mix then everything comes to a grinding halt. Craig Kolesky proved it in his videos.
 

What I mean by "no business" is that they should first get the required skills. I am curious how, per example, people would assume to ride Armageddon with very limited to no technical skills. Either the route organisers faulted for adding that rather dangerous line to the final stage, (which I don't think they did - just to be clear) or people again would walk down that entire 3 odd km stretch, holding up the ENTIRE train behind them. 

My take on the Epic is that it should be taken a tad more serious than it seems people do. They spend the wads of cash to get there and "participate" and in the process stuff it up for folks who are capable to handle the tech thrown at them. And that to me is a massive waste of my money, and my time, because someone on the trail is too intimidated to ride over the rocks.

Armageddon 4 rock garden comes to mind. I will bet a fair chunk of people walked that line.

I would say two things:

1) everybody has the right to decide how to spend their money ... most Ferrari owners are no racing drivers by any stretch of the imagination.

2) Due to the batched starting system, more accomplished riders will be in the earlier batches and hence in general not held back by those a bit slower. Obviously this holds for most races but as Epic stages are much longer there are way less bottlenecks. So no-one should be spoiling your experience much more than you are spoiling theirs on the segments where they are faster

It is true that you will sometimes end up walking because someone else gets off on a techie climb or descent but in my experience the faster descenders are typically slower uphill as well as the revers

[sirmoun10goat]

For all the technically blessed riders caught behind people walking single track, maybe you should work on your cardio and speed and get into the single track before the walkers.

 

 I’m pretty sure these walkers probably think the technical riders are holding up the show while they try cruise past them on the district roads.