the unofficial Cape Epic thread

[Robbie Stewart]

13 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

Furthermore, the point he makes is that these riders are not interested in upskilling their technical riding. That is a fact I can testify too. Flip I nearly fell asleep on Stage 4 through the XCO courses the riders were moving so slowly. Its even worse at W2W and these okes get aggro when you overtake them. I don't see anything wrong with how the article is written or its intent. 

I went for a ride at Conties yesterday and saw a bunch of people attending some event promoting Sani2C. Didn't think much of it and did my own thing. Last night I came across a reel on Instagram about the day and there was some drone footage included of people descending "Cheeky Corners" which has got to be the easiest trail on that entire network. It consists of nothing more than a few bermed switchbacks that aren't very tight, yet from the drone footage it looked like just about everyone was having difficulty riding it. To me that just confirms my bias to stay as far away from these types of events as I can get. Thankfully the lines I rode was untouched by these people because they'd probably end up in the ER if they tried.

[Mamil]

27 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

I went for a ride at Conties yesterday and saw a bunch of people attending some event promoting Sani2C. Didn't think much of it and did my own thing. Last night I came across a reel on Instagram about the day and there was some drone footage included of people descending "Cheeky Corners" which has got to be the easiest trail on that entire network. It consists of nothing more than a few bermed switchbacks that aren't very tight, yet from the drone footage it looked like just about everyone was having difficulty riding it. To me that just confirms my bias to stay as far away from these types of events as I can get. Thankfully the lines I rode was untouched by these people because they'd probably end up in the ER if they tried.

Super tubes is the easiest trail at conties.

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, Robbie Stewart said:

I went for a ride at Conties yesterday and saw a bunch of people attending some event promoting Sani2C. Didn't think much of it and did my own thing. Last night I came across a reel on Instagram about the day and there was some drone footage included of people descending "Cheeky Corners" which has got to be the easiest trail on that entire network. It consists of nothing more than a few bermed switchbacks that aren't very tight, yet from the drone footage it looked like just about everyone was having difficulty riding it. To me that just confirms my bias to stay as far away from these types of events as I can get. Thankfully the lines I rode was untouched by these people because they'd probably end up in the ER if they tried.

 

Uhmm jaaa ...

 

OR, consider the following.

 

The organisers WANT to upskill people to the point where they can actually enjoy their Sani2C.

 

Good on them for doing something to up the skill level.

 

 

PS - yes, I know one of the coaches of yesterday's session.

[ChrisF]

14 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

 

Furthermore, the point he makes is that these riders are not interested in upskilling their technical riding. That is a fact I can testify too. Flip I nearly fell asleep on Stage 4 through the XCO courses the riders were moving so slowly. Its even worse at W2W and these okes get aggro when you overtake them. 

 

It was clear as day during the prologue that some riders had not worked on their trail skills .... 

 

The few Hubbers that dared to point this out was asked to provide their Epic CV or to rather stay silent. 🤣

 

Respect and kudos to the Sani2C team for actually reaching out and raising the skill level of prospective riders 👍

[Robbie Stewart]

5 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Uhmm jaaa ...

 

OR, consider the following.

 

The organisers WANT to upskill people to the point where they can actually enjoy their Sani2C.

 

Good on them for doing something to up the skill level.

 

 

PS - yes, I know one of the coaches of yesterday's session.

Upskilling is something I will always get behind, and if that was the intention of yesterday then that is a good thing. My only concern would be to not leave it until a few weeks before the event. 

I'll be honest and say that it always intrigues me to notice the amount of people who pedal past the Leatt Skills Park on a given weekend without ever taking enough time to observe what's on offer. These are usually the people who also enter these events, and to my mind they would benefit greatly from just riding there even just once a month. 

You can learn how to properly ride berms, drops, skinny's, even rocks and not once need to jump anything if you don't want to. That park has so much more to offer than big, intimidating jumps. And the best part is that there are so many folks who can help most weekends that you don't need to be stressed riding there the first time. Since I started frequenting that skills park my trail side technique has vastly improved and now I ride down very technical trails with absolute confidence. And that is 90% because of the skills park. People don't know what they lose out on by not riding there. 

[Robbie Stewart]

1 hour ago, Mamil said:

Super tubes is the easiest trail at conties.

Potayto potaato

[Mamil]

10 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Potayto potaato

Didn't I read a post of your somewhere saying you were tired of being injured and were scaling back on sending the dangerous lines? The addiction got you in its clutches? Do we need an intervention? 😂

[Robbie Stewart]

7 minutes ago, Mamil said:

Didn't I read a post of your somewhere saying you were tired of being injured and were scaling back on sending the dangerous lines? The addiction got you in its clutches? Do we need an intervention? 😂

Hi, my name is Robbie and I'm a mountainbikeaholic

[El Duderino]

8 minutes ago, Mamil said:

Didn't I read a post of your somewhere saying you were tired of being injured and were scaling back on sending the dangerous lines? The addiction got you in its clutches? Do we need an intervention? 😂

I think that was @MORNE

[Robbie Stewart]

3 hours ago, El Duderino said:

I think that was @MORNE

Nah, Mamil is correct. I said that after getting slammed into a pile of rocks at the top of Hoogekraal Cobra. At the time I was nursing some rather unpleasant injuries, but it is strange how once you're mended again how you forget about those incidents.

But it could also be that Morné feels the same after his last time coming off the bike. 

[NotSoBigBen]

Is it plausible that a fairly large percentage of the mountain bikers who would be doing the type of events being discussed may not be able to progress any further technically, even with 'lessons' ? I know that despite lots of practice and yes I even went to a skills clinic once .... I certainly have reached my limit and there are many many things I would not even attempt to ride 🤔

Of course the next question would be why do they enter then ... IMHO as with many other things in life ... BECAUSE THEY CAN

As always, ramblings of a 'timer that may be totally irrelevant of course 🤪

[Robbie Stewart]

4 hours ago, NotSoBigBen said:

Of course the next question would be why do they enter then ... IMHO as with many other things in life ... BECAUSE THEY CAN

The rub for me comes in when spending the kind of dosh the ACE requires for entry and then getting held up by people who couldn't give a toss about actually being up to the terrain expectations of the day because they don't have technical skills. And as Diesel has said, then when passing these people they get aggro. If I have to choose between getting frustrated to the point of a near-cardiac event and just skipping altogether I would choose the latter.

(Edit) There's more to MTB'ing than just pedaling far for long.

Edited March 30, 2025 by Robbie Stewart

[MORNE]

8 hours ago, El Duderino said:

I think that was @MORNE

Huh? What? The only thing holding me back from sending all the lines at the moment is a totally useless/unstable shoulder🤣🤣. Docter told me 12 months….ive already gone down some blacks to try it out👀 (Luckily they dont know my strava handle)  

But in my current mildly disabled state I go down blue trails, hit the brakes hard and feel like i want to go over the bars because there is almost nothing to push against😅 

look at this mess:

Edited March 30, 2025 by MORNE

[Mamil]

2 hours ago, MORNE said:

Huh? What? The only thing holding me back from sending all the lines at the moment is a totally useless/unstable shoulder🤣🤣. Docter told me 12 months….ive already gone down some blacks to try it out👀 (Luckily they dont know my strava handle)  

But in my current mildly disabled state I go down blue trails, hit the brakes hard and feel like i want to go over the bars because there is almost nothing to push against😅 

look at this mess:

That looks terrible.

That you not listening to the doctor makes me anxious on your behalf.

I'm very medically compliant. If the doctor says "don't bend your hip past 90 degrees" I get a raised toilet seat and pooh with me legs straight out in front of me. If the physio says do 3 sets of 20 stupid little movements with whatever limb is affected by my lack of MTB skills, I do 3 sets of 20 with all the rigour of an initiate in a monastery looking to be ordained.

 

[MORNE]

11 hours ago, Mamil said:

That looks terrible.

That you not listening to the doctor makes me anxious on your behalf.

I'm very medically compliant. If the doctor says "don't bend your hip past 90 degrees" I get a raised toilet seat and pooh with me legs straight out in front of me. If the physio says do 3 sets of 20 stupid little movements with whatever limb is affected by my lack of MTB skills, I do 3 sets of 20 with all the rigour of an initiate in a monastery looking to be ordained.

 

(sorry for the thread derail)

Yea it is quite a mess i’m told. And cost the medical aid a good R300k…just so i can fulfil my dream of becoming the wolverine. No Adamantium available apparently so titanium had to do😅.  

I’m taking it super easy, and not taking any real risks. I’m literally just plonking along for my own mental health more than anything. I’m fully aware that there will be no riding in anger this side of 2025. I listen to my body first and foremost, and yes…it’s 100% not ready for me to be irresponsible yet. (Its been 12 weeks)

[Ozzie NL]

15 hours ago, Robbie Stewart said:

The rub for me comes in when spending the kind of dosh the ACE requires for entry and then getting held up by people who couldn't give a toss about actually being up to the terrain expectations of the day because they don't have technical skills. And as Diesel has said, then when passing these people they get aggro. If I have to choose between getting frustrated to the point of a near-cardiac event and just skipping altogether I would choose the latter.

(Edit) There's more to MTB'ing than just pedaling far for long.

Given people are seeded in batches based on their race results, there are not many "being held up" issues at Epic... Exception can be Prologue depending on how accurate your estimated time was.

 

There will always be the issue of some people climbing faster whilst others descend faster ... I cannot see a way around that