the unofficial Cape Epic thread

[PhilipV]

On 3/29/2025 at 11:48 AM, DieselnDust said:

I think it’s a valid question. 
the issue revolves around cognitive impairment.

when people get dehydrated their reasoning starts to be affected. You can halucinate, become aggressive (emotional instability) or simply just start to behave out of character. If it’s happening to you, very few have the capacity to recognise what is going on. You think oh “I have a headache “ or “wow what that’s this beautiful lady doing all the way up here ?”

that is when an outsider needs to step in and take control of the situation. In this case your team mate. However if they are also impaired then it’s a double edged sword and at this point someone who is fully functional needs to step in. 
considering the terrain and that many others were in various states of dehydration already I would have to look at the higher authority in the day monitoring distress calls to ascertain what is going on. 
as you say with hindsight there’s a lot more that could have been done to monitor conditions and make a safer determination of continuing or stopping the race.

the key issue here is that none ir very few of the riders on pipeline and Boulder City after noon were going to have the capacity to make good decisions in that heat.

overlay the cost of the event and therefore the cost of failure and it’s not as black and white as it seems when sitting at home or in the office watching from a distance.

Honest opinion: I’m glad your partner pulled out when he did. Kudos to you for not pressuring him to go on. 

On 3/30/2025 at 5:58 PM, 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:

May I suggest Hyrox or F45 (aka CrossFit lite) rather. 
hat, coat, DOOR!

[Ozzie NL]

15 hours ago, shambler said:

Well, seems like the pricing sweet spot has been hit. After 2 hours you can still easily register, quite different as last few years.  It will get full eventually, but this should be a sign to the organisers...

You're more less charging the same price per day as a Swiss Epic. But seriously: sleeping in a tent or sleeping in a hotel in one of the most expensive countries in the world is a different thing.

Think the issue is rather that Epic decided to only accept card payments this year whereas previously EFTs were also an option ... suspect many peeps did not bump up their card limits to complete the transaction.

[DieselnDust]

3 hours ago, Ozzie NL said:

Think the issue is rather that Epic decided to only accept card payments this year whereas previously EFTs were also an option ... suspect many peeps did not bump up their card limits to complete the transaction.

I seriously doubt this is the issue. There's no way of knowing who paid in full and who took payment options I would suspect the riders without a confirmed partner opted for payment plan to ensure they have the slot and then the prospective partner pays the other 50% directly. This eases cash flow and spreads the entrants risk.

Also as mentioned previously, Early Bird used to be capped at 100 so there was no way the public would know whether 101 entries were received or  1 million, but with 999900  unsuccessful. As of yesterday evening there were 184 entries. Did the event cap the entries there or is that all that  were eager enough to secure early? Impossible to know if you can't see the back end of the entry system which would be everyone sitting here speculating.

What we can safely say is that demand is likely waning inline with disposable income domestic and abroad.

[Ozzie NL]

11 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

I seriously doubt this is the issue. There's no way of knowing who paid in full and who took payment options I would suspect the riders without a confirmed partner opted for payment plan to ensure they have the slot and then the prospective partner pays the other 50% directly. This eases cash flow and spreads the entrants risk.

Also as mentioned previously, Early Bird used to be capped at 100 so there was no way the public would know whether 101 entries were received or  1 million, but with 999900  unsuccessful. As of yesterday evening there were 184 entries. Did the event cap the entries there or is that all that  were eager enough to secure early? Impossible to know if you can't see the back end of the entry system which would be everyone sitting here speculating.

What we can safely say is that demand is likely waning inline with disposable income domestic and abroad.

The two of us should start a think tank as we permanently have opposing views on matters ... imagine how right we could be if we debate these and develop a common view

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, Ozzie NL said:

The two of us should start a think tank as we permanently have opposing views on matters ... imagine how right we could be if we debate these and develop a common view

 

Between the two of you, the rest of us get a nice wholistic picture ... keep it up 

[DieselnDust]

The truth is always in the middle

[Lynskey]

5 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

The truth is always in the middle

Opinions and experiences are personal. So to each their own. I can relate to stuff you experience and then some I don't. To have many angles to view an experience is best. I would never call anyone out who has done it but highly doubt I would copy their sentiments to the T. Your effort to describe your journey is very much welcomed and enjoyed by myself. 

[Danger Dassie]

On 3/31/2025 at 6:07 PM, shambler said:

Well, seems like the pricing sweet spot has been hit. After 2 hours you can still easily register, quite different as last few years.  It will get full eventually, but this should be a sign to the organisers...

You're more less charging the same price per day as a Swiss Epic. But seriously: sleeping in a tent or sleeping in a hotel in one of the most expensive countries in the world is a different thing.

Is it a sign of anything, though, or rather a basic observation? There would be a number of circumstances/data to consider.

Swiss Epic is slightly more low-key than the Cape Epic, which is still the crown event. If you feel like going outside that hotel/village bubble (which many do), then the expensive part hits home quickly, especially if you're coming from an emerging currency like Randelas. At Cape Epic at least you have the option of an upgrade tent, camper village or sorting out offsite accommodation for a pretty good rate comparatively. Quite a few overseas riders opt for the tent upgrade for various reasons. 
Interestingly, since Cape Epic introduced the new tents and mattresses, they've seen an uptick in people using them.