Cape Epic 2026

[DieselnDust]

1 hour ago, Shebeen said:

it (half) works again! was offline on monday

They seem to be migrating everything over to an Ironman site. 
i guess they really have no intent of selling back to Kevin

[DieselnDust]

16 hours ago, nathrix said:

 

Comparison of winning average speeds by decade for the ABSA Cape Epic, based on the data we compiled earlier (with confirmed 2026 updates: Men 707 km / 26:55:51 → 26.26 km/h; Women 545 km / 24:32:38 → 22.21 km/h).Decades defined as:

• 2000s: 2004–2009 (6 editions)
• 2010s: 2010–2019 (10 editions)
• 2020s: 2021–2026 (6 editions, 2020 cancelled)

Men's Winning Average Speeds by Decade

Decade	Avg Speed (km/h)	Range (km/h)	Notes
2000s	26.91	25.37 – 28.30	Longest routes, highest speeds in some years (e.g. 2006 at 28.30 km/h)
2010s	25.07	22.92 – 26.80	Shorter, more technical routes → slower overall
2020s	25.61	24.13 – 26.69	Modern tech + optimized courses; 2026 at 26.26 km/h

Trend: Men's speeds dipped in the 2010s as the race became tougher and more technical, then slightly recovered in the 2020s.Women's Winning Average Speeds by Decade

Decade	Avg Speed (km/h)	Range (km/h)	Notes
2000s	22.59	21.16 – 23.45	Similar to men but consistently ~4 km/h slower
2010s	20.95	18.82 – 21.94	Biggest gap to men; more technical routes hit women harder
2020s	21.23	20.35 – 22.21	Steady improvement; 2026 time-parity route closed the gap significantly (only ~4 km/h slower than men despite shorter distance)

Trend: Women's speeds were more affected by increasing technical difficulty in the 2010s. The 2026 route change (shorter distance + time-parity focus) produced the fastest women's winning speed in over a decade.Overall Observations

• Men's decade average across all years: ~25.8 km/h
• Women's decade average across all years: ~21.5 km/h
• The gap between men and women has narrowed in the 2020s, especially in 2026 thanks to the dedicated women's route (545 km vs men's 707 km).
• Ascent per km has generally increased over time (from ~18 m/km in early 2000s to ~23–24 m/km recently), making raw speed harder to maintain.

would you mind terribly normalising those average speeds. Take the top 5 of each category to aid in determining whether or not the race was trully faster in the periods you indicate. The quality of the field, weather conditions and route play a major role here. even concepts like VAM should be considered

[Stephan]

22 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Gradients were definitely not kind in 2025.

i can assure you of that. You can’t have 27m /km gain and say gradients were kind. Mathematically impossible. 
I rode 2025. The only low climb day was the stage 2 TT from Meerendal To Fairview

Not going to argue with you. But this is basically what I meant by how it felt to me this year vs last year. Like I said, it is subjective.

(edit, the graph shows 27m gained for comparison. I know this year was less per km than last year)

Edited March 25 by Stephan
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[Michael S]

21 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

They seem to be migrating everything over to an Ironman site. 
i guess they really have no intent of selling back to Kevin

That ship has sailed, they wanted silly money. He moved on to Gravel Burn instead.

[DieselnDust]

35 minutes ago, Stephan said:

Not going to argue with you. But this is basically what I meant by how it felt to me this year vs last year. Like I said, it is subjective.

(edit, the graph shows 27m gained for comparison. I know this year was less per km than last year)

I'm no sure what you're trying to explain with the graph,

"the 2026 route is slightly less steep overall (22.98 m/km vs. 27.13 m/km)"

feelings aside, maybe you were less fit in 2026?  Point is 2025 went up many climbs that were over 15% gradient. Coupled to that was 5 days of extreme heat followed by 2,5days of terrential downpour on those steep climbs

[nathrix]

51 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

would you mind terribly normalising those average speeds. Take the top 5 of each category to aid in determining whether or not the race was trully faster in the periods you indicate. The quality of the field, weather conditions and route play a major role here. even concepts like VAM should be considered

Disclaimer, generated by Grok and I have not dissected every bit of info, luckily we have hubsters to go through it with a fine comb 😆

[DieselnDust]

3 minutes ago, nathrix said:

Disclaimer, generated by Grok and I have not dissected every bit of info, luckily we have hubsters to go through it with a fine comb 😆

very interesting !!

[Headshot]

17 hours ago, nathrix said:

 

Comparison of winning average speeds by decade for the ABSA Cape Epic, based on the data we compiled earlier (with confirmed 2026 updates: Men 707 km / 26:55:51 → 26.26 km/h; Women 545 km / 24:32:38 → 22.21 km/h).Decades defined as:

• 2000s: 2004–2009 (6 editions)
• 2010s: 2010–2019 (10 editions)
• 2020s: 2021–2026 (6 editions, 2020 cancelled)

Men's Winning Average Speeds by Decade

Decade	Avg Speed (km/h)	Range (km/h)	Notes
2000s	26.91	25.37 – 28.30	Longest routes, highest speeds in some years (e.g. 2006 at 28.30 km/h)
2010s	25.07	22.92 – 26.80	Shorter, more technical routes → slower overall
2020s	25.61	24.13 – 26.69	Modern tech + optimized courses; 2026 at 26.26 km/h

Trend: Men's speeds dipped in the 2010s as the race became tougher and more technical, then slightly recovered in the 2020s.Women's Winning Average Speeds by Decade

Decade	Avg Speed (km/h)	Range (km/h)	Notes
2000s	22.59	21.16 – 23.45	Similar to men but consistently ~4 km/h slower
2010s	20.95	18.82 – 21.94	Biggest gap to men; more technical routes hit women harder
2020s	21.23	20.35 – 22.21	Steady improvement; 2026 time-parity route closed the gap significantly (only ~4 km/h slower than men despite shorter distance)

Trend: Women's speeds were more affected by increasing technical difficulty in the 2010s. The 2026 route change (shorter distance + time-parity focus) produced the fastest women's winning speed in over a decade.Overall Observations

• Men's decade average across all years: ~25.8 km/h
• Women's decade average across all years: ~21.5 km/h
• The gap between men and women has narrowed in the 2020s, especially in 2026 thanks to the dedicated women's route (545 km vs men's 707 km).
• Ascent per km has generally increased over time (from ~18 m/km in early 2000s to ~23–24 m/km recently), making raw speed harder to maintain.

Many maybe even most riders still on 26" in the early 2000's and yet the average speeds seem to be faster? 

[Headshot]

1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

Insider info, is finding the right mix is difficult but that’s the objective. The desire is to attract both XCM and XCO specialists to grow the elites field, especially the ladies. The 2025 route was heavily XCO focused . The 2026 route I feel was a really good balance and it delivered a riveting mens race. 
overlay their intent with the very positive feedback on the 2026 route I would hazard a safe bet that they will try for more of the same next year but different locations. Montagu was a favourite although the amateurs complained bitterly about the rough terrain 🤣😂

can’t keep all the people happy as they say…

That terrain ended the second from top ladies teams chances...  friend of mine who took an Epic spectator tour in the area said it was quite technical, lots of tight unexpected corners - my reply "normal mountain biking in other words" 

[Ozzie NL]

14 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

that 2025 edition stand out as brutal in term s of meters very gain /km.

and it would be more if the last day wasn’t shortened and stage 3 cancelled

The Paarl heat was the biatch in 2025.

Even though the stage was cancelled it killed a lot of teams with insufficient steam for the remaining stages

[Ozzie NL]

20 minutes ago, Headshot said:

Many maybe even most riders still on 26" in the early 2000's and yet the average speeds seem to be faster? 

A lot more district roads in those days

Edited March 25 by Ozzie NL

[Ozzie NL]

52 minutes ago, nathrix said:

Disclaimer, generated by Grok and I have not dissected every bit of info, luckily we have hubsters to go through it with a fine comb 😆

Distance and ascent numbers per year seem to be copied from website as opposed being based o actuals. Some are materially out

[Shebeen]

30 minutes ago, Ozzie NL said:

A lot more district roads in those days

And unavoidably so if you wanted to go on a journey from Knysna west - so much that a long slog on a district route was even known as "epic roads".

 

here's a good example why you can't just compare raw numbers to get a "tough" index

https://www.treadmtb.co.za/tougher-than-the-2008-cape-epic-looks-like-it/

 

[Dobri]

2 hours ago, Shebeen said:

Any feedback from riders here?

 

Really cool that they went to Montagu, will we see more travelling in 2027, or back to the paarl/stellenbosch combo?

Here is my experience as a newbie, not sure I will do this again though. 

I was on holiday in CT in December and rode the Meerendal, Jonkers and Banhoek trails, most of the others I knew from W2W - this was just a coincidence as I got the invite 5 weeks before the race, I was fit but racing was out of the question - finishing was the target and it was achieved. 

The only day I had fun was at Meerendal, the atmosphere around the two steep concrete switchbacks on Stairway to heaven was electric and absolutely amazing, to experience such atmosphere first hand, same as pro's, will be remembered forever, seeing it on TV does not do it justice, those cow bells ringing around my ears and so may people shouting and supporting is the best experience ever on a MTB as an average Joe - and a HUGE thank you to all the locals who stood there for hours cheering and supporting. 

The two stages in Montagu were hard and I saw many riders with broken rims, lots of punctures, few falls. The downhills were not fun as they were very rocky and loose - staying upright and avoiding sharp rocks was the target. 

I had rim inserts (Pazner XC) and everything that rotates or moves was replaced prior to the race - very lucky not to have any punctures or mechanical's but had to change brake pads after stage 5. 

The first transition stage 3 was gravel grinding and stage 4 was not as difficult because the UFO climb was on concrete strips - the downhill was rocky and loose - little time to relax and not much fun as arms got fatigued. 

Stage 5 broke me physically and emotionally - not the distance or the last climb (it was not as bad as it looks as it was on a gravel road) but the weather - cold and wet up to the Gantrou pass. The bike had so much mud when we were at Paul Cluver that even pushing it uphill was a HUGE effort - the wheels did not turn, they were sliding. Stopped few times to clean the mud from the chain stop, cassette, used the bottle to clean the chain - it was fugly. Seeing Stellies after the climb was such a relief but the downhill once more was not fun due to arms fatigue - my fingers cramped just holding the brakes. I know some called them coward levers but I was not going to risk anything so close to the finish.  

Stage 6 and 7 I knew and it was nice to ride smooth manicured trails again and I was so thankful to the organizers not to take us to the top of Saaltjie via the single trail at Jonkers - that would have caused huge backlogs as it is so much harder with very steep sharp switchbacks. Saw few okes washing out on last day - stupid to risk it so close to finish. Broken and lose left cleat made my last 10ks or so hell - I was looking forward to the Stellies XC track and I could not enjoy it - next time when in CT for sure I am riding it properly.   

Overall opinions - the event organisation was world class and flawless - not one thing to complain about - only to praise them - I can only imagine the effort it takes to stage such a huge event and to run it as smooth as it was. I am sure there was more support crew than participants! Food, water and refresher drinks were plentiful and abundant. 

Most foreign riders (South American especially) have no riding etiquette - cutting and pushing in, passing on dangerous single trail positions - like wtf - I was in batches H and I - where are they racing too? Saffas on the other hand cool and always asking to pass when safe. 

Lots of riders missing simple technical skill of riding slowly uphill and balancing on the bike - the few uphill single trails were a challenge. My few tumbles where all on the uphills - not enough time to unclip as some riders stopped dead - war scars I guess! 

Lifetime memories made - the vibe and gees was excellent and the local support along the routes over the 8 days was amazing - so many people pulled out chairs and umbrellas and just sat and supported - some literally in the middle of nowhere - my wife met so many people who had no family or friends taking part - they just came to support the event - thank you WC people - you definitely made it very special to me! 

 

[DieselnDust]

6 hours ago, Headshot said:

That terrain ended the second from top ladies teams chances...  friend of mine who took an Epic spectator tour in the area said it was quite technical, lots of tight unexpected corners - my reply "normal mountain biking in other words" 

Yebo, I warned a few teams about that terrain before the event. Okes were feeling confident it was just jeep track out there 😂

Edited March 25 by DieselnDust

[babse]

3 hours ago, Dobri said:

Here is my experience as a newbie, not sure I will do this again though. 

snip

 

Well done on finishing and solid feedback on race and good to hear there was sufficient water and decent food...

 

Were you in the tent city? Other than the shite weather, any particular reason you wouldn't do it again?