Epic Route 2010.

[Sharkie 2]

Epic is getting to expensive....R25k for next year if you got an entry is damn steep, I agree it is a must do but what justifies a R7k price jump from this year to next year. They don't even travel that much as they stay more than one night in a specific town, Joburg2C, Cape Pioneer Trek etc is going to become more popular in my books!

[Tubehunter]

I did the 2005 Epic. It was 897km and 18200m of climb. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had on two wheels. I enjoyed knowing we had cycled from Knysna to Cape Town through the mountains. That was the appeal after all. This did however make the route very long and somewhat like a road type race on jeep tracks and secondary roads, which detracts from the idea of it being a mountain bike event. In that year there were only 2 days that had any form of technical terrain and I was amazed to see that the vast majority of competitors did not have the MTB bike handling skills to negiotiate these on the bike. Obviously in the early years the organisers may have been appealing to a more broad based cyclist than what they are doing now, now that it is an established event. As a mountain biker I prefer the idea of the route being shorter but having substantially more technical terrain, which utimately translates into longer saddle time anyway. So don't think that it will be far less an Epic simply because there is 25% less distance. I doubt the event will ever become a single base structure as there is only so many routes you can ride in a loop. They have kept the magic alive by delivering a unique route each year. Kudos to that, as this is afterall the major drawcard and what makes this such a special week in one's life. I highly recommend it for nothing other than to experience what it feels like to be a 'pro' cyclist on a multiday stage race. Especially amongst the company around and accessible.

[Matchstix]

Did 2005, 2006 and 2009. New format sucks, lost a big touch

they had less logistics and the basins didn't even work on day one.

but its all in the name of making money.

I worked at the cape Pioneer   the past week, you can defintely see what you paid for on the epic. The epic is just a lot more glits and glam.

 

And yes there are a smack load of people on the epic that dont have a lot of bike skills.

 

[Montblanc]

The terrain in Ceres will not be easy. I cannot really comment on earlier years 2006/7/8. I would say doing the long gravel 140km stages must be hard. Like somebody once told me those years were gravel road races. Last year very technical. Every year will be hard no matter what.

[JPW#]

Darn its way easier than I would have expected, I dont think Lance will show , he will need some more serious trainning for the Tour.

[blockhouse]

To those of you not keen on the new format, keep one thing in mind, cycling from point a to point b limits the route options as you have to always be traveling in the direction of the finish.

 

However I do believe 3 nights in one place is going to far.

[Pom1]

Love it! or Knock it! Fundamentally it is one of the worlds premier MTB stage races which attracts the Big Boys (and Girls) and the Forex to our shores!

 

I am so glad that it is South African and in our own backyard, After 3 years of Epic training it is out of my system now. Kevin Vermaak good luck to you (and CFC ;-) and may you grow it beyond EPIC proportion.

 

25K! we say. so what! next time I am at the Epic I will be a spectator or Volunteer. Outside of the Epic, guess what? the Cape Pioneer has popped up, what a fantastic event this is, do yourselves a favour and enter this next year! oh yes and we have the inaugral J2C... 9 days down to the coast in 2010! are we spoiled for choice? why? perhaps it has something to do with Mr. Vermaak.

[Jaco-fiets]

They save alot with the race staying in thr cape area and more than 1 night per location. Still the price goes up. I would love to do it but dont think its worth the money. In my opinion the joburg2c race will overshadow it within 2 years

[Mavric Man]

I think the Joburg2C is R7k enty fee,over 9 days, sounds a more affordable option to me, and should catch on quick...

[Bos]

The only thing constant is change..?? is that how it goes??

 

I think you guys must remember that the sport changes. I remember in the 90's the races were between 40 and 60km and that was considered the long routes! Bikes are evolving and so is our sport. If you look at most of the local races there are fewer and fewer dirt road dash's and If I spent that amount of money on a race I would feel cheated If all we rode were dirtroads that resembles the boring roads we ride to get to the goodstuff.

Half of us ride FS bikes by now and why? to go ride dirtroads?

 

I rode Eselfontein a month ago and it took me exactly the same time to finish a 63km(on my Garmin) race than it took me to finish the caroo 2 coast which were about 95km But when I was finished with eselfontein I was absolutely sold on mountainbiking, I couldnt stop talking about it for days. and \I loved my FS much more than I loved my HT after the karoo 2 Coast

 

I would far rather see our top pro's race over technically challenging terrain with consequince than miles apon miles of gravel+ stutterbumps.

I think it its a bit sorry that they have to stay in one place for 3 days,mabe 2 was fine, but I cannot comment on that (havnt done one)

 

POM 1 said this:

 

Outside of the Epic, guess what? the Cape Pioneer has popped up, what a fantastic event this is, do yourselves a favour and enter this next year! oh yes and we have the inaugral J2C... 9 days down to the coast in 2010! are we spoiled for choice? why? perhaps it has something to do with Mr. Vermaak.

 

I think It deserves a clap. He is overcharging I agree, but he started this (appart from sani) and it has a lot of Cred. There is newsteams, more international teams than any other sport draws to SA that I can think of, security etc etc.

 

Its to much for me.. but Im not going to down it for that.

[downhilldemon]

lots of people are crying about the cost of epic. i certainly can't afford it now (and would like to be able to), but there is obviously nothing wrong with the pricing if all  the entries get sold. supply and demand

[Shebeen]

I'm alway interested by the way Grandstand evolve this project. they've spawned an industry and can be proud of all the followers, the LBS's owe them lots of christmas cards. However the only cent they've ever got from me is steep VaV entries and a bargain(read daylight robbery) deal on tents.

they took out the deer park prologue. i thought that was quite a success,and would like to know why they canned it (TMNP??!!)

I'd personally prefer it if they focussed their energy on leaving behind a legacy of trails run by the communities they visit, rather than just making it a one day only visit on private land for the enriched few. but land access in this country is a sticky subject.

I don't believe a word that they talk about race economics. How they could not run cederberg at a profit boggles my mind(still the event that has garnered the best word of mouth report back ever imho). i'd love to know what their 'maximum' entry fee they'd consider setting was (25k2 was not enough if the first 100 entries sold out in 2 minutes)

you wanna talk singletrack km for km, i think the bc bike race kicks epic's ass, but all the pros still rather come here every March. it's all marketing, and they're brilliant at it.

but despite all of this, they're still miles behind ironman. They charge R4000 for a one day event, no accomodation and no singletrack. yet more people do it than the epic. fkn genius ekse

 

[Bos]

I'm alway interested by the way Grandstand evolve this project. they've spawned an industry and can be proud of all the followers' date=' the LBS's owe them lots of christmas cards. However the only cent they've ever got from me is steep VaV entries and a bargain(read daylight robbery) deal on tents.

they took out the deer park prologue. i thought that was quite a success,and would like to know why they canned it (TMNP??!!)

I'd personally prefer it if they focussed their energy on leaving behind a legacy of trails run by the communities they visit, rather than just making it a one day only visit on private land for the enriched few. but land access in this country is a sticky subject.

I don't believe a word that they talk about race economics. How they could not run cederberg at a profit boggles my mind(still the event that has garnered the best word of mouth report back ever imho). i'd love to know what their 'maximum' entry fee they'd consider setting was (25k2 was not enough if the first 100 entries sold out in 2 minutes)

you wanna talk singletrack km for km, i think the bc bike race kicks epic's ass, but all the pros still rather come here every March. it's all marketing, and they're brilliant at it.

but despite all of this, they're still miles behind ironman. They charge R4000 for a one day event, no accomodation and no singletrack. yet more people do it than the epic. fkn genius ekse

 

[/quote']

 

while I would be excited about places like Eselfontein, I now think of the destruction.. those trails will never be the same after 1500 odd bikers walk/ride those trails..what a shame.. why dont they make new trails.. like you said shebeen

[Montblanc]

Eselfontein trails take a pounding every weekend when you have the enduro bikes & quad bikes moving through there. I dont thing 1500 bikers would make a diff.