I was staying in Cape Town a few years ago when the Epic was on and got speaking to a couple of guys about it and they were telling me how great it was.

Since then it’s been one of those events that I’ve often thought that I’d like to ride at some point. Obviously it’s bloody expensive and it would take a huge amount of training and preparation for it but I still keep thinking that I’d like to give it a go one year.

Has anyone here rode it before?
How was it?

Funds and time off dependent, I would Love to do it at some point.

Bucket list event!

Doing Joburg2C next year. Similar event but I get the feeling is more accessible.

Bucket list event!

That’s my thinking about it as well!

Doing Joburg2C next year

That’s going to be plan B I think, much more achievable and much cheaper as well!

I’ve done Joburg2C and know lot’s of people who have done both. J2C is more fun, the food is unbelievable and the route is amazing. Cape Epic is designed to be hard, I know guys who ride daily in SA who say it’s just brutal and not much fun.

Unless you plan on being up front, I’d give the Epic a miss, or look at http://wines2whales.co.za/ or this http://www.bergandbush.co.za/ but it fulls up quickly and there’s a few thousand riders.

Joburg2C this year. Cape Epic, just pretty hard, full on XC lacks the fun bit for me. Besides its not solo.

Spent Xmas new year in Cape Town with these guys http://www.irideafrica.com/

outstanding riding and accommodation food. Maybe going back this year

I know a couple of people who’ve done the cape epic, they’ve never sold it to me, 🙂 very hard race and as mentioned not fun. My friends made it sound like a war of attrition, lots of rocks sand and just unrideable bits. There was an article about it last year when they proudly announced that in the 2015 cape epic fractures were down on previous years but corneal abrasions were up. Wine2whales and joburg2c are both supposed to be great, you can sometimes pick entries on the rsa mountain bike forum bike hub.za. South Africa is a great mountain biking venue, done sani2c three times and some trail centre stuff well worth a visit and cheap when you’re there

This is the one to do:
http://capepioneer.co.za/
Hasn’t got the hype of the Epic but therein lies the beauty for some.
Well organised, stunning route . It is a tough one though .
I’m a Saffa btw.

A couple of my mates are over there at the moment, it is their second time, obviously they enjoyed it, it is not a technical route although this year is supposed to be more technical.

Nice link http://capepioneer.co.za/

Id recommend http://singletrack6.com/ if your looking for great riding on single track

I’ve also heard similar stories about the attrition rate at Cape Epic and it’s very expensive, on recommendation I’m looking to do Joberg2C next year as it supposed to be more fun. This helped sell it to me:

Slightly o/t

Pawsy_Bear – Member
Id recommend http://singletrack6.com/ if your looking for great riding on single track

POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST
Any tips, doing it this year

For info:

Cape Epic 2016, Bike Channel 464 8.30pm all next week starting tomorrow.

Tips for Transrockies.

Arrive at to give yourself at least one whole day after flight, set up bike recover from flight.

Good single track skills. Practice singletrack climbs, there is a lot of singletrack climb. It makes it quite hard. Practice single track, say Afan, CyB all day. Climb 1500m – 2000m back to back on training days.

Find a pace along singletrack you can maintain when its unseen, may mean slightly slower. Think red routes and some black in places. We had loam, rocks, sand you name it. Flow with the trail. Crashing will ruin your day. The North shore stuff was low level and great fun but requires attention as its sometimes exposed!

Tyres, its very rocky in parts, again don’t want to loose time faffing some Rocket Ron. Choose something sensible.

Unless your super human, arm yourself with a FS. There were a few HTs last year but very few. And I mean very few.

Was very hot in places in the valleys about 37 degrees. Can be a lot cooler on the mountain ski resort days at say 2000m. Some come prepared. Sun cream ofc and good hydration. I used camlbak.

Admin
hand wash for gear and dry in room, sun cream, post ride bottles for hydration, I make my own energy bars, plugs/chargers, own medical stuff

But above all else enjoy! Its the one mutli day event I would do again. Beats the pants of the rest.

dickie – Member
For info:
Cape Epic 2016, Bike Channel 464 8.30pm all next week starting tomorrow.

Excellent, I’ll have to watch that.

Cheers Pawsy_bear the climbing is going to be the issue, may have to kick the diet back into gear 😥

The single track makes it double hard on the up. Ive done a few multi days and I thought given the distance it would be a walk in the park. Wrong. Climbing was hard, no double track. Hardly.

Oh one general tip is get your bike race setup say three weeks before. Go ride. If it dosent break/fail in those couple weeks before the race its very unlikely to fail on the event. Don’t start these with some new kit you just put on. Go with try and trusted.

Good luck out there, I may be back next year 🙂 Afte rthe race last year I went up to Ferny etc for extra couple weeks.

Canada has the best singletrack, quantity and quality

You’ve got me bricking it now 🙂

Cape Epic is awesome! Myself and a friend have done it twice and it is by far the best event I have ever entered. Yes, the days are long and there isn’t that much single track but what there is is good. The scenery, the routes are all stunning, albeit sometimes painful. Riding in pairs makes it manageable, rarely are you both suffering at the same time so you try and keep each other going.

What hasn’t been mentioned is that the organisation is second to none. You are treated like a professional athlete from the moment you sign on and the management of the race, support and facilities are quite incredible. The cost now is steep, it used to be a lot more affordable but as MTB stage races go, it doesn’t get much better.

When I did the cape epic it was 960k and reckon could have been done on a CX bike. I really enjoyed it though and scenery was fantastic. I also did the transrockies (predecessor to single track 6) and it was about 450k so thought it would be a peice of cake – wrong !! Very hard race. Probably enjoyed transrockies more and reckon was cheaper than the epic. I think also you can do single track 6 solo which is a big plus .

plus 1 what Texwade says!

A bit of an insight into the Cape Epic from a managers perspective

A couple of my mates are over there at the moment, it is their second time, obviously they enjoyed it, it is not a technical route although this year is supposed to be more technical.

Well it’s done for another year, it was a lot more technical this year by all accounts, if my friends do it again they will be taking full suspension bikes.

Some awesome multi day events down Oz and nz way. Great idea as it pushes you and shows you some stunning stuff.
The Alice springs one is on my list as it the trans nz and West Oz cape to Cape.