how to train for the Cape Epic

Arno, just focus on building up your time in the saddle. The epic is all about endurance and being comfortable out riding for 6-8 hours at a time.

We slowly built up the miles to about 16 hours a week by December, then for Jan and Feb we did 12-14 hours, but made sure that all of our long rides included as many hills as possible. That seemed to work for us - after the initial shock to the system of day 1, we felt great!

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by MidBunchLurker
Arno, just focus on building up your time in the saddle. The epic is all about endurance and being comfortable out riding for 6-8 hours at a time.

We slowly built up the miles to about 16 hours a week by December, then for Jan and Feb we did 12-14 hours, but made sure that all of our long rides included as many hills as possible. That seemed to work for us - after the initial shock to the system of day 1, we felt great!

Thank you. I am sure I will be ok but I do not think any one really knows how much to train and for how long. I want to do this race so bad and I will kill my self if I do not complete it.

I hope you enjoy all your races and hope to meet you one day.
Regards Arno😄

Quoted post said:

I want to do this race so bad and I will kill my self if I do not complete it.

Easy now!! It's only a race, don't take it TOO seriously 🙂

Having just finished this race, I would suggest 6 to 8 hours a day on a turbo trainer facing a blank wall. This would be only marginally less tedious than riding the majority of the stages of the cape epic:-)

so beautiful riding around capetown im jealous i cant participate.

arno08 said:

I have done a few road races and just started doing mtb races. I know this is the sport for me and my aim is to do the Cape Epic next year. I do not know how to go about it but I do know that I need to do more than to just get on my bike and cycle for a period of time. Please could you give me some advice on where I sould start, time, distance etc. I should look at and do.

Thank you
Arno

Hi Arno, I have finished the '05 Cape Epic and found it much harder than I ever thought it would be. I thought with the stages being so long that the technical riding would be limited but almost everyday and especially the last half had almost 1 to 2 hours of very technical terrain. I would suggest you build your fitness up gradually. If you are a beginner enter the 75km classics in your area and just try to finish them at first. A classic like Karoo to coast is very good training, but try also to find technical terrain/races to ride. I got most of my skills from singletrack riding in a quarry. It may be a good idea to join a local club to see where good technical riding can be found in your area. For training I would recommend one day train followed by one day recovery. Even though you will be riding long every day in the Epic I feel that you should not neglect your recovery in training. I thought with the Epic being such a long race, most of the terrain would be rideable. Wrong! Especially in the second half of the race, almost every day we had to do 30 minutes to 2 hours of walking up steep mountains so dont forget to take you bike for a hike. More than half of the field had knee problems including me and I never had any knee problems in training so therefore go to a gym and do leg extensions to toughen up the muscles around your knees. Also stretch your itb. Any physical limitation that you have will stick out its head very early in the Epic. My knee troubles started on day three and I had to endure alot of pain to just get to the finish so go do your leg extensions. Build up your mileage for three weeks and then have a rest week where you do half the mileage of your first week. Eat enough carbs to fuel your training. Listen to your body, if it tells you go easy, go easy, otherwise do long training rides. Pedal on the uphills and downhills. While building up you mileage try not to go so hard that you can not talk to someone. Start the Epic with new drive train and serice your shock beforehand. Join the Cape Epic email/chat group to get in touch with other people doing the Epic. They will also be discussing training, etc. Good luck and have fun in training. Vernon O' Reilly