Absa Cape Epic 2017 early bird entries gone in 9 seconds

Stupid Husband of hers,    . But Wont mind seeing Ryan Sands doing the Epic. He's got some endurance in those legs..

Stupid Husband of hers,    . But Wont mind seeing Ryan Sands doing the Epic. He's got some endurance in those legs..

She comes from your part of the world I think....

Stupid Husband of hers, . But Wont mind seeing Ryan Sands doing the Epic. He's got some endurance in those legs..

Also the pros .. do they pay? Are they 'invited'? what costs are covered?

 

I kinda have had a hunch that they lay it on for them, and random celebs, to add to the hype and allure

Their sponsers and teams pay

As for the celebs,when I was an organiser of the Kalchal we would allocate a handful of freebies to celebs to add a bit of colour and flavour.They would get themselves there tho.

One year we did organise the okes from Kenya to be flown in by Kenyan Airways for free.

She comes from your part of the world I think....

Yip, a farm somewhere in Mpumalanga, cant remember where now. 

What can i say, they grow us sexy here!!   

I wouldn't have thought an ironing board could be considered sexy.... But hey we need all sorts

I think they should introduce a rule that if you dont pay for your entry and you dont make day 4 you should pay the full fee to a charity.

It seems the cabal among the sponsorship managers and celebs is too tight - for an oke to brag about how little training he has done and then drop out after day 2 is pathetic.

For me the fun was seeing the guys who work and race - couple of teams in the top 30 in this category - they gave it everything - that inspires me.

Yes Tubed, agree. People like Colin Charvis. Has he ever finished the Epic?

Rule about the gps tracking...

This plus the contigent of ex Goeie More Suid Afrikaaaaaa guests add to the allure of this spectacle that we call .................. The ABSA Cape Epic, duh dan dan dan daaaahhhh.

 

How many okes can now simply call out at their new 'tjomma", hey "Slugger" or "lekker Jono" next time they see these rugby boys at Kingsmead. Shame how many wives have had to hear the following in the last few days. "You know babes, these exbokke are actually just like me and the ouens, lekker okes, could be one of my chinas, skim I should give Gary a call and tune him to come for a braai during one of the T20s".

 

The only celebs that I would like to see doing the Epic is Riaan Cruywagen and Julius Malema and they must be on the same team.

I also get P#$%d of at has -been rugby players getting entries and free-bee,s from so called charities then make every day,s cutoff by 1 min and then their faces are spluttered on media for the whole week .Who gives a F$%^ .These so called charities are paying them to ride for free and what do they get out of it ??? .At least there are guys like Joel Stransky that i will also sponsor ,for he takes nothing for granted .There is so much more to this event that we don,t see because they focus to much on has-been celebs ,absa employees and front end of the race 

Riaan Manser riding for @Columbia_RSA, when is that dude going to get a REAL job? He was also in the Inside #8DaysOfCourage Chat Show, yawned through it. Will grate my nuts if I see him on Super Cycling.

Ok, the two okes that did their amazing trans-afrika rides - yes I grant you that was amazing - albeit a very personal exploit.

But giving them Epic entries is akin to giving virgin active's best spin instructor a ticket - relevance for a flat-out mtb race??? The sponsorship manager should do some explaining.

On the other hand to see where Sipho finished or some of the other Exxaro riders - now that could do with some more coverage.

Those guys raced.

I have lost all interest in the epic hype. Every second rider is now an amabubesi. I think The Munga is the next big thing, tough as nails. Not in many a riders shoes to finish that beast in 5 days. Would love to see all the amabubesi ABSA VIP guests and all the celebs tackle The Munga and finish it. There's no pampering or hype, it's just pedal pedal pedal to get to the finish pappie!

The Tour de France of mountain biking...

The Tour de France of mountain biking...

Only if you smoke some really strong shot

Riaan Manser riding for @Columbia_RSA, when is that dude going to get a REAL job? He was also in the Inside #8DaysOfCourage Chat Show, yawned through it. Will grate my nuts if I see him on Super Cycling.

I think he has a cool job

I think he has a cool job

Not interested in him and his amabubesi ambitions at the epic, job or no job

Lots of bitterness here. If someone offered you a free entry and a free bike, I am sure all you folk would turn it down because you were undeserving. Me, I would take it and say thanks.

I think the bitterness (as you put it) stems from lack of deserving the entry. Most of these "celebs" can afford the entry. Why not donate to deserving youngsters that are still at the stage of their lives where the entry could lead to great opportunity. The has beens are just that.. They've been. I say support the "still to be's" crumbs Riaan, Joel bla bla bla ain't going to add to the sport....

Gugu zulu does a great job for cycling. So keep him in there. Oh, he's a nice bloke. Had a few random chats with him at NF rolling with the Diepsloot laaities.

Lots of bitterness here. If someone offered you a free entry and a free bike, I am sure all you folk would turn it down because you were undeserving. Me, I would take it and say thanks.

Give the entry and bike to a motivated youngster. I also prefer not being dictated on what I do with my gps tracking device data.

Donate/invest in cycling at school level instead of offering free entries to pamper celebs or wealthy clients.

Don't disagree on the principle, but the reality is that the epic is a business as is ABSA. What they fee they need to do with their marketing budget is for them to decide. If we don't agree, we don't have to buy their products. However, if you decided not to support a large company in SA because they sponsored the wrong people or events, you might have to go and live in a cave.

We would all like to see deserving people sponsored rather than celebs (by the way, saying Joel is famous for one lucky kick is a bit rich), but that is unfortunately not the way business works, rightly or wrongly.

All the bitter warriors, start your own stage race and charge what you want, give profits to who you want, and hand out freebies to who you feel deserve them. 

Pointless complaining about something you have zero control over.

Jinne manne.

Yussis, you okes must be at work or something to make you all so farking GRUMPY this morning.

It's too commercial, it's all hype, it goes round in circles, it's expensive, it's not the TdeF...but most of us have it on our bucket lists, even if we won't admit it.

There are 1,000+ stage races to choose from in SA alone...you pays your money etc.etc. 

Not interested in him and his amabubesi ambitions at the epic, job or no job

Suurtiet for what reason?Did he refuse to give you an autograph or something?

Crikey guys (and gals)

The Epic is only 650km of riding for R50K+

The J2C is 900km of riding for less than R20K.

If you can't afford the Epic, stop being so bitter and enter one of the other, better value for money rides / races that abounds on the calendar.

And by the way, some of these "not worthy to ride celebs" you are bitching about, will ride rings around most of us, that "one kick wonder" in particular. JUST SAYING!!!!