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SUBJECT 1: The Cape Epic is pretty much
the end all, be all of cross country racing.
It's the gnarliest, longest, most grueling stage
race in the world for mountain bikes.
It's eight days in the dirt.
It's over 350 miles and over 50,000 of climbing.
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SAM BENEDICT: My name is Sam Benedict
and I do the product marketing for the mountain bikes
at Specialized.
ERIC SCHUDA: My name is Eric Schuda.
I'm a product manager for the performance
group at Specialized.
SAM BENEDICT: My job is to understand, and know,
and be able to communicate-- both in the company
and outside of the company-- about what's
really important to mountain bikers.
And this helps develop product, this helps work
with the engineers, it helps drive our marketing campaigns.
It's one of those kind of ridiculously awesome jobs
that when I tell people what I do,
they're like you get paid for that?
And I'm like, yeah.
You think about what the Cape Epic is all
about-- it's the hardest mountain bike
race in the world.
The hardest cross-country race in the world.
So the participants-- whether you're a high level
athlete or just a normal guy like we
are going to race-- you're going to learn what that person needs
from their bikes and equipment.
ERIC SCHUDA: It's a freaking hard race.
It's eight days.
It's pretty brutal.
But from a product standpoint, we wanted to go check it out.
We wanted to go see what the riders are riding, what it's
like, how the bikes are getting beat up on,
and then from a personal standpoint it was
like hey, maybe we should try to do this race one day.
Next thing you know know, here we are.
We have an entry fee, we have plane tickets
and the race is a month away.
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SAM BENEDICT: It's just a grueling race.
To do five, six, seven hour days eight days in a row?
Means that I really had to train, change the way I ride,
and prepare.
ERIC SCHUDA: Working here definitely-- it
provides an advantage-- in that it's accepted and encouraged
to go ride at lunch.
So I can go for a small training ride at lunch.
Or I can go to the gym.
SAM BENEDICT: My number one training has been ride, ride,
and then ride a little bit more.
I ride-- if I can-- sometimes twice a day.
At lunch and then before or after work.
And then on the weekends-- I've had
to be a lot more disciplined.
Where I need to be in the saddle five or six hours
on Saturday and Sunday back to back.
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SAM BENEDICT: Part of the reason that Schudes and I work so well
is that he can carry what's called
the dead weight-- the Sam weight.
I am not a great mechanic.
I like to talk to people, and I have
a lot of fun riding my bike.
But if we get into any kind of trouble,
Shudes is a brilliant mechanic.
ERIC SCHUDA: His bikes are usually-- I mean they work,
but they're never really set up right to begin with
and they just go from there.
SAM BENEDICT: I can fix a flat tire, OK.
But if we bust a chain he's going
to have to step up to the plate.
It's actually really cool to have a partner
that you guys-- you trust each other.
You know what each other can do.
And what you can't do.
One thing that I think I'll help Schudes with
is, he likes to hit the throttle maybe a little harder than he
should out of the gate.
So I'll be able to hold him back,
as long as he promises to fix whatever I break.
[MUSIC PLAYING] ERIC SCHUDA: I'm looking forward
to just being there and being in it and just experiencing it.
If I went there just a spectator that would drive me insane.
And I would want to be out there suffering.
The funny part about that is that while I'm suffering,
I'll probably say, geez I wish I would have just signed up
to be a spectator.
SAM BENEDICT: The Cape Epic is-- if you're a mountain biker
and cross country rider-- this is just a dream race.
It's the hardest race out there.
You've got something to prove to yourself.
Eight days, 50-something thousand feet of climbing,
and over 350 miles.
That'll prove it.
So for me-- you know I'm not looking to win.
Of course I'll give it everything
I have-- I'm just going to see if I've got what it takes.
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