Epic, Defined......

adjective Also, ep⋅i⋅cal.
1.
noting or pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style: Homer's Iliad is an epic poem.
2.
resembling or suggesting such poetry: an epic novel on the founding of the country.
3.
heroic; majestic; impressively great: the epic events of the war.
4.
of unusually great size or extent: a crime wave of epic proportions.
–noun
5.
an epic poem.
6.
epic poetry.
7.
any composition resembling an epic.
8.
something worthy to form the subject of an epic: The defense of the Alamo is an American epic.
9.
(initial capital letter) Also called Old Ionic. the Greek dialect represented in the Iliad and the Odyssey, apparently Aeolic modified by Ionic.
Mountain bikers tend to use the word "epic" a lot. It gets overused and is a trendy word we like to use to describe rides that maybe weren't really all that uhh...."epic." The definition above doesn't really cover what we off-road cycling folks mean by the word. One above definition, which I highlighted in red, does discuss "great size," but I don't think a ride must be long to be "epic."

I think "epic," in mountain biking terms, must have one element. The element of adventure. It's a state of mind. On our way back from central Utah on Monday, Mary and I stopped off of I-70 for a dirt road ride in the San Raphael Swell. A sign noted "Head of Sinbad" 5 miles. I asked Mary if she was up for a 10 mile total dirt road ride. "Heck Yea" she said!

We headed out with Gustifson at a leisurely pace, on smooth red dirt roads, heading for the "Head of Sinbad." But a few miles in, a very smooth (good for Mary's healing hands), ATV trail left the road to the left. We ditched Sinbad, and headed into the wild desert. The trail was perfect, kind of flowy, very smooth, no rock gardens.

Because I had promised her a 10 mile only ride, I stopped us at 5 miles out. But....Miss Mary said, "What if we kept going to see if this road connects with that trail we saw a few miles back, the one that veered off to the left?" And I said, "I'm sure it will connect, it has to!" And thus an "epic" ride began.

As the trail disappeared, the sand got thick, and the sun sank low, I could see Mary was suffering. After a year off the bike, pounding the middle ring through soft soil is not easy. But I could see that despite the cold, the impending darkness, and the sucky "trail" conditions, she was having fun.

In a last ditch effort to keep her hands from freezing I gave Mary my gloves and wrapped arm warmers around mine. The sun gave the tips of the surrounding mesa's one last red kiss and with that it seemed to drop 10 more degrees. Finally we started finding ATV tracks in the wash again. The wash dumped us out at a recognizable spot and we were finally heading back toward the truck. I looked at Gus's black fur in envy as he trotted along impervious to the dropping temp. The sky had very distinct lines of color as the light faded. Visions of flipping the trucks heater switch drove us on. Fourteen miles! Two hours! Yea, it was EPIC!