Not trying to pick a bone anywhere, but this argument comes up a lot of places. Inevitably one person will point to Websters, or the OED, while another will point to their own personal experiences, or a quote by someone who is recognized as an expert within the field.

In the most technical sense, epic evokes strong images of heroism and long poems (think Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.)

The argument that has arisen here is something like 'Ulysses was soft, I get caught by 15 cyclopses and 18 witches that turn people into pigs, and that's just on my ride to work.'
The presumption all of this falls under is that the person using the language is aware of the connotations and denotations of the words they use. It should be noted, for the sake of discourse, that varying levels of comprehension exist and must be accounted for if this discourse is to continue.

Someone will always think that someone elses perception of 'epic' or 'hard' or 'X'. The role that must be taken by anyone who says 'that person has no idea what X really is' is that of an educator or tutor. Assuming the role of parole officer or admissions committee really only serves to exclude, and c'mon, more people need to know how to appreciate bikes, right?