Enduro racing update: CA race #2-Los Olivos & OR race #1-Hood River

[Ryan Gibson]

Now that results are finally up for the first Oregon Enduro Series race in Hood River, OR, I figured I should write an update on that race and the second (of four) California Enduro Series race in Los Olivos, CA.

 

This year has been great so far, although much less races due to family committments (a one and four year old). Plus, the races I am doing are taking me further away for full weekends, rather than the local XC racing that I focused on last year. The enduro scene is very popular, more fun (in my opinion), a little more "party" oriented, and requires a little less training to be a competitive Cat 1/Expert (~8hrs/wk instead of ~12hrs/week). This suits my life well right now and I have been having a blast.

 

Los Olivos (near Santa Barbara):

This second race in the CA Enduro Series was just outside of Santa Barbara at the Dirt Club, an amazing mountain bike park with XC and DH loops. This was the VP/Kali Endurofest and brought out close to 200 racers. The race comprised four stages, each run twice and spread across the day (with a lunch break in the middle). While primarily on the DH trails that had some technical features, it was mostly fun, fast and flowy. Especially liked the drops/step downs, bridge, tunnel, and jumps. Soil conditions were dry and sandy, and the weather was very warm. I drove down with teammate and friend Aaron Bartling (racing Cat 2) and neo-pro Marco Osbourne (also from Novato and newly signed with WTB Cannondale) and we got a few hours of pre-riding in Friday. I should have put my pads on for practice, but planned to just go slow and session lines...unfortunately, I burped the front tire on a hard banked turn and got slammed. Pretty rashed up and a big muscle contusion in my right quad definitely slowed me down on race day-lesson learned! While a little banged up, I felt pretty good on the first two stages (x2) before lunch, and found myself in 9th place. The afternoon stages were less technical and more pedally, which I hoped would be an advantage for me and my fitness (compared to the enduro crowd my fitness was probably above average). Too bad, because I washed the front twice on my second run of stage three and lost around a minute...which was the difference between the top 5 and 17th where I ended up. I had a great time and it was really cool seeing Marco win his first Pro class enduro! Despite the poor result, I am tied for 4th in the series now, and am looking forward to the last two races (China Peak 6/29 and Soquel Demo Forest 10/12-13).

 

Hood River, OR:

This was the first race in the Oregon Enduro Series and also the North American Enduro Championship Series. I drove up with teammate Aaron Bartling and Marin Bikes young gun Matt Erbentraut (also from Novato). A long drive at around 11hours and being a two day event meant this race was a big commitment. We stayed with a friend that lives in HR, which was really nice considering the rain (the only dry day of the week was Saturday, which was overcast). With all the rain the trails were extremely muddy and slick. Pre-ride Friday ended up MUCH longer than planned, as the day two stages were not marked as stated and we got a little lost...making for a 32mile/5500' ride, which was not a good strategy to have fresh legs for racing long physical stages. Despite shuttles, the stages were strenous and required total focus (and a bit of luck) to stay upright with all the snot. While much more natural terrain than the fully handbuilt and feature/stunt filled Dirt Club in Los Olivos, there were a few drops and jumps, a really fun flow trail, and a super gnarly rock staircase that claimed many over the weekend. Determined not to throw a decent result away pushing for a great result (and get hurt again), I kept it conservative and had clean runs all weekend. Saturday night was a blast at the "Prom Party" hosted by local rad bike shop Dirty Fingers (who have taps of tasty beer at the bar/service department-yes, seriously). While the trails were amazing, the people great, and the expo area really cool (free awesome NinKasi IPA, Stumptown coffee, neutral Shimano support, etc), the timing and shuttling were disappointing. Many of the shuttles were passenger vans pulling open trailers with no means of safely transporting expensive and somewhat delicate bikes (many carbon). While the timing system had great potential and it was cool to see live times on flat screens at the end of each stage, it was not reliable. It took the organizer until 9pm that night to determine the podiums (scheduled for 5pm), and three weeks to figure out and publish the rest of the ~350 racers times. My class had 100 start, 75 start day 2, and 60 finish...I got 29th.

 

Looking ahead to a busy racing schedule coming up, including Oregon Enduro race in Ashland 6/22 and a California Enduro race at China Peak 6/29. Also planning to race the rest of the California and Oregon Enduro Series races, and the Howell Mtn Challenge, Downieville XC and Annadell XC.