Nine months ago Phil and I moved to Crested Butte, Colorado to chase dreams of skiing and mountain bike racing, for me Pro XC racing. Fast forward to April when I competed in the Whiskey 50 and realized that maybe XC racing out here is not for me... I was used to 2 hr races not 5 hrs! I struggled for the next week or so deciding what to do with my season. So, Phil and I signed up for the Moab Scott Enduro Cup the next weekend thinking that this might help to clear my head. As soon as I crossed the finish of the last stage of the Moab enduro all I could think about was how much fun I just had and didn't care if I was first or last this is what I wanted to do.
Since then my focus has changed completely. I sold my XC bike, bought a new full face, some body armor and entries into all of the Big Mountain Enduro Races as well as the Enduro World Series race in Aspen. I needed a change and enduro was calling my name.
Since then my focus has changed completely. I sold my XC bike, bought a new full face, some body armor and entries into all of the Big Mountain Enduro Races as well as the Enduro World Series race in Aspen. I needed a change and enduro was calling my name.
The first two BME's have come and gone, and now it was time to go to the Enduro World Series race in Aspen. We showed up Wednesday afternoon to pick up our packets and find a camping spot to get ready for practice bright and early Thursday morning. Thursday morning we woke up and headed to Snowmass where we would ride up the gondola to the top of stage 1. Stage 1 was fast and loose. Starting on an open ski run, dropping into the woods onto FRESH cut trail, more like skiing than biking, opening up again at top speed and finishing with some turns through the trees. First impression of the track was that it was much different than I had anticipated. Different in a good way.
We continued on our way, pedaling over to Buttermilk resort for stage 2. This stage was full of high speed tree sections, pedal grabbing roots and rock, and blind corners. I was getting more and more excited for race day! These courses were looking awesome and hard! My feelings soon changed as we rode over to Aspen for stage 3. This would turn out to be one of the longest stages of the weekend clocking in at over 17 minutes. Between the high speed gravel road sections and the tight rutted out switch backs I knew the stage would be a challenge.
Day 2 of practice went well. Stage 4 was pretty straight forward with berms and small Cooper sized jumps up top and moving into tight loose corners at the bottom. I was excited for this stage! It was the longest stage of the weekend at over 5 miles! Stage 5 was short and sweet, fast flowy corners in and out of the woods onto the open ski run to a speed dumping right hander into the finish. Stage 6 was where things got gnarly. I had heard about this stage from several people and knew that I would be picking my way down the stage. I was feeling okay about my line choices up until the "waterfall" part of the track where there was a mandatory drop. The drop itself wasn't so bad, it was the run in and the out run where things got sketchy. Have I mentioned how LOOSE everything was? After rolling into the gosh darn thing 6 times I finally hit it. It wasn't pretty but it didn't have to be.
Thankful that practice was finally over Phil and I headed to dinner and then to the racer meeting before hitting the hay (after ice cream of course).
We continued on our way, pedaling over to Buttermilk resort for stage 2. This stage was full of high speed tree sections, pedal grabbing roots and rock, and blind corners. I was getting more and more excited for race day! These courses were looking awesome and hard! My feelings soon changed as we rode over to Aspen for stage 3. This would turn out to be one of the longest stages of the weekend clocking in at over 17 minutes. Between the high speed gravel road sections and the tight rutted out switch backs I knew the stage would be a challenge.
Day 2 of practice went well. Stage 4 was pretty straight forward with berms and small Cooper sized jumps up top and moving into tight loose corners at the bottom. I was excited for this stage! It was the longest stage of the weekend at over 5 miles! Stage 5 was short and sweet, fast flowy corners in and out of the woods onto the open ski run to a speed dumping right hander into the finish. Stage 6 was where things got gnarly. I had heard about this stage from several people and knew that I would be picking my way down the stage. I was feeling okay about my line choices up until the "waterfall" part of the track where there was a mandatory drop. The drop itself wasn't so bad, it was the run in and the out run where things got sketchy. Have I mentioned how LOOSE everything was? After rolling into the gosh darn thing 6 times I finally hit it. It wasn't pretty but it didn't have to be.
Thankful that practice was finally over Phil and I headed to dinner and then to the racer meeting before hitting the hay (after ice cream of course).
Race Day 1: I didn't used to get nervous for Enduro races but I guess times have changed and I woke up wishing stage 1 was over already. I stood on the start line replaying the stage over and over in my head. I knew where I had messed up in practice and was determined to make it through clean this time. It was go time! Before I knew it I was at the bottom! I had a clean run and was excited to get rid of my nervousness. We transferred over to stage 2 with time to spare. Stage 2 went well minus one crash in a tight left hander that I was able to recover quickly from and pedal my way to a 10th place stage finish! I wish I could say I rode the stage 3 clean without any issues but that was not the case. After several blown gravel road corners, and a couple wipeouts in the LOOSE corners I was thankful to make it to the bottom in one piece. Then it was time for the hard part, making it back to Snowmass in the allotted time. Anne and I pedaled our BUTTS off and made it back with only minutes to spare! I ended the day in 14th position not bad considering my sloppy stage 3.
Race Day 2: Riding over to the start all I could think about was how sore my arms were from the previous day but thankfully my legs felt pretty good. This was a really good thing considering stage 4 was going to be a burner! On the chair up to stage 4 it rained briefly which was actually a blessing for the loose berms up top. I knew I had to make up some time after my horrendous stage 3 and things were looking good up top. Was able to make a clean pass, and kept it rolling down to the tight part of the stage where I was able to make a second clean pass. Unfortunately shortly after my arms started to feel VERY fatigued and wasn't able to hold in a destroyed right hander and went down. I got up quickly and continued on to finish the stage. Later I found out that I had been able to make up some time and finished 6th on Stage 4! Stage 5 came and went, nothing too exciting to report. Rode fairly safe, after the bottom of stage 4 I just wanted to finish strong! Still managed a top 10 finish on Stage 5 and was sitting in 9th place overall! I couldn't believe it!
Race Day 2: Riding over to the start all I could think about was how sore my arms were from the previous day but thankfully my legs felt pretty good. This was a really good thing considering stage 4 was going to be a burner! On the chair up to stage 4 it rained briefly which was actually a blessing for the loose berms up top. I knew I had to make up some time after my horrendous stage 3 and things were looking good up top. Was able to make a clean pass, and kept it rolling down to the tight part of the stage where I was able to make a second clean pass. Unfortunately shortly after my arms started to feel VERY fatigued and wasn't able to hold in a destroyed right hander and went down. I got up quickly and continued on to finish the stage. Later I found out that I had been able to make up some time and finished 6th on Stage 4! Stage 5 came and went, nothing too exciting to report. Rode fairly safe, after the bottom of stage 4 I just wanted to finish strong! Still managed a top 10 finish on Stage 5 and was sitting in 9th place overall! I couldn't believe it!
We drug ourselves up to the top for stage 6. As we rode to the top of stage 6 (about a 30 min transfer) we started to hear the rumbles of thunder and felt some rain drops. But by the time we reached the top things had started to clear up. We were lining up for the start when we got word that there was a course hold due to a spectator walking into the path of a racer. We sat and waited for the course to re open. Meanwhile my nerves were getting the best ofme and all I could think about was the difficult course ahead. Thirty-five minutes later the course re opened only long enough to let the first half of the women's field down. My run was far from clean with a crash in the waterfall section. But I was just thankful to be okay. The course was put on hold again for a racer that had gone down HARD in the same section I went down. As time went by we started hearing rumors of canceling stage 6 and basing results off of stage 5 overall. The seriousness of the riders injury was enough to shake the rest of the field and question why there was not a ride around to this feature. Shortly after the rest of the women's field appeared at the bottom and word was out that stage 6 had indeed been cancelled for the Women's field. I was just hoping that the woman who crashed was going to be okay.
Who knows what what would have come of the results if they would have kept stage 6. Only half of the field was down and the fastest were yet to come. I ended up keeping my 9th place position and the fastest USA woman rider! After a difficult weekend I was beyond excited with that result! Now time to get ready for the 4th BME stop in Steamboat!
Who knows what what would have come of the results if they would have kept stage 6. Only half of the field was down and the fastest were yet to come. I ended up keeping my 9th place position and the fastest USA woman rider! After a difficult weekend I was beyond excited with that result! Now time to get ready for the 4th BME stop in Steamboat!