Some Announcements

First, Big Mountain Enduro has released their 2015 schedule. It includes Aspen/Snowmass,
Keystone, EWS Crested Butte, and a NEW stop for the series final! Where could it be...? But most exciting about this announcement? EQUAL PRIZE PAYOUT FOR MEN AND WOMEN! This. Is. Awesome. I definitely understand the payout difference: men make up way more of the field and thus pay in more than women do. BUT I think this is an excellent way to get more women into the series, even if they aren't racing pro. To me, equal payout says, "it may be 85% men, but these women rock and deserve equal prize money." It will bring more attention to all the women in the sport, and hopefully not just attract women from other series, but also bring newcomers to the sport. Just another reason BME is my fave. (:
Check out the press release here or visit the BME website and sign up for email announcements.

Second, back in September I got to do some Q&A with Josie Smith, author of Life on Two Wheels. I was in Crested Butte for the Ultra Enduro at the time, hence the reason some of the answers say that "I am in Crested Butte" or that "I was just in Crested Butte" haha. If you care to read the full write up, here it is: Women on Bikes Series: Alex P. For stories, advice, and more badass women, follow her blog!

Third, THE SEMESTER IS ALMOST OVER. I have one more O-Chem test and a paper due in Russian Politics before Thanksgiving Break then the first week of December is reading week, followed by finals! Hallelujah!

Last, I went to the doctor earlier this week... My elbow is slowly healing and I have a custom Donjoy brace on the way. I will be back on my bike soon, though I'll have to be careful for awhile. In the mean time, I've been dying on the trainer and getting back to off-season conditioning.

Brief Update

Wow. I have not posted anything since Moab--two months ago. Since then, life has been rolling along merrily, mostly. I will try my best to fill in the gaps and keep it concise.

The Monday following BME Moab I started my junior year of college at Northern Arizona University. Crazy how time flies. On the schedule this fall semester I have Anatomy Lab II, Physiology II, Organic Chemistry II, Cellular & Molecular Biology, and Russian Politics. All interesting, all difficult. At this point in the semester I am happy to report mostly A's and a B in Cell & Molec. Thankfully the semester is almost over; only 5 short weeks left and then a month to enjoy riding and hopefully skiing. Then it's back to it with Infectious Diseases, Human Sexuality, Environmental Sustainability, Physics, and Biochemistry. It's probably gonna rock my socks, but I'm excited. Let's be real though, you probably don't care.

Since school is so hard, I decided that it would be a great and brilliant idea to miss the WHOLE second week to go to Crested Butte for the BME Ultra Enduro. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I didn't get too far behind in school because I had plenty of time in Crested Butte to work on school stuff. How did I have all this time? Wasn't I supposed to be riding 9 stages, 100 miles, and climbing 23,000 feet over the course of 5 days? The answer is yes, but I didn't, because a nasty crash on the second day of the race ended up taking me out of the race for the rest of the week.

Photo: Daniel Dunn

Yeah, really really pretty. But that's how it goes. Sometimes you crash--I'm very thankful I got away with a broken nose and some bruises, and not a broken face, neck, or back. Helmets: They are the best. Following Crested Butte I took a couple of weeks off to heal and to catch up with missed school work before hopping back on my bike.

At the end of September I raced the Bearjaw Groove 12-Hour race here in Flagstaff just for fun. I did it last year as a duo with my friend Erin, but this year we both did it solo. The course was about 14.5 miles a lap with a little over 900 feet of climbing. I borrowed a friend's Intense Hard Eddie and shredded for 108 not-so-exciting miles. Regardless, it was a great time.

That brings us to October, a month that quite frankly sucked. My grandmother passed away, I had to get my left arm stitched back together for the second time, and I dislocated my right elbow completely. But as a said before, life goes on. And lucky for me, life goes on and goes well. My fantastic grandpa has moved in to my parents house and I didn't have to have surgery on my arm. I've been off the bike for two weeks and on the trainer but I'll be back on a real bike soon. For now, I have plenty of time to focus on school and the end of the semester and get things going for next season.

I leave you with this video my friend Lexie and I made out at Kelly Canyon before I dislocated my elbow. Enjoy!

A Quick Kelly Canyon Shred

BME Season Finals: Moab, UT

Photo by Devon Balet

The Big Mountain Enduro season finals were held this last weekend, August 24, in Moab, Utah. The race was only one day and only two stages on the Whole Enchilada. Now, I bet you're thinking, "Moab? In August? WHY?" I know, I thought that too. However, the weather ended up being pretty much exactly the opposite of what I (and everyone else) was expecting. I was expecting to be drenched in sweat, dying of heat, and worrying about getting sunburnt. Wrongo. It rained in Moab pretty much everyday leading up to the race, which was scheduled for Saturday, the 23rd, and all day race day which lead the BME organizers to push the race back to Sunday.

A view of the La Sals from UPS on Friday afternoon

Scott and I arrived in Moab late Thursday night, errr... early Friday morning and pre-rode that afternoon. Since we rode in the Whole Enchilada twice a couple of weeks ago we only rode from Hazard County down. We could obviously see that it was raining up on Burro and with high elevation comes the cold, plus all the creek crossings and the super slick roots and rocks... I was glad we skipped it. The storm kept coming our way, following us down the slick rocks trails, but luckily it evaded us by about 20 ft. Literally.

Rain<----------------------------->Us. Nice.

Friday night at the riders meeting it was announced that the pros would be leaving at 7:45am instead of 5:45am so the trail could dry out a bit more. Well, I woke up at 5:00am to the sounds of rain and thunder and had a hunch that the weather would not be in our favor that day. Oh well, we went over to the shuttle area at 7:45 and waited in the rain for organizers to call the race. They had been in contact with the Forest Service and knew that getting up to Burro was not possible and that Kokopelli was not rideable, so that left them with two options: run the race only from UPS down, or postpone it until Sunday. Thankfully they were able to extend the permits from the Forest Service for another day and the race was rescheduled for the following day. We spent Saturday meandering through Arches National Park and played about 78,932 games of Gin and Hungarian Rummy.

Sunday morning when we woke up the skies were blue and the temperature was perfect, so we loaded shuttles and up we went. Because of all of the rain we still couldn't run the race as planned. Originally the race was supposed to be one stage down Burro Pass, followed by a transfer to the top of Hazard, and a second stage from Hazard all the way down to the bottom of Porcupine Rim. I don't know if you realize how hard that second stage is. It's 15.6 miles. Yes, it is downhillI (it seems ridiculously flat) but it is rough, technical terrain and there are a good number of little climbs on Porcupine Rim that make you feel like you are being strangled. Last year it took me an hour and fifteen minutes to finish that stage. ANYWAY, this year we could only run two short stages: one from the top of Burro, and one from the top of Hazard to the top of Kokopelli. The race was won and lost in a matter of 19 minutes.

For those of you reading this (and I know it's not many) who have not ridden Burro Pass, it is silly steep with some silly tight switchbacks, lots of roots and overgrowth that makes following the narrow single track more like a guessing game. Not to mention the multiple creek crossings that make everything more slick and cause your brakes to not work quite as well as you would wish. It's awesome. Really. On race day the slippery mud had pretty much turned into tacky, moist, perfection (not everywhere) but the roots and rocks were still terrifyingly slick. At the top my sole goal was to make it through all the switchbacks without having to take a foot out or stop--mission accomplished. In the middle my goal was to traverse and navigate over and through the wet roots and rocks without slipping or crashing--mission accomplished. At the bottom my goal was to keep my head up and eyes ahead so I wouldn't get lost in the knee high grass or accidentally miss the hard left turn to avoid the creek gap--mission accomplished. Though I felt as if I couldn't have gone any slower the whole time I was racing stage 1, I still ended up getting second (only to the Moab Queen, Beth), so I was pretty happy with that.

Somewhere in the beautiful La Sal Mountains. Photo by Daniel Dunn

Stage two was Hazard County top to bottom. I love, love, love this section of trail. It's fast, it chunky, it's wide-open and then closes in on you, the corners come faster than you could ever expect (even when you've ridden it 100 times), there are awkward rock gardens, and WATCH OUT FOR THAT COW! The dirt is like concrete, except where it's not, so pay attention. The bottom half of the trail is this kind of awkward up and down traverse through the oaks, and there is one particularly devious, up-and-down-to-the-left-back-up-to-the-right turn where either the oak root to your left wants to grab you or the rock to the right wants to bring you to a halt. Well, I knew it was coming and evaded both rock and root, but tried to go a little to sharply and quickly into the next turn and ended up laying over and tweaking my handle bars 45 degrees to the right. Dang it. But I was so close to the finish line I decided to say, "Screw it, I'm riding like this!" That lasted about 10 seconds. I had to jump back off and wrench my bars into submission. I still ended up 3rd on that stage, behind Heather and Beth, off by just a little over 30 seconds. After the crash and the fix I wasn't disappointed--I rode well until that point and after, so that's that.

We had a nice little (27 miles) transfer down Sand Flats Road back to town after the race, after which I immediately laid down on the lawn until the burgers were ready at the expo area. Photo by Daniel Dunn

I ended up third for the weekend, behind Beth (2nd) and Heather (1st). I'm pretty pleased with that. I also ended up 6th in the overall standings, only 10 points off of 5th place, even after missing the Keystone race. Again, pretty pleased with that. Thank you to the staff and volunteers of Big Mountain Enduro for making this race happen, despite the weather difficulties, thank you for putting on all of the other races, and thank you in advance for the Crested Butte Ultra Enduro! Thank you as always, Flag Bike Rev, for all of the love and support. Crested Butte is next week, September 3-7.

Pro Women Podium: 5th-Ileana Anderson, 4th-Sarah Rawley, 3rd-Alex Pavon, 2nd-Beth Roberts, 1st-Heather Irmiger. Photo by Devon Balet

My favorite mechanic. Oh, and boyfriend, who ended up taking 10th for pro men! Photo by Daniel Dunn

I was trying to make it look like I was popping a wheelie and making the "BRAAAPPP" noise. No, really. Photo by Daniel Dunn

Enduro World Series #5 & Colorado Freeride Fest, Crested Butte, Moab

View from the somewhere at Trestle
Photo: Daniel Dunn

Sorry this post is SOOOOO late. After Winter Park I was off to Crested Butte and Moab for another week of adventuring with my bicycle! I am finally home, with internet and a broken bike, so I have no reason to not write.

ANYWAY...
BOOM. First EWS race DUNZO.

Pro Bike Checks!
Photo: Daniel Dunn

The Enduro World Series came to Winter Park, Colorado for the fifth stop of the seven stop international tour July 25-27. The tour stop was in conjunction with the Colorado Freeride Festival. The original roster listed 40 open women, including Tracy Moseley, Anne Caro Chausson, Anneke Beerten, Rosara Joseph, Cecile Ravanel, Anka Martin, Tracey Hannah, Kelli Emmett, Heather Irmiger, etc.; the final results at the end of the weekend only had 27 finishers on it. Fortunately, I was on both of those lists.

For starters, Trestle Bike Park is totally wicked. It is a great combination of manicured jump trails and perfect berms and features, along with totally raw single track laced with roots and rock gardens. Wanna pedal? There's plenty of that too. The race was 7 stages over three days. Two stages the first day, three stages the second, and two stages on the final day. Even though the stages are usually between 5 and 15 minutes, three days of racing had me feeling pretty beat by the end. The format of the race could have lent itself to that a little more than usual though. At most races, the courses are announced several days in advance so that riders have the chance to pre-ride, if they so choose. Not the case for the EWS. Courses were announced at noon the day prior to racing them--so Friday's stages were announced Thursday, Saturday's on Friday... Of course you can still show up early and make well-educated guesses about what trails to ride but pre-riding stages after a morning of racing was definitely tiring.

Stage three, dropping into the rock garden on Mountain Goat
Photo: Daniel Dunn

The experience of my first EWS was something that cannot be described by any word other than inspiring. I was surrounded by some of the fastest men and women on two wheels, I got to watch them ride and chit chat with them like they were friends I have had for awhile. That seems to be the nature of every badass biker I meet: laid-back, friendly, helpful, easy to talk with. That makes the oh-so-intimidating race line-up a little easier to swallow.

In the days leading up to the race I was not feeling particularly spectacular. The Friday previous I had crashed and it cost me a trip to the plastic surgeon and 10 stitches in my left elbow. Due to the severity of the cut on my arm, my doctor prescribed me a hefty dose of Cephalexin (2250mg a day for a week), an anti MRSA medication that made me feel drained and unattached to my body. (I am glad I had it though, as I came to find out that a girl I was racing with ended up getting a MRSA infection from just a small cut on her leg! Sorry Syd!) The whiplash I sustained from my crash was also not the most awesome thing. I could barely move until I got into to see my massage therapist; after seeing her my muscles were looser but I was incredibly sore for a couple of days. But life must go on...

And it did. Friday was 2 stages; the trails included Search and Seizure, Rain Maker, Boot Camp, Trestle DH, Jury Duty, Bear Arms, and Boulevard. AKA jumps, berms, bridges, gnar. It ended up being a decent day, but a high speed OTB at the end of stage 2 cost me a good chunk of time. Saturday was 3 stages and started with mandatory transfers to the top of stages 4&5 for practice followed by the transfer to the top of stage 3 for the start of the race. Stage 3 was Mountain Goat trail, famous for its rock garden and "rotor rock." We had pre-ridden Mountain Goat a few times by that point and had sessioned the rock garden several times. Unfortunately, I managed to hit rotor rock during my race run, mangling my rotor to the point of no return. Goat trail is really physical, and my rotor was so warped I had to pedal the whole time to keep it from stopping my rear wheel from rotating. I also lost my back brake when I bashed my rotor, so I was being extra careful about speed and using my front brake. I attempted to bend my rotor back by hand, but there was no hope. Thankfully at the top of stage 4 Tracy Moseley had a tool and I was able to bend my rotor into submission... at least to the point where it would rotate through my brake pads and not stop immediately. Stages 4&5 were two stages that racers only got to pre-ride once the morning of. They were totally rugged, meandering through slash piles and a burn area. I really really liked both of them, maybe because they reminded me a lot of Flagstaff.

Somewhere on stage 1...

The scenery of stages 4&5

The last day was 2 stages, the first was a total XC stage--10 minutes of non-stop pedaling and sprinting across flat ground... Minus the one really fast, super chundery double track. I'll be honest, stage 6 was awful. Probably not for the reason you are guessing. About 500 yards after we dropped onto the double track from a fire road, Brittany Clawson, a friend of mine from Durango had crashed. HARD. I stopped immediately when I saw her and got off my bike to find that she was unconscious and bleeding. I started yelling as loud as I could that there was a racer down and that we needed a medic and I unstrapped her helmet and took her goggles off. Thank goodness Mal had stopped just below us and came running up to help. Mal stayed with Brittany and I took off to try and find someone with a radio. There were no course marshals--the only person I saw until I got to the bottom was a photographer who I told to call someone. It wasn't until I got to the finish line that a race official started running up to help. Brittany ended up with three skull fractures, a TBI, 2 pelvic fractures, and a broken sacrum. Hero of the year award goes to Miss Mal Burda for remaining calm and in control in an awful situation and staying with Brittany while they waited for medics and race officials. Send Brittany all your healing vibes; according to her Facebook she has finally been transferred from the hospital in Denver and is ready to "make PT her b*tch!"You go girlfriend.

My lungs, legs, and heart working as hard as they could on stage 6
Photo: Daniel Dunn

 After a long delay we finally raced stage 7, which was the gnarliest stage of the weekend--all of Trestle DH, Bear Arms and Space Ape. My nerves were totally wacked out and my heart was beating at its max heart rate in the start. As nervous and morbid as all us girls were feeling after Brittany's crash, it was the last thing we could do to fling ourselves down the mountain like she would. I made it down without crashing, but it was by no means fast. Oh well.

Trestle DH

Trestle DH, right after Anne ran Mal's cell phone over in the rock garden.

Ultimately the weekend did not go as I wanted it to. A crash and Brittany's unfortunate mishap took its toll, but in the end I could not be happier that I finished my first EWS race and finished it safely. I finished 23rd out of 27. I got to meet, ride, and make friends with some wicked fast and wicked awesome people. The weekend reinforced the fact that I need to continue working on jumps and braking technique, and I though I can make my way through gnarly technical sections, I need to work on my finesse (hmmmm...) and going faster through them. I suppose that will come with time and experience--something I am lacking at this point in time. This month marks the two year anniversary of when I started riding bikes, so I suppose I shouldn't be as frustrated as I am when I get destroyed by women who have been riding significantly longer than I have. As a matter of fact, I was one of the youngest in the pro women's field. There was another girl who was also 20, and a girl who was 19. Yay, 1994!

Final Results, EWS #5

It's off to Moab for the next and last BME (8/23) before the Ultra Enduro in Crested Butte in September (9/3-9/7). After Winter Park I headed to Crested Butte with my family to try and do some pre-riding for the Ultra Enduro. We arrived Monday to some serious rain, and it continued to rain through Tuesday afternoon and beyond. Unfortunately I did not get to do ANY riding at the Butt, but headed to Moab for the next 4 days and was met with lots of sunshine.

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.

Crested Butte, beautiful as always

Scott and Kyle came and met me in Moab. We rode the whole enchilada twice and Hymasa and Capt. Ahab once. It was HOT so we rode really early. Last year's race was one stage from the top of Burro pass down to where the climb to Hazzard County starts, and then another stage from Hazzard County all the way to the bottom of Porcupine Rim. BRUTAL. I'm pretty sure this year the one day race will be more than two stages (fingers crossed). It's going to be an insanely difficult and physical race regardless.

Top of Capt. Ahab

Oh so cute.

It was a long but good 12 days of traveling and riding. My body needs a break and my bike has found multiple ways to ensure that I get that break. After Moab I had to replace my derailleur, all of my bearings need to be replaced, I have a massive crack in the seat stay of rear triangle, and at the beginning of my ride this morning I discovered that the damper in my fork is no more. Sweet. Good thing I know a good mechanic;) Time to log some miles on the road bike.

BME Durango

Stop no. 2 of the Big Mountain Enduro was this last weekend, June 28-29 and took place in beautiful Durango, Colorado. This round of racing had only 4 stages, but totaled just over 47 miles and 5,950 feet of climbing when you include the transition stages. Not forgetting my experiences last year at BME Durango, this stop was not for the light-hearted.

Saturday's two stages took place on the Colorado Trail, descending all the way from the top of Kennebec Pass to Junction Creek--from elevations of higher than 11,200 feet  down to 6,300 feet. Without a doubt, I think that these two stages are the most physically challenging of all the stages thus far and will be continuing forward through Keystone and Moab--Crested Butte will be a whole other ball game (check out this video, a preview of the 5 day Crested Butte Ultra Enduro). As a little warm up, riders got to climb and easy 3,000 feet and 6.5 miles up La Plata Canyon Road. Starting out above tree line, you are at high elevation and super exposed. The first 3-5 minutes are just ridiculously fast and scary off-camber single track carved into the mountain and running through a scree field. As soon as you drop into the trees you feel a little safer, but it's still tight and narrow, you're still going fast and there is plenty of stuff to grab the end of your bars or your pedals... Oh, and watch out for those water-bars! And oh shit, that's a really tight switchback! That's stage 1: Six miles and 25 minutes of pedaling your face off through epic, beautiful, rough, and real backcountry single track. To get to stage 2, there was another really easy transition--only 4 miles of steep and narrow! But whatever, because the top half of stage 2 is where it's at. The first 3.5 miles of stage 2 are more epic and high speed single track. Not nearly as exposed as stage 1 and a lot less steep, the top half of stage 2 reminds me a lot of descending the AZT from Snowbowl to 418. The last 4 miles of stage 2 though... holy crap. I didn't get to pre-ride that section of the Colorado Trail, so I had no idea what I was in for. I was told to be prepared for a couple of short, punchy climbs, and then around 3 minutes of gradual climbing. Well, part of that was correct--there were two short, punchy climbs, but I'm pretty sure it was more like 5-8 minutes of grinding uphill and across flats. When the trail finally took a turn for the better and went down, it was really fun, fast, pedal-y, with loose rocks and tight corners.

Sunday's stages took place at Horse Gulch. Stage 3 was the bottom (fun) part of Raider Ridge and Snake Charmer. This was the stage I was most looking forward to. Yes, it is a very physical trail, but not the same kind of physicality as stages 1, 2, and 4. It's technical, it's fast, it's loose, there are a couple of big drops and step downs, etc. Overall, it's just challenging. It requires you to look ahead and pick the right line, be confident with your decision, and execute, because there is really no room for mistakes and they will cost you a lot of time. Stage 4 was similar to stages 1 and 2 in the sense that it was just pedal-y and heavy on the cardio side. It was wayyyyyy shorter than stages 1 and 2 and a lot smoother with more flow. To me, it was the least exciting stage.

I started stage one out feeling pretty good... My legs were a little tired from the transition but adrenaline eventually worked it's magic. I had just got Krista in my sights about three-quarters of the way down when a little elf disguised as a rock grabbed my crank arm. It was only a momentary stop though. I finished stage 1 tired, but in 3rd. At the start of stage 2 I was feeling a lot stronger than I was at the top of stage 1 and it showed in my riding. The top half of stage 2 was, in my opinion, some of my best riding yet. I was fast, smooth, and clean, I pedaled hard, and made almost no mistakes knowing that it was where I could gain the most time before the climb. I climbed as hard and as fast as I could, but I knew I needed to gas it on the downhill if I wanted to finish well. Then, about three-quarters of the way down stage 2, I crashed and knocked myself out! Never have I ever had that happen before. I was going through a fast and loose section of the trail, trying to look as far ahead as possible since I had never ridden it, and wasn't paying enough attention to what was right in front of me. I'm pretty sure I hit a loose rock with my front wheel and it just knocked my front wheel sideways. I hit the ground with the one part of my head not covered by my helmet--my face. Or rather the bottom of my chin. I remember hitting the ground, closing my eyes, and waking back up looking at the dirt. After gathering my wits and wiping the blood off my face, I rode slowly down to the bottom. I couldn't have been out long, I didn't get caught by the next woman behind me until right after I crossed the line. At the end of the day I was feeling fine--no headache, no nausea, no concerning head damage, just a sore body. I stretched, rolled out my back and legs, took some IB-broken and went to bed.

At the top of stage 3 on Sunday I knew it was going to be rough. I was so tense, even when I was trying to relax, and I was super nervous. I don't typically get nervous, just anxious to race, but these were some serious nerves, and they had their impact on my riding. I managed to miss most of my lines in the first third of stage 3--not good on the clock--but pulled myself together for the rest of the stage. After finishing stage 3, I was a little disappointed so I went straight to the top of stage 4 by myself. It was a good choice. I had the whole transition stage to mentally get myself together without having to talk to anyone or think about anything besides being calm. I was the only at the top when I started stage 4 and all the pressure was gone. When I left the line the smile had returned back to my face, my legs were feeling good, and all of my muscles had relaxed. I rode stage 4 like I would ride it if I were chasing Scott: as fast as I could but with ease. It worked much better.

At the end of the weekend I managed to get away with a fifth place finish. Heather Irmiger blew everyone away, winning over second place by 4 minutes. Second through fifth place was separated by about a minute and a half. Cait Dmitriew took second, followed by Krista Park (welcome back!), Sarah Rawley, and myself. Congratulations ladies, you're awesome! Thanks, BME, for a great weekend of racing and the prize money! I will not be at BME Keystone, I will be at home in Flagstaff celebrating my Grandpa's 90th birthday! Next stop: Enduro Cup at the Canyons, July 19th (maybe) followed by Colorado Freeride Fest/EWS, July 24-27 (definitely)! Good luck everyone!

Full results can be found here: http://www.bigmountainenduro.com/results?mode=viewPoints&resultsyear=2014&seriesid=&func=event&eventid=9
Event coverage, photos, video: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/big-mountain-enduro-2-durango-colorado-2014.html
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/results-big-mountain-enduro-round-2-durango-2014.html
http://vimeo.com/99504703
http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/photo-gallery-big-mountain-enduro-durango-2014.html

Aspen: The Power of Four. Err... Three Rather.

Ah Aspen, my home away from home, how I love thee. The first stop of the Big Mountain Enduro Tour and the second stop of the NAET took place this weekend (June 21-22) at Snowmass Village, Colorado and hot dang, it was awesome. Over 300 racers came out, with 60+ registered pro men and 16 registered pro women. Old and new, the fast people were there and ready to shred. Sweetly enough, some of those old and new people were some of my best friends.

The two day race covered seven stages and all seven stages were fast and physically exhausting. Stages 1, 2, 3, and 5 consisted of tight corners and trees and loose dirt, testing not only my cornering abilities but also my ability to sprint and accelerate out of those corners. As for the others, stage 4 and part of 6 took place on a jump trail, Valhalla, which was three miles of nothing but berms, wall-rides, table-tops, booters, and doubles. The top half of stage 6 was Vapor, a wicked fast, chunky, descent off the very top of Snowmass--it was one of my favorites. Stage 7, Bonzai DH, was the NORBA/World Cup DH trail and was another favorite of mine. I'm happy to say that by the end of the weekend I had established a steady and healthy relationship with berms, have a close friendship with drops, and learned to play nice with the jumps.

I got into Snowmass on Thursday morning and got to pre-ride that afternoon and Friday. Pre-riding was a little difficult at this race--the opening day for the Snowmass Bike Park was Saturday, the 21st, which also happened to be the first day of the race. The crew at Snowmass was kind enough to open the gondola on Friday for racers, but a couple of trails still couldn't be ridden. Vapor was off of the top chairlift, which was closed until Saturday, the bottom half of stage 5 was a nature trail that was only open to bikes after 5pm, stages 2 and 3 had pretty long and grueling climbs and transitions to get to them, and stage 6 spit you out about two miles below the village leaving us with a lovely climb back. Obviously this is the nature of enduro racing, it can't all be downhill, but dang, trying to pre-ride everything in a day and a half makes you tired! I rode stages, 2, 3, and 7 on Thursday, and stages 1, 4, and 7 (again... and again and again and again) on Friday. We were planning on trying to ride everything we could on Friday, but Scott ended up blowing up his fork going through a super fast and chunky section of stage 7 so the remainder of our day was spent searching and begging for a 27.5 fork. Thankfully, Nick, the owner of Aloha Mountain Cyclery in Carbondale, hooked Scott up with his personal Pike for the weekend. Crisis averted.

Saturday was a beautiful day in Snowmass; a little cloud cover and not too hot. Stages 1-4 went really well for me, no crashes (SAY WHAT?!) and no mechanicals. At the end of the day I was sitting in 3rd behind Brittany Clawson and Margaret Gregory. Sunday rolled around and I just wanted to keep myself together and ride clean. Stage 5 was similar to stage 1 in the fact that it was pedal-y and had a lot of tight turns, but I didn't get to pre-ride it. There was a two minute road sprint in the middle that pretty much wiped the look of death all over my face followed by really tight, rooty, and turny single-track to the finish. I managed to make it down in 5th, no crashes and no mechanicals. I got to pre-ride probably 5 of the 7 miles that made up stage 6, leaving only the bottom 2 miles a mystery. The bottom single track was like the rest--pedaly, fast, and really turny. I crashed once trying to go way too fast around a corner, but I didn't lose much time still managing to come in 3rd on that stage. Last was Bonzai, my favorite stage (even though it scared the crap out of me). The top was a wide open through a grass field that quickly converged into a technical section through tight trees, roots, and loose dirt. It opened back up to traverse across an open ski run, diving back into single track through the aspen trees. A rock garden was followed instantly by a big road drop with a pretty steep landing and immediate 90 degree right-hand turn. The trail only calmed down for a moment until it turned quickly down and to the left, through "Hell's Kitchen" over a waterfall drop into yet another 90 degree right-hander. After exiting the last single track it was fast and wide open through the grass, onto a service road, off a booter, and into the finish. I made it down clean, no issues.

Oddly enough, my best stage finishes were on the longer, more pedal-y stages. I was expecting my best stage finishes to be the shorter and gnarlier ones. In fact, stage 7, which was the least pedal-y and the most gnarly, was my worse finish, and stages 1, 3, and 6, which were the longer, less steep, and most pedal-y were my best finishes. Expect the unexpected I guess! Perhaps this means that those intervals and all my work on cornering is starting to pay off? I hope so because it is off to Durango this weekend (June 28 and 29) for two days of seriously physical riding.

I ended the weekend standing on the podium in 3rd place--my first pro podium! SUPER STOKED. Not only did I learn a lot, but it was a huge confidence-building weekend for me. Thank you Big Mountain Enduro for the huge check and thank you ladies for pushing me all weekend! Congratulations to all the badass guys and ladies who raced this weekend--particularly my good friends Margaret for her 2nd place finish, Beth Roberts for her 5th (with major whiplash and bruised ribs), Amber Naughton for winning her class, Jason First for his 10th place in the pro men category, Lauren for surviving and shredding CO dirt at her first ever BME, and my NO.1, Mr. Scott Countryman for kicking ass (7th place in stage 7!) despite the major mechanical that started the weekend. Good luck to everyone going to Sun Valley for the Enduro Cup, and for those of you going to Durango, I'll see you soon!

Check out these links!
http://vimeo.com/98957970
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/big-mountain-enduro-1-snowmass-colorado-2014.html
http://enduro-mtb.com/en/race-report-big-mountain-enduro-1-snowmass-colorado/
http://www.mountainflyermagazine.com/view.php/photo-gallery-big-mountain-enduro-series-race-1-snowmass-2014.html
Full Race Results

Oregon Enduro Series/NAET #1, Hood River, OR

June 7th and 8th was the opening round of the Oregon Enduro Series and the first race of the North American Enduro Tour and took place at Post Canyon in Hood River, Oregon.

Hood River holds a special place in my heart. For years and years I went to summer ski camp at Mt. Hood and spent a good amount of time hanging out, windsurfing, paddle boarding, hiking, biking, and eating ice cream at Mike's Ice Cream. Last summer was the first summer in 8 years that I didn't get to go up to Oregon so when I saw the OES in Hood River I made up my mind that I had to go. Despite it being  almost 1,300 miles from Flagstaff to Hood River and the hassle of flying with a bike, I am lucky enough to have family in Portland and friends in White Salmon, WA, directly across the gorge from Hood.

I got into Oregon the Wednesday before the race and got to pre-ride Thursday and Friday--which was nice since there were 8 stages to ride. I went solo on this adventure but met up with a bunch of other friends when I got there and met and made plenty more as the week went on. I ended up getting a spot on the Dirty Fingers shuttle Thursday afternoon and got the chance to shred with a couple locals and Giant Factory Off-Road Team Rider Adam Craig--A seriously cool dude. Friday morning Margaret and Mal (Smith Optics Rep) got into town and we continued our mission to find the fast lines.

To say that Hood River was a stacked race is an understatement but not surprising since it was the NAET opener. There were 16 pro women including big guns Heather Irmiger, Juliana Riders Kathy Pruitt, Abigail Hippely, and Katrina Strand, my good friend and super shredder Margaret, Norco team rider Sarah Leishman, among others. The pro men's field included Ross Schnell, Curtis Keene, Josh Carlson, Adam Craig, Nate Hills, JHK, Brian Lopes, Kirt Voreis, etc, etc.

Post Canyon is not for the light-hearted. The trails are steep, rocky, rooty,  and loose, in combination with bike park style berms and jumps. I was expecting to go up to Oregon and have it be wet and slippery, but it was incredibly dry and dusty--a lot like the trails on Elden and much more suited to my riding style than Moab was. The weeks leading up to the race were interesting; my riding had been suffering and I was just not riding fast so my goal going into the first day of racing was to just keep the rubber side down. Mission almost accomplished. I crashed pretty hard trying to go around a berm corner as fast as I could and somehow managed to get my saddle totally perpendicular to my top tube. After landing hard on my hip I decided to take the last stage of the day easy. Upper GP and Bad Motor Scooter are two super fun jump trails, so I got to make peace with the berms.

The second day of racing I was a little peeved about how Saturday finished and went in with the mindset of just going fast. It worked. Kind of. I definitely rode more like myself; faster, a little looser, and a little more risky. The stages I managed to get down without mishaps I was pleased with, and even the two stages I had trouble with I was still more happy with because I knew I was trying. I had another saddle issue on stage 6 that caused some problems and slammed my front wheel into a tree on stage 7 when the end of a berm crumbled. Overall, day two was my favorite. The trails were loose and technical with lots of rocks gardens and drops and the fans were out in full force to cheer the riders on. At the bottom of stage 7 was Heckler's Corner, where fans were dressed in all kinds of ridiculous costumes and equipped with air horn and cowbells--enough happiness to make any bad day better.

I ended up 9th overall for the weekend. Despite being frustrated about some things I think I rode really well, maybe not the fastest I could have, but well. I met so many cool people, got to ride tons of awesome new trails, and hang out with friends and family in one the my favorite places. I learned a lot, like what is fast and what isn't and how to find the balance between staying on the ground and going all out. I sent myself off of a big (to me) diving board drop totally blind and survived and now have a little more confidence with that kind of riding. I also learned how to break-down and rebuild my bike and pack it in a bike box. Whoop! To me, Oregon was a win.

The opening round of the Big Mountain Enduro Series and the second stop of the NAET is this weekend, June 21 and 22, in Snowmass, CO.

Check out the Pinkbike, Vital, and Enduro MTB coverage and reviews:
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/oregon-enduro-series-race-1-hood-river-2014.html
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/oregon-enduro-series-hood-river-video-2014.html
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/results-oregon-enduro-series-round-1-hood-river-2014.html
http://enduro-mtb.com/en/race-report-oregon-enduro-series-race-1hood-river/
http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/Oregon-Enduro-Hood-River,7711/Race-Report-Oregon-Enduro-Series-Hood-River,77099/sspomer,2

Scott Enduro Cup #1: Moab

The first round of the Scott Enduro Cup was this last weekend (5/3/14) in Moab, Utah. The race was only one day and 4 stages at the Mag 7 trails and was the first official race of my season. It was also my first race as a pro with a field larger than just Margaret and myself! The field consisted of XC U.S. national champ, single-speed world champ, EWS rider and NAET champ Heather Irmiger, cyclocross world cup overall winner Katie Compton, overall super badass Heidi Rentz, the Moab hometown hero Beth Roberts, amongst other awesome chicas.

I had ridden 3 of the 4 stages last year as part of the BME series, but for some reason I don't remember it being such a suffer fest. Going in to the race I wasn't expecting a lot, my ultimate goal was just to ride hard and keep the rubber side down, which I accomplished. I've never been much the one for flat, pedal-y, sprints--I like my descents on the steeper side--and the average grade for each of the 4 stages was somewhere between -1% and -4%, between 1.4 and 2.0 miles, and between 6:40 and 8:00 minutes. Not exactly my cup of tea but at least now I know what I really need to focus on.

There was a big group of us from Flagstaff/Sedona and we all pre-rode on Friday. I was having some major issues with dropping my chain due to a worn out cassette, chain ring, and stretched chain (oops) but thankfully my favorite mechanic happens to travel and race with me! Scott played with my chain guide the best he could in a hotel room to try to solve the problem but all we could do was hope that it would work.

The Mag 7 trails are incredibly rough and bumpy combinations of dirt and slick rock, almost a combination of Gooseberry Mesa and Sedona, and the bumpiness and chain slap is only perpetuated when you are pedaling as hard as you can across it. My chain stayed on through stage one, but came off almost immediately during stage two. It wouldn't have been such a bummer but it dropped to the inside of my chain guide and got stuck. They ran 60 second intervals between racers and I ended up getting caught by two other women while trying to fix my chain. After that it took just about all the motivation I could find to push through stage 2. I shoved my sour attitude to the side for the rest of the race and my chain stayed on through 3 and 4, though I was constantly looking down at my drive side to make sure the chain hadn't bounced off again.

Unfortunately at a race like Moab there was nowhere to make up any time so the two minutes I lost were lost for good. I still ended up 6th, just under 4 minutes behind the winner, Heidi. All in all though I was happy with how I rode. I was about 20-30s behind the winner at every stage (besides 2) and for how little I ride like that I was impressed. Now I know that with some more high-intensity/interval training I could be right there with the top girls.

I also want to congratulate all of the other Big Az peeps for shredding dirt in a major way. Two Flagstaff chicks in the top 10 for amateur women, a third in amateur men for another, and a big congrats to Jason First and Scott Countryman for a 5th and an 8th in pro men, amongst a stacked field including Ross Schnell, JHK, Mike West, and Alex Petitdemange. Go Big Az!

My next race will be the first stop of the Oregon Enduro Series and NAET in Hood River June 8-9. I am very much looking forward to 1) getting to hang out in one of my favorite places ever and 2) getting to do some racing on some steeper and gnarlier terrain.

Happy trails y'all!