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.
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
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