CES Finale in Santa Cruz

Heading to Santa Cruz

 The Santa Cruz Super Enduro was the finale of the California Enduro Series and was a great way to wrap up an awesome season of Enduro racing!  Located in the Redwoods of the Soquel Demonstration Forest racers had access to free camping and amenities at Camp Loma.  There was also an expo area, and bike demos were available on Sunday from Trek, Intense, Marin, Santa Cruz, and Juliana Bicycles.

All you really need.

The Santa Cruz Super Enduro consisted of four stages with Juniors/Beginners only racing the first three.  Stage 1 was Corral Trail and started with fast singletrack which turned to fireroad with many fun side features and some drops.  Stage 2 was Braille Trail the most technical and my favorite stage of the day, it was fast with some steep pitches and a lot of roots.

Me on Stage 2.  Photo Bogdan Marian

After Stage 2 racers climbed Tractor Trail to Stage 3 which was Sawpit Trail, Sawpit had a bit of everything with fast open sections, technical rock gardens, and a bit of bleed from your eyeballs sprints.  After Stage 3 Junior and Beginner racers headed back to Camp Loma and everyone else climbed up once more for Stage 4 the new Flow Trail in the Demo Forest.  I finished 9th in Junior Open at the Santa Cruz Super Enduro and claimed 4th place overall in the California Enduro Series Junior Men Open.

Overall Junior Men Podium! Photo Called to Creation.

 I had a lot of fun racing my first season of Enduro and I am super stoked to make it on the overall podium next to some of the fastest Junior racers in the sport.  Kudos to everyone who participated in this event!

Demo from Marin Bikes.

 On Sunday I got to try an awesome Marin Attack Trail, on Braille Trail, this thing rips!

CES #4 Kamikaze Bike Games Enduro

For the fourth stop in the California Enduro Series 300 racers descended upon three stages of loose kitty litter root laden trails on Mammoth Mountain that proved to be both fun and challenging.  This race was part of a bigger weekend of fun at Mammoth, the Kamikaze Bike Games, which included  the infamous Kamikaze Downhill, Dual Slalom, Pro GRT Downhill, Cross-Country, Speed and Style, as well as a Best Trick contest. The Enduro race was on Sunday and there was an awesome array of booths in the expo area all weekend.  Originally there was going to be four stages with stage 2 being part of the Kamikaze Downhill course, starting at 11,058 feet. This fast, scary and loose fire road is rich in mountain bike history as it was home to some of the first downhill races in the 1990's.

Pre-Ride at 11,000ft.

 However, come race day rain moved in, making the lower trails on the mountain tacky but at the top of the Kamikaze course a dusting of snow and sub freezing temperatures forced the cancelation of stage 2.

Pre-Race bike check!

The rain on Sunday postponed the race for a few hours but made trail conditions perfect.  After a short chair lift ride to Stage 1 it was time to race, only 20 seconds between racers made for a bunch of sketchy passes on the mainly singletrack technical stages.  Stage 1 started with a tricky root drop section then got more physical especially at high elevation  with some flat stretches, at the bottom it included part of the Pro GRT course on Bullet Trail with a few fun rock gardens and a high speed finish.

Stage 1 finish on Bullet!

Another lift ride and a short but lung busting climb brought racers to Stage 2, this was my favorite stage of the day and started with rolling high alpine singletrack that wrapped around to the CAT 2/3 Downhill course from the day before and included fast root sections with occasional ladder bridges and wallrides. For the transfer to stage 3 racers had a several mile pedal and then a quick gondola ride to the top of the stage.  Stage 3 was the most physical of the day but still had a few technical sections and some bike park terrain.  Starting on traversing singletrack stage 3 then turned into a fast Downhill trail with a few jumps and wooden features that meet the bottom of Stage 1 for a fun finish down to expo area.

End of Stage 3.

I finished 8th in Junior Open a strong result that brought me up to 4th in overall standings with the finale being held in Santa Cruz in a few weeks!

Devil's Postpile!!!