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| Practice on Stage 5. |
Well it happened again, the Battleborn
Enduro proved to be a fun and successful event for all of the nearly 300
competitors who descended upon Peavine Mountain near Reno, Nevada. Despite rain and snow storms all through the
previous week the Battleborn trails were dry, dusty, and loose as ever, keeping
racers on their toes the entire day and making cornering interesting. After a short riders’ meeting, racers made
their way up the first transfer stage. This consisted of a gradual eight mile
climb that put racers on the top of the fast and loose first stage. Even with competitors separated into two groups
there was a fairly long wait at the top of the first stage and racers stood
shivering in the wind, some seeking shelter low to the ground or behind their
bikes. The cold temperature at the first
stage proved to be a sharp contrast of last year’s race which saw temperatures
in the 90s all day. Tightened and stiff
muscles made me feel awkward on the bike and it took awhile to find my flow on the
first stage.
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| Just before dropping in to Stage 1. |
The second stage starts with a series of
sharp blown out corners and then opens up into one of the fastest sections of
the course but still managed to throw in a handful of little climbs that could
make you feel like you were bleeding from the eye balls if you wanted to carry
speed. I felt a lot better on the second
stage but still did not feel completely confident in my race run and kept it
conservative in the corners.
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| Enduro transfer stages! |
To get to the third stage racers had some
climbing to do after picking up some great tasting nutrition from the Tahoe
Trail Bar aid station. The beginning of
stage 3 is always a bit of a challenge with a series of extremely tight
switchbacks that can break even the most experienced racers. After
that it becomes one of the more wide open stages of the day and can get really
fast towards the bottom. For me this is
where my race finally started to come together and I started to feel more and
more comfortable in the loose ball bearing dirt of Peavine Mountain.
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| Getting ready for stage 5. |
After a little more pedaling it was time
to shred the fast, extremely physical, and longest stage of the day. Stage four starts out with a fun, fast, and
flowy downhill section with bermed corners and the occasional table top. However the fourth stage is not all fun and
games the course soon turns into a true test of racers fitness with a bit of
climbing and a flat path along a creek bed that leaves you with no choice but
to put the power down for a decent race time. For Beginner/Sport
racers this was the finish of their Battleborn adventure, but for Experts/Pros
it was time to pedal up one more transfer stage to the most technical stage of
the day.
Stage 5 was a welcome
sight to more downhill oriented racers and featured several burly rock gardens
as well as a steep chute section.
Depending on how fatigued you were at this point stage five could leave
you grinning ear to ear or coming off the mountain with a broken bike or body. I kept my run as smooth and consistent as
possible and was able to make it to the bottom in one piece and can easily say
it was my favorite stage of the day.
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| Liam Ruff in second and Matt Koen in first for Expert Boys U18. |
The Battleborn Enduro is definitely not an
event to miss and was a perfect way to kickoff another exciting California
Enduro Series season. This race is truly
an all around test of technical skill and pure fitness that make up the best
mountain bikers. Even though I felt
slightly off in the beginning of the day I managed to finish second place in
the Expert Boys U18 category offering redemption for my numerous chain drops
and mechanical issues I suffered from last year. The Battleborn Enduro was a blast riding with
rad people on sweet trails.
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| Second place medal! |
