*Nic Sutcliffe brings us his adventures in the USA chasing the Enduro race circuit…
After the Keystone (Big Mountain Enduro) bike demolition derby I was lucky enough to be offered digs and a ride with Brian Buell of Team Geronimo, so spent the next week or so in between races riding his quality local trails and trying unsuccessfully for style points on the lake jump. Soon enough the North American Enduro Series shifted its attention to the Canyons Resort in Utah – a stone’s throw from Salt Lake City, so it was time to pile into his ever faithful truck for the 9hr trip across country. We arrived at Canyons resort on dusk and set about looking for the dedicated camping spot amongst the expensive looking condos and resort hotels. Not finding anything resembling a campsite and under the wary watch of $100bill doormen after multiple drivebys we opted for the far corner of a fresh looking carpark. A covering of woodchip looked perfect for camping so we settled in.
Friday was a practice day so we got our lift tickets and went out to investigate the trails. The Canyons resort has a solid trail
network and the choice of trails for the stages didn’t disappoint. Stage 1 had a flat out blast down trail with some fairly hairy high rock water bars, followed by a 1 min climb and then a couple of minutes of traversing with some blown out switchbacks. Stage 2 was similar – traversing across ski runs and tight turns which were hard to carry any speed out of. Stage 3 was the longest, with some really fun rooty trail through the aspens during the first half, before hooking into the 1st stage. Plenty of high speed, some tech and definitely plenty of pedalling. With practice over we were ejected from our impromptu camping spot so headed for alternative accommodation for the night (thanks Ben Furbee).
The race day format was alittle different to the last round, starting with a solid pedal transition to the first stage, lift assist and 10min pedal to the 2nd stage and another solid pedal transition to the last stage – it all made for a good day of riding. With an early start the racing was over by early afternoon, with Curtis Keene taking top honours, closely followed by Brian Lopes, Adam Craig, Jeremy Horgan-Korbelski and Ben Furbee. In the women Heather Irmiger again took the top spot, followed by Kristina Park, Kelly Emmet, Margaret Gregory and Alisha Gibson. The results were alittle delayed, but free food, beer, swimming pool antics and the concert taking place right next door were a good enough distraction for most.
All up another fun weekend of riding and racing. Next is the Enduro World Series round at Winter Park – part of the Colorado Freeride Festival. Looking forward to this one.
Full Results here…
