Mountain Creek KOM enduro
I have to take a break from recapping the vermont trip.....too bad bc I was about to write this whole story about how I was the local legend on the sidewinder trail....Much to the chagrin of @JimN .....we'll get back to that one...
So continuing with my season of Enduro racing...and its now July and I have done what? 2? Quite a prolific season im having....Next up was Mountain creek. I once did this Enduro....in the "long long ago" when there werent enduro bikes, or for me, even dropper posts. Every year since I have wanted to, then it rained all night and I remembered that I had to wash my hair instead. But this year...Well all of my friends were doing it, so WTF....im in. And really, I like this kind of enduro....I am good at riding wildcat type rocky stuff, so I feel like this suits me better than ever glen park.
Good news with this enduro is....we know, the course, its marked by friday....plus its at mountain creek which has a chairlift that will cover 2 of the 5 stages....So pre riding should be a little easier. Bad news....Like every year:
So I met @Meatball Mia and @muddybike at 9am and we did stages 1, 2 and 3 which are away from the lift and require a tough climb up after. Nothing overly crazy of note on these stages.....MC enduros are usually a mix of rocks, chunder, off camber, rock faces, fast/rough fire roads, every once in a while you will get a burmed turn here and there. There is also a LITTLE bit of pedaling. Friday was hot and humid...reel feel said: just go inside you idiot. Seeing Kristine like this made me think...you know, she reminds me of Ellen Ripley in Aliens....Just need to give her a flame thrower and some bugs to incinerate....and we all know Kris is every bit the bad ass Ripley was.
We got all the stages done by noonish, had lunch and were about to do more when the lift shut down bc 20 miles away, I guess there was lightning.
so we wait and wait and wait
Long story short, lift never reopened...but to hell with that, were riding anyway. So we me @Ryan.P and @graveyardman67 and relocated to the back entrance....Then in the afternoon did the early stages another time....By this time it was nearly 6pm and my garmin said 7:58 elapsed....Which is alot. Called it a day, came back again the next morning for more....But this time, only stuff we could get to off the lift. It was a fun couple of days of riding with friends....Mia's first ever enduro...So added bonus was trying to give her some tips about enduro racing.......while quite frankly, i didnt feel like there was anyone in the whole race, outside of Kris who could possibly beat her...You still have to play the game, and putting 5 clean stages together at a wet mountain creek is not easy. But im like quietly pretty excited to see how Sunday plays out for her.
Stage 4 was the big one this year....Bob gnarly....google bob gnarly trail, there is one at every goddam DH park in this country I think. Well anyway, bob is steep, rocks, switchbacks...its hard for sure...I feel like my time riding idiotic things with @JimN has prepared me well for this trail....In fact, they should name a trail after Jim Nagy IMO. Jim Gnarly.
Heres a small taste of bob gnarly, this is the opening gnar section our first time thru...thus why Kris stops to scope out the notch.
Then its a bunch of this if you care to see
There was much debate amongst the team as to which was best to go thru the notch....Down the middle or around the side like I did in that first run....In the end, its going to rain and im fairly sure its not going to matter....just try not to die. I pre rode the trail 4 times I think, cleaned it without issue when it was dry. In the rain...fuck I wouldnt want to WALK on this trail.
Race day:
So good news, the rain did come....in buckets.....we all got together for a pre race photo.....
I put on every piece of armor I own bc im fairly certain I will hit the deck at some point today. Some of this stuff im really having a hard time understanding how im going to ride over in the wet, but eh...worry about that when you get to it. I usually dont get stupid with enduros and im more on the side of ride 5 clean stages without crashing....in fact, im not sure I have ever crashed in an enduro.
Myself, Ryan, Mia, and Bills classes started on stage 3......I let Ryan go first.....while Ryan and I were having a little fun smack talking about whose going to beat who....Really it doesnt matter...i can beat Ryan at 100 enduro races, Ill still be jealous 5 min later that i cant manual like he can...or jump, or do whips, or nose wheelies....I got 1 trick, I can go fast somehow.
Stage 3 was short, 2.5min.....First bit of dirt I hit the bike was instantly all over the place....Yup, its SLICK....couple of steep spots that I managed to control slide thru....Got a little bent out of shape a couple of times, but I made it thru clean....Didnt feel all that fast, but no crashes. Ryan, Bill, and like 10 other people come thru all saying that had some kind of crash.....just going to be that kind of day. Bill keeps moving, Ryan and I decide to wait for Mia....about 15min later she comes thru....Then rides past us and starts hammering on us on the transfer....KIDS!
Nest we did stage 4, the nasty one....Figured we get it over with. As we roll over to get in line, people are leaving and saying that they will wait and do it later, thinking it might dry out.....Ryan assures us that it wont and im fairly sure he is correct. I was a little on edge for this one, I knew it would be really tricky. Headed off....it takes 2 min of riding fluff until you get to the nasty stuff.....As im rolling in I see Johnny Nickelson standing on the side of the trail watching....I said "NICE KNOWING YOU" as I rode by then rolled into the notch section.....Bike started a slide on the rock slab and I had to unclip...I managed the slide but i cant now pedal thru the notch, I hop off and run it....hop back on and keep moving......Holy shit, we are now in crazy sketch territory.....Im just trying to managed the slide, bike is all over the place....building more and more speed....at some point I slide, bike catches and I high side over a ledge....Bike comes with me and I fling it deep into the woods and my shoe rips off my foot and goes with it. I took a huge shot to my rib from my elbow.....I roll back onto my feet with the wind knocked out of me....rip the tape off the bike, grab it....put my shoe back on and keep rolling......I was stunned but I managed to get to the finish line....Chip out then lay on the ground trying to catch my breath. That was a SHOT and it fucking hurt lol.
Anyway....Mia, Dylan and a few others come thru, they all also crashed.
I got a new bottle, then we headed up the lift to do stage 5......20min had gone by and now I realize that I hurt my rib, broke, torn intercostal, something like that....doesnt matter, it all hurts the same...I have broken like every rib multiple times....two things that make riding hard....Really hard now to loft the front wheel and goddam my balance goes to shit when i cant engage my core....
Stage 5......before we start one of the dudes that was following us around in the 50+ class decides to move ahead of Mia in line before the start.....I said to him...probably not a great idea, she will run you into the woods...He switches spots with her. I start and 30 sec in, im hurting.....ok, this is going to be rough...Every time the bike slips its like shooting pain to my side and breathing hard is worse.....I just figure im going to have to ease up, try and ride thru clean. I felt slow as hell, but I make it thru.
We head back up the lift and now over for stage 1 and 2....along the way we run into Kris about to start 4...no pearls of wisdom, just dont die
Stage 1....I limp my way thru, there are 2 climbs on this stage and i assure you I gave them every last watt I had to try and keep myself in this race. There is a rock roller section lear the end that was sketchy AF, I had the bike in a full sideway crabwalk going over....somehow I let go of the brakes and it straightened out....Not sure how i didnt die on that one. Make it to the end and im dying from the breathing....man this is not fun...at this point im think....you know what Bob? Go fuck yourself.....I dont care if i die, im not dropping out of this race.
We make the LONG trek back to the top to start two. Mia is now slapping ryan and I all over the place on the climbs back up.......
Stage 2...This starts with a slick slide down a steep chute....on our first pre ride lap Kris slid and bumped the tree...I made this screen shot for my notes...
I heard it was bad so i hit it slow.....Tricky but I made it thru without issue....Lot of pedaling on this stage and i was throwing it down with everything i had left.....At one point it went thru my head that this might be the most pain I have ever been in while biking....I didnt get the front end up and took a rock hard with the front tire...which jammed my arm hard enough to rotate the controls down....That felt fucking awesome......Got to the end, chipped out then layed on the ground in a ball.
Super happy that I didnt quit...of course now I have to walk like a mile back uphill just to get back to the top and ride down. This was brutal....I thought about taking the cab back down, but I didnt want to have to pedal back to it....so I just slowly went down the fire road.....
Turn in my chip and see that I am somehow in 3rd? Like seriously? I was shocked. Im not even kidding when I say that was as miserable as I have ever been in a race....but im glad i didnt drop out.....I mean it was going to hurt either way.....now I can carry around my misery in this sweet backpack I won
And what a day for the team....Kris won pro as she usually does which is always awesome....Bill and Donovan both got to be on the podium....Thats like a bucket list thing i would love to do with my son someday....Donovan getting 4th in the U19 class in his first enduro is super impressive...that class is stacked with kids who are nuts and live at mountain creek. Oh and he beat his dads time...also pretty sweet lol. Mia won her U19 class which I figured she could do blindfolded on a unicycle.....But first enduro on the sketchiest course I can think of....she also had the fastest time of all of the women yesterday....that was something and I think all of us were pretty stoked that we got to see it.....Well done kid!
I have to take a break from recapping the vermont trip.....too bad bc I was about to write this whole story about how I was the local legend on the sidewinder trail....Much to the chagrin of @JimN .....we'll get back to that one...
So continuing with my season of Enduro racing...and its now July and I have done what? 2? Quite a prolific season im having....Next up was Mountain creek. I once did this Enduro....in the "long long ago" when there werent enduro bikes, or for me, even dropper posts. Every year since I have wanted to, then it rained all night and I remembered that I had to wash my hair instead. But this year...Well all of my friends were doing it, so WTF....im in. And really, I like this kind of enduro....I am good at riding wildcat type rocky stuff, so I feel like this suits me better than ever glen park.
Good news with this enduro is....we know, the course, its marked by friday....plus its at mountain creek which has a chairlift that will cover 2 of the 5 stages....So pre riding should be a little easier. Bad news....Like every year:
So I met @Meatball Mia and @muddybike at 9am and we did stages 1, 2 and 3 which are away from the lift and require a tough climb up after. Nothing overly crazy of note on these stages.....MC enduros are usually a mix of rocks, chunder, off camber, rock faces, fast/rough fire roads, every once in a while you will get a burmed turn here and there. There is also a LITTLE bit of pedaling. Friday was hot and humid...reel feel said: just go inside you idiot. Seeing Kristine like this made me think...you know, she reminds me of Ellen Ripley in Aliens....Just need to give her a flame thrower and some bugs to incinerate....and we all know Kris is every bit the bad ass Ripley was.
We got all the stages done by noonish, had lunch and were about to do more when the lift shut down bc 20 miles away, I guess there was lightning.
so we wait and wait and wait
Long story short, lift never reopened...but to hell with that, were riding anyway. So we me @Ryan.P and @graveyardman67 and relocated to the back entrance....Then in the afternoon did the early stages another time....By this time it was nearly 6pm and my garmin said 7:58 elapsed....Which is alot. Called it a day, came back again the next morning for more....But this time, only stuff we could get to off the lift. It was a fun couple of days of riding with friends....Mia's first ever enduro...So added bonus was trying to give her some tips about enduro racing.......while quite frankly, i didnt feel like there was anyone in the whole race, outside of Kris who could possibly beat her...You still have to play the game, and putting 5 clean stages together at a wet mountain creek is not easy. But im like quietly pretty excited to see how Sunday plays out for her.
Stage 4 was the big one this year....Bob gnarly....google bob gnarly trail, there is one at every goddam DH park in this country I think. Well anyway, bob is steep, rocks, switchbacks...its hard for sure...I feel like my time riding idiotic things with @JimN has prepared me well for this trail....In fact, they should name a trail after Jim Nagy IMO. Jim Gnarly.
Heres a small taste of bob gnarly, this is the opening gnar section our first time thru...thus why Kris stops to scope out the notch.
Then its a bunch of this if you care to see
There was much debate amongst the team as to which was best to go thru the notch....Down the middle or around the side like I did in that first run....In the end, its going to rain and im fairly sure its not going to matter....just try not to die. I pre rode the trail 4 times I think, cleaned it without issue when it was dry. In the rain...fuck I wouldnt want to WALK on this trail.
Race day:
So good news, the rain did come....in buckets.....we all got together for a pre race photo.....
I put on every piece of armor I own bc im fairly certain I will hit the deck at some point today. Some of this stuff im really having a hard time understanding how im going to ride over in the wet, but eh...worry about that when you get to it. I usually dont get stupid with enduros and im more on the side of ride 5 clean stages without crashing....in fact, im not sure I have ever crashed in an enduro.
Myself, Ryan, Mia, and Bills classes started on stage 3......I let Ryan go first.....while Ryan and I were having a little fun smack talking about whose going to beat who....Really it doesnt matter...i can beat Ryan at 100 enduro races, Ill still be jealous 5 min later that i cant manual like he can...or jump, or do whips, or nose wheelies....I got 1 trick, I can go fast somehow.
Stage 3 was short, 2.5min.....First bit of dirt I hit the bike was instantly all over the place....Yup, its SLICK....couple of steep spots that I managed to control slide thru....Got a little bent out of shape a couple of times, but I made it thru clean....Didnt feel all that fast, but no crashes. Ryan, Bill, and like 10 other people come thru all saying that had some kind of crash.....just going to be that kind of day. Bill keeps moving, Ryan and I decide to wait for Mia....about 15min later she comes thru....Then rides past us and starts hammering on us on the transfer....KIDS!
Nest we did stage 4, the nasty one....Figured we get it over with. As we roll over to get in line, people are leaving and saying that they will wait and do it later, thinking it might dry out.....Ryan assures us that it wont and im fairly sure he is correct. I was a little on edge for this one, I knew it would be really tricky. Headed off....it takes 2 min of riding fluff until you get to the nasty stuff.....As im rolling in I see Johnny Nickelson standing on the side of the trail watching....I said "NICE KNOWING YOU" as I rode by then rolled into the notch section.....Bike started a slide on the rock slab and I had to unclip...I managed the slide but i cant now pedal thru the notch, I hop off and run it....hop back on and keep moving......Holy shit, we are now in crazy sketch territory.....Im just trying to managed the slide, bike is all over the place....building more and more speed....at some point I slide, bike catches and I high side over a ledge....Bike comes with me and I fling it deep into the woods and my shoe rips off my foot and goes with it. I took a huge shot to my rib from my elbow.....I roll back onto my feet with the wind knocked out of me....rip the tape off the bike, grab it....put my shoe back on and keep rolling......I was stunned but I managed to get to the finish line....Chip out then lay on the ground trying to catch my breath. That was a SHOT and it fucking hurt lol.
Anyway....Mia, Dylan and a few others come thru, they all also crashed.
I got a new bottle, then we headed up the lift to do stage 5......20min had gone by and now I realize that I hurt my rib, broke, torn intercostal, something like that....doesnt matter, it all hurts the same...I have broken like every rib multiple times....two things that make riding hard....Really hard now to loft the front wheel and goddam my balance goes to shit when i cant engage my core....
Stage 5......before we start one of the dudes that was following us around in the 50+ class decides to move ahead of Mia in line before the start.....I said to him...probably not a great idea, she will run you into the woods...He switches spots with her. I start and 30 sec in, im hurting.....ok, this is going to be rough...Every time the bike slips its like shooting pain to my side and breathing hard is worse.....I just figure im going to have to ease up, try and ride thru clean. I felt slow as hell, but I make it thru.
We head back up the lift and now over for stage 1 and 2....along the way we run into Kris about to start 4...no pearls of wisdom, just dont die
Stage 1....I limp my way thru, there are 2 climbs on this stage and i assure you I gave them every last watt I had to try and keep myself in this race. There is a rock roller section lear the end that was sketchy AF, I had the bike in a full sideway crabwalk going over....somehow I let go of the brakes and it straightened out....Not sure how i didnt die on that one. Make it to the end and im dying from the breathing....man this is not fun...at this point im think....you know what Bob? Go fuck yourself.....I dont care if i die, im not dropping out of this race.
We make the LONG trek back to the top to start two. Mia is now slapping ryan and I all over the place on the climbs back up.......
Stage 2...This starts with a slick slide down a steep chute....on our first pre ride lap Kris slid and bumped the tree...I made this screen shot for my notes...
I heard it was bad so i hit it slow.....Tricky but I made it thru without issue....Lot of pedaling on this stage and i was throwing it down with everything i had left.....At one point it went thru my head that this might be the most pain I have ever been in while biking....I didnt get the front end up and took a rock hard with the front tire...which jammed my arm hard enough to rotate the controls down....That felt fucking awesome......Got to the end, chipped out then layed on the ground in a ball.
Super happy that I didnt quit...of course now I have to walk like a mile back uphill just to get back to the top and ride down. This was brutal....I thought about taking the cab back down, but I didnt want to have to pedal back to it....so I just slowly went down the fire road.....
Turn in my chip and see that I am somehow in 3rd? Like seriously? I was shocked. Im not even kidding when I say that was as miserable as I have ever been in a race....but im glad i didnt drop out.....I mean it was going to hurt either way.....now I can carry around my misery in this sweet backpack I won
And what a day for the team....Kris won pro as she usually does which is always awesome....Bill and Donovan both got to be on the podium....Thats like a bucket list thing i would love to do with my son someday....Donovan getting 4th in the U19 class in his first enduro is super impressive...that class is stacked with kids who are nuts and live at mountain creek. Oh and he beat his dads time...also pretty sweet lol. Mia won her U19 class which I figured she could do blindfolded on a unicycle.....But first enduro on the sketchiest course I can think of....she also had the fastest time of all of the women yesterday....that was something and I think all of us were pretty stoked that we got to see it.....Well done kid!
