Sun Valley Super Enduro

Start at the top of MT Baldy. 9,150ft. Everyone waiting to start stage 1

Sun valley has been a stop on the race calender for 3 summers now. I look forward to the trip every year. The views are amazing, the riding endless and no shortage of terrain to challenge yourself on. This year I raced 2 weekends. The first race was the Sun Valley Super Enduro followed by Marathon Nationals the next weekend.

The Super Enduro lived up to its name and was an excellent event. The trails, timing and overall organization of the event was well thought out. The Timing system was dialed and everyone knew their placing the second they crossed the finish line. The Enduro that took place over two days and 4 timed stages as well as an optional 2 lap plus potato peel finish pump track race on Saturday night in which the top 5 received time bonuses for their overall race time. Being the "Super" Enduro the stages were much longer than any so far this year. The first stage took about 30 min to finish! Starting at the top of Mt Baldy for 3 stages it was a good mix of trails for all riding abilities. Nothing real gnarly or technical just fast flowy exposed steep side hill single track with some long patches of loose rocky shail. It came down to how comfortable you felt going 30+ mph on the side of a hill with the possibility of missing a turn and launching yourself off the edge.

Heading up to the top of day 2. Looking back at the Valley. Bummer we had to ride all the way down every time.

A strong field of riders turned up, Geoff Kabush, Aaron Bradford, Mark Wier and Giant's Carl Decker to name a few. Wrapped up the weekend with an hour and a half of racing under my belt and took 9th overall which turned out to be my best Enduro finish of the year. I rode 4 solid stages and got 5th in the pump track challenge for an extra time bonus. My pump track run wasnt anything amazing but it turns out I've spent a few hours in the kitchen and am no stranger to vegetable peeler. I had a clean race not making many mistakes, crashes or have any mechanicals. But Enduro is about taking chances and letting it all hang out there so next round I need to ride a little less conservative. Carl Decker ended up taking the overall Win showing that skinsuits aren't just for TT bikes and that you don't need baggy shorts and jerseys to ride your bike like a hooligan downhill. Nice work Carl!

 

 

Above is a video of my run on the pump track. Next up after the Enduro was a week of hanging out in SV and Marathon Nationals the following weekend. More on that here soon.

-Brennan