This past Saturday was the first California Enduro Series round at Mammoth Bar in Auburn, CA. Since Brian is focusing on Moto this year, my road trip buddy is, the one and only, Dillon Santos!!
We headed up Friday morning to meet Tom with California Expeditions shuttle to check out the trails one last time before the race. We met up with Essence and some of our other friends to dial in our lines for the day and it was a warm one, so I was super thankful knowing that the weather was going to cool down for race day! I chose to race my Attack Trail aka The Purple People Eater, and was happy to have it for some of the rocky sections on the stages. Plus, it gets me right through some of the fast loose technical sections effortlessly!
Me, Brittany and Essence pre-riding!
Fellow Marin Team Rider, Brian Astell, was out there showing some folks the trails as well as teaching them some skills!
Race day started off nice and cool, thank goodness, since we had to climb out of Mammoth Bar to get to the first stage. We had to wait a bit before we could start the race as the CES team was trying to figure out some issues with the new timing system, so my legs got a little jelly and cold while waiting. When the pro men started, we were all watching at the first turn and we watched several of them take a wide line and they pretty much yard sailed down the hill. I knew it was going to be safer to go slow there and not do what they did. I pushed pretty hard on the first stage, which had a decent climb in it and I was pretty gassed when I got to the end.
Stage 2 (My stage 1)
We had a short transfer to the next stage so we got there pretty quick and again had to wait a little bit before we started. I felt bad for the timing crew knowing that they were running the new system and doing the best they could! This was probably the most pedally stage of the day and I thought that I knew the trail ok, but I ended up losing quite a bit of time trying to remember where the short climbs were and when I had to shift. I clipped a few pedals on rocks and couldn’t get clipped in…I hate when that happens!! You can tell from the pic below that I was totally gassed!! HAHA!!
Stage 3 (my stage 2)
Once we were done with the 2nd race stage we headed to the other side of the hill to hit my favorite trails. This next transfer was the longest that we had so I dropped it in a low gear and kept the heart rate down. About halfway up the climb there is a really cool view of a damn from the lake, Zach and I took a photo break . 🙂
This second to last stage was my favorite, it was a run down Culvert. With the help of Dillon, I dialed my lines in and felt the most confident on this stage. I ended up in a “Silent Cheering Corner” that was hysterical, I have never seen anyone do that before, I kept thinking it’s so quiet I can hear my bike!! Here’s a video of the corner that California Enduro Series took:
I ended up tied for 2nd place on the stage, so I was super stoked for my good run! Thanks to my cheering corner!
The last stage was on the famous Confluence trail, this was a long pedaly stage as well but the pedaling was down hill. I kept misjudging the section of the trail that I was in which is a problem that I find when you pre-ride a course just enough to where you think you know the trail but you don’t so you anticipate things in the wrong places.
Shot from Called to Creation!
Overall I was happy with the day, I stayed on the bike and didn’t crash. I ended up 7th for the day, I am going into this season a little bit slower than in years past so that I don’t have any issues with my health like I did last year. I’m stoked to keep building this season and I’m super excited for the next round which is at Toro Park, (my backyard) since I didn’t get to race it last year.
I will be working with California Enduro Series and Girls Rock to do a women’s pre-ride of the course on the 20th of May, come out and join me!!
Happy Pedaling!