Hey y’all! It’s a little late, but here is the Mammoth recap!

First off, after last year with Brian’s accident I was pretty sure I didn’t like Mammoth all that much. It turns out, I REALLY do LOVE MAMMOTH! The terrain is different than anything we are used to and because it’s so centrally located there are very few people that race with local knowledge, so everyone is on the same page come race day!

This year I had some of my favorite local fans (as I call them) come and race their first enduro! I met them one day out on a local ride and from there on out they called me, “BriLikesBikes” and pretty much tormented the crap out of me. After we rode a few times together I told them they should come out and race, so they signed up!!

Brian decided he wasn’t going to race, but he was going to have fun and just demo bikes and ride with my dad. He pretty much had a blast the whole weekend which, of course, made me very happy!

A few days before the race, I went out pre-riding with my teammate and awesome friend Essence. Unfortunately when we were on our way down, I came up upon her laying on the ground wrapped around a rock and the bike was on top of her. Momma Bri went into full on rescue mode! Essence is a pretty tough cookie, so when she was in a lot of pain and trying to pass out on me I knew I had to get her down the mountain. The easiest way was to get her on my back and carry her down, luckily she is a wee little thing or that might not have been possible!! We got her down to the medical truck where they put her on oxygen and carried her down the mountain to take her to the hospital. She ended up ok with some pretty intense bruising and little concussion, but unfortunately she wasn’t able to race.

Pre Preride with Essence

When I say I have your back, I mean it!

Another reason why Mammoth was so fun was because I got to hang out with my friend Porsha, who lives in Bend. I don’t often get to see her, so when I do I make sure to spend as much time as possible with her!! We did some pre-riding together and then Essence, Porsha and I went exploring with Brian and my parents to the Devil’s Postpile. It was an incredible sight to see!

Me, Porsha and our new Ashland buddy Lars

Essence, Porsha and I at the Minaret Lookout

Devil’s Postpile

Race day came and I was stoked because I just love the course so much! It was the best I felt all year, that’s saying a lot since I was knocked on my ass with Epstein Barr. It was the first race I felt somewhat competitive all year! I caught someone on every single stage, I stayed upright all day and just had fun! I met some new friends, caught up with old friends and really enjoyed the last race. I ended up 7th for the day, less than 30 seconds off the podium which was a huge gain for me for the year! I only wish the season lasted longer so I could have made more gains!! Here are some shots from my race runs.

I don’t think I have ever been more excited for the next season as I am now! This year was a struggle for sure, but I will always over come and challenge that is put in front of me.

I want to thank my sponsors again for making this year possible!!!

Marin Bikes, Rabobank, WTB, KMC Chain, E*Thirteen, Bell Helmets, Skratch Labs, Sweet Protection, G-Form, Smith Optics, Analog Forest, Glace Cryotherapy, Grifall Chiropractic, Spoke Consulting, Doug Chandler Performance and Twin Six.

As many of you may now know by now, this year has plagued me with the Epstein Barr virus, aka Mono. It was a rough beginning of the year trying to figure out what was wrong with me and why I was so sick.

For those that aren’t familiar with Epstein Barr, it’s a very difficult virus to get diagnosed with and then once you do, there isn’t anything you can take to get better. You just have to REST!!! You can have flu like symptoms, but most of all you are extremely exhausted. I had zero energy and swollen glands in my neck that looked like marbles poking out!  My doctors told me no riding for at least 8 weeks!

CES Fontana | I have never been more excited to finish a race! I didn’t feel good at all!

No riding for at least 8 weeks, this was a huge blow. I had only done one CES race, Fontana, which I barely finished (I was on antibiotics racing and later learned I shouldn’t have even been on my bike) and then Sea Otter Classic. SOC was a bit better than Fontana, but not by much. Me being off my bike basically meant I wasn’t going to be able to race much this season, if at all. I absolutely love racing and I LOVE my Marin Bikes even more because they make it so fun and easy to do well on! Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to race at my two favorite local races, Battle Born and Toro Park, I started off by setting a goal to possibly race at China Peak. As time went on I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I was just too tired and I had only been doing walks/hikes after a few weeks of nothing. China Peak isn’t a race that you want to try and jump into, it’s pretty technical, plus it’s a lot of pedaling and in past years been VERY HOT! I decided to make a more realistic goal and set my first race back to be the Northstar enduro.

China Peak 2015

Since I couldn’t ride, it was time for some new low effort activities. I started taking walks/hikes in some of our local parks and I also started Paddleboarding. Paddleboarding has been great because it doesn’t take a ton of effort (well for my recovery purposes anyway) and I could work on my balance!

Point Lobos Park with the girls, Kelsey and Autumn

Paddleboarding in Pacific Grove

Headstands!

My happy place, Pyramid Lake!

Since I still had time off from work for some of these races, I kept that time off and started heading to the mountains to practice at Northstar. N* is a challenging course just like China Peak, there are lots of rocks, roots and drops! I knew my fitness probably wouldn’t be back for the race, but I could at least get comfortable riding the techy trails. I went up to N* and rode about 6 times before the race, while I wasn’t fast, I was doing things that I wasn’t comfortable doing in the past. Some of my weaknesses are jumps and drops, so I just worked on those every time I was up there and it helped a LOT! I was getting better and feeling more comfortable than I have ever felt before with being in the air!

Northstar Fun

I realized that my goal for N* was going to be A – to finish the race (It’s a 2 day race and would be more riding then I had done in 4 months!) and B – to stay on my bike. I figured this was a realistic goal! So Friday, practice day, before the race I went out to take one last look at the trails before the race.  I was SOOOO happy to see so many of my friends and to just be back on the bike with them. So many people were so stoked for me too, which was a bonus. Turns out folks like to see me out there. 🙂

I don’t think people really understood that just because I was racing didn’t mean that I was back to my race shape. It takes time, and I’m doing everything I can to get back to where I know I can and should be! So it was pretty funny when the girls kept saying, Bri, you go in front of me….no I’m good! I just hung out in the back and that was absolutely fine with me! I was just so happy to be there.

Day one was a fairly easy trail day, so I knew staying on the bike would be pretty easy! I pretty much made it to the top of each stage just in time for my start times, usually I am one of the faster pedalers to each of the stages because of my xc background, but this day I was the turtle!!  I think we did about 3k of climbing and were on our bikes for a few hours, I was ready to head home and rest! As soon as I got home I took a nap, I was so exhausted!!

Day 2 was the more technical trail day so I knew staying on the bike was going to be a bit more challenging especially with my fatigue from the day before. We started with Gypsy which is my favorite trail out there and then headed to Sticks and Stones and Karpiel. I nailed all of the jumps/drops I had been working on and I made it down each of the stages without crashing! It was a huge success!! That was the biggest two days of riding I had done since the beginning of the year. While I finished at the end of the pack, I was ok with that, because I know I am getting back to shape and making my way back to where I was pre Epstein Barr!

Northstar 2016 Enduro

Photo credit: Scott @ Called to Creation

I’m getting better every day, I still really have to pay attention to my energy levels and take naps when I feel tired so I don’t over do it. Relapses can happen, so it’s important for me to really listen to my body.

I just took a trip to Mammoth this last weekend and had a blast, although it WAS FREEZING!! I’m really looking forward to racing the last CES race up there in two weeks and I’m REALLY looking forward to next year. I’m ready for a fresh start and a killer 2017 Season!

Slowest, funniest tip over of my life!

Special thanks to all of my sponsors for making all of this possible! Marin Bikes, Rabobank, Wilderness Trail Bikes, KMC Chain, E13 Components, Skratch Labs, G-form, Smith Optics, Sweet Protection, Grifall Chiropractic and Glace Cryotherapy.

Stay tuned for more updates from the Mammoth Race!

What an exciting day! We had a stage finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, so I headed out to the track to stalk Taylor Phinney, I mean, watch the finish! Here are some pictures from the afternoon!

PETER!

Since my Spokies love him so much, I thought I would see if he would give a little shout out to the team!!

Well, I’m feeling a tiny bit better every day but I still haven’t been on the bike yet, so I had to sit this race out… my home course. I will let Brian and Dillon take this one for me!

Brian ended up 3rd, with Micah taking the top step.

The little Bae ended up with the #1 spot for the day!

Well since we last talked, I have unfortunately been diagnosed with Epstein Barr aka Mono, which is relieving to know what’s been wrong with me for the last couple of months, but at the same time EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING because I’m going to be out for a while. It’s time for me to really listen to my body, rest and recover. There isn’t anything that can be done to make epstein barr go away except for REST, REST, REST. Those of you that know me, know that this isn’t going to be an easy task! 🙁

So I got to be a spectator at Battle Born this year, which is a real bummer since this is my second home town and I really love this course a lot. Last year I ended up in 2nd and really wanted to make that a #1 this year, I guess that will have to wait!

I packed up my chair and went over to the different stages to watch the Brian and Dillon go through the course. Steve wasn’t racing either, so he drove me around all day in his SUPER AWESOME Toyota 4Runner!

I love this shot that Scott from Called to Creation got of Steve and I! <3

First we went over to stage 5 and watched everyone go through the rock garden. Brian and Dillon looked super smooth through here! This is my favorite stage, I would have preferred to be racing it! LOL

Next we went over to where a couple of the stages meet and I just sat and waiting in the wind, which was super gnarly this year! I guess you have to decide, would you rather have wind or heat?! I’m not sure which is worse, probably the wind as it sucks your time. Scott decided he wanted to take a break, so he came and hung out with me!

Brian had a rough day with a crash and some mechanicals and ended up having Micah help him fix his bike so he could finish the race, but he still managed a Top 10 finish in 8th place!