2017 Mammoth Bar Enduro

photo credit: Kasey Carames

5/6/17- The first round of the 2017 California Enduro Series found itself within the mountains just outside of old town Auburn this past weekend.  The sold out event saw 419 racers tackle a four stage course totalling just over 17 miles and 3,000 ft of elevation within the Auburn State Recreation Area; short physically demanding trails which consisted of loose, rocky terrain and punchy climbs created some tight racing among all classes. 

photo credit: Placer Foothills MTB club

For myself, Friday consisted of checking out the trails with the Scotts Valley Cyclesport team riders, working on the important factors of memorizing different features of each stage and practicing sections as close to race pace as possible in order to not have too many surprises come race day.  Saturday came bright and early, bringing some welcoming cooler tempuratures as well as pre-race nerves as we lined up for the first stage of Mossy Rock-Flood trail. 3 1/2 minutes of high speed fireroad into punchy single track climbs provided quite the wake up call for everyone's legs, I ended up with a smooth run but bit off the pace. After a quick 15 minute transfer over to Squirrel trail, some mental regrouping, and a blast of Hammer Nutrition goodies, it was go time. A steep, off camber descent to begin with raised the stoke level but the mix of flats into uphill sprints brought you deep into the pain cave.  I finally felt like I was in the groove, plus a 3rd place stage result was pretty sweet! The final two trails of Culvert and Confluence were the more technical ones of the day where loose corners and sharp rocks could make taking a dirt sample or mechanical easy to do.  Pedal, pedal, pedal was the name of the game and I was pleased to get down both without any mistakes.  

photo: Tom Schiller

Prior to the race weekend, what seemed like a pretty simple and easy race on paper, ended up being one of physically draining for both body and bike; but nonetheless good times and smiles were seen all around the pits.  Out of 27 riders in the Pro category, after times were tallied, I found myself in 9th place for the overall.  My goal for this season was to be competitive near the top 10, so I'm stoked to be starting off strong with much improvement over last year! Next up will be round 2 over Memorial Weekend in the rolling mountains of Toro Park...

Thanks for reading! 

- Nicky D

Sponsors: SV Cyclesport, Specialized Bicycles, Praxis Works, Gamut USA, Smith Optics, Hammer Nutrition, FOX, DNA cycling, Krawl Loco Clothing, Monster Army, Stikrd.com. 

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photo: Isaac Wallen