Superenduro Round 3, Pogno - Friday Setup

Jun 8, 2012
by Matt Wragg  
Italy was the first country to have an enduro national championships, crowning their first champion last year. As the championship rolls into Pogno this weekend, riders will fight it out for the coveted tricolour champions' jersey. Only one man has ever worn that jersey - Andrea Bruno. The big man from Cuneo comes into this weekend off the back of a win at the last round at Punta Ala, one where the form sheet said he shouldn't do well. But Pogno is the backyard of his two big rivals, Davide Sottocornola and Alex Lupato, and you can bet that they are going to want to hammer home that advantage.

While only an Italian can win the championship, this is still a full round of the Superenduro PRO series and a more than a few foreign riders have made the trip over to come and race. Not least among them, Nico Vouilloz. It's is his first Superenduro race of this year, last year he looked to dominate every race he entered, but had no luck with mechanicals. Al Stock will be looking to go one better than his second at the last round in Punta Ala, if he hadn't crashed on stage four it was his win for the taking. Nico's fellow countryman, Karim Amour, hasn't won a Superenduro PRO round in a while and will definitely be after a win. One rider who was looking strong for this weekend, especially if it keeps raining, was Paul Aston, but he's out with a broken hand from training.

MTB i Gufi.
  These are the people behind this weekend's race - the club MTB i Gufi (the translation is Owls MTB). While many of the races are at bike destinations, or places that want to become bike destinations, this race is different. It's here because this group of people want to be part of the Superenduro series so much. They put a huge amount of their spare time into getting the area ready for raceday.

MTB i Gufi club meeting to prepare for the race.
  The late-night, pre-race club meeting for MTB i Gufi. All these guys have jobs elsewhere, they do this for the love and are all volunteers, so they can only find time to meet late in the evening. In the nights before the race, they go over every detail, down to the little things, like which side of a tree some tape should be to keep the course safe.

The sports centre race control for the weekend.

Preparations for the race.
  The village sports hall is the centre of everything for the MTB i Gufi club this weekend, all their organising works out of here. Today it has been getting the village ready and those last minute trail touches.

Panda 4x4ing

Panda 4x4ing
  One of the big jobs this afternoon was putting the final touches to the course - start boards, finish boards and a little more tape. To get up the wet, slippery dirt tracks there was only one thing to take: a 4x4 Fiat Panda. You wouldn't believe the things that little car with road tyres got up.

Putting up the signage.
  Although they might seem like small details, getting these signs up was an afternoon's work.

Taping out the course.
  At the meeting the night before, someone had seen a line where people were cutting the course, so Simone gets the tape out to make sure people stay on track.

No shortcuts.
  No shortcuts.

Rain...
  How's the weather here in Pogno right now? This about says it all, but with the sandy soil, it dries quickly, so if it doesn't rain for a few hours the courses changeg from slippery to perfect hero dirt...

Trail conditions.
  This is what it looked like out on track this afternoon.

Nico Vouilloz and Karim Amour
  These two were hanging around the car park this morning... French legends, Nico Vouilloz (left) and Karim Amour.

Last man in the car park.

The mudguard and the deer damage.
  You can see Al Stock wants this one. Last man in the car park in the rain making sure his bikes were ok. On his trip over Bambi decided to step in front of his new van and did that damage. Al 1 - Bambi 0.

650B...
  Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Will it make the baby Jesus weep? Nope, it's just a mountain bike with a different wheel size. German rider Max Schumann is trying out a 650B prototype from German company, Carver, this weekend. He seems to like it.

The shuttle.
  I'm not sure I'd want to see this dangling inside the door of an uplift truck I was about to climb into.

Trail hucking.
  Pogno is Davide Sottocornola's backyard and you can see that in his riding. Here he just boosted this out of nowhere and put the bike down again twenty or so feet further down the trail. His answer when asked if he wanted the jersey on Sunday? "Yes."

Anita Gehrig and Caroline Gehrig playing follow me.
  The Gehrig twins, Anita and Caro have made the trip over from Switzerland for their first Superenduro race this weekend. They're pretty chilled out about the whole thing, but don't be surprised to see them on the podium come Sunday.

Anita Gehrig and Caroline Gehrig on the steep switchbacks.
  Stages one, two and four all finish on this series of switchbacks. Coming into them you going flatout, then suddenly find yourself carrying that speed into tight corners. If you have the confidence you can ride a lot of the walls and carry much more speed that you'd expect, but if you make a small mistake chances are you'll be paddling round them. The Gehrig twins make it look easy.

Slippery
  Not everyone made the conditions look so easy.

Lago di Orta.

Santuario di Madonna del Sasso.
  Pogno sits on the edge of the plain, just above the beautiful Lake Orta and above that perches the stunning Santuario di Madonna del Sasso.

That's it for today from Pogno... It's about time for that age-old race tradition of sky-watching to try and guess what the heavens will do tomorrow. The forecasts say it will be sunnier, but who's ever trusted a forecast when it comes to racing?

www.superenduromtb.com

Author Info:
mattwragg avatar

Member since Oct 29, 2006
753 articles

32 Comments
  • 30 0
 Needs some video coverage, i feel like im missing so much action.

I blame PB for all the quality videos on here you have spoilt me Razz
  • 14 8
 Come here and make one then.
  • 9 5
 buy me a canon 7d and pay for my flights and i will
  • 17 17
 Nobody gave me a camera or paid for me to cover my first race. Don't sit at home and moan about things if you're not out there doing anything yourself.
  • 2 2
 mah.. di gente pronta a filmare qualche video DECENTE รจ pieno! peccato che nessuno ci arrivi Smile
  • 5 1
 mattwragg, ur in italy already so you do it we cant afford to get out there you lazy bugger
  • 3 4
 Boom aaronclixby7 got strait up burned. good defense matt
  • 1 2
 weekend wheels normally get the first video out, have a look there.
  • 1 0
 Dude im 17, maybe when i can stand on my own two feet i will buy one and fly there. lighten up a little i was only messing around.
  • 1 0
 but thanks for the awesome photos anyway
  • 6 0
 I really like the current swell of Enduro riding, it is good to see a race format that fits the weekend warrior like myself!
  • 2 4
 Oh I thought every kind of racing attracts weekend warriors, even DH. Only 4X doesn't, every WW can finish any XC or DH race, but very few will survive first double on 4x course
  • 4 0
 Too bad Bambi lost this round!
I wonder if he will be back?

Maybe on the Menu?
  • 1 0
 I don't think so.I have never seen roadkill come back to life. They come back as deer jerky....."bring out your wild side!" LOL!
  • 1 0
 Man I would love to see some bike checks! Maybe Nico`s Lapierre or Alex`s Kona. What gears are they useing, suspension setups... all that!
  • 1 0
 yeah! something like that would be cool!
  • 2 1
 Haha, it was me that did that bike check with Andrea.
  • 2 0
 it's awesome to see you guys talking about a place 40minutes near my home Smile
I will be there tomorrow or sunday
  • 3 0
 Looks sick!
  • 2 4
 I think it actually looks quite well
  • 1 0
 Is that a prototype Giro enduro full face lid i see in the back of that van?
  • 1 0
 These races appear to be well organized and growing by the month - pumped to see the results on Sunday.
  • 1 0
 The german prototype... is a prototype...
  • 1 0
 looks pretty sick, I don't care for 29'ers but 650 might be a good size for XC and maybe some all mountain as seen here
  • 1 0
 That bike is sweet, prototype or not. Super Enduro is a great application for 650b wheels. Where do I send the check for a pair of 650b Hans Dampfs?
  • 1 0
 The Superenduro's look soo sick! love to do one myself! Wink
  • 1 0
 Poor Italy.... on every race picture of their series is rain Frown
  • 2 1
 Loving the Pics Matt
  • 2 0
 I thought you were about to say poor italy, meaning they have no money....lol
  • 1 0
 Don't forget to remove all those plastics from the trees! ;-)







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