Big Mountain Enduro- Snowmass
After two days of racing and timed runs, the dust has settled on Snowmass. This being the first race of the season for the Big Mountain Enduro, it was great to be back at the races and seeing all the friendly faces. Snowmass presents some extremely long and demanding courses. They may not be the most technical tracks known to enduro, but going all out for four plus miles at 10,000 feet will make a boy out of any man.
The number of women that showed up to race was exciting! That, along with a very strong junior class the future is bright for our sport. Enjoy a slew of images to tell the story from the weekend.
Full results here.
Round two of the Big Mountain Enduro is July 11-12 in Keystone, Colorado.
MENTIONS: @devonbalet
The number of women that showed up to race was exciting! That, along with a very strong junior class the future is bright for our sport. Enjoy a slew of images to tell the story from the weekend.
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 The Big Mountain Enduro operations crew is a hard working great group of guys that makes everything tick for race weekend. |
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| It's true, he does ride! Race organizer Brandon Ontiveros is typically the first down each course making sure everything is good to go for racing. |
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| Proper stretching is key to a good day on the bike. |
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| The woods are deep and dark on Aspen Mountain. |
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| Jacques "Frenchie" Houot doesn't let age be anything more than just a number. At the young age of 79 he keeps having fun on the bike. |
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| Who doesn't like a dusty high speed turn? |
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| Plenty of fresh lines were found on Aspen Mountain. |
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| No stranger to enduro racing or winning, Jared Graves is back to racing and finished day one in first, over a minute ahead of teammate Richie Rude in second. |
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| Day one proved to be a good day for Kelli Emmett, racing for Juliana Bikes. |
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| There is no shortage of views in the Aspen Snowmass area. |
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| Stage one sent racers to Aspen and the Power of One trail. Aspen Mountain is hugely popular for uphill hikers and downhill bikers. |
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| Where's the bike riding Waldo? |
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| Eric Landis of Grand Junction, Colorado had a great weekend of racing in Snowmass. He was all smiles at the end of the weekend finishing 16th overall. |
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| An unknown racer flies through a deep dusty turn on Valhalla. |
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| Snowmass Mountain and the Elk Camp gondola. |
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| The plant life on Snowmass is growing like crazy with all of the rain Colorado has seen lately. |
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| Roaring Fork Valley local Roy Benge squashes another jump on Valhalla to keep the speed up. |
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| Trek Factory Racer Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, or simply JHK is a tall man, standing over six feet, but he is still able to get tight and compact for the jumps on Valhalla. |
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| Mike West with his best turn down keeping the bike low and fast on Valhalla. |
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| The first round of the Big Mountain Enduro saw a great turn out of ladies racing making for a lady shred weekend. |
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| Stage four of six sent racers from the very top of Snowmass Resort and the longest stage of the weekend. |
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| Plenty of rock and dust to be found on Snowmass Mountain. |
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| Kelli Emmett had a great weekend of racing in Snowmass, proving why she is capable of racing on the world class level. |
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| Leigh Bowe with Colowrowdy race team had a great weekend of racing finishing fourth overall in the Pro Women's category. |
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| Stage four sent racers off of the top of Snowmass Mountain on the Vapor Trail. Sarah Rawley bangs through one of the countless turns on the course. |
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| A seasoned veteran Nate Hills had a strong weekend of racing rounding out the Yeti top three podium. |
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| Yeti racer Richie Rude was chasing his teammate Jared Graves all weekend, along with the rest of the Pro Men's field. Rude finished in second place with Nate Hills, another Yeti racer in third. |
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| It doesn't look like much from here, but the section just above was make it or break it for many racers. Steep, full of roots and flowing water tested everyone's skills. |
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| Still plenty of snow hanging around on Snowmass Mountain. |
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| One of only a few of the Pro Women to send the road drop on Bonsai DH, Krista Park is stoked to be back on the bike and healthy again! |
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| Recently moving to Niner Bikes, Alex Petitdemange makes quick work of Hell's Kitchen. |
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| Classic Hell's Kitchen scene on Bonsai DH; high speeds and tons of dust. |
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| It was amazing watching Jared Graves ride. So incredibly smooth and fast, you would never have thought he was just injured. |
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| Mike West blazes through the trees on Bonsai DH course. A rough go on stage four forced West out of the top ten for the weekend. |
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| Noah Sears with MRP takes flight on the last feature of the Bonsai DH course. |
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| Shimano just recently released the new XT 11 speed group. Two lucky racers will be winning a full XT groupo at the last race of the season. |
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| Pro Women's Podium |
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| Pro Men's champagne shower. |
Full results here.
Round two of the Big Mountain Enduro is July 11-12 in Keystone, Colorado.
MENTIONS: @devonbalet
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21 Comments
- 11 0
Dustfarter
(Jun 30, 2015 at 8:07)
As someone who is bummed about hitting 40 soon "Frenchie" at 79 gives some huge inspiration and hope to keep ripping. Mega props to that man!
- 4 0
sdm74
(Jun 30, 2015 at 8:25)
Right... We got another 40 to go!
- 8 0
Weekev
(Jun 30, 2015 at 13:37)
I'm doing the megavalanche for the first time this year at 50, so nice to know I've got at least another 30 yrs to look forward to! Its all in the mind, too many people give up too early. Use it or lose it!
- 1 0
m-t-g
(Jun 30, 2015 at 21:48)
Holy shit, Frenchie is still racing? Impressive.
- 1 0
TamKid
(Jul 2, 2015 at 13:13)
He is such a legend. I saw him at my first race on 06, great to see him charging and having fun!
- 8 0
Hotrod4989
(Jun 30, 2015 at 10:52)
That unknown racer... yep thats me!
- 5 0
brule
(Jun 30, 2015 at 8:43)
Awesome collection of shots @devonbalet - Looked like a great event.
- 2 0
devonbalet
(Jul 1, 2015 at 10:42)
Thanks!!! It was a little tough with a cast on my shooting hand!
- 1 0
MauricioMesa
(Jun 30, 2015 at 8:35)
BME races are awesome!! I was able to finished last year's 5 days CB race and it was the most exiting experience I have had on a bike!!! Looking forward to race again with BME soon.
- 4 0
JeffreyJim
(Jun 30, 2015 at 8:41)
DCamp - Suspension engineer and top 5 racer. Just saying.
- 2 0
mattsavage
(Jun 30, 2015 at 10:06)
Ontiveros needs to come back to Oregon and run the OES... He did a great job at the Super D series when he was out here. These OES guys could use some pointers...
- 2 0
herzalot
(Jun 30, 2015 at 18:02)
Great to see Graves again! I hope he and Richie dominate the rest of the EWS. No shortage of turquoise when races come to Colorado!
- 2 0
BMXICAN33
(Jul 1, 2015 at 20:49)
Would have been nice to see some of the juniors in those pictures. Did pinkbike forget about us?
- 3 0
a-m-c
(Jun 30, 2015 at 18:26)
looks like those fanny packs are here to stay….for a while.
- 2 0
bickdausten
(Jun 30, 2015 at 10:18)
Unknown racer in the 16th photo is 21 and under racer Josh Pottridge!!
- 2 0
devonbalet
(Jun 30, 2015 at 10:21)
Perfect! Thanks for the heads up! I'll try to get that fixed.
- 1 0
s-dub
(Jul 1, 2015 at 8:12)
Great event! Thanks for the photos!
- 1 0
ryansimonovich
(Jun 30, 2015 at 12:49)
Amazing lighting on some of these shots. Colorado is rad!
- 1 0
singletrack29er
(Jun 30, 2015 at 13:48)
Looks like an amazing venue for a race!!
- 2 3
yamaha0249
(Jun 30, 2015 at 14:19)
Colorado almost looks as nice as western Oregon......
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