California Enduro Series Golden Tour Round 1: China Peak

The first round of the California Enduro Series Golden Tour, which brings a cash purse of over $8,000 for the Pro Categories, made its debut at the China Peak Ski Resort in the mountains high above Fresno CA. Saturday's racer attendance had some powerhouses among the nearly 400 participants, including Brian Lopes, Rachel Throop, Evan Geankoplis, Kathy Pruitt, Ryan Gardner, Jeff Kendall-Weed and more, creating a stacked field of Pro Participants. Temps would peak in the mid 80's and the soil would be sampled many times by riders who would get caught up in the loose conditions, going down in every fashion imaginable. Let's take a closer look at how it all panned out.


The racers were pumped to start a day, full of challenging courses and conditions after attending the Saturday morning rider's meeting.

Kali Protectives was on hand as a new sponsor for the series. They were offering a crash replacement for anyone that wrecked their helmet - that rider received a new Kali Helmet in exchange for the broken one.

After a quick look over the vendor area, we headed up the hill to see what kind of action we could find.

Janea Perry calling in the support crew. She lost a bolt on her derailer hanger during the climb up to stage 1. She would ride back down, repair it and then pedal back up to the top. Perry made the cut off for every stage and finished 4th in the Pro Women's category. She's a true testament of perseverance. Great work Janea!

The view of the lake from the top of China Peak is amazing. Bud from China Peak advised this weekend was the busiest for the area, with the Enduro Fest, a Road Bicycle Race from Fresno to the summit and back down, a regatta at the lake and the first weekend of the boy scout summer camp. We didn't find any congestion in the area, it was simply a beautiful weekend.

The top of Stage 2 at the first round of the California Enduro Series Golden Tour offered great views of Lake Huntington.

Kathy Pruitt smashing stage 2 on her way to first place.

All riders used the lift for access going from stage 2 back up to stage 3, a major change for the course versus last year. Not only did it offer a little reprieve but it allowed the day to flow much quicker. Pro and expert riders still climbed over 3500 feet and sport / beginner covered about half that.

Halfway through the race, we spotted this guy at the Kali Tent! This dude smashed his Lid during race day, traded it up to a Kali helmet and then went back out to finish the day.

Back to racing action - The entrance to the lower section of stage 3 sums it up pretty well "Gnarly". Stage 3 would be the featured stage for both the TRP Brake Zone and the KOM / QOM presented by Rabobank.

Noah Catropa, raced open men. This is the first of the rock gardens on the Gnarly Trail and you can see Noah get's out of shape quickly. He would recover and finish 4th in the category.

Lauren Gregg started out recovering from her torn muscle in her left leg with a decent finish at Toro last round, but the top tier competition at the opening round of the Golden Tour would prove too hard to overcome for Gregg. She would finish 11th out of 13.

Rachel Throop came screamin' past us on stage 3. This is the only shot we could get of her before she swooped around the corner and disappeared into the trees.

The TRP Brake Zone was in effect again. This time on a steeper, more technical section. The fastest speed of the day, 17.9mph down that rocky, loose chute on stage 3. It is unbelievable that someone could go that fast through that chute!

At the bottom of Stage 3 the flags for Rabobank flew, reminding everyone which stage the KOM / QOM competition was on.

Stage 4 was for the experts and pros only. It was technical for sure, but in a different way than stage 3. Tech sections were shorter versus stage 3 which was nearly an entire stage of technical challenges.

Brian Lopes on his first place stage 4 run. He would take the overall victory at China Peak.

Ryan Gardner, Kona Norcal Cooperative Pro Rider starts to lean into the loose corner on stage 4. Ryan would finish in 3rd in the Pro Category.

Evan Turpin, throwing down on the pasta meal that was included for every racer who participated in Saturday's event.

Grady is a little grom with big power. He pushed this bike around for hours after the race. Rocking the full face helmet with the flipped up bill and the Taco Tongue. No doubt he will grow up to be a shredder.

Brian Lopes gives us a quick bike check after his win. He was on his Intense Carbine 29. Obviously a winning machine for technical, loose conditions. Great work Lopes!

Lou Mollineda and Steven Gemelos take a quick pic. Lou is the manager of the Path Bike Shop Team. He won the SRAM Guide brakes. Lou said "I bought $40 worth of tickets and won." SRAM provides a set of Guide brakes for every round as a raffle prize.


The Rabobank KOM and QOM on stage 3 offered $100 for the fastest man and woman in every category Beginner Through Pro. Here were the winners: Pro KOM - Brian Lopes Pro QOM - Kathy Pruitt Exp KOM - Matt Guntert Exp QOM - Megan Welch Sport KOM - Ryan Loader Sport QOM - Merel Witteveen Beg KOM - Steven Anzel Beg QOM - Rachel Seymour

The Pro ladies set the tone of the champagne shower, after party. Kathy Pruitt, 1st place (total time: 26:24.40) cracks the bottle open and gets first fire on the crowd. Amy Morrison 2nd place (total time: 27:38.80) works on getting her bottle open as 3rd place Jackie Swider (total time: 28:16.20) stands chillin'. 4th place finisher Janea Perry (total time: 28:31.60 stands aside the shower festivities and 5th place Rachel Throop (total time: 28:33.70) keeps her hands up in celebration.

Getting Blasted! Brian Lopes (total time: 22:56.10) on the top step of the podium, gets a champagne shower from Ryan Gardner who took 3rd place (total time: 23:30) as Evan Geankoplis 2nd place (total time: 23:22.20) and Derek Teel 5th place (total time: 23:44.40) shield themselves. Evan Turpen laughs hysterically from the 4th place position (total time: 23:36.90)

Join us for the next round, when the series heads to Ashland Oregon!

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MENTIONS: @calienduro / @BrianLopes55 / @JeffWeed / @KaliProtectives / @MarinBikes / @vpcomponents / @SramMedia

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