Rocky Mountain High: EWS Round 5, Aspen-Snowmass
Here we are in Aspen, Colorado for round five of the Enduro World Series. One of the poshest ski communities in the United States, the median home price in Aspen is $1,533,000. Not only are the home prices lofty, so is the elevation. Aspen sits at about 10,000 feet, you could say the air is rare up here. We are looking at two days of racing hosted by the Big Mountain Enduro series. Six stages with over 15,000 feet of descending on sweet Colorado singletrack. Most of the racing will be lift accessed and this time around we are only looking at 1,700 feet of climbing, which is all for the better considering the lack of oxygen. The trails are dry and dusty, and some stages have estimated times of 15 plus minutes. BME has put in some fresh new sections of trail, so this will be an interesting one.
Richie Rude comes off a dominating win in La Thuile and will be guns a blazing. Martin Maes will be returning after his crash in Fort Bill to give chase to Rude. Sam Hill will be sitting this one out, but Oton and Nicolai will be doing their best to put the pressure on Richie. Cecile Ravanel is clearly out in front with Isabeau Courdurier closing the gap as the season progresses. Anneke Beerten returns from illness and will also be in the mix here in Aspen, and could pull off a win. For now though, we get a lay of the land and check out some of the stages on the media recce before racing gets underway.
Coming to Colorado from the American West, things look a bit different. To get to the high mountains one must travel through mile upon mile of high altitude desert.
Aspen trees stacked upon aspen trees in Aspen.
We stopped along the way from Denver to get some views in the Indian Peaks Wilderness.
Brainard lake, the gateway to the Indian Peaks Wilderness sits at over 10,000 feet.
Colorado certainly isn't short on views.
Afternoon thunderstorms are the norm at these elevations, and while common, they don't really ever drop enough moisture to relieve the dry and dusty ground.
Media recce day isn't just a chance for the photographers to preview the stages, it is also a chance for organizers to have one last dry run through everything before racers set off. Often times that means quite a bit of course maintenance either in the name of safety or for better flow.
Glacial streams run off the higher summits to feed the alpine lakes below.
The last remnants of winter are melting fast under the hot Colorado summer sun.
Lots of fresh cut trails were added to stages 1 and 3, and while the surface is fairly soft and almost loamy, it is turning to dust very quickly in the dry summer heat.
It's pretty hard to beat the feeling of fast flowy singletrack through a grove of aspen trees. Luckily there are plenty of sections like this on just about every stage.
There is a bike park on the Snowmass side of the venue, but other than this jump and maybe a berm or two, racers won't be riding any of it.
Two-thirds of the way up the gondola, and we are at 3140 meters. That's over 12,000 feet in America speak.
Tucking through the flowers near the top of stage 3.
Big mountains and even bigger skies, and when you get up high enough you can see for miles and miles.
It's a long way to the top of stage 3. Over 3,000 vertical feet to be exact, and the way back down will be one of the hardest challenges of the weekend. Both technical and physical, as well as devoid of oxygen, riders are going to be completely spent at the end of this one.
Chris Seager limbers up before jumping into the media recce.
Big views and big beers. EWS round five is in the land of the large.
Dave Trumpore lays it into some fresh Colorado brown pow on stage three.
The tall grass will be another challenge for riders as it limits their sight around some corners as well as their ability to look ahead. This wouldn't be a huge deal except the speeds in these open sections are some of the fastest we will see all year.
Matt Delorme navigates through the aspens on stage 3.
Peak wildflower season is a bit sparse this year due to the extremely high heat and a summer dry spell, but a few of the more hardy ones are still around in the big open meadows.
Classic Colorado riding is on top this weekend with singletrack twisting in and out of aspen trees and across open grassy meadows, often times at very high speed.
Seager takes the huck to flat line, not the racer line on stage two.
GT mechanic, Eli Woody gets some early laps in at the park.
We weren't sure if this was the real deal, but we figured we could get a sample tested.
After a rough season, Jared Graves is looking for some redemption here in Aspen. Colorado has always treated Jared well during the EWS in years past and we have a feeling this year will be no different.
New wheels and new van graphics with Cody Kelley in the Yeti pits.
Mitch Ropelato claims he got lost on his way to Mont-Sainte-Anne. We're not fully buying that story, but either way, we are glad to see Mitch back at the EWS.
After a terrific result a few weeks ago in La Thuile, Curtis Keen arrives at his "home" EWS with that ever important boost in confidence.
"Whoa Brown, that's too much!" Katy Winton and Casey Brown team up to make some proper racing fuel.
The Aspen Rodeo kicked off the week for racers on Wednesday night, many of who had never seen such a spectacle in the flesh. Perhaps a few will be inspired by the horsepower on display; Something they are going to need in spades this weekend.
Race fuel?
We watched the dirt fly during a bit of barrel racing at the Snowmass rodeo.
Real cowboy spurs, not the decorative kind some of the wealthier residents might wear to certain social functions.
If the bull tames you, you lose. As will be the case for all of the EWS racers here in Aspen.
If you can tame the bull you win.
A quick event update from the first practice session... Richie Rude took a massive crash on his 2nd training run and spent the day in the hospital. Word is he has a mild separated shoulder and is questionable for racing this weekend. He will probably sit out of all of the remaining training sessions though, and if he does race he will be hitting each stage blind.
Still curious why they call it Aspen.
Loading into the cage and onto the bull, this bull rider will try and stay on for eight seconds.
Loading onto the back of a pissed off bull is no easy task.
Now that the bull is out and trying to free itself of the annoyance on its back, it's best to get out of the way.
Let the dust fly, it's time to get buck wild here in Aspen.
MENTIONS: @mdelorme / @davetrump
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dv42 0.577227
Hell of a crash indeed. Right pedal hit smthing.
(just kidding).
Harry: Oh yeah, and go where? Where are we gonna go?
Lloyd: I’ll tell you where. Someplace warm. A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like salmon of Capistrano. I’m talking about a little place called Aspen.
Harry: Oh, I don’t know, Lloyd. The French are a*sholes.
Lloyd: So where are you headin’?
Mary: Aspen.
Lloyd: Hmmm, California! Beautiful!