Nevados de Chillan held this first round of the Enduro World Series with amazing fall colours that stuned everybody with this type of view of the Andes.
This was the first time as Montenbaikers that we had the chance to see the forest in these colours. Each corner was different and brighter. It was a real gift to be there on that weekend.
Iago Garay from Santa Cruz was one of the fast guys on his new Nomad.
Dakar is a Special Stage that was full of volcanic sand on the top part, here a rider mimicked by this huge Andean mountain.
Anka Martin pushing her Juliana Roubion to get to the top of the Fumarolas.
Dylan Wolsky one of the Nomads came back to Chile after the Andes Pacifico to continue shreding the trails in Nevados de Chilan.
Fabien Barel was one the favourites, specially after he did 4th the weekend before in the first round of the Montenbaik Enduro Series in La Parva. But on the first stage he had a huge crash. Dispite that he continue racing the whole day. After a visit to the doctor and lot of pain he decide to don't continue with the race. Finally, he had a fracture on his back and it was very close to his spine. Get well soon Fab!!!
Jerome Clementz in the middle of ancient forests of Nevados de Chillan.
Sven Martin is one of the photographers I admire the most in the world of mountain biking, besides being a genius with the camera, he goes very fast on the bike.
This time in the first turn of the Candonga stage, I wanted to challenge him with my camera, shooting him at the right moment he was next to me. The result of this mission was to clench my finger with his rear wheel causing a blowout on my index finger.
Sven 1 / Claudio 0.
What a Crash!!! Sandy terrain is always tricky...
Ben Cruz full gas before to get to the finish line.
Nico Prudencio (GIANT Chile), the best Chilean, finished 23rd. Very good result for this young man.
Tracy Mosley had a good weekend finishing second after Anne Caro.
Anne Caroline Chausson had a blast on this first round, she mainly won all the stages and beat half of the Elite men. She Rocks our Sport!!
Felipe Vasquez a living legend in the Chilen Montenbaiking scene was able to beat all the dinosaurs that were on the Master category.
There was some hiking involved to get to some stages, but they were worth it. Here all the riders to get to Valle Hermoso stage, that was the favorite, with really good flow on some amazing singletracks.
Yoann Barelli confessed to us that this was probably the best race that he ever been. Thanks Amigo!!!
The last stage "Candado XL" was going to define the race - just two seconds was the gap between Graves and Clementz.
When Jared arrived to the finish line he didn't look happy with his last run... of course... he lost the race against Jerome on that one, after leading the whole weekend.
Jerome on this last stage was on a mission and he did accomplish it.
Fastest mens: Jerome Clementz on the top followed by Jared Graves and on third place, Florian Nicolai
Fastest girls: Anne Caroline Chausson, Tracy Mosley and Cecile Ravanel
Bon travaille Anne Caro et Jerome!!!
Pictures by Claudio Olguin
Video by Omar "Waazaa " Salas
It just made guys doing a 2 minute run down a greasy hill look like amateur hour.
What I would say is that this video is probably better than almost all coming from the WC DH at the moment, probably due to red bull restricting access and the videographers editing ability. But then again I can watch DH live in a reasonably well covered race.
So if you are talking about post race DH edits i might agree, the rest I cant agree with. Its like saying F1 is amateur beacuse a multi stage rally video looks awesome
I think the video is better because the subject matter is leaps and bounds better. I couldn't give a toss about racing either of the last two DH World Cups but I was incredibly jealous of the guys racing that EWS. I agree with your analogy regarding F1 and WRC, both are visually impressive but WRC is something most people who enjoy driving would love to participate in regardless of their ability.
I've loved riding the DH bike and watching the racing over the years but I think it's going to get swamped by Enduro. It's just far more accessible for the majority of riders to participate in and relate to.
and name anyone in the enduro scene that's beaten gwin, Smith, Atherton, hill, blenkinsop at DH in the last five years. Barel is a good example from my perspective - he retired from wc dh as he said it was too difficult and hard for him to compete at the top.
you are absolutely correct about accessibility. I want to see guys who can do things that I think are impossible, the fastest guys in the world!
so maybe we are just both looking for and talking about two different things
I never said an Enduro racer beat anyone at World Cup DH. I think Barel quit because he was wrecking his body not because he couldn't compete. After all, he was the podium in his last race. The problem with DH is the difference between winning and loosing can be less than a second so the guys are taking huge chances and getting serious injuries in the process. Look at Hill. Macdonald, Brosnan, Cole etc. the're all young guys who have lost seasons due to injuries. It was getting ridiculous a couple years ago and I think the response as been less steep, rowdy courses.
Like I say, with companies like Yeti dropping their DH team to concentrate on Enduro and other manufacturers making big investments in teams, I only see Enduro getting bigger which will almost definitely come at DH racing a expense.
this video here is also nice to watch becaus of the awsome landscape and the riders pushing hard. but i think the pro riders risk the same as the DH guys . a lot of riders fall down or get hurt during enduro. especialy the elite will go all in becaus it is ther job.
and pleas stop to argument that enduro is so much better ect why not just enjoy watch enduro and let the other guys enjoy dh .
at least we are all here because we love riding bikes right ???
Check the Heatmap, Jerome is hardly holding back ever
But what's the 1st music?
Your life must be so EPICLY STELLAR if this bores you...