Rider's Perspective: The Enduro World Series Experience

2015 has now officially come to a close and I couldn’t have pictured a better location or more exciting race to end it all off. As I write this I’m somewhere high above the Atlantic putting off some school assignments and reflecting on an amazing trip. After finishing up the cross-country season at Cranworx Whistler, it was weird to have most of August without any more races to focus on. It was the first time since 2007 that I’ve finished the XC season so early. That meant only one thing; riding fun bikes and prepping for these EWS races.

Last year I raced the Finale Ligure EWS round as my first ‘big' enduro. After only a couple local BC Enduro’s the big show was pretty amazing and I surprised myself with a top-30 finish and a couple top-20 stages along the way. After that, I definitely made sure to have the Spain and Italy race rounds as a way to cap off this season.


After one of the best summers I’ve ever had that was filled with some good bike racing, riding in amazing places, camping trips and general adventuring, this trip was like a cinnamon bun with no icing (I don’t like the icing...)

My buddy Mckay Vezina and I signed up early in the year and planned a trip over with his family. We essentially went as privateers but with his family coming along it pretty much gave us the support of a big team. This trip was meant to be a little more relaxed than the usual DH World Cups Mckay attends and XC World Cups I attend, as it’s not what we focused on this year. With the additional help of SRAM it really allowed us to be at ease.


The Zona Zero race in Spain had some unique trails and a good variety of terrain. The three days of practice leading in were big and took their toll though the practice helped a ton. On top of that, the 4 hour marathon race I did the day before flying out maybe wasn’t the best prep but a local race – The Test of Humanity – that support Canadian Humanitarian efforts isn’t something to miss. However, it did reinforce the fitness was still there and I was able to take the win against 2X Canadian marathon national champion, Cory Wallace.


The spark in the legs wasn’t there for Spain, but the drive was, and with two fairly consistent days – apart from two reserved runs – I stayed clean and finished up 33rd. Hungry and hungry after that one, and not just for results but pizza in Italy. We had a great crew of riders to spend the transitions with Mckay Vezina, Mark Wallace, Julien Camellini, and Gusti Wildahber. There were quite a few timing delays over the two days that pushed Sunday out to almost 8 hours and with that, an absolute freak out from the rain gods cancelled the final stage because the timing was set up in a dry creek bed that came alive. The rain started to fall about twenty seconds after finishing my final stage. I was lucky to miss the slip n’ slide adventure that all the final riders dealt with.


Over the ten-hour drive to Finale there was a must-stop-coffee-stop deviation to La Fabrica in Girona, Spain. Fellow Canuck – Christian Meier of Orica-Greenedge – owns a coffee shop with his wife. Best coffee of the trip there and we made sure to have a few to savour the taste.


Thursday ended up being the only practice in Finale due to a threatening "stormageddon" that was scheduled to hit Friday. Last year it was 30+ degrees and sunny, while this year it was dark and cool with rain threatening. In total, the week turned out to be the least amount of riding I’ve done since returning from Finale last year. It allowed for some touristy activities and many, many gelatos.


Unfortunately due to the rain stage 1 was cancelled and was probably the favourite stage among racers. Another awesome crew to transfer with made the weekend enjoyable and relaxing. It consisted of mainly a DH crew plus myself as an XC'er: Mckay Vezina, Mark Wallace, Greg Williamson and Zakarias Johansen. We called ourselves the C team. The terrain was great, again, with a mix of limestone, dust, rock faces, loose gravel, and some muddy sections. It tested the fitness level of many with some hard pedal sections. The crowds for this event were amazing and people scattered the mountain sides to cheer us on, which is one of the many perks when B lining down a mountain and breathing like Darth Vader underneath the full races.


The first stage was a pedal fest and I had hoped for a lot more than a 25th being an XC guy. Lots more learning to ride these big bikes fast and efficiently. That stage result set the tone for the weekend and I rode all stages between 25 and 27th, except for one. Maybe a little too ‘safe’ on some stages again but that resulted in no major mistakes and only a couple dabs between the two weekends. Just one close call on day 1 in Finale with a full-face-to-stem smooch that sent a holy $hit adrenaline shot through the body.


This weekend ended with a 25th and I'm pretty excited with that result after only my third EWS. Only 0.5 of a second separated 22nd-25th and it just shows how competitive this racing is. I’m pretty excited to take that into the off-season, I mean the full-on-school-overload season, and head into next year for some big XC plans and hopefully a few more of these Enduro World Series races too. It was an amazing year and many great people were involved in making it happen.

Evan Guthrie
www.evanguthrie.com

Supported by:
Norco Bicycles / @norcobicycles
Granfondo Axel Merckx
ProSource Irrigation Supply
Tree Brewing
Gorman Bros. Lumber
Victor Projects
The Bike Barn
Dissent Labs / @dissentlabs
Northwave Shoes / @northwavecycling
Live to Play Sports
Smith Optics / @SmithOptics

So long 2015. Looking forward to a big 2016 year!

Ciao,
All photos by Chris Vezina