Specialized-SRAM Enduro Race 2 - Lago di Garda
While the first round of the German Specialized-SRAM enduro season was only last weekend, they didn't want to wait around for the second race, tying into the Lake Garda festival this week. It's more or less the start point of the European season and usually an excuse for the mountain bike industry to get together and ride bikes, drink beer and enjoy the stunning surroundings. This year the enduro race has been cranked up a few levels now it is part of the German series. A stacked field of racers has descended on the already rammed town and the start list for Saturday's race includes Jerome Clementz, Fabien Barel, Anneke Beerten and Dan Atherton. We spent the build up to the race with Anneke Beerten and the guys at Specialized as they prepared for what looks like it will be the biggest race of the German season and the last real chance to go racing before the first round of the Enduro World Series...
www.enduroseries,net
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 Specialized have a fleet of the new Enduro 29s on test here. They weren't taking any chances on their security, so they took them up to their rooms with them at night. |
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| To get enough runs in for training, it was an early start for Anneke Beerten, heading out before the town had a chance to wake up. |
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| Thursday was setup day for the festival, so as we arrived to head out and ride, many of the exhibitors were just getting here and building there stands. |
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| We also ran into the world's best pizza delivery boys in the setup area... Both Brett Tippie and Wade Simmons are out with busted right arms, but they're still here to enjoy the festival. |
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| With a 1,600m race course, shuttles were the best option for practice. Fortunately the trails being used for the race are all easily accessible by road, so a normal van was all that was needed. |
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| Lake Garda. No caption necessary... |
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| This wins the week's award for best improvisation. This is such a simple, yet effective way of making your own chainguide. It was being run with a triple rings setup and an old-school mech, yet it seemed to do the job on the rough terrain here. |
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| Zee Germans are coming! Actually the Germans have been here in Lake Garda for a long time. There seems to be an informal competition going on between some of the XC riders to see who can fit the most crap on their handlebars. The unholy combination of a riser bar and bar ends just finishes the look off perfectly. |
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| Anneke won the first round of the series last weekend and she looks a good bet to repeat that again this weekend. Unlike some of the male 4X riders, she isn't powerfully built and her background of racing downhill means she has all the bikes skills to really do well in these kind of races. |
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| This more or less sums up the surface here in Garda. It is covered with these kind of loose rocks, making for unique conditions. It takes a while to get work out how far you can let the bike go and how far you need to keep things in check to ride fast here. |
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| We have to thank Specialized's Paddy for not only driving the shuttle on Thursday, but helping a journalist out when he mangled his disc on a flying rock. |
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| The narrow roads meant some close calls shuttling, if you were lucky it was a chance to say ciao to the people heading the other way. |
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| Blue tiger print lycra? Strong look buddy. |
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| Later in the day, Anneke was running trains with the Gehrig twins, Anita and Caro. All three of these girls will be wanting to be standing on the podium come Saturday evening though. |
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| We ran into one of Germany's fastest pinners, Max Schumann on course. He's always a joy to shoot, making a section this deceptively rough section look fun to play with. |
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| Toby Woggon is one of the few fast riders who opted for big wheels for this race, the general consensus being that when the going is this technical, 26 (or 27.5) is a better call. |
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| This is what Garda has been known for, for a long time - the rock climbing. |
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| Some of the passages on stages three and four were just flatout on the loose rocks. |
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| Daniel Schaefer is another one of the fast German riders to keep an eye on this weekend. |
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| Georgy, the race organiser, is also the man behind the Ischgl enduro. After a hard day running around on Thursday, making the last minute preparations, we ran into him sitting back with a well-deserved beer. |
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| After practice, some of the female riders stopped by to discuss the course with the race organisers. |
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| Racing this weekend is German women's downhill legend, Antje Kramer. Coming down from the stages in practice, she was making it clear that this is a tough race, both on the way up and down. She finished third at round one of the series last weekend and with such a technical course, her downhill skills put her in a strong position for another good result this week. |
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| Joost Wichman is another rider who has decided to start riding more enduro this year. While he'll happily joke that he doesn't need to worry about being fast as he's a team manager now, he wasn't hanging around in practice, looking relaxed in the technical sections. Unfortunately late on Thursday, he went down hard and had to head for the hospital to get his knee looked at. |
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| After a day training on the courses, Anneke and her mechanic, Paddy, made their plan for the next day. |
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| On Thursday evening an ugly thunderstorm rolled around the hills, but in the end amounted to very little more than a few light showers. |
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| While checking out the course for the prologue on Friday, the Canyon Team posed for the obligatory team portrait. We're not sure, but we reckon Joe Barnes was just waiting for a chance to get his six-pack out for the camera... |
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| Canyon bikes have come a long, long way in the last few years... |
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| The prologue was held on the dirt area just outside the main arena. A giant, dirty thunderstorm rolled around those hills, spat a few drops on the prologue, but then seemed to think better of it. What it does tonight is another matter and there seems to be little point looking at the weather forecasts as they are useless right now. One person hoping for the sky to open because after everyone else has been saying they were hoping for a dry race, he reckons the greasy conditions would be an advantage to him. |
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| Even on completely the wrong bike for the job, big BMX-style berms like this still look like a hell of a lot of fun. |
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| Fans lined the edges of the dirt area to watch the prologue and the dirt jumping going on at the same time. |
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| Dan Atherton was looking strong on the pump track this evening and has been enjoying the technical course here in Lake Garda. He's been on a new training plan this winter, so it's going to be interesting to see how he goes tomorrow. |
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| Fabien Barel is looking ready for the weekend. |
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| Jerome Clementz can handle a bike anywhere, making the pump track look easy. |
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| Back from the hospital, Joost Wichman was trackside to cheer his team on and heckle. |
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| There were a few tricky flat corners on the course that gave riders problems. Here Max Schumann threads it through. |
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| After Anneke's win in the prologue, Paddy puts in the final prep for tomorrow. |
www.enduroseries,net
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I remember a top french rider once said it won't be enduro anymore when the guys will show up with rollers at the start. I wonder how long we'll have to wait to see that, but pretty sure it's coming.
With the permission to race on such legendary public trails like the 601 or SKULL we took the option to legalize the shuttles during the training. The series wants to feature the host areas style of enduro. Tomorrow during the race all riders have to pedal up.
atletas.info/las-ciclistas-mas-bellas-del-mundo-al-desnudo
Fabien barrel wins!
On a 26"