Cascadia Dirt Cup: Round 1

Saturday June 29th was a historic day marking the 1st official race of the Cascadia Dirt Cup, Washington State’s premier Enduro Series. Presented by Diamondback Bicycles, Shimano, and Transition Bikes, the event went down in the aptly named town of Battle Ground, WA where riders from the PNW came out with full artillery ready to duke it out for the podium.

The event followed the standard enduro theme of multiple stages that need to be completed over a number of hours with intermittent climbing thrown in for good measure. The scenario in Battle Ground featured 3 stages, each just shy of 10 minutes by most riders times. There was also a fair bit of steep climbing before stages 1 and 3, with the latter being around 7 miles. Each rider had a total of four hours to complete the entire race. The blazing heat, a bit of an unfamiliar occurrence around these here parts, added that little extra punch to an already challenging course.


The more than 150 riders started out with a short 15 to 20 minute climb, that though steep, wasn’t unbearable. Stage one wasted no time in getting riders to “rock out”. The rock garden (or the Flinstones as the locals call it), looked more like some Martian planet than your typical NW trail ride. With rocks the size of soccer balls, the only thing to do was “surf that shit”, as one rider suggested before dropping in. The end of stage 1 offered as much rest as each rider felt they needed before rolling to the start line of stage 2 and diving in for another dose.

Between stages 2 and 3 was where the real kick in the groin occurred. With temps well over 90° Fahrenheit, the 7 mile climb took about an hour for most riders and put overall endurance to the test. The hydration station at the top was an easy crowd pleaser at this point, coming up just shy in popularity of the beer garden at the bottom of stage 3.


At the end of the day, it was every rider for themselves and Kona Factory rider Matt Slaven slayed the competition. Diamondback DF5 rider (and Team Robot’s own) Charlie Sponsel was just barely edged into a 2nd place finish with Stan Jorgensen of Freehub Magazine rounding out the top 3.


The end of the day culminated with beer drinking thanks to Laurelwood Brewing Co. and tasty burgers and wraps thanks to the Field Kitchen. The vibe was pretty awesome with everyone sitting together in the beer garden having a brew or standing around the stage awaiting results. To have everyone together after the race felt more like hanging out with a bunch of friends than most races. Everyone seemed to be accepting and cool… and I suppose that’s what event organizers were shooting for.

One of the best parts about the Cascadia Dirt Cup is that proceeds from the event will be given back to local community trail building and advocacy groups to benefit local trail development and maintenance. A check of $3000 was presented after the race to the Cold Creek Mountain Bikers who build and maintain the Yacolt Burn area trails, which are sick, by the way!

So with round 1 in the bag, we’re on to Dry Hill in Port Angeles, WA (home of the NW Cup) on July 20th for round 2 of the Cascadia Dirt Cup.

Results:
Pro Male:
1. Matthew Slaven (Kona)
2. Charlie (Team Robot) Sponsel (Diamondback)
3. Stan Jorgensen (Freehub)
4. Darrin Seeds (Transition)
5. Alexander "Crunkshox" McGuinnis (Team Krunk Shox)

Other results can be found on the Cascadia Dirt Cup website here.

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Super special thanks to Eric Albers, Trey Wilson, James Wihitesides, CCMTB, Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and all of the volunteers who helped to make this all possible.

Cascadia Dirt Cup and the Cold Creek Mountain Bikers would like to thank the following sponsors:

Diamondback Bicycles
Shimano
Transition Bikes
Freehub Magazine
Contour
Kore
Platypus
Clifbar
Raceface
Northwest riders clothing
IceToolz

Food & Drink:
Laurelwood Brewing Co
The Field Kitchen

Photo's courtesy of Bob Heimbuck