First light and a truck full of bikes. BME Operations crew has some very early days.
Big Mountain Enduro would not be possible without all the hard work of the operations crew. Long before any racers arrives the crew set up an aid station high above Durango at the top of Kennebec Pass.
The top of stage one greeted racers with amazing views and a resupply after a grunt of climb first thing in the morning.
No race would happen without the hard work of the BME operations crew.
The top of Kennebec Pass has no shortage of views. It seems like you can see for 100s of miles up there.
Yeti Ambassador Nate Hills always seems to be smiling from ear to ear while on his bike. He had a great weekend of very tight racing finishing in second in the Open/pro race.
JHK, still fast as ever and taking wins. He edged out Nate Hills by less then two seconds on stage one.
Mike West getting foot loose on the start of stage one. West had a tough go with six flats on day one. He was still all smiles and looking forward to the next BME race.
An unknown racer navigates the opening of stage one.
Proving he has what it takes, Marco Osborne finishes another weekend of racing on the podium taking home third.
Eric Landis has been having a great season so far. With a top 20 finish in every stage of BME racing, he is hoping to make his way into the top ten in the upcoming races.
Durango local Anthony Diaz was a favourite to win. After four hard fought stages Anthony finished in fourth place.
After missing the opening BME race, Heather started off with a bang taking the overall win in the Open/pro women category.
After an early season injury, Krista Park is back on the mountain bike and couldn't be happier. Even though she is still restricted on what she "can do" on the bike, she still was able to race her way to a third place finish.
No stranger to bike racing, Sarah Rawley has been behind the scenes in more races then most people know. Not only does she help make great events happen, she is also fast on her bike. This weekend earning herself a fourth place finish.
Mid way through stage one racers began a long sequence of tight corners. Zach Spinhirne-Martin navigates through one of the tightest corners.
An unknown rider carves down stage one. After starting well above tree line, racers rode their way all the way back to town by the end of day one.
Durango local and young ripper Jack Tescher was easily the youngest racer and the age of 10. He did an amazing job on some very challenging stages.
Evidence of carnage.
An all too common scene at the bottom of stage one. Stage one tested your riding and equipment to the max and was sure to find a weak point. Cole Trout seals up a slow leak on his front tire.
George Rogers of Salt Lake City smashes through yet another scree field on the first day of racing.
Macky Franklin made his debut to the Big Mountain Enduro podium with a 5th place finish overall. He hopes to continue edging his way to the top step.
JHK missed the first BME race due to duties of being his brother's best man. In Durango he was rearing and ready to race, taking the overall win on the weekend.
Alex Petitdemange had a strong weekend of racing, finishing in the top 12 in every stage.
Brittany Clawson finds the smooth line through stage 3 on Snake Charmer.
After not racing for several years, Nick Simcik is back testing out enduro racing. "I love this format of racing. It reminds me of downhill racing a lot!"
Stage three and the trail Snake Charmer was easily the roughest trail with some fast tight turns mixed in. Adam Prosise and his rasta kit of Rude Boy Racing flies down the trail.
The fourth and final stage had some extremely fast wide open sections. Shawn Gregory keeps the speed high.
Stage four was one of the most pedally stages of the weekend sending racers down to the Carbon Junction Trailhead. Phillip Martin had a great stage 4 finishing fourth.
1 Heather Irmiger, 2 Cait Dmitriew, 3 Krista Park, 4 Sarah Rawley, 5 Alexandra Pavon
Popping bottles! 1 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, 2 Nate Hills, 3 Marco Osborne, 4 Anthony Diaz, 5 Macky Franklin
Open/Pro men enjoying some champagne after a weekend of hard racing.
For more info on Big Mountain Enduro visit their website. Full results found here. Story and photos by Devon Balet.
Open shell helmet, lycra, no glove/pad.. How do they dare calling this 'Big Mountain Enduro'? I know I'm French but still... Full face helmets are mandatory out there as well as knee pads and back protector. Trails and atmosphere look incredible though
All stages are pretty gnarly. However, our race promoters nor venues determine type of equipment. Helmets are mandatory, but not type. The lyrca guys were doing it for publicity
First of all day one had 3,500 feet of climbing in it at altitude thus full face and full armor was not favorable yet that scree field was rather sketchy and scary. Day two featured heat in the upper 90's Fahrenheit.
Team rude boy was infamous throughout the bme's for being a little on the insane side with tank-tops, matching #enduro hip packs (rasta too), and rasta skinduits. I saw some wear skinsuits with their full face and neckbrace on stage 7 at snowmass. Team rasta also created a laid back atmosphere with their pre-race run nervous pee commentaries for some good laughs.
Trust me polarproton, the riding in Durango is perfectly doable on a hardtail with lycra and an xc rig. At the same time the enduro stages would have been stupid hard with all the armor and gear for French rules. Kennebeck starts at about 11,700 feet and descends to 6,800ish feet. A mid-travel bike with xc or trail gear works perfect for around here. Snakecharmer sucks on a hardtail and stiff shoes though, your feet get sore from all the chatter.
I still don't know why they call these events in the US, Enduro when the XC Race are held in much more technical terrain specially in the Eastern seaboard! Wear what you want, ride what you want....land of the regulated!
Such a fun event, great location with awesome trails and the people are what make it what it is! Thanks to the crew at Big Mountain Enduro for another great weekend!
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I know I'm French but still... Full face helmets are mandatory out there as well as knee pads and back protector.
Trails and atmosphere look incredible though
Team rude boy was infamous throughout the bme's for being a little on the insane side with tank-tops, matching #enduro hip packs (rasta too), and rasta skinduits. I saw some wear skinsuits with their full face and neckbrace on stage 7 at snowmass. Team rasta also created a laid back atmosphere with their pre-race run nervous pee commentaries for some good laughs.
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