California Enduro Series Golden Tour - Northstar Gnar Day 1

Sunset Thursday as we arrived in Tahoe really set the stage for what would turn out to be a great start to the event.


We were stoked to see several riders up Friday for practice.


Mini Pinner - Blake Wray looking smooth on stage 2 during practice.


Marco Osborne sends a pallet drop at the bottom of stage 2 during practice Friday. Saturday's Day 1 of racing would leave him sitting in 3rd place.


Big Trees served as part of stage 2 and it lived up to its name.


Kathy Pruitt negotiating the rocks on stage 2.


Great Form through the rollers on stage 2


Essence Barton and Brianne Spiersch take a moment together at the end of Practice Friday. Fast company hangs out together.


Thomas and Amy Rambacher check in at registration on Friday. They made the 10-hour trip up from Southern California.


Derek Teel of the NorCal Cooperative Kona Team picked up his registration and custom Northstar CES shirt. He looked smooth during Practice and at the end of day one is sitting in the 5th place spot.

At the end of Practice it was clear that loose trails and technical rock sections would challenge riders throughout the weekend.

Saturday morning greeted riders with mild temps and an info-filled racer meeting. Pro and Expert riders would climb up to the top of stage 1 while Sport and Beginner riders would climb up to stage 3.


Local Rider Tim Krentz proves that with age comes wisdom. He sits in 2nd place after day one, just twelve seconds behind Curtis Keene.


Rabobank had the KOM QOM on stage two, the longest stage of the weekend. They put up $100 for every category for the fastest Man and Woman on the day.



Keene new Redbull lid looks mint and he proved he had wings, which propelled him into 1st place at the end of day one.


Kathy Pruitt hucks the rock drop on Boondocks, which served as stage 3 of the race.


Evan Geankoplis, took the high line, which was clearly a quick route. He would finish in 4th on the day, just over 20 seconds off first place.


Need a shot block? They're tasty and they provide a boost to push you through the day.


SRAM tech support checks out a racers bike at the end of day 1. SRAM not only does racer support for the series they also donated a set of Guide Brakes to giveaway at each race round.


Fox Tech Rep, Chris Zegers, keeping racers' suspension dialed.


Clif Bar, a sponsor of the series saw a lot of traffic today during the race as they had plenty of products on hand to nourish riders to the finish.

All of day one's results can be found on Bike Monkey's Website: www.rhes.us/live

Tomorrow brings day two. It will be exciting to watch how things pan out. Stay Tuned!