Cascadia Dirt Cup: Yacolt Burn Enduro Recap

"Junuary" according to urbandictionary.com is a term commonly referring to January like weather (ie: rain, hail, coldness) when it is in fact June. This phenomenon is uncommon in most parts of the world, except Washington (Cascadia). This pretty much sums up the weather leading to the the CDC series opener at Yacolt Burn State Forest in SW Washington. With 4 stages over 20 miles and nearly 4000ft climbing/descending to cover racers embraced the conditions, and in true Cascadian fashion, made the best of it.


The Cold Creek Mountain Bikers are a chapter of Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and the local trail stewards of Yacolt Burn State Forest. Over the years they have worked tirelessly to build a strong relationship with the Department of Natural Resources which has resulted in one of the first mountain bike specific trails on state land. This is a big deal folks.

Fine Cascadian mud.

Number plates before and after.

It's great to see Mathew Slaven back and looking strong. 2nd place among the pros.

In dry conditions there would be very little pedaling during the 4 timed stages, but in the wet conditions folks had to power through some sloppy sections to maintain speed.

When the rain finally relented it wasn't long before trail conditions improved.

Charging hard on Stage 2.

The sun did make a brief appearance. If you look hard you can see shadows.

One favorite section of the course was this rock garden on stage 4. Line choice was crucial because at the end is a narrow bridge you had to aim for. If you were off you ended up in a creek.

On stage 3 riders had a choice to keep it low and smooth...

Or go big!

After a challenging day in the saddle the EPIC Racing Team discuss how they fared throughout the day.

Most people made a beeline to the beer garden after their race concluded...

While others decided to freshen up a bit.

Pro Men: 1st - Alex "KrunkShox" McGuinnis, 2nd - Mathew Slaven, 3rd - Darrin Seeds. 4th - Nick Tuttle, 5th - Scott Kemp.

The day ended with a little sunshine, big smiles and excitement for Round 2 on July 26th at Dry Hill, just outside Port Angeles, WA.

Full Results

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