Race Report: Big Mountain Enduro Round 3 - Telluride, CO
The third stop of the Yeti Cycles Big Mountain Enduro presented by Maxxis hit the road to the mighty San Juans for some true big mountain riding in Telluride, Colorado this past weekend. For those unfamiliar with Telluride, its pretty much an outdoorsy adult Disney World located in the Swiss Alps of Colorado, and it served as a first time visit for Big Mountain Enduro.
Pretty much a perfect start to a big day in a place that eschews what Big Mountain Enduro caliber racing is all about.
Another large sized field of 400 plus racers tested their selves on a mix of Telluride bike park and remote backcountry singletrack. The one day race included nearly 7,800 feet of descending and 3,000 feet of climbing for a big day in the saddle with 4 challenging stages.
Thumbs up on the climb to stage two.
A massive climb took racers through epic stands of Aspen to the start of the Deep Creek Trail.
After a high speed bike park stage, racers transitioned across the valley for a large climb to stage 2. No question, stage 2 was a highlight of the day, and sent racers down some of the most ripping singletrack you can find in Colorado.
Evan Geankoplis rails the big backcountry stage of the race, stage two, on his way to taking his first overall pro win at the Big Mountain Enduro.
Jake Ingram takes the overall in the Expert Open class.
Lia Westermann swept every stage for her first overall victory in the Pro Women's class.
Cooper Ott finished second to Lia, and is looking to regain her dominance from last year as soon as she can dispatch with the bad luck that has plagued her this year.
Travis Claypool rallied for the Men's U21 overall win.
While racers were on stages 2 and 3, a typical afternoon storm rolled through, shut down the lifts, and left everyone waiting for the hero dirt and blue skies that would follow for stage 4.
Scott Countryman giving it a dig in the bike park berms of stage four.
Alejandro Gonzalez sends it on the fun hip jump towards the bottom of stage four to take 10th in the Pro Men's race.
Carson Lange takes a big second place at this 3rd stop.
First place for Expert Men's Jake Ingram.
A flat on stage one had Richie Rude scratching back time with a win on stages 2 and 4 to finish in third overall.
Zephyer Sylvester climbs the ranks for a 5th place on the Pro Women's podium.
Lacey Anderson locked in another podium with a 4th overall in the Pro Women.
Improving on her BME results, Antonia Wurth rode to a respectable 6th place in the Pro Women's race.
Lia Westermann on rails on stage 4.
Stefanie McDaniel had another solid race to claim third overall in the Pro Women's race.
Lush ferns populate the vast Aspen stands.
Lauren Bingham took 7th in the Pro Women just after winning the U21 stars and stripes enduro jersey at the USAC National Championships just two days prior.
Beautiful peaks in every direction in Telluride.
Richie Rude grabbed the win in the new-to-BME downhill race on the old World Cup DH course.
A big day on the bike yielded some haggard racers at the end of the day.
Women's podium: Lacey Andersen, Cooper Ott, Lia Westermann, Stefania McDaniel, Sephyr Sylvester.
Men's Podium: Todd Renwick, Carson Lange, Evan Geankoplis, Richie Rude, Clayton Otto.
Full results here, https://www.bigmountainenduro.com/schedule/bme-telluride-co/
Coming up next in a short minute is the 4th stop for the Big Mountain Enduro Series at another new stop in Big Sky, Montana. With two days of racing and a massive amount of Montana two-wheeled goodness on tap, stay tuned for some more great enduro racing.
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1. The organizers decided to run the pro class first. I'll tell you why below.
2. Stage 2 transfer included a 1,700 foot hike-a-bike. Yes you read that right. And it took an hour. Then another 15min wait at the top.
3. Stage 3 had a transfer that started with a fire road descent, then across the valley to a 25minute 700foot hike-a-bike. I marched along behind Richie Rude. SO NOBODY WAS RIDING IT. Stage 3 transfer took 2hrs10min (excluding the 35min lightning delay). I kept moving and no mechanicals. 8.5miles, 700' up and maybe 1,100 feet down after getting of the lift.
4. Stage 3. 12 minute wait, nothing could be done about it. The 3rd stage was a blue trail with 2 rocks and 3 roots. No drops, no tech, just a blue single track with 2 foot high grass and a foot wide trail to try and go fast on.
5. After all that, ZERO aid was given except for medical support.
6. Transfer to stage 4. So we exited stage 3 and immediately started back to the lift. Knowing now that there was no way to get to the lift by 4:30 (because it was 4:30 at the bottom of 3) we boogied along to ride the free Gondola up, then ride up the fire road to stage 4. 8.5 miles and another 1,400 feet of climbing landed us at the lift at 5:45pm.
7. STAGE 4 WAS CANCELLED DUE TO A WEDDING!!!!!
So with a 35minute lift delay excluded, we were on our bikes or hiking... for 6 hrs and 25min. Give or take.
Now you know why they started the fast classes first. BECAUSE BME KNEW THE PROs WOULDN'T FINISH IN TIME.
I can go on all day about how down right sad this event was. 33+ miles, 7hrs, 2,400' of hiking 3,100 feet of climbing to find out your day is done because of a wedding.
It’s pretty clear that the BME team knew this and put the pros first to ensure they got to finish in time.
For real, I shouldn't have to wander around trying to find water only to find one half-sized container on the podium.
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