Race Recap: Risk and Reward - Retallack Enduro
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If Whistler is the Disney Land of mountain biking, Retallack Lodge is surely the Red Light District of Amsterdam. Imagine all of your guiltiest vices; endless singletrack, steep roots, manicured berms, groomed jumps, 6 kegs of Bad Tattoo Beer, technical alpine descents and the most expansive views of true Canadian wilderness. This is Retallack.
Retallack isn't a bike park, it isn't a trail network and it most definitely isn't a place for a Sunday ride. This is a place to experience real MOUNTAIN biking. When you play in the mountains you only hope that the reward is worth the risk. Welcome to the Retallack Enduro.
The BC Enduro Series worked extensively with Mike Kinrade and the Retallack crew to create the most unique race of the season. Think of a start-line at 2500m, a trail with a section called Spastic Colon, Rain, Mud, Lightning, Snow, long Hike-a-bikes, Bottomless Beer and a bit of controversy and you can just start to think of what you missed out on.
Results are here.
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"The event almost ended before it began. During course marking we constantly had to ask ourselves, is this too much!?"
Retallack (Peak Course Marking for BCES)Posted by BC Enduro Series on Thursday, September 3, 2015
We had riders sending messages asking for stages to be removed, refusing to ride and asking us to consider people's well-being. It was something as organizers we toiled with. Do we send people on an adventure of a life-time or should we be conservative. My soul is happy and my hand is sore from high-fives. We chose adventure.
We only had two rules: No strava, No GPSing.
A massive thank-you to this year's series sponsors:
Osprey Packs
Kazoom
Steam Donkey
Alpine Stars / @AlpinestarsMTB
Race Face / @raceface
Pinkbike
Bond Training
Smith Optics / @SmithOptics
Bean Around The World
Fouriers
Action Sports Clinic
Anyone who Volunteered with us and anyone who helped with a shuttle, a beer or a spare tube!
And of course those that support the Retallack Lodge Enduro Event: NRG Enterprises in Nelson, Bad Tattoo Brewery in Penticton, Sacred Rides in Nelson (they kept of lot of riders in the race during the weekend with mid course repairs), Devin that was MC'ing all weekend, and of course Mike Kinrade and all the trail builders and staff at Retallack Lodge.
The Course - This race was a blind race. Scary.
Stage 1 - Riders were allowed to hike the trail prior to racing it. This left a few riders with stains in their pants and a lot of messages left on mom's voicemail. But in the end, all of the riders ate some concrete and hardened up. This was one of the gnarliest sections of trail. Evan Wall JR U19 Champion's instagram post: "Made it to Retallack last night and got to walk some bits of stage one, by far some of the gnarliest sections of trail I've seen in the @bc_enduro_series races, and I couldn't be more stoked!"
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 Evan Guthrie, XC World Cup racer, loving the extra suspension on his Norco Range as he gets spicy on Stage 1! |
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| Quentin Emeriau styling down the wet and slippery roots of stage one. This stage was loose, it was an absolute treat to see riders and their survival smiles at the end of the stage. The crux to the stage was a very, very slippery wooden bridge, right at the end of the stage. Next year, we'll be adding some grip on that feature. |
Good times at the BC Enduro Series last weekend, I wish I'd recorded more of those to tell our journey!
Posted by Quentin Emeriau on Tuesday, September 8, 2015
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| Tara going full-enduro on the bridge. Never go full enduro. Never. |
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| Adam Craig and I had an interesting conversation about blind racing. He's a big fan and definitely knows how to hold the throttle wide-open. He'll be at the Single Speed Cyclocross World Champs defending his beer...I mean title. |
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| That's a well earned smile, should have seen her crushing the last chute! |
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| The Canmore/Banff Crew, why are they smiling, while pushing their bikes? 6000ft Descent. Not to mention that they are all regulars on the podium and were finishing at the lodge, where they were staying. Benefits of staying at the lodge, sharing some laughs with the trail crew, a hot-tub, seared tuna, lamb shanks, single malt scotch. |
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| Marty is a ski-guide and quite the bike pilot. If he's stoked, you know that there must have been some partying on bikes! |
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| Don't drop that Thun, Thun, Thun, Thun! |
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| Day 1 results and a stacked field of more then 30 women. We're pumped to see more women out to the races, these ladies are absolute gems and from my experience in the shuttle truck, their trail conversation is way more enlightened than the men. I'm pretty sure they could solve World Peace. Meanwhile, the guys are still trying to figure out 29"+. |
Stage 3 | Reco Peak - State of Mine
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| Mike Kinrade is a real life mountain man, a visionary and one of mountain biking's most influential proponents. Orest, the guy with the rake. He was crowned Volunteer of the year. This is why. Both his sons race in the series, he volunteers every race and never shy's away from a little adventure. Look out for him on his Chromag hard-tail, if you can catch him. Thanks Orest! |
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| Alonso Flores, making his way to Retallack, all the way from the Chilean Patagonia. I gave him the last minute call to let him know he got an entry. He made the drive from Kimberley and was ecstatic when he found out he would be the forerunner! |
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| Not a bad place for a walk with your bike! |
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| Just a couple of Endurbro's hanging out. Spencer and Yoann both had quite the case on Stage 2. I'm sure someone will post it in the comments. It's worth a check. |
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| Jack Menzies, toughest youngin' on the circuit! |
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| 13 year old Neve Abraham, he's half your size and double your speed. Here he is dropping in to Stage 4 on Guitar Solo and had nothing but smiles all weekend. There was a close, tough competition between the 15 & Under category this summer. |
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| Let the party start! |
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| We offered up $100 to anyone who could beat Mike Kinrade's time on Stage 4. Yoann Barelli was the only one up to the challenge and he just squeaked past Mike by one second. Not to mention, Mike was on a DH bike and barely pedalled on the roads! A true gentleman, Yoann gave the money back to Mike, to put into the trails. Most likely for the repairs needed on the berms that Yoann likely destroyed. Thanks Yoann! |
We donated over $3500 back to the trails here at Retallack, I'm sure Jakub has already raked every single rut.
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| Pro-Men BC Overall Champs. James Rennie and Spencer Wight |
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1) Yoann Barelli
2) Evan Guthrie
3) Brodie Evans
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| Pro Trail Dog Third Place - 'Cadence'. Yes, she drinks beer. But if you go too slow on the climbs, she's bound to nip your calves. |
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| Dad, how high can you bunny hop!? |
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| Mike Kinrade, semi-finals, party-bike bunnyhop contest. Thanks to Devin Knopf for bringing the party! |
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| Our lawyers told me not to comment. |
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Retallack Video Coming Soon!
Also, we will be putting out the 2016 calendar at some point in October, stay tuned!
Thanks to Scott Robarts and John Dougall for the pictures for the weekend. The rest of the collection (over 200 images) can be found HERE.
Scott is doing a fundraiser for WAG (Whistler Animal Shelter) where 50% of all photo purchases will be donated to WAG. Click HERE to purchase pics.
Thanks to Caillum Smith at Preserved Light Photography for the video that is still to come.
The guys from Germany (Sportograf) also made their way out and have thousands of pics for purchase where you can search by your race number HERE
#BCES #BCEnduroSeries / @bcenduroseries
www.facebook.com/bcenduroseries
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Spencer white crashing
@tiredsoul & @zshipowick let's have a one on one chat about this. PM me and we can set it up rather than PB posts. We can do the "you build yours and we build ours" but I'd like to keep the relationship going. Thought the area would have been stoked on the greater $$$ amounts of labour and permits that we have put into the your trails.
Talk soon. PS we will still be working on the trail next week.