Race Report: The 2018 North American Enduro Cup
With over 9,000 ft. of climbing and over 16,000 ft. of total decent, the North American Enduro cup offered some epic and diverse terrain. With loose shale moto tracks, drops galore, moon dust knuckle punching turns and enough chunder to sell us out of tubes, Silver Mountain in Kellogg, Idaho had a little bit of everything for everyone.
With two days until the start of the North American Enduro Cup in Kellogg, ID, the Silver Mountain Bike Park trail crew was putting the final touches all over the place.
Rise and shine! Day 1 started with copious amounts of grub being cooked up at the base.
Call ups are posted and the countdown is on!
Six goats and two race promoters were sacrificed to ensure adequate precipitation over the course of the weekend. RIP.
Pro rider, Jimmy Smith, scrubbing at the top of Stage 2 on Day 1 at NAEC.
Fifth Place Pro Women's finisher, Alicia Leggett, carrying speed through Hot Beans during Stage 2.
Pro Rider, Aaron Bradford of Shimano, keeping it tight and loose through Stage 8 on Day 2 of the North American Enduro Cup.
Camber? Who needs camber! Adam price displays laser focus on the roots of Mutton Conductor.
Rocks on rocks on rocks. You like rocks? Yeah, we got em'.
Torsenn Brown proving that whenever there's time for air, there's time for style.
Amy Morrison of Fuji rode consistently all weekend and found herself 3rd overall by the end of the weekend, just over 30 seconds behind Porsha Murdock.
Carson Eiswald, on his way to the one-two NW cup-NAEC knock out punch. At what point do we crown this man the king of Silver Mountain?
Jason Polnau, Expert Men 40-49 winner, taking the inside line and kicking up dust on Stage 6.
Running on a fuel of IPAs and inner hate, Kelly Wood won the war of attrition in hard tail class by taking the #1 plate after his competition suffered a failed frame.
Nathan Kirschner pretends he's in a Mad Max movie.
HELL YEA BROTHER!
Bryce Oxley, coming into the race only 7 weeks out from breaking his back, rode like a champ and was able to finish both days. That's enduro bro.
Chelsea Kimball floating her way to a 4th place finish over the weekend.
Patrik Zuest spent the weekend correcting people's bad decisions and shattered dreams.
With heavy rains pounding the valley the evening of Day 1, Dialed MTB's mudguards were a highly sought after giveaway. Somewhere deep within the mob is one of the race directors, Tony Zammit. He made it out eventually, sans pants and shoes.
Bikes are getting lighter every year!
Pros and Experts start their long pedal up to Stage 7.
Carson Eiswald and another rider making the last push to the summit.
Pro and Expert riders take a break on the summit of Kellogg peak before dropping in on Stage 8.
Pro/Expert Riders hitting Stage 8 on Day 2 were greeted with stellar views and the threat of incoming weather. Luckily, mother nature held out and kept us dry.
Moto tracks, MTB tracks, deer tracks... stage 8 was a popular place for all sorts of traffic.
Take away the man's eMTB and it turns out he can still go pretty fast. Aaron Bradford, our Shimano Neutral support technician, came out of retirement this weekend and kept it tight but loose all the way to the third step of the podium.
While Layton Meyers kept it tight and clean down the Snake Pit, the broken tape to his right indicates that not everyone was as successful (including a certain photographer *cough*cough*Jason*cough*cough*).
As hard as it was not to enjoy the views while ripping down Stage 8, racers kept heads down and eyes pinned.
Sometimes we mark course just for the photographers. Enduro
Caleb Ely may not have taken the fast line, but he sure took the fun line.
Stage 8 was plenty rowdy, but Kyle Gillespie rode hard and earned himself the top spot in Expert Men 30-39.
Johnathan Helly proving that age is nothing but a number. He put up an impressive 04:42 finish for Stage 8, beating all of Pro Women and putting himself in the top 5 of Pro Men, as a Junior Expert 17U. No question, he took home first for the weekend in his class.
Aaron Shardelman kept rubber down and earned himself first for Expert Men 50+. Who said old dudes can't rip?!?
Woodruff Skinner making his DH feel right at home while bombing Stage 8.
Matthew McCluskey of team Hvy Flo... I'm just going to leave that there.
Jena Greaser took home the W in Expert Women. Rumor is, we'll be seeing her in Pro next year... will we?
Porsha Murdock got tired of trading wins with the eventual second place pro woman, opting instead to drive a 1:18 split in on the last two stages.
Hannah Bergeman got a little squirrelly through the rock garden on 8, but stayed clean for the rest of her run and took home 2nd place in Pro Women.
Rachel Throop dropping into the final stage on Day 2. Rachel finished 8th, just over a minute off of Pro Women's leader Porsha Murdock.
(1) Carson Eiswald, (2) Luke Strobel, (3) Aaron Bradford, (4) Damon Sedivy, (5) Lars Sternberg
(1) Porsha Murdock, (2) Hannah Bergemann, (3) Amy Morrison, (4) Chelsea Kimball, (5) Alicia Leggett
Full photo album is dropped and available for riders to preview/purchase on Roots and Rain.
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