Well, week 4 disappeared without me realizing it. Spent the early part of the week mostly unpacking and doing laundry and re-packing and preparing for my next work trip. I was headed to Malaysia! On Friday night I headed to the airport and got on a plane to Hong Kong, then 15 hours later, on to Kuala Lumpur. I was attending an International Conference for land surveyors, and was expecting it to be a pretty dull week in an exotic location, but it actually ended up being pretty cool. I met some really interesting people from all over the world, and got to sample some delicious Malaysian food. Still though, the week was mostly spent getting switched over to a completely opposite time zone, working 12 hour days, and not sleeping that well… not the best way to head into a race! I got home on Thursday night around midnight, got a few hours sleep, then swapped out my work stuff for my bike stuff and headed off to Aspen for the Snowmass Enduro, the 2nd round of the North American Enduro Tour.
Had a pretty nice view from my hotel room at the Traders Hotel in Kuala Lumpur
The Snowmass Enduro was tough!! Could be partly because I was fully jet-lagged and just off like 24 hours of airplane rides, but damn that was a lot of work. Very physical stages, challenging transitions, and high elevation made for quite the weekend! The scenery however, was pretty much ridiculous, and every time I stopped to look around during a transition, I remembered it was worth it. Sure, racing is fun because you are pushing your limits and challenging yourself… but those moments when you stop thinking about competing, and you look around and realize where you are and where your bike has taken you… those are the ones that make you remember why you love riding your bike.
Anyway… the first 3 stages on day one were pretty pedally, with lots of corners, and nothing technical to speak of. I think 2 was my favorite out of the more xc stages of the weekend. It had a brutal climb at the end, but other than that was really fun tight twisty single track. Stage 4 was a jump trail, and super fun. I kind of forgot I was racing on this stage and just had fun with it. There was a pretty good crowd near the end cheering which made it even better.
Stage 4 – Photo Credit Seth Beckton, Mountain Flyer Magazine
It was pretty clear after day 1 that I was in 2nd place, and likely staying there unless something went wrong for either me or the girl ahead of me. By the way, I was blown away by how fast the girl who won this weekend was. I was surprised because I had never met her before… usually I know all the super fast girls… now I know I need to look out for her! I think I could have given her a little bit more of a run for her money if I’d been fresh, but in no way do I want to take away from her win, she did amazing. Just a reminder that we all need to keep stepping up our game! The young gals are getting speedy!
Day 2 I just wanted to avoid repeating my mistake from Hood River, so the plan was just to ride smooth all day and hold onto my position. The day started with around an hour long climb up the mountain to the top of the first stage. I have to say…. stage 5 kind of sucked. The bottom was pretty fun, but the long fire road pedal in the middle sort of killed it for me. Next year take that one out folks.
Stage 6 was definitely the most true enduro style of track. It was long, around 16 minutes, but had a little bit of everything, and no real climbs, but still required fitness. Started with high speed, high alpine, rough trail, which led into a bit of the jump trail, and then cut off into this tight but FAST single track in the forest, with mega high speed sections alternating with super sharp corners in the trees. I think everyone probably finished that one with a smile on their face.
The bottom of Stage 6, skinny single track through lupin fields and aspens. Photo credit: Seth Beckton
Stage 7 was the DH track. And it was rad. It was kind of wild because it was on the same course as my very first DH race outside of California. The contrast in how I experienced it then vs. now was pretty crazy. If you had asked me 6 years ago if I would ever ride that trail on anything but a DH bike, I for sure would have said no. Now, it was just fun instead of scary and I finished it craving more. I definitely could have done this one faster than I did, but I kept telling myself that the goal for the weekend was to be smooth, so I just rode it clean, safe, hit all my lines and finished the weekend with no mistakes, which was a great feeling.
The Big Mountain Enduro folks put on a really great event. Big prize purses, tasty food and beer, great atmosphere and timely results. If we could figure out how to get a few more technical trails thrown into the mix for these, that would be ideal.
#poweredbypizza
2nd Place and another giant check to add to the collection. Leading the NAET now!
The Tracer has been feeling great. I’m loving it more and more each time I ride it. It pretty much just does whatever I need it to do whenever I need it to do it… and quickly. Can’t wait to get her on top of the box at some point this season!
I also met a gal named Brooke this weekend, another pro lady on an intense. She was loving her Carbine!! Had to get a photo of the siblings hanging out together.
Next up in the summer of insanity I’m off to Idaho, Colorado, Utah and Nova Scotia! 5 weeks of awesomeness awaits! What do I pack?!
margaretridesbikes 
