The first ever "All Mountain" enduro stage race was held from August 19th through the 21st at the Trestle Bike Park in Winter Park. The race was intended to bring together the endurance and gravity segments of mountain biking, with a unique five-stage competition over the three days. Competitors had to use the same bike frame and suspension for all five stages, making the race a true all around test of rider and his or her machine. The Enduro race drew a strong field of racers competing for a top notch $30,000 prize list!
Feedback Sports racer Dan Dunbar took the challenge and entered the race in the Masters 30-39 class. After surviving a crash, a broken chain and some other mishaps, Dan finished the weekend in 9th place. Dan reported back that even though the stages were short, (by XC standards) they were very tough! And, after the 3 days of all mountain racing he had a lot of fun but was sore and tired.
Breck Epic:
Two hearty Feedback Sports racers, Rich DiGeronimo and Eric Davis, put themselves to the test by entering the 2011 Breck Epic mountain bike stage race in Breckenridge. The six-day stage race is certainly one of the toughest mountain bike races on the planet, with its 240 miles in length and more than 37,000 feet of altitude gain! And if that was not enough, all racing took place at altitudes between 9,000 and 12,000 feet. Much of it on rocky, rooty, twisty and sometimes muddy singletrack trails. This year's edition of the race drew a large and talented international field of mountain bike racers.
Rich and Eric both entered the full six-day stage race, in the 30-39 and 50-59 fields respectively. After three stages, (the Pennsylvania Creek, Colorado Trail and Guyot Loop) Eric was sitting in a podium position and Rich was in a top-ten position.
During stage 4, Eric went off-course and was considered not an official finisher for the stage, or for the race unfortunately. Rich finished stage 4 with a strong ride, and began having better and better finishes through the final three days . He capped-off the grueling stage race with his best race performance on the last stage, the Gold Dust Loop. Rich finished third on the last stage, less than a minute behind second place. This moved him up to 4th overall in the final 30-39 standings. Awesome riding by both guys.
And here is what goes to those who finish the 6 day sufferfest:
Congratulations Rich.
Leadville 100:
Two Feedback Sports mountain bike team racers entered the 2011 edition of the infamous Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race, Steve Vanderburgh and Drew Adams. Steve has done the race before, but for Drew, this was a first time experience. In fact, this was Drew's first 100 miler mountain bike race.
The Leadville 100 provides a unique challenge as a mountain bike race. First, due to its popularity, the field size in now around 2,000! (about 1,300 finished). Along with the large field size, the competition level top to bottom is about the best you can find anywhere. The best racers in the country, and some of the best in the world, race at Leadville.
Secondly, the distance, altitude and the course are very demanding. Although not technically challenging for a mountain bike course, it does have some super long and super steep climbing. There are few racers, world class or not, who have said that it is an easy race.
Well, both Feedback guys were up for the challenge. Drew finished his first 100 mile mountain bike race, the Leadville 100, in just under 11 hours. Now that is a lot of suffering. Steve finished the 2011 edition in just a hair over 9 hours, which was good for 21st place out of about 160 finishers in the 50-59 age group. Congratulations to both racers.
Blast the Mass:
Steve Warfel traveled out to Snowmass mountain to take part in the 8th race of the 2011 Mountain States Cup series, the Blast the Mass. Steve raced in the 18.9 mile cross country race on Saturday August 6th, and came away with the win! In just over 2 hours of racing, Steve bested the second place finisher by almost 30 minutes. Yeah, he dominated.
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