Round 3 of the Big Mountain Enduro Series took place at Sunrise Park Resort in Arizona. This venue is always a proper enduro, racing above 11,000ft on long physical downhills. Day 1 started with an hour and a half pedal to get to the backcountry where we raced two brutal but super fun raw stages before heading back to the bike park for the last stage of the day.
Day 2 was mostly in the bike park with 4 top to bottom stages that really got the arms pumping and tested all the fitness that I had left after day 1. I was happy to get a stage win on stage 6! After 40+ minutes of racing I finished 3rd overall in Pro Women. I am motivated to continue to improve and get faster. Next up for the team is the North American Enduro Cup in Kellogg, Idaho!
-Isabella Naughton
Sunrise BME is a great venue with a mix of raw bike park stages and “rough cut” backcountry stages. 2 physical days of racing at elevation on long rough tracks make for tough weekend. I was very excited for a dry race close to home. Day one started with two back country stages that I finished 3rd on both to start the day.
Then e-bikes went straight into an uphill “power stage” that was a very steep hill climb with log and rock obstacles. We Ended the day with a top to bottom bike park stage that I finished 2nd on. With all stages raced on day one I finished the day in 3rd place 15 seconds away 2nd place. Going into day two I was planning on pushing hard to get into 2nd place.
The day consisted of 3 bike park stages, 1 backcountry stage and 1 uphill stage. I ended up getting 3, 2nd place stage finishes but didn’t quite make up the time I needed. I’m happy with how I was riding on the second day and to finish the weekend healthy in 3rd place.
I was very happy with how my new SR Suntour suspension paired with Kenda tires handled the dry rough stages. I was running a new Duralux 38 fork with 170mm of travel and a Kenda pinner up front and the new Black Diamond tire in the rear.
-Lucas Cowan
–McKenna Merten