“Wow, what a weekend! I have always enjoyed racing at Brian Head with BME. Day 1 was a long one, with an early wake up call to start the pedal to stage 1 followed by 3 more stages out in the backcountry. The stages were brutal, a combination of pedaling and rocky terrain all at 11,000 ft of elevation. I was able to take a stage win on stage 2 and was sitting in second just 8 seconds behind 1st. Later that day, I raced the Big Mountain Downhill. After rain and lighting delayed the start, I was happy to get 2nd and carry some momentum into day 2 of racing for the enduro!
KHS Pro MTB rider Bella Naughton on the trail at the fifth stop of the Big Mountain enduro series at Brian Head resort in Utah.
Day 2 we got to stay in the bike park for the remaining 3 stages which I was excited about but knew I had to push hard to make up the time. After stage 6, Porsha and I were pretty much tied going into the last stage. I gave it everything I had and was able to win the stage by .4 seconds and get the win overall!I came into this weekend with the goal to have fun and ride like I know how to ride and it paid off! I’m so stoked to take the win after 7 stages and super tight racing in the enduro! The team has been working hard this year to get to this point and I feel proud to be able to share it with everyone involved!
– Isabella Naughton
KHS Pro MTB rider Bella Naughton takes first in Women’s enduro at the fifth stop of the Big Mountain Enduro series at Brian Head Resort in Utah.
Big Mountain Enduro Rd 5, Brian Head, UT. was last modified: July 19th, 2024 by Flick
Round 4 of the Big Mountain Enduro Series took place in Angel Fire, New Mexico this weekend. Angel Fire has always been one of my favorite bike parks to ride and I was looking forward to getting to race here. The two race days consisted of 7 stages with two in the backcountry and the rest in the park. Day 1 started in the bike park on one of my favorite stages of the weekend, I came down in second 1 second out of the lead.
KHS PRo MTB rider Bella Naughton on the podium in fifth place at the Big Mountain Enduro stop in Angel Fire New Mexico.
Then we headed to the backcountry. I unfortunately had a slide out on stage 2 and moved back to 3rd, Stage 3 was better and I was able to move back into 2nd. The last stage of the day was the longest and probably the most important stage of the day/weekend. I made another mistake and crashed, twisting my bars which set me back quite a bit in time. The rain came overnight heading into day 2 which made for some slick conditions for the remaining 3 stages.
KHS PRo MTB rider Lucas Cowan on the podium in second place at the Big Mountain Enduro stop in Angel Fire New Mexico.
I continued to make mistakes throughout the day but managed to salvage a 5th place. Overall, I am happy with how I am progressing. I just need to get better about carrying it through the whole weekend. Proud of the whole team and especially Lucas for getting 2nd in the E-bike men’s class! Looking forward to regrouping and getting ready for round 5 in Brian Head in 2 weeks!
–Bella Naughton
Big Mountain Enduro Rd. 4, Angel Fire New Mexico was last modified: July 3rd, 2024 by Flick
The first round of the Big Mountain Enduro Series took place in Mt. Nebo, Arkansas this weekend. It was a rainy week which made for some wild racing. I opted to ride my KHS 6600 paired with Kenda Pinners and Sr Suntour 36 durolux fork and triair2 shock. Day 1 was 4 stages with a combination of raw cut trails as well as pretty pedaly flow trails.
KHS Pro MTB rider Bella Naughton on the trail.
I had a decent stage 1, finishing 2nd but after the rain started coming down again on the transfer from stage 2 to 3 things got interesting and I unfortunately made a few mistakes on the rest of the stages. After day 1 I was sitting 4th but knew I could make up time on the last 3 stages on Sunday as they were more of the fun raw cut that I like. However, Mother Nature had other plans which cancelled the race day due to lightning and heavy rain and only times from day 1 were taken for the overall. I was bummed to not get a chance to pull back time on the rest of the stages but understand safety is a priority and BME had to make the tough call to not finish the day.
KHS Pro MTB rider Bella Naughton on the podium in fourth place at the BME round 1.
In the end I was on the podium with 4th in Pro Women, and a lot of good things to take away to future races. I am looking forward to heading to Windrock, Tennessee to race the next round of the Big Mountain Enduro Series next weekend, hopefully the rain stays away enough for us to finish a whole weekend! Big thank you to those who support the team and keep us running through tough weekends like these.
-Bella Naughton
KHS Pro MTB rider Lucas Cowan on the trail.
Mt Nebo was my First time racing the E-MTB enduro category. Practice went well, riding the stages with the e-bike was a lot nicer than practicing in the past with acoustic bikes. Stages varied from flow trails to rough cut slippery steeps. We got some rain and sun during practice days that made the stages very slick and difficult to ride. But was good to ride the different stages in varying conditions before the race. Day 1 of racing went well, weather was great and we spent a lot of time studying go pros before the day started. Saturday morning we learned we will have uphill “power stages” each day or racing in the middle of a transfer. I got 2nd place every stage on day 1 and had decent runs. I ended up getting 3rd on the “power stage”. I finished day one of racing in 2nd place.
KHS Pro MTB rider Lucas Cowan on the podium in second place at the BME round 1.
Day 2 racing started early with poor visibility due to fog and an incoming storm. I started the day with a 3rd place stage finish. We had heavy rains over night so I rode cautiously expecting everything to be slick. I Finished 2nd on the last two stages and the uphill “power stage”. I was happy to finish the first race of the year in second place. I am excited to head out to windrock and hopefully race in better conditions! -Lucas Cowan
KHS Pro MTB rider Jackson Winklund on the trail.
Happy to get the race season going over here on the east coast. BME always puts on a great race with technical tracks. Had a busy week getting the 7 stages of practice figured out Thursday and Friday. On and off rain made for some slippery conditions this week. The weekend held some great racing with 4 stages on Saturday. I was able to come away leading after Day 1 of racing 10 seconds up on the field. Sunday started smooth but rain rolling in made the tracks roll slow. Ended up flatting on stage 6 ending my time in the lead. That was all the weekend wrote and I placed 4th just missing the podium after that mechanical. Onto Windrock, rain in the forecast should make for some good racing.
-Jackson Winklund
BME Round 1, Mt. Nebo Arkansas was last modified: May 6th, 2024 by Flick
I had a great time at Rock Creek for the first-ever Monster Pro Downhill Series race this past weekend. I drove into North Carolina on Thursday and headed up for a track walk while Jon at SR Suntour serviced my fork for a big weekend of racing. Scoped out all the different sections and lines and was so excited to get on track the next day.
KHS Pro MTB rider McKenna Merten at the Monster Downhill series round one.
On Friday morning, we practiced bright and early in the morning. Did a solid six laps learning and dialing in the course. The race track was running so well; there were a lot of technical rock sections mixed with fresh cut steep loam bits and quite a few fun features throughout the track; Neko Mulally and the guys at Rock Creek did an awesome job at putting a killer race course together for us. I chilled the rest of Friday, knowing we had a lot of work to do on the weekend. We went to the mountain on Saturday morning, got another four solid laps in on the course, and went right into seeding afterward.
KHS Pro MTB rider McKenna Merten at the Monster Downhill series round one.
I had a good and smooth seeding run, which slotted me into seventh place. Race day came before I knew it, and I couldn’t wait to see what I could do racing against some of the best ladies in the world. Got a few good practice runs in and waited for my drop time. I did my pre-race warm-ups, and then it was go time. By the end of the weekend, the course was a little blown out, so I felt pretty loose in my race run but held it together enough for a solid sixth place, only 0.2 seconds off of a podium spot and beating my seeding time by over a second.
KHS Pro MTB rider McKenna Merten crossing the finish line at the Monster Downhill series round one.
Tight times across the board, but I am very happy with my progress and performance. Working and training hard every day and being that close to some of the top girls in the world feels good. I am so excited to head out to the Sea Otter Classic in a week and do some dual slalom racing. Thank you so much to the KHS Pro MTB team and all the cosponsors for the support. My bike and entire setup is perfect, and I am so happy and lucky to be a part of such an awesome team.
Monster Pro Downhill Round 1 with McKenna Merten was last modified: April 10th, 2024 by Flick
The first National of the year is already in the books, and our development athlete, MeKenna Merten, is holding it down in the Pro women’s category. With very limited time on the bike and little testing under her belt, McKenna would come out with a top 10 finish on the first major USA National of the year. Mackenna was definitely striving for more and, unfortunately, had a mechanical with her chain falling off near the top of her race run.
KHS Pro MTBrider MeKenna Merten at the Tennessee Nationals.
“Rough day out there today and the TN National. Unfortunately, I had a major mechanical problem halfway through my race run.” said McKenna, “Super bummed to have ended the first race of the year that way, but that part of racing. Back to work until the next one. I’m super hungry for more racing. Big thanks for KHS Bicycles and all our co-sponsors”.
KHS Pro MTBrider MeKenna Merten at the Tennessee Nationals.
The team and McKenna will continuously improve her adaptability to her KHS downhill bike and get her more tuned in. The entire team has been training very hard this off-season and will be hot and ready for the Seattle classic, where the whole team will be together for the first time in 2024. Once again, we want to thank all our sponsors, friends, family, and everyone who supports the dream!
Tennessee Nationals was last modified: April 4th, 2024 by Flick
