Crested Butte Ultra Enduro puts the wood to the riders

Five days of epic fast-paced bike racing action

Big Mountain Enduro race organizers always keep the courses under wraps until a couple of days before the event and when the five-day schedule of the Crested Butte Ultra Enduro was announced on Monday, September 1, the list of courses was staggering.
Essentially, it was revealed that the first three days of the inaugural event would hurt, and then there would be two more days of riding. The plan was to have riders average 25 miles of riding with 5,000 feet of climbing and 6,700 feet of descending each day. Furthermore, the list of trails over the five days included, but was not limited to, Trail 400, Teocalli Ridge, Cement Mountain Trail, Roaring Judy, Doctors Park, 409.5, 409, and Green Lake Trail and finished off with a three-stage tour of the Evolution Bike Park.
“To be honest, I was pretty nervous with the three really big days in a row but also pretty excited,” says Big Al’s Bicycle Heaven rider Colin Pickett.
“I was surprised by some of the route choices because they were not the most popular local rides but that made it more exciting,” adds Team Griggs Orthopedics (Team gO) athlete Janae Pritchett. “I thought, ‘Holy cow, these days are going to be huge.’”
Pritchett led the local charge, finishing third among the pro women and Pickett placed second among the amateur men’s field, 17th overall. Team gO rider Evan Ross finished in third among the amateurs, 20th overall, and Brick Oven rider Matt Steinwand took fourth in the amateur class, 21st overall. Ali Fuchs, owner/operator of Big Al’s Bicycle Heaven, placed third in the women’s masters class and Tim Poppe placed eighth in the men’s masters class.
The enduro format is a combination of the traditional racing formats of cross-country and downhill racing. You must be able to ride up to the start of the downhill, but the downhill sections are where the timing begins and some downhills still have climbs in the middle of them. Big lungs help but aren’t the end-all, be-all. Big travel bikes help as well but can also be a hindrance due to their excessive weight. In the immortal words of Coolio, “Gotta get up to get down.”
While enduro racing has been around in the U.S. for around five years, the format of the Crested Butte Ultra Enduro race was the first of its kind in North America. Each stop on the 2014 Big Mountain Enduro race series circuit typically involved two days of racing. The Crested Butte Ultra Enduro was a stand-alone event after the race series season and involved five days in a row of racing.
Pritchett decided last minute to enter the Ultra Enduro and while she’s no stranger to bike racing, she’s never jumped into a five-day enduro-style event.
“It’s such a different style of racing than I’ve ever done that I didn’t know what to expect,” says Pritchett. “I just wanted to have five super-fun days of riding and ride really fast.”
Pritchett established her third-place position early on and held it throughout the five days, suffering only a modicum of carnage and riding a couple trails she’d never ridden before.
“There was no chance catching the two girls in front of me, I just wanted to make sure no one caught up to me,” says Pritchett. “I’ve never ridden that hard, that fast downhill, for that long. It was shockingly difficult. I had four crashes, which is a lot for me. I would just lose my focus.”
Pritchett felt the first day was her personal favorite as they rode up Trail 583 from Cement Creek to the top of Star Pass, down Trail 400 and then turned back up the next valley to ride Teocalli Ridge.
“I think Star Pass to Teocalli was awesome,” says Pritchett. “It was cool to be up there with a bunch of people from out of town in the race and they were blown away. The whole week people were just psyched.”
Pickett raced in the enduro last year at the Evolution Bike Park but this was his first backcountry-style enduro as well.
“My plan was to keep it consistent and save energy for the descents,” explains Pickett.
As soon as he wet his feet on the format on the first day, he realized he could ramp it up for the rest of the races.
“After day one I knew I could push it a little harder in the next stages,” says Pickett. “I was definitely able to stay consistent and I never got too tired, surprisingly.”
Pickett was psyched on every day of racing but the highlight for him came on day two when they rode up Deadman’s Trail, connected with Cement Mountain Trail and then descended Roaring Judy before riding over Jack’s Cabin and up Spring Creek to then ride Doctor’s Park.
“I’d never ridden the Roaring Judy Trail and that was cool and Doctor’s is always fun,” says Pickett.
Pickett originally got into mountain biking as a downhiller, and while racers were separated at the start of the downhill by 30 seconds, he oftentimes found himself roaring up on another racer’s rear wheel during the different stages.
“I usually caught up to two or three riders per trail,” says Pickett. “I would just holler and people were pretty good about moving.”
Pickett plans on entering further into the enduro race scene next year, especially if there are more backcountry style races.
Pritchett, on the other hand, may not saddle back up for another enduro.
“I told Ben [Janae’s husband] that the next time I say I wanna do this, tell me I’m too old,” says Pritchett.