The past weekend was round 3 of the Enduro World Series and having arrived there on the Monday after a relaxing rest day near Nice I was fired up and eager to get the Cube Stereo all set up and ready to go. I had a few days riding the bike park trails as the actual event trails remained secret until the event itself and the bike was feeling great with the big wheels rolling well over the rough terrain. Sign on was on the Friday evening and I was thankfully now a seeded rider looking forward to putting passing troubles behind me. Saturday was a full day of practice and I managed to squeeze in almost a full 2 laps of the course. All the stages were different but I felt great on them and was enjoying riding the new bike.
Stage 1 challenged me in every aspect, it was technical and very physical. The stage had a good sized climb in the midpoint, which was well talked about, and proved to be a vital section to be won or lost on.. I put in a good effort and by the top I was feeling it, making the bottom section of descent hard to commit fully. I finished 71st and felt this could be my worst stage of the weekend.
Stage 2 was great with a really technical top leading into fast piste turns then into a goat trail with really flowy turns and a lot of line options. Still feeling fatigued from Stage 1 I put what I felt a solid effort but was a little bit slow on the top section. I finished in 89th and a tad disappointed.
Stage 3 was my favourite and I had spent a little more time learning where some of turns. I left the start feeling strong and was going really well in the top section. I came into a open grassy section and clipped a grass clump sending me off balance and into the long tufts of grass, eventually coming to a stop after being sent over the bars and landing on my head. Feeling a bit dazed I got up and let the rider behind past before continuing. I rode the rest of the stage but struggled.
I decided to continue racing and try to get some series points, and still feeling off I raced Stage 4 but didn’t feel like I was completely there. The trail was so fast and included parts of the Air DH course, I pushed as hard as I could but only managed to place 102nd.
Despite a tough day I managed to salvage 80th in class which should just give me some points towards the overall series. The race was the toughest Enduro I had competed in and I loved it, the trails were awesome and had some stunning back drops. I am enjoying riding the new Cube Stereo - it’s such a fast bike and super lightweight with a 160mm of travel and 650b wheels you really can take it anywhere!
Moving forward, this weekend I am preparing for the Mega. So far there is a lot of snow so it should be an interesting race!!!
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