Race Report | Triple Crown #2 – Mountain Creek Enduro

The second stop of the Triple Crown Enduro Series headed to Mountain Creek Bike Park. The Northern New Jersey resort is not known for its high elevation but what it lacks in long runs, it makes up for with incredible trails. Harsh, unforgiving natural terrain and spectacular flowing trails make up one of the country’s best-known lift serviced resorts. In the past, the enduros held here were some of the most technically demanding and this year was no different. The weekend’s weather played a big role in that.

Getting out of bed on Saturday was tough. With an 80% chance of rain for the whole day and uncharacteristically cold weather, it was a lot easier to just stay home.The weather scared away many of the riders that would have otherwise shown up to race.

The scene at the base lodge was of a desolate bike resort, covered in fog and drenched with cold rain, riders delayed the start of the day in the vain hope that the rain might subside. I went into it with the mindset of only doing 1 run on each stage, just to get out of the weather. According to racers that practiced the course on Friday, the stages had changed a lot and become a lot sloppier by Saturday’s practice.

No matter what kind of preparations were made, it was difficult to keep warm and dry throughout the day, the key to an enjoyable day was to keep moving through practice as quick as possible with nobody spending more time than absolutely necessary on the mountain on Saturday. The bike wash got a lot of use and bikes felt like they got an extra month’s worth of wear and tear. Having a thermos full of hot tea and dry clothes at the end of the day felt like the best thing ever.

The weather took a surprising turn for the better on race day, the rain subsided, the temperature went up, and even the sun decided to peek out from behind the clouds. All this, however, was not enough to dry out the course, the characteristically dry and dusty Mountain Creek was riding very different than the norm.

Stage #1 was a short but physical stage. Physically demanding singletrack with a few short, punchy climbs and a small dose of technical rock thrown in at the end. Straightforward. No blind corners, no crazy lines to remember – no need for a second practice run. The difficulty would come from navigating and keeping speed through the deep mud bogs and ravines that have become active streams after all the rainfall.

On race day, it became apparent that the mud holes have become even worse and my body was hardly able to put down a solid effort. The ground was so soft that it felt like I was standing still – a sentiment shared by many racers. My whole body was in pain, including my forearms – something that only usually happens after long and demanding downhills. I chugged up the transfer to the next stage, barely recovering by the time I got to the start line.

Stage #2 was the longest stage of the day. It was a top to bottom run with technical singletrack for the top half, and an all out fire road sprint for the bottom half. Many racers critiqued this stage as uninspired course choice with such liberal use of unpaved road. Although this has been a stage in just about every previous race at Mountain Creek, maybe it’s time there’s a new trail cut to the very bottom? On a dry day, the road pedal is as fast as you are able to push but the wet ground slowed things down a lot making it a slog to the finish line.

Following Stage #2, it was on to the longest and most difficult transfer of the day. Heading straight up the mountain, this was mostly spent walking and discussing the previous stages, interrupted occasionally by short, flat bits of pedalling which the riders felt wouldn’t drain their energy for the remainder of the race.

Stage #3 was a brand new offering for this race. After a deep mud bog and a short jaunt through the bike park, the true nature of this stage revealed itself. Dominated by flat corners down the ski slope and through tight trees, mostly on wet grass or freshly cut trail – the time you spent with both feet on the pedals was very short. Every corner was foot out, wrestling with the bike to keep it from sliding down the hill. The better weather on race day didn’t seem to help this stage dry out, because of that I underestimated the mud bog up top during the race but kept it rubber side down in the corners and walked away content. Everyone seemed to enjoy this stage, just out of the sheer comical nature of drifting through every corner.

Stage #4 started off with an incredibly steep, technical and wet chute on the Outlaw trail, this section is scary even in the dry, and took down a number of racers on the day. What followed was a brutal loose climb to one of Mountain Creek’s classic trails, Tempest. If you’ve ridden Mountain Creek, you most likely walked your bike up this little climb, just because of how much energy it drained. Getting into the newly revamped Tempest was either a break or a test, depending on where your strengths lie, all flow and jumps, no scary rocks to contend with. My race run went well enough, although I had no more energy for the demanding climb and found myself with the worst result for the day.

On to Stage #5. Everyone was aware of Stage 5. It was Mountain Creek’s infamous DMLH trail. DMLH is a ruthless, nonstop mess of natural rock. It requires total concentration and the consequence of crashing is great. In years past, Mountain Creek reserved this trail only for the Pros, this year however, it was game on for everyone. In practice, the stage was littered with riders on the sidelines, quietly gauging lines, or contemplating the fastest and safest way to walk down the slippery mess. There was more standing than riding as riders checked out others’ lines before attempting anything, and many attempts being rewarded with hard crashes. I chose to do a second run on this stage in practice, linking everything together and making sure I wasn’t going too fast and missing crucial lines. Everything seemed to fall in place and I could flow over rocks as well as I could hope for.

Racing Stage #5 was hard. Very hard. Much harder than practice. Everything seemed a lot slicker and I seemed to have slammed into every rock that I managed to float over in practice. My friend and fellow Pro Derek Bissett had the same sentiment. However, my seemingly sloppy performance ended up good enough for a 3rd overall, my best stage finish all year! My teammate Jason Scheiding took second and Derek won the stage, it seems we felt uncomposed because of the faster speed, not because of sloppy riding, a welcome surprise.

After the dust (or in this case-mud) settled, I ended up in 8th place overall, just as I had at Burke,VT weeks ago. A comfortable place to be but there is plenty of room for improvement. Hopefully the last race of the series will not disappoint. The power couple, Seamus Powell and Lauren Petersen took home the Pro wins, putting them into the Series leader positions as well.

The third and final leg of the Triple Crown is just around the corner, hosted by Highland Mountain Bike Park, aka America’s Bike Park. The longest Enduro on the East Coast and a past NAET race stop, Highland sees the biggest turnout of racers every year. Late season in New Hampshire means cold weather and rain, along with beautiful fall colors. After the first 2 races in the series, racers can only hope that the rain keeps away on the weekend of October 24th.

Words: Paul Dotsenko Pictures: Jamie Lee

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