Race Report: 2024 North American Enduro Cup

Even when Mother Nature cooperates and delivers temperate weather and dry trails, the North American Enduro Cup is not an easy event. It’s not easy for the organizers, who are managing a bunch of racers at a massive venue. Silver Mountain in Kellogg, Idaho is not an easy bike park to ride, let alone race. It’s not easy for the spectators, who have to figure out where on that course to interact with racers. And finally, it’s not easy for the riders.

It’s hard to compare the apple that is the NAEC to the oranges that are most enduro races, but here’s a relevant stat: This year Cameroon Mader had the fastest total time of the weekend at 33:13.9 over a truncated three-stage race. That’s more than half an hour of timed riding, when most EDR events are being won around the twenty-five minute mark. The NAEC is not easy. And this year, thanks to several inches of snow during the first day of racing, it was decidedly hard.

Practice

In retrospect, Friday’s practice conditions were deceitful, maybe even a little spiteful. Racers were met with conditions that were just barely on the dry end of perfect. Tacky dirt, plenty of traction on the roots, not too much dust.

A big draw of the NAEC is that every year it incorporates fresh-cut stages, opened specially for the race. Rallying fresh-cut loamers with your friends is always a blast, and in an era where many enduro races are edging closer and closer to becoming multi-stage downhill events, these race-only trails bring back an element of the blind riding that makes the discipline shine.

So riders quickly dialed in the more predictable bike park stages, and then rode out to the short, technical, but so, so sweet Stage 4, and the “three years in the making, holy cow, we finally get to race this awesome trail” Stage 5.

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I scuttled around the course on Friday, reveling in the great trails and excellent conditions, cranked out a few paintings, and figured out logistics for the Main Character of the Race award.

Back in Silver Mountain’s voluminous parking lot campground, adventure rigs of every shape and size rolled in and set up camp. At the Industry Row tent village, teams looked after their racers and offered neutral support.

As the sun went down, and the big screen came out for the Ritual Mountain Bike Film Festival screening, a lot of racers were comfortable, complacent even. It’s hard to imagine the weather going sour when you’re comfortable sipping a chilled bevy in the dusk, wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and sandals.

Saturday: Racing + Snowpocalypse

Anyone who lives in the mountains knows not to trust Apple Weather. My phone called for a 20% chance of light showers on Saturday. More reputable weather sites hinted at heavy rain, maybe even snow and lightning. Still, when Saturday morning dawned, I was a little skeptical. I exited Silver Mountain’s infamous gondola to mostly dry trails, and a somewhat overcast, foreboding sky.

By the time we reached the top of Stage 1, where the Pro Men were just arriving, it was raining.

As we worked our way down the stage, rewarding hecklers, the rain got worse. Stage 1 was long and physical.

Soup Kitchen to Mom Jeans to War Gerbil is one of my favorite linkups at Silver to ride, with lots of excellent, off-camber roots, lots of no-pedal, barely-brake descending, at a fun pace. At race pace it’s brutal. You’re working to maintain momentum and stay high on slippery roots, over an impressively long stage. And, pretty soon, it was raining sideways too.

By the time we worked our way to the bottom of the stage, the Expert riders were still dropping, and we were hearing rumors of snow up top. My derailleur stopped working on the bike path transfer back to the base area, so we stopped by CDA Bike Co. to regroup. Luckily I was stuck in a fine gear for bike path pedaling and bike park descending, so we pushed on.

On the gondola we got word that Stages 4 and 5 - both at high elevation, and a long transfer away from the bike park - were canceled. Too much snow, too much risk. And at the top of the gondola we got another update: Too cold, too windy, too snowy, Stages 2 and 3 were also canceled.

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Most folks opted to just stay on the gondola and download, regroup, and figure out their lives. I unloaded my bike and dropped into Stage 3, just for kicks and giggles.

There was a lot of snow on the trail, masking roots and rocks, and adding an extra layer of excitement. It was rideable, sure, but probably not raceable. At one point I thought I was pulling my brakes to the bars, when in reality, my fingers were so numb that they’d slipped off the levers without my noticing. That lap will stick with me for a while. Hero dirt and sunny skies are all well and good, but there’s something to be said for shaking one’s fist at truly horrendous conditions.

The rest of the field was still dropping into Stage 1, so we cheered and heckled as Expert and Sport racers dropped into the challenging, saturated course. It’s hard enough to race in those conditions, let alone stand around in the cold and wet for an hour while you wait for your turn to drop. Massive respect to everyone who completed their race runs on Saturday.

With Stages 2-5 canceled, racers straggled back to the parking lot. In a special display of unfortunate timing, soon after the organizers made the call to pull the plug on the day, it broke clear for a moment, the sun lifted clouds of steam off the tents, and for a brief spell, it felt like the weather had turned around and that maybe we should still be out there riding bikes. But we could see the snow line creeping down the mountain, and the rain came right back.

We wrapped up Friday night with bike barrel races and a raffle at The Beanery, before a parting shot of hail spiced up the jog back to our lodging.

Sunday: Actually Racing Bikes

While the snow and stage cancellations left a lot of folks bedraggled and discouraged, it’s a testament to the resilience of racers and organizers that the stoke was still high for Sunday’s racing. The snow stuck around, forcing a permanent cancellation of the excellent but so technical trails of Stage 4 and 5, so we’ll just have to wait another year to race out there!

But enough volunteers stepped up to run Stage 3, along with Stage 6, the infamous top-to-bottom lap. This year the organizers also put together the Full Pull Super DH, which shared the same 2,300’ of descending on technical, physical trails with Stage 6, for folks who didn’t want to race the full enduro, but still wanted a taste.\

Stage 6 is one of my favorite bike park laps in the world. It’s so long, so hard, so challenging physically and mentally. If enduro racing isn’t your thing, it’s still definitely worth a visit to Silver to race the Full Pull.

We posted up near the bottom to heckle and watch racers filter in. By the time racers reached the tabletop we were set up at, they’d been riding all-out for at least ten minutes (in many cases closer to 20) and it was impressive to see how many still had the gumption left to throw a little style off the lip. One by one they pedaled out the last stretch of trail to the bottom, spun back along the bike path, and headed back up for redemption on Stage 3’s fresh-cut loam.

Results

Full results can be found here.

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Pro Women:

1. Emily Williams / Juliana / 38:34.3
2. Jill Kintner / Pivot, Shimano, Fox, Maxxis / +0:15.32
3. Rachel Pageau / +1:15.13
4. Lucy Schick / Juliana, 7mesh, Smith, Maxxis, OneUp, North Shore / +1:46.82
5. Ella Erickson / Commencal / +2:03.15

Pro Men:

1. Cameron Mader / The Farm Cannondale / 33:13.9
2. Aiden Chapin / Trek, Fasthouse, Go Green Extreme / +0:12.02
3. Cameron Joye / The Farm Cannondale / +0:23.93
4. Shane Leslie / KHS Factory Racing / +0:27.37
5. Jimmy Smith / Yeti, Rapha / +0:30.48

Full Pull Women:

1. Hazel Donnelly / Cascade Junior Cycling / 16:59.9
2. Jen Erickson / +3:13.53
3. Izzy Davis / +3:50.15
4. Caroline Bagley / +4:39.17

Full Pull Men:

1. Damon Sidevy / 14:52.1
2. Shaun Webby / CDA Bike Co. / +0:17.74
3. Woodruff Skinner / Revgrips, Deity Components, Loose / +0:28.35
4. Ethan Leib / +0:41.05
5. Bryce Oxley / Specialized / +0:44.23

For Now

Shaun Webby summed it up best as we headed up together on race day: “There aren’t many enduros that are gnarlier, without going to one of the ‘Trans’ events.” I absolutely love local enduro races like the Cascadia Dirt Cup , or the Montana Enduro Series , but the NAEC is a step above in terms of both challenge and reward. It’s bigger, meaner, harder. It demands a higher level of physical and mental preparation. And it rewards that preparation with big days, incredible trails, and challenging stages.

Sure, the organizers are working to open it up, make it more inclusive, with an expanded, easier Sport class, and more non-racing events throughout the weekend. And that will be rad, the more the merrier! But if you like riding your bike hard, on hard trails, going to bed exhausted, waking up and doing it all over again, the NAEC should be on your radar.

Maybe it will even be dry next year, but if it isn’t, pack a bigger raincoat, an extra pair of gloves, and a good attitude. Mountain biking isn’t always going to be easy, and sometimes it’s the hardest days that pay off the most.

Thank you racers, organizers, sponsors, and volunteers. Good people make events like this happen, and make the culture around them worth participating in.