This year the season starts late on the first weekend of June for our Team. While Matthias had the chance to ride a blind race in the Belgium enduro series the official kick off for our team was the enduro race during the Dirtmasters Festival in Winterberg.
With some extra interval training units we felt well prepared for the maybe most pedaling race of the season. The weather promised perfect conditions with around 25° Celsius the whole weekend.
As always the organization from host Baboons was excellent. A professional setup from stage routing to timing combined with a familiar atmosphere makes every Enduro One Race a special race. Regarding timing unfortunately stage 6 had to be canceled due to some technical problems.
Saturday is training day with four stages to be inspected while all other stages have to be raced blind. But most of them are located in the Winterberg trail park and are also known from last year’s event…except stage one which is the blackline of the local bike park and the only really technical stage in this event. Therefore we invested here a little more time to find the fastest and smoothest line.
Late Afternoon the race starts with the prolog which is also the last stage next day. Just one and half minute long but utterly exhausting this one was a good impression for what will follow the next day.
Race day started late on Sunday and Matthias and I followed the little uphill to stage 1 thru the already crowded festival area. I felt good this morning and very confident to be one of the fastest rider on stage 1. Hit all the lines I wanted with a good speed a but the offcamber section before the last corner was still wet. Both wheels slipped surprisingly and I had a hard crash on my left side.
Damn, this was the only stage where I could have made time against all my competitors. I stepped up as soon as possible and slowly rolled around the last corner thru the finish. Body Check ! Seemed to be nothing serious but time was lost…On Stage 2 I had the fastest time last year and this year was quite fast as well. Second best is not bad.
All other stages were defined of long pedaling sections and just a few technical bits. Not my preferred type of terrain but I could always find a good ground speed and flowy lines. Even on stage 8 I made up 2 seconds compared to the prolog. At the end it’s the curse of Winterberg which put me in 5th place again. Another podium though ! Matthias had a solid top ten result in the strong senior class! Good job, mate.
Next race will be Roßbach with steeper trails and less pedaling. That’s where the Process 153 is made for…Stay tuned !
Stefan Westerveld
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