After my first North American race at Vedder Mountain turned into a mudbath, I hoped a dry weekend in Bellingham, WA, might be more my style. So, I packed up my bikes and headed south for the Galbraith Mountain Enduro, part of the NW Tune-Up festival.
The combination of a three-day festival and an enduro race was pretty cool, but the dry summer heat was intense. I spent all of Friday’s practice cooking in the sun. The course was different from my usual races—high-speed, very committing, with lots of jumps and berms. After practice, I enjoyed some folk and bluegrass music down at the waterfront to round out the day.
Race day was tougher. I felt absolutely wrecked from being in the sun all day Friday, and my body didn't have much left. I managed to have plenty of fun on stages one, two, and three. On stage four, I felt like I was on a heater until I got an instant flat about three-quarters of the way down. I lost a fair bit of time fixing it with a tube before the final stage. I slogged my way over to stage five, finished the race, and then smashed a burrito for après.
All in all, it was a fun day on the bike. Despite the heat draining my energy, I still managed a solid performance, finishing P9 in Pro, just 57 seconds off the top step behind some very rapid riders.
Photo: Heather Carter
