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| 2016 Enduro MTB World Champions: Raphaela Richter (U21w), Michael Broderick (Masters), Richie Rude (Open Men), Adrien Dailly (U21m) and Cecile Ravanel (Open Women) |
The podium ceremony of the 2016 Enduro World Series finals in Finale Ligure, Italy marked the end of a fully committed race season stocked with excitement and challenge.
Mary and I had been at the racing since January, involving ourselves with Enduro, Cross Country and Off Road Stage racing at the highest level.
We swapped bikes and switched disciplines a bit more than ideal to have things absolutely right for any one sport but this also kept things fresh and prevented us from feeling too much pressure from any one race or result. It also gave us the opportunity to push our skills and broaden our community.
For me personally my race goals are focused on enduro and I was happy to have managed to stay consistent and solid enough to work my way to the top of the Masters field. It was a bit stressful holding on to the lead for the past couple of months through demands and injury so there was a deep sense relief to finish up the series and take home the title!
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| The official EWS Announcement - photo by Duncan Fillipo |
Finale Ligure sits directly on the bustling Italian Mediterranean coast, just steps away are pizzerias, cafes, gelato and sun drenched beaches.
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| Exploring the avenues and passages of Finale Ligure was an adventure in itself! |
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| Out for a spin in the Old Part of Town |
A short pedal or expensive shuttle north of town brings riders directly in to the coastal mountains that hold a deep wealth of unsigned treats.
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| Glad to make use of a local shuttle service to maximize our training days. |
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| Stunning views from the top of this stage |
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| Riding through the ROCK! |
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| Misty morning trail experience |
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| skies cleared as we made our way towards the coast |
Finale Ligure, Italy has become a top European MTB destination - especially in the cooler shoulder seasons. There is a great year round climate, an abundant network of ancient trails paired with the modern trail enthusiasm of a vibrant MTB community that has a vested interest in cycle tourism dollars.
The riding is certainly destination worthy as is the overall feel that this place welcomes mountain bikers!
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| Taking a dip after a long hot day training |
Unfortunately I was more tuned into the fact that training on this gnarly terrain with broken ribs is pretty terrible and bad enough in my case to prevent me from having a great time. I tried to remain positive - I was in great company and we were living our own little camping car dream in this spectacular place!  |
| This relatively quiet camp spot filled in with hundreds of other RVs over the weekend... mind over matter. glad to be close to the race start. |
As it has been all season, the masters field was stacked with a great crew of guys who were out to shred and have a good time doing it and this type of the camaraderie helped out my morale tremendously. Most of the boys had a gruesome story or two about an injury that they shared in empathy and eventually made me feel that riding with a few broken ribs really wasn’t that big of a deal.
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| Overall Master's Podium - Karim Amour (FRA), Me and Milan Cizinsky (CZE) |
Unfortunately a number of core riders did have some heavy off the bikes and subsequent injuries throughout the season... (Hopefully all recovering well and getting back on track !) It is inspiring to ride with people who have so much talent and to see the level that is possible with such dedication! The courses on this year's EWS circuit all had some awe inspiring bits and when you take on this caliber of riding at race pace things can go spectacularly wrong.
Good judgement is always the top priority in safety but good protective equipment can also literally be the difference between having a great day and getting injured. Accidents are inevitable so doing what you can to to minimize the risk is a good idea!!!
Overall, the racing went really well for both Mary and I at the finals. We both felt at home on the lower elevation of the coastal mountains with the rough and technical tracks. The no shuttling policy that saw the riders complete all the transfers by bike made for two BIG and memorable days out on the enduro bikes.
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| These beautiful women SHRED! Congrats to everyone who came out and rode these epic trails! |
Mary and I were deeply exhausted after the races, but made sure to enjoy the Post Party Celebrations in the town square. The next day Mary and I both too toasted to do anything more than just take a break, enjoy the culinary delights of Italy and try and settle down from the demands of the racing.
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| Pizze and Vin for lunch |
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| and then Artisanal Gelato... |
The extra day of rest meant nine hours driving to get north from the summery Cote d'Azur to the autumn of southern Germany. Here we had just the briefest time to share a meal with some dear friends, pack our traveling race equipment and euro life into their garage, shut down the RV and head to Munich airport for the travel back to Boston.
What an incredible way to end and incredible season!
And now, looking forward to some rest and recovery,
Mike and Mary
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HUGE THANKS to our family, friends and sponsors for making this journey possible! |
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My winning Ride - Intense Cycles Carbine 29 - Kenda Tire Nevegal (2.2) - Stan's NoTubes Bravo Wheels - SRAM Rockshox equipped - Crankbrother Mallet E Pedals, Fizik Gobi Saddle, ESI Grips and Squirt Chain Lube -
It takes some seriously durable high performance equipment to win a world championship title in Enduro! |
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