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Date: August 17-18, 2024
Event: Eastern States Cup | 2024 Maxxis ESC Stan’s Enduro round 8 (Thule Showdown), 2024 Maxxis ESC Intense DH round 6 (Thule Showdown)
Venue: Sugarloaf, Maine
Bike: Commencal Meta AM 29

Sugarloaf is the gnarliest place I ride. Unending obstacles, long stages, and normally slick conditions all contribute to its draw for me and offers something I struggle to find in other areas of Maine, CHALLENGE. I find myself presented with new challenges and a need to improve my skillsets each time I ride here and occasionally an even rarer emotional component, FEAR. Yes, from time to time and conditions dependent, I experience fear at Sugarloaf. Believe it or not fear is something I seek in my sport, it drives me to really think about approach and technique, aspects of riding that have really fallen into complacency for me after thirty or so years in the saddle and is difficult for me to find without travelling to New Hampshire, Vermont, or Quebec in our Northeast region. All that being said, without any real practice or meaningful cardio training so far in 2024 I decided to skip the gnar, avoid possible injury instead opting to volunteer and remain involved in the weekend’s action. I did two volunteer shifts across the weekend, one on Saturday (practice day) and one on Sunday (race day). Role was course marshalling, ensuring that spectators stayed outside the racing tape and also monitoring rider wellbeing, calling-in injuries to Ski Patrol should they occur. I was allowed to bring my bike with me and was given permission to take laps periodically should opportunities arise (and they did!).

Saturday 12:30-5:00 – ESC Enduro Stage #3 – Lower 355 trail

With the new Bucksaw area cut on Sugarloaf’s eastern side, the landscape has changed drastically since my last offseason trip up the mountain. What must be hundreds of acres cleared and huge trails forged in offering lots of new terrain for the ski season in addition to the new Bucksaw chairlift which carried racers to that area’s enduro stages and the DH course. Stage 3 required riders to hike from top of Bucksaw lift to the Sugarloaf summit, approximately 1500’ vertical feet by my estimation. Luckily, being stationed in the final sectors of the stage I only had to ride/hike up 200’-300’ vertical to reach what is some of the most technical and physically demanding terrain within the Sugarloaf mountainside trail network. Lots of rocks, steep, roots, and off-camber trail located below what is already a tough Stage riding down from the summit. There was a lot of chatter amongst the competitors either seeing this sector for the first time or reminiscing over past experiences in varying conditions. Many riders took their time analyzing the possible lines and weighing the consequences of crashing in these areas. I hiked up and rode the sector 3 times during my shift which was fun and entertaining. I also managed 2 full runs on Stage 4. 1 during the volunteer shift and 1 final run down at day’s end. Conditions were favorable. Not too wet, fairly tacky in places, overall, very good! The lower sector of Stage 4 is full of manmade jumps and berms. It is very fast and flowy and FUN!

Sunday 8:00-12:30 – DH Course

It rained overnight making the mountain very slippery. I almost crashed while transitioning from grass onto the dirt at the very top of the DH course while going down to my assigned location. Being taken by complete surprise, the instance reiterated my confidence that not racing this weekend was a good choice for me this year. The assignment was in a good spot, at the bottom of the first technical sector (steep with wet rocks and off-camber trail). The view of the Bigelow Mountain range was excellent and the morning sunny and warm with a very nice summer breeze. Racing did not start until 9 or 9:30 so I sat around for a while before anything really happened. When the action finally picked-up it was only marginally enricing. The youngest competitors (12 and under) went first, followed by 14 and under, and then 16 and under. Although there were a few quick riders amongst those groups, largely it was pretty slow going through my area. There was a crash and I called patrol who was on-scene quickly to help the young athlete. Discussions with patrol later revealed that the young person had sustained an ankle injury and was being transported for x-rays. A somber moment on the day, but par for the course in this sport I suppose..

When my replacement arrived midday, I was able to ride some access roads down the mountain I’ve never biked or skied before. Was pleasantly surprised how exhilarating riding fast down rip-rap aggregate could be! Both riding over and avoiding softball-sized rocks and finding jumps to hit was a fun change of pace from watching the kids race. Per Strava GPS tracking I reached 38mph at one point, absolutely FLYING down these roads. It was AWESOME! A bit scary, but AWESOME! Happy to help the Sugarloaf crew put on this event for the ESC series.

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