Last year, I competed in a few BC Enduro Series Races. They seemed to be decently well run, no event will be perfect for everybody. Other than a few little complaints and the issue of the extreme cost (compared to a DH race), I didn’t have a reason not to race a few of them to learn more about Enduro to see if this is what I wanted to focus more on in the following years.
This morning I read a Pinkbike article about how the BC Enduro Series in 2018 will be run. I was pretty disappointed to say the least. No overall points, no hard trails, no pro categories, and no awards are a few of the things that are being changed for 2018. Sounds a lot like a toonie race, doesn’t it? Their reasoning is to create a less competitive atmosphere so that more people will want to get into mountain biking. Which is never a bad thing, but when they want to change a provincial race series into a competitive “ride”, that should be a whole different series. Sure, they’re probably going to get some more newer less experience riders to go to those events, but I know that a lot of more competitive riders probably won’t be traveling 4-6 hours for a out of town toonie race (that will still cost $60-$80).
Yes, there still is the National Series, but there are only 3 of those races in BC. I’m not going to travel to Ontario or Quebec for just a national event, and it shouldn’t be expected that a young up and coming racer will do that either. There are higher level enduro races in the Sea to Sky area, but not being able to add “BC Enduro Series Overall Champion” on a racing resume will a big downside.
If there’s one of these races in North Vancouver, I’ll probably do it. Mostly because I know a lot of my friends and the people I ride with will most likely do it and we can compete against eachother. As for the rest of the series, I don’t think I’ll be traveling, then spending $60-$80 for a race that won’t be as challenging or won’t add to my racing resume.
Again, I’m glad they want to encourage newer riders to get into competitive mountain biking, but I don’t understand why they need to take away compitition from the higher level riders for this to happen. Isn’t this what the Short Courses are for on the sign up sheet?
