Race Report: Toro Enduro – CES #2

By Julie Kanagy

This was a really fun day on the bike! The Enduro format is awesome. You do 14-20 minutes of actual racing, and the rest is just cruising and walking and chatting and eating and drinking. Non-alcoholic bev’s at Toro Park, of course.

Trails were dry and soft and sandy/dusty which added some challenge, especially around the corners.

I wasn’t able to pre-ride, so I practiced Stage 4 early morning before the race started. On the last stage, I forgot to activate my timing chip (whoops). So I rode it again just in case. PSA: Don’t worry if you forget to swipe the chip on a stage! It turned out that they still do the manual timing as a backup. I would have done better on my 1st time down according to Strava. Lesson learned.

I hung out with the Roaring Mouse folks who of course had the BBQ fired up and the socializing dialed. There was a special guest appearance by CES co-founders Megan and Steve’s sweet six-week old baby, who we call Enduro Baby (Michael). I also chatted and hung out with a few of the Trail Head Cyclery race team folks, one of whom is my training buddy Liia, who won 2nd in Expert women!

I won Sport 35+! I have never won a class at a legitimate Enduro before. So enjoying this while it lasts, as I will likely be towards the bottom in Expert next year.

Winners got a really fab bottle of Michael David Winery’s The 7 Deadly Zin’s. They don’t make enough bottle cage room on bikes these days, apparently.

Learn more about the California Enduro Series here.