North Shore Ripper Enduro

The format for the Ripper this year will differ from the last few years in that we are replacing the Marathon XC on Saturday with a European inspired Enduro race. We decided to turn the Marathon XC into an Enduro this year for a variety of reasons. We wanted an event that would appeal to the ever-growing rider demographic that use their 5″-6″ travel bikes for 90% of their riding in and around the shore. The Enduro format is the fastest growing discipline in mountain biking racing and we felt it would be a perfect fit for our event. I competed in a few Enduro style races last year and had a blast in comparison to the standard XC/DH format. Also, the fact that total rider numbers in the Marathon XC dropped significantly from 2010 to 2011 was part of our decision to look for something new.

  This year’s North Shore Ripper will feature a stage Enduro, with hopes to draw a wider range of racers. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

Until recently, All-Mountain mountain bike racing in North America has been dominated by the Super D racing discipline. In my opinion, the proper description of a Super D is a cross country downhill race, with times ranging anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes. These races are predominantly downhill but often contain long periods of climbing. An Enduro race is very similar to a rally car race where there is a designated timed stage followed by untimed transfer stages. The timed stages are anywhere from 3-10 minutes in length and contain less prolonged timed climbing sections than a standard Super D. As you probably know, this style of racing has been huge in Europe for years and is in talks to be included in the UCI World Cup Series for 2013.

Our Enduro will take place on the Saturday and will consist of 3 stages on Seymour. The courses are still TBD and will be announced closer to the event. They will range from 3-10 minutes in length and will suit a 150-160mm travel bike the best, with enough climbing to keep it from being a multi stage downhill race. Riders will have to make it from one stage to the next within a certain time frame.

  The North Shore Ripper is a three day event hosted by Obsession: Bikes around the beginning of June. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

We will again be having a Prologue on the Friday evening to kick off the Ripper. The course is TBD (think chainless), and will once again feature a vintage bike category. The Super D course on Sunday will remain the same as last year with a slight variation at the end. We will be continuing the King/Queen of the Shore format for the riders who have the lowest combined time over the course of the three events on the same bike with the SAME TIRES (Prologue/Enduro/Super D). Riders will also be able to enter the events individually.

We are still working out the timing details, but will aim to have the results of each event posted by the end of each day so that riders can track their results throughout the weekend. We are very excited to be incorporating this new format to the North Shore Ripper; I competed in the Canadian Open Enduro at Crankworx last year and was amazed at how it tests all the facets of the modern mountain biker.

  Obsession is excited to host the increasingly popular Enduro style race here on the Shore. Photo ~ Morgan Taylor

We feel that this new format will attract more riders as it is the fastest growing genre in mountain biking and the courses are designed to be ridden with Trail and All-Mountain bikes, which many riders on the Shore currently own and use for the majority of their riding. We felt this new format also sticks with the original goal of the Ripper race series which was to get people out having fun racing and riding their bikes with their friends in the mountain bike mecca known as the The Shore.

This year’s event will run from June 8 to 10, with the Prologue on Friday night, the Enduro on Saturday, and the Super D on Sunday.

This change has been circulating the forums for a couple of weeks, and there are a number of people who are sad to see the Marathon XC go – but this is a change with hopes for increased participation. Where do you stand? Curmudgeonly XCer or Stoked Shredder?