It鈥檚 been a wild five years.
The organizer for The Gryphon mountain bike race says he鈥檚 watched enduro racing go from relatively unknown to a growing sport.
Dylan Smith, the executive director for the race, said his event was one of the first enduro races in the country back when it was very much a niche aspect of cycling.
But even though races have begun to spring up all over, The Gryphon鈥檚 organizers plan to continue pushing the sport forward. Registration for the event will start as of March 1.
鈥淔ive years ago, enduro was this totally new concept in mountain bike racing,鈥澛� said Smith.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 been the most interesting part as an event organizer 鈥� to see it grow. Nowadays, attaching the word 鈥榚nduro鈥� to anything in the bike industry is sort of like the trendy thing to do.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 gone from this totally ambiguous, obscure thing to being mainstream now.鈥�
This year, he hopes to incorporate classic 麻豆社国产trails, while throwing in a few curveballs to keep things fresh.
He was tight-lipped on the actual course specifics 鈥斅燿etails are withheld to keep the playing field even.
However, he did note that riders could expect some runs may touch on classic routes like Rupert, Angry Midget and Crouching Monkey, Hidden Squirrel.
Enduro racing lends itself well as a social sport because the race is divided into timed 鈥� usually downhill 鈥� stages.
Travel time in between stages isn鈥檛 counted.
This allows people to race their hearts out, then take a pause and commiserate with fellow riders as they pedal 鈥� usually uphill 鈥� to the next part of the course.聽
Such a format allows hardcore riders to have fun, but, done right, can also leave space for intermediate enthusiasts interested in upping their game.
And it鈥檚 intermediate riders that Smith is trying to attract in his effort to broaden the appeal of enduro.
With the inclusion of a short course, Smith is hoping to make enduro something that isn鈥檛 written off as 鈥榯oo hard鈥� for riders who have less experience.
The short course is expected to be 27 kilometres, with 1,200 metres of climbing and another 1,200 descending.
As for the long course, that鈥檚 expected to be 40 kilometres, climbing 2,000 metres and descending by the same amount.
鈥淓specially with the short course, we鈥檙e trying to reach more of an audience and get more people involved,鈥� he said.
One highlight for Smith has been watching newer riders tackle challenges they previously thought they couldn鈥檛 do.
鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting to see the expansion of it,鈥� he said. 鈥淪eeing new people who previously thought it wasn鈥檛 attainable for them complete the course.鈥�
About 300 participants are expected to participate this year 鈥斅燼bout double the amount of people in comparison with when the race first started out about five years ago. Race day is scheduled for June 9. For the second year running, The Gryphon will be an Enduro World Series (EWS) qualifier event. Proceeds are donated to SORCA and other charities. More details can be found at squamishenduro.com/the-gryphon.
