Here we are in Aspen, Colorado for round five of the Enduro World Series. One of the poshest ski communities in the United States, the median home price in Aspen is $1,533,000. Not only are the home prices lofty, so is the elevation. Aspen sits at about 10,000 feet, you could say the air is rare up here. We are looking at two days of racing hosted by the Big Mountain Enduro series. Six stages with over 15,000 feet of descending on sweet Colorado singletrack. Most of the racing will be lift accessed and this time around we are only looking at 1,700 feet of climbing, which is all for the better considering the lack of oxygen. The trails are dry and dusty, and some stages have estimated times of 15 plus minutes. BME has put in some fresh new sections of trail, so this will be an interesting one.

Richie Rude comes off a dominating win in La Thuile and will be guns a blazing. Martin Maes will be returning after his crash in Fort Bill to give chase to Rude. Sam Hill will be sitting this one out, but Oton and Nicolai will be doing their best to put the pressure on Richie. Cecile Ravanel is clearly out in front with Isabeau Courdurier closing the gap as the season progresses. Anneke Beerten returns from illness and will also be in the mix here in Aspen, and could pull off a win. For now though, we get a lay of the land and check out some of the stages on the media recce before racing gets underway.

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