The first race of the Intermountain Cup is the Desert Rampage, held March 1st in Green Valley outside of St. George, UT. It's a great location because it's warm, dry, and a fairly non-technical course. I raced my new Ellsworth Evolve for the first time and was able to get a better feel for it. I took Friday off from work and got there that afternoon after a windy drive down from Salt Lake, and immediately suited up to pre-ride the course. I raced here last year and the course hadn't changed so I knew that the loop would ride up a steep rocky wash, climb up the ridge, come down again, up another wash and climb to the ridge again, before a fast downhill to the start/finish area.
The Evolve has a dual nature due to the four-bar suspension and Fox RP23 shock. In the "open" position the shock pedals well and soaks up the large and small bumps; however, when in the "closed" position it pedals very well yet felt a bit harsh. I need to dial in my shock pressure and rebound settings so that will affect it as well. It's easy enough to flip the switch when you have a lot of climbing but most of the time I just kept it open as I don't have a smooth enough stroke to take advantage of the stable platform damping anyway. My new 180mm XTR cranks were amazing! I noticed more leverage and due to the high bottom bracket height had no problem with pedal strikes, I am super stoked on these cranks! Although it pedaled well, I can still lose some chub on the Evolve, as it's still in the high 27 pound range, maybe some lighter tires, pedals, brakes, and a cassette. Other than that, the frame rode amazing and I had a blast on it!
The race was super fun, even though I cramped up and finished near the back of the pack in my division. One of my favorite things in the whole world is seeing sponsored riders on 4 and 5,000 dollar machines lining up in the Sport division! Hahahaha, stop sandbagging and move up a level already! The highlight of the race for me was on the second lap when an Expert rider came up behind me and arrogantly barked "passing on the left!" At the time I was in Keyhole Wash with five foot walls on either side of me so I yelled back "where exactly are you passing at?", to which he replied again "passing on the left" and tried to force me into the wash wall. I got pissed and barked back at him "where the hell do you think you're going? You can wait your damn turn!" Needless to say, he didn't try to pass until the trail opened up. The best part is my buddy Chad was a just up the trail and heard the whole thing and tried not to laugh too hard at the rider!
Overall, the race was a reminder that Spring in Utah is just around the corner, as the temperature in St. George hovered in the low 70's, while up North we got a storm and several inches of new snow! I had fun on my bike and in the sun, and while the weekend contained some unexpected surprises for me, I worked through them and came out happy and content!
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