Trek Enduro Series. SM1, Messila, Finland, 25-26 May 2013

I was very happy to participate in Finnish Trek MTB Enduro Series at Messila. This was my first enduro race at all. This was my first visit to Finland on my new  all mountain bike Corratec X-Force 0.3 2012. As a result, I was not able to get good results, but I've got great pleasure riding the trails.
There were 5 different trails and they were ridden 2-3 times. Overall 13 stages. The trails were very various. Some of them had little climbs, and some had rocky downhill sections. I enjoyed the trails very much even on non-enduro bike (140mm trail bike with 69 degree headtube angle).
The most hard thing for me was climbing the hill 3 times without a lift, because I was not well trained in the beginning of the season. Flat pedals didn't give me opportunity to go fast on rooty "cross-country" uphills and flats. Steep headtube angle sometimes made me stuck in a rocky section of stage 1b. As a result 89 place of more than 200 riders.

I've got great experience riding Enduro at Messila. Now I'm selling my DH bike and I want an enduro bike with 65-67 degree headtube angle and 160-160mm of travel. It will be the most universal bike for riding enduro races and riding in bike parks.

Big thanks to Kosti Kostinen for the great photos:

Special stage #1a:

Special stage #3:

Special Stage #4:

Special stage #1b: