By: Lucia Stewart @lucstew

After a long drive across Nevada and into Arizona, my teammate Hannah and I reached the Hopi Cultural Center on the Navajo Nation on Friday afternoon. We switched over from Google’s directions to the written directions from the race organizers. The paved road shifted into dirt and soon we saw the black and white Rezduro signs and felt the stoke. 

We got to basecamp and I asked someone walking by where I could park for camping. With a big smile he waved his hands and said “Anywhere!” We drove on and spotted a teammate’s car down the road. We pulled in nearby behind another racer from Durango, CO. We chatted with our neighbor about the trails and then geared up to pre-ride what we could that afternoon. We returned to basecamp and connected with an organizer who showed us the map and described the trails. On our way to the trails we saw pickup trucks with their beds stuffed full of smiling youth and bikes. That goofy “I’m in heaven kid with an ice cream cone” look that all enduro riders get when we get shuttle service to lap rowdy trails all day. We couldn’t help but smile too.   

First, we tackled Lookout and Sunrise trails, which I was thankful to pre-ride as the first drop sketched me out. With encouragement from Hannah and another local rider, I got my confidence up and sent it. No big deal! It looked scarier than it was. We continued down the trail and hit some more rock drops. The trail finished in a loose sandy S turn. We climbed back up the road and pedaled over to ride North Face, an off-camber side of mountain trail with some more drops. By this time it was dinnertime and the sun was getting in our eyes. 

Back at basecamp we mingled and waited for the huck to flat competition to begin. We chatted with one of the volunteers who would prepare breakfast for us the next day. We told her how far we had come for the event and how excited we were to be there. She told us about a float she recently worked on for the Navajo Code Talkers parade. As attendees were lining up for the competition, my teammates noticed it was only men and boys and commented that we needed some female representation! Realizing that meant them, they went over to line up too. The music started and the crowd cheered. The youth were sending it high and far! After the competition ended, another female racer expressed her thanks to my teammates for showing up. We finished the night with a home cooked meal of mutton soup and fry bread tacos. 

The next day, Saturday, was race day and we were up with the sun. Breakfast was blue corn mush with berries and breakfast burritos with thick homemade tortillas. I was nervous lining up for the trials I did not pre-ride, but fellow racers in line walked me through what to expect. They were calm and positive, which helped me relax. They said there were some drops but they were doable if I was able to do the ones on Lookout. I took a deep breath and resigned myself to trust and go for it. On Sheepdog trail I came up on a drop and kept on rolling. I dropped down smoothly and heard the onlookers cheer. Turns out, it was a big drop! Sometimes trust and rolling blind works out.

As the afternoon heat settled in, racers returned to basecamp for lunch and awards. Organizer Germaine shared information about how the event came to be and about the extra special gifts of star quilts (which represent their origin story) from a neighboring tribe for top winners. Podium winners for each category were called up and we all celebrated. Still running on a high from the event, we packed up and began our journey back home.