Stone riding high in Enduro series
First place in Britain, second in the world – Nelson teenager Brady Stone is certainly making the mountain bike enduro world sit up and take notice.
Stone sealed the British National Enduro Series Under-21 title last week with a win in the final round in Wales. And, thanks to a strong run of results in the Enduro World Series (EWS) so far and just Switzerland to go, second place overall in his age group is all but in the bag.
He has been going head to head with the front runner, French rider Antoine Vidal, of the Commencal Vallnord Enduro Racing Team. As Stone puts it, Vidal has been ‘‘super fast’’, but the competition has forced him to push himself.
Stone took second places at Val Di Fassa in Canazei, Italy in June, and in France at Les Orres in July. Last month saw him take fifth place in Whistler, Canada and fourth in the Northstar race at Lake Tahoe in the United States.
Whistler was wet, and Stone says he ended up making a lot of mistakes. ‘‘I wasn’t feeling confident with my riding from the start.’’
The Northstar race may have been dry, but the altitude brought new challenges. ‘‘You’d do a sprint section and be super tired, so you can’t breathe and get oxygen back in, and then you’re trying to ride down another section.’’
When he returned from the States, Stone clinched the British title. ‘‘I was pretty happy with that.’’
The Traillove event in Zermatt, Switzerland on September 21 is the eighth and final round of the EWS. Stone has done enough now to make second place his.
The last hurrah for the season is the Trophy of Nations at Finale Ligure in Italy, a teams event which is like the world championships for enduro. Stone will be represent New Zealand’s bid for the Rainbow Jersey with fellow Kiwis Nils Heiniger and John Richardson.
Despite his achievements in 2019, Stone is at something of a crossroads about competing in the under21s next year.
He has to fund his travel and racing costs himself, and while he says he’s been fortunate to have the support of the likes of Santa Cruz and Hyperformance Hardware, it’s still an expensive exercise.
‘‘Its been an awesome season, but it’s been pretty hard to get around.’’
He said there was the possibility of support from a factory team that would answer the question of whether to push on into the 2020 season.
For now, though, he plans to return to Nelson for summer, catch up with friends, race a bit and, if he commits to next season, start training.
Stone said Nelson’s bid for the 2021 round of the EWS was exciting, and from his experience of the other venues, he knew the organisers would do a good job.
‘‘The trails are world-class. It’s a good spot for it.’’