What Erzberg’s really like...Enduro21 tackles the Iron Giant.
Enduro21 jumps right in the thick of the 2024 Red Bull Erzbergrodeo Hare Scramble, the main race at the toughest, and most iconic single day extreme enduro on the planet.
Qualifying in 222nd place, we parked our own Husky bang in the middle of the 500 qualifiers, hit the starter button and got on with it.
This is the reality of Erzberg in the mid-pack onboard with E21 editor, Jon Pearson. From the chaos of the start (supposed to be dead engine, watch the flag and go FYI…), the flying rocks, the monster hills and all the stuff you don’t see on the coverage of the Pro riders…the endless queuing in the woods.
The worst airport queue ever…
Especially this year, the Hare Scramble course chucks one snotty bottleneck after another in the early check points which all sap time as you go nowhere. Like the worst airport queue ever, it syphons into single tracks frequently and takes no time at all for tricky sections to become full of bikes and riders.
No-one can get a clean run and that means you have two choices: sit still and watch the pile of bikes grow in front of you or throw yourself into it and haul your bike through.
The reality when you start midpack is everyone around you is capable of getting further through the race than their result will show.
And then, just like that, four hours has ticked by and you’re left wondering where the time went. Thanks to the boys along the way for the buddying up to help each other. Much appreciated.
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Пікірлер: 38
Thanks for bringing us along to the Insanity, nice riding when you had the opportunity!
It's sad that this extraordinary competition is so poorly organized.. Every single year I hope to see real improvements, and I am disappointed. THE START: you want to start in 10 lines of 50 competitors, but it's difficult for you to have, for example, a red-green-light start, so there's equality for everyone, without tricks and cheaters (just analise this year's disastrous start). THE TRACK: At least until the 10th Checkpoint you should provide more routes/ larger area, to avoid blockages and the impossibility of continuing the race for those who do not start in the first line but have the skills to go further (you have 500 riders, after all, you cannot send them home after CP3). And as many say, "What is the purpose of having a qualifying race in the 6th gear, at a hard-enduro competition? Having in front of the pack motocross riders that cannot ride hard-enduro?" It's a guaranteed recipe for traffic-jams! LIVE STREAM : when you have 500 riders and for 90% of the time you are focusing on top3 (max top5), you are not doing your job well (Not enough live-cams ontrack, or somebody is sleeping in transmission center?). And in 2024 I don't think it's an impossible task to have on-screen provisional ranking with intermediate times in an accurate and professional way, not amateur , as at past and present. As a conclusion, I wonder when the FIM will intervene in this championship and impose some common points for all races (start rules, checkpoint rules, etc.)
@jonpearsonbiketester
2 ай бұрын
100% agree, especially about the track layout.
@IKFH14
2 ай бұрын
Best comment ever ✊
@pauldavies5541
2 ай бұрын
I’m trying to figure out why a hard enduro event uses a 6th gear open road blast to figure out the starting position. Why not a short mini Erzberg time trial with a mix of obstacles? Should make for less traffic jams.
@calinkln-enduroalba7507
2 ай бұрын
@@pauldavies5541 I've been thinking the same for the past 10 years :)) Or more !
@lostinpa-dadenduro7555
2 ай бұрын
I will add one other. Letting the ADV bikes go in rows before the Enduro bikes. That might be fine on the first wide open part, but I saw a video where the ADV rider (Meo) got stuck in the early woods and basically bottlenecked a hundred people behind him.
bloody good effort fella - what i hate when i do these races is the people who fail and just block the hill or path, it's like: come on man, you tried and you failed now get down so the hill is clear for the rest of us to have our turn and you get another crack - downright annoying and while i know it is sort of the accepted 'norm' I HATE IT
Thanks for bringing us along. Good riding!
Awesome video. Great job! What a party!!
Great video footage of showing the bottlenecks and muddy mountain ST!
Fantastic footage
What a nightmare. I can honestly say I never knew it got like this for the mid-pack riders. What a shame. Well done. A good effort.
Brilliant, well done.
Hart said even his first line start people jumped and then he got knocked down in first turn and bike ran over. But he got 2nd, so that is pretty good.
@jonpearsonbiketester
2 ай бұрын
Every start line was a shambles and row one was one of the worst. They don't control it well enough.
That’s bonkers. Start line was ridiculous then how the hell do you deal with the carnage and queues it must be the only result must be “what check point did you manage to get to” this year as reward. Well done on your ride
Should do a reverse grid start and watch the top boys try and get through 450 riders 😂
@__kvik
2 ай бұрын
Letting the pros race themselves between amateurs is a recipe for disaster, but having separate races where amateurs go first, perhaps on a shortened course, is something I've thought could make sense. The thing is, anyone who's raced any hard enduro race from the back of the pack knows the absolute state the track is in for them after hundreds of riders had made their way through it, destroying every nice piece of ground, exposing every root and rock, making everything so bad as to be almost unrideable, especially given the skills of back of the pack guys. It's a struggle, way harder conditions than what you experience from the front after just a few dozen riders. I'd love to see pros understand that struggle :)
Thanks for posting this. Sadly looks like the legend is made by traffic jams. It’s still a great event but it’s time for organizers to make some changes to start and making track not so one lined.
I like this even as 1 week an in categories .
Cool. Is there a loyalty program there? "Cashback" or something?! 🤣🤣
I think bottlenecks should adopt a trade turns method, if you don't make it then back down to end of the line. It is pretty clear your skills may have been better than others but the bottlenecks killed it for you. But getting people to do it that way would probably be impossible. Kind of like getting people into a single lane on interstate early during a lane closed situation.
@jonpearsonbiketester
2 ай бұрын
It's exactly like a condensed version of a traffic jam on a motorway/freeway or like the worst of airport queues.
Why do you kill the motor while descending?
@jonpearsonbiketester
2 ай бұрын
Helps save a small amount of fuel if you do it on every hill. I wen the whole four hours on one tank of fuel. Plus the steeper hills it can be easier to "drag" the back wheel down in gear and use the clutch like a brake.
Traffic jam rodeo
Why not just build a start line of logs. That will stop everyone creeping forward. At least after 25 years they have some kind of transponder timing...Yay
What row did you start on
@jonpearsonbiketester
2 ай бұрын
Rider numbers 200-250, rows of 50 so row five. Bang in the middle!
The start is laughable. Every line that went off was a gong show
To avoid such situations you should simply be faster in the prologue :)
@jonpearsonbiketester
2 ай бұрын
Thanks for your help Gotti!