Las Vegas EnduroX Event Report

[twowheels]

If you haven't seen an enduroX up close and personal, you owe it to yourself. Really. That's no joke.

We rolled into town Friday afternoon in time to get signed up ... well I didn't, but with age comes wisdom (or so I'm told). The rest of the afternoon was spent watching qualifiers as the field got set for the Saturday program.

The enduroX team has decided to open up the fun to aspiring riders, so Saturday morning bright and early Destry Abbott, Mike Brown, Jamie Lanza, and Gary Sutherland led a two hour track walk / coaching / encouragement session for all (11 riders) that signed up. After a brief introduction from Eric Peronnard, the father of enduroX, the riders and their crews got a chance to walk the course and get a rock-by-tire-by-log explanation of how to approach each obstacle.

Down on the floor of the Orleans, the rock piles looked sketchier, the logs looked bigger, and the cord wood corner and straight downright nasty. Still, with expert coaching riders were able to navigate the course (more or less) in a very respectable fashion in 15 minute sessions. After a chance to learn the course and then catch their breath, the group split in two so Brown and Sutherland could instruct on the tire corner and matrix, while Abbott and Lanza coached on the rock piles and chopped wood corner. A short exhibition race closed out the session, and judging by the looks on the faces of the riders, they were glad for the pain to stop.

Abbott said that even for pros the heart rate spike is dramatic - from rest to 200 in a couple corners! There was a lot of clanking of skidplates, buzzing of tires on rocks, and scraping of fork legs, calipers, and swingarms on rocks, so the riders weren't the only ones suffering.

Shortly thereafter the Saturday qualifiers and races blasted out of the gate - great idea to start outside of the arena - the gate drop was shown on the big screen, the real drama unfolded when the riders hit the center lane of the main floor. Lots of them hit the floor/deck/dirt bending into the tight second turn, and the slippery dirt would play as big a role as any other obstacle (save the chopped wood corner and rock straight) day and night long.

The hot lap session in the afternoon was eye-opening ... fast time was 58 seconds, but even the pros struggled with the course. Typical time was about 1:05-1:10.

If you want to know what happened at night (besides Cody Webb owning Taddy all night long), go to youtube and check out the Motortrend channel, but know this - every one of the riders, whether they made the main or not, deserves an off-road riders' respect for tackling the rocks, logs, tires, and chopped wood of the enduroX course.

[desertgasser300]

Riding that course is....NO JOKE!!!!!

[Fred1956]

I watched live on MotorTrend's YouTube channel awesome action for sure....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLgD...-hEFmrfNTvEsMd

[adv rider]

I agree it's a lot harder than it looks.One of my riding buddies,decided 1 month before the Everett event.That he would race it-he didn't't qualify . I thought for sure he would qualify,since he is in much better condition and a good natural rider. But no-the course ate him up.

[desertgasser300]

Originally Posted by adv rider

I agree it's a lot harder than it looks.One of my riding buddies,decided 1 month before the Everett event.That he would race it-he didn't't qualify . I thought for sure he would qualify,since he is in much better condition and a good natural rider. But no-the course ate him up.

Chews you up first then spits you out, nibbles at you as you think the worst is over then it swallows you whole, excretes out on the matrix all the while laughing and taunting you and your beat to crap bike as you somber off like a dog that just had his nose rubbed in it!!!

Seems like a better description!