If you've never watched a Hard Enduro motorcycle race, you're missing out.
Imagine going dirt biking with your friends, but instead of easy, flowy single track through the woods, your ride is through boulder fields, up 75-degree inclines, down through river beds, through trees spaced a bar's width apart, and generally through the gnarliest terrain imaginable. These are the Erzbergrodeos and Romaniacs.
And if I could sum up a Hard Enduro in one word, it'd be: insane.
But if all of those features aren't hard enough on a motorcycle, organizers tend to throw in further obstacles just to mess with riders and turn the heat up past 11. For the organizers of the Mid East Hare Scramble, a lipped creek jump was that feature and even though these are some of the best riders around, it caught a lot of people out.
Check out the insanity as a 15-foot jump bested a ton of riders.
It looks like the most common issue was everyone misjudging the creek's expanse and not carrying enough speed. As such, a lot of folks came up short and nailed the far side's berm, immediately sending them into their bike's bars or over them, and eating the opposite side's dirt.
And for those wondering if all the riders saw the obstacle ahead of time, or whether the race organizers failed to mark it properly, the riders were informed. According to On The Pipe Podcast's post comments, "[The jump] was a perfect lip, very well marked, in the parking lot where everyone saw it and knew it was there, had a bypass to go over a bridge instead, and demonstrated and explained in the riders meeting. 600 other people made it no problem."
And to that fact, On The Pipe Podcast posted another video of riders actually making it. Check it out.
But like I said above, Hard Enduro races are insane. It doesn't matter if you're a great rider, sometimes you just get caught out. And these races are designed to do just that.
They also look fun as hell. Maybe RideApart's editors should try one this year? Who wants to see us violently crash? Sound off in the comments below and tell us which bike and race we should enter.
I'm thinking Romaniacs but I'm also a lunatic.
