Understanding moto cycling

There is only the wind ahead with high speed, the roar of the engine, and no obstacles. An incomparable feeling of freedom and flight gives a motorcycle. Some young men fall so much in love with this feeling that they decide to link their fate with motorcycle forever. Some motorcycle championships attract more and more fans!

Hard enduro specifics

This sport is also known as extreme enduro. It combines endurance riding, cross-country, and moto-trial and involves a mass participation format. This means that sometimes hundreds of motorcyclists race through mountains and forests for several hours, overcoming serious obstacles.

Motorcycle enduro requires maximum physical strength and endurance, not to mention solid driving skills. Hard enduro is one of the few elite sports where amateur riders can compete alongside pros on the same tracks, which means racing is more like a festival where you have a fun weekend with friends.

Best-known tournaments

Long-distance road racing remained the main type of competition. However, for the audience, they did not cause much interest. In addition, these races went with «neutralization», but even this did not rule out accidents during the competition. To increase the entertainment and popularity of motorcycle competitions, moto cycling races began to be held at hippodromes and cycle tracks and then on special motorcycle tracks, which were closed from pedestrians and public transport and could take place non-stop.

Red Bull AMA Tennessee Knockout Extreme Enduro

The knock-out format forces drivers to be in the front of every lap to avoid falling out of the standings.

The Red Bull championship calendar includes some cool races in spectacular locations, new events and a host of old favorites. It is one of the toughest races in the US and is run according to the Olympic system, with riders competing against each other against the clock in an attempt to stay in the race.

EnduroCross Championship

The degree of difficulty of the Endurocross route is tailored to the driving performance of the KTM Freeride E-XC and is intended to provide maximum driving fun for every experienced Enduro rider.

Participation in the Red Bull Endurocross is only permitted in full safety equipment. That means: tightly closed helmet with chin guard, eye protection, gloves, motocross boots, knee and elbow protectors, breastplate with back protector. Each participant is responsible for his own protective equipment and its functions.

They have the opportunity to drive a timed lap on the Endurocross course in the Arena in the qualifying sessions.

International Six Days Trial

The first genuinely significant international competition in this discipline is the International Six Days Trial, a cross-country race. The ISDE is sometimes also referred to as the «Motorcycle Olympics». The fact is that the competition initially, from the very first six-day race in 1913, was built on the competition of teams from different countries.

Initially, only 3 athletes participated in each team, but by the 1950s the number of participants in them had grown to 5, and by the 1980s to 6 people. At the same time, they had to show not only their own skills but also the endurance of the equipment they brought with them – they were allowed to perform exclusively on machines produced in their own country.

SEWC

The SuperEnduro World Championship is also organized by the FIM and can be considered one of the youngest competitions in the world – it has been held since 2007. Most European countries are chosen for the event. However, in the event’s history, there were several races on other continents, particularly in Brazil and Mexico.

It differs from the usual World Championship in at least 2 points:

1. SEWC is held after the end of the motorcycle season – from October to March;
2. Competitions are organized in closed stadiums or arenas with artificially created obstacles, which is why they were initially called the FIM Indoor Enduro World Cup and only in 2011 were renamed the Superenduro Championship (similar to supercross – a stadium variety of motocross)!

In general, despite the world championship status, this event is significantly inferior to ISDE in terms of popularity.

Is enduro a good hobby?

In conclusion, it is worth noting the «many-sidedness» of enduro – over the centuries of its existence. The discipline has become the progenitor for other motorsport areas: cross-country, Baja, enduro-cross, enduro-sprint, rally-raids, and many others.

At the same time, each direction has its own significant races, not only local ones (attracting athletes from other countries) but also global ones, for example, the famous Dakar Rally, the World Cross-Country Rally Championship or the FIM World Cup in Bajas. But it is undoubtedly better to talk about them separately.