Some pics by Peter Schluter: Hard Enduro World and Red Bull Content Pool.
Held in the Austrian mining town of Eisenerz and first launched in 1995, the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo is one of the most revered race in the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship. It takes place around the rather intimidating Erzberg mountain, an operational mine that produces more than three million tons of iron ore per year. This year, the mountain served up more blood, sweat and tears…
Just yesterday we were chatting about hard enduro. We were wondering who came up with the concept because – hey- bikes are meant to go fast, wind in your hair and all that. Yes?
Then someone decided to take a bike up a climb that a goat would battle along. And that person fell and sweated and crashed and broke the bike… but he or she (Chances are good it was a she…) convinced a friend that it was great and that everyone should join in. The bike shops loved it because of bent bars and broken exhausts – and so the craze grew and grew into the madness that we all love today.
The caveat to all of this is the fact that riders have got better and better at not crashing so often – and the European bikes anyway, are being custom made to spiderman up the sides of cliffs.
True story.
South Africans, being the resilient folks that we have been forced to become, have joined this craze with events like the Impi and Roof Of Africa becoming one of the ultimate accolades.Â
Fact.Â
And as a result of races like these, we have bred our share of some of the worlds top riders.
This years edition of Erzberg showcased that again, with Wade Young coming in fifth, Matthew Green 12th and Brett Swanepoel just missing the final cutoff.Â
Those positions, out of 500 hard enduro riders, say a lot. And remember this:
ONLY 17 RIDERS ACTUALLY FINISHED.
It was, by all accounts an epic race this year – and stars of the show were undeniably Manny Lettenbichler and Billy Bolt who entertained the crowd from start to finish. Even after Bolt crashed on the first climb, he clawed his way back to the front:
Bolt, 25, said: “That was my worst ever start and then the next 10 minutes was a blur, and I knew I needed to pass as many people as possible before the course got technical. I bent the front disc on my bike in the crash. I also dented my exhaust pretty badly. I’ve had a fair bit of drama, all self-induced. When Mani passed me, I thought I would struggle to keep up with him. I didn’t take it easy, I just made sure I could get home in second. But all things considered, I am very, very happy.”
After more than an hour of chasing Bolt, Lettenbichler snatched the lead back at checkpoint 22 – and then he showed why he is the world champ as he disappeared into the distance for his second event win, by a monster 11 minutes.Â
– Lettenbichler said: “I’m speechless that I had such a big gap at the end. I don’t really believe it. I had a really good start and then Billy caught and passed me, and I tried to stay with him, but I couldn’t. He pulled a gap, so I tried to save some energy. When I could see him again, I decided to push and I would say he was pretty tired. Then I just rode a really good line to pass him. This race is such a crazy motorbike festival and everyone in the world just comes and wants to do this challenge and finish this race. It’s super unique. It feels amazing to win a second time in a row.”
You could see the anguish as Canada’s Trystan Hart came in third. Watching the interviews, he was pretty hard on himself. That’s the passion that drives top sportsmen. He can be proud of his two podiums in three attempts.Â
Hart: “Back-to-back podiums, lots of people would be happy but, to be honest, I’m not super happy. I put myself in a really good position, I was leading, which I didn’t really expect and then I just got tight and made a lot of mistakes in the first hour. To get the holeshot and then make a lot of mistakes is kind of heartbreaking. I was right where I needed to be with Billy and Mani, and then kind of threw it all away.”
There’s no denying that Erzbergrodeo is absolutely a spectacle of some note. Pop this event onto your bucket list and lets hope that the Rand improves… Let’s get more Saffers over there next year.
redbullerzbergrodeo.com
Next up: Romaniacs.
