KING OF THE MOTOS 2023 (hardest race I’ve ever done)

BEWARE OF HARDENDURO!
This was my first hardenduro race, and first time racing king of the motos. I had never even heard of king of the Moto’s until about ten months prior to the race but some friends who I was riding with said you have to race it. So I started training and working on the techniques that you need to compete in hardenduro. One thing led to another, and now I’m fully submerged in the sport.
 as crazy as a sport as it is the injury rate is significantly lower than motocross. You don’t have the gnarly high speed crashes and usually you’re just tipping over. of course, every now and then you’ll smash your finger or bang a knee. Usually the bike gets more bent than the body though.
Nonetheless, I was off to race at this crazy place called Hammertown. I had gone out about three or four times before the race to get a feel for the land. I can tell you it’s like nothing I’ve ever ridden before. Most people would say it’s not fun at all. Except for the 150 people or so that signed up to be punished. Honestly, I was wondering what I was doing out there at times too. But every time I left, I would just think about the times I would clear some gnarly obstacles or make it through a section without putting my feet down. I have to say it’s quite a satisfying feeling.
On the other hand, there are tons of tip overs, and sketchy moments out there. I guess I shouldn’t pretend like us motorcyclist aren’t looking for that thrill haha!
LOOKING TO RACE KOM?
If there’s any advice, I can give to someone who has never raced it, It would be to do as much preparation as you can. Make sure your bike is fully suited with guards all over the bike. Make sure you get some long rides in where you really have to push yourself for a few hours. In other words training is important. Watch all the TH-cam videos about hard Enduro. get to know the sport, and learn about the techniques the pros use. spend a good amount of time working on them. Maybe even get a trials bike If you can afford it. balance is key at hardenduro races.
And it’s not a cheap race, so if you’re going to spend the money, make sure you do the preparation. it doesn’t matter if you are a C rider or a pro, you’ll want to learn to ride with as much efficiency as possible. And make sure you have a hydration pack and have your nutrition sorted out before you get to the race. I used Gu nutrition powder with caffeine in it.  I made sure to eat plenty of carbohydrates the days leading up to the race as well as ate as clean as possible during the weekend.
Yes, it was expensive, but I have to say the organization of the race was superb. And the amount of riding you get in is almost too much riding for one weekend. So make sure you pace yourself the best you can. 
My races went pretty well. The Saturday morning prologue was just a short race to get you qualified for the Saturday afternoon race. I ended up getting 10th in the A class on Saturday, which I was pretty happy with. My chain did come off at one point which sort of had me panicking and cost me a bunch of time but I got back going again and rode OK.
The main race on Sunday was a doozy. Most of the A riders that did finish were out there for about 3 to 4 hours. Honestly, many people did not finish the race.
The starts aren’t that important IMO. You have so much time to work with. I’m not even sure where I started. It was probably in the top corner of my class. Nonetheless, I did not freak out and knew I needed to pace myself.
By the time the second lap came around I was starting to feel a little bit better on the bike. I made it to the last checkpoint and was in 33rd out of all the riders. I was pretty excited to hear that and charged into the last section. The last Canyon we had to go through was called “dead blow” and it was really hard. I ended up tipping over on the last third of that section and losing all of my coolant. I knew if I could make it out of that canyon though I would only have one more transfer and a couple more rocks to go over before the finish line. I could hear my bike starting to make funny noises, but I was so close to the finish and felt like I was still close to reaching my goal of a top 10 in the A class.
Unfortunately, my bike blew up with about two or 3 miles to go. It was a tough blow, but I did my best. It’s a lot of suffering out there so you have to get used to that feeling of being uncomfortable. And I felt like I was. Luckily, I just seized the piston and will need to fix the cylinder. no bottom end damage though.
Not sure if I’ll go to any more hard Enduro’s this year but I think I will be back for KOM next year. I would like to redeem myself with a finish, and hopefully better myself and possibly get inside the top five.  thanks for reading this if you did and thanks for watching the video. please subscribe to my channel and me and my brother will keep putting out more videos. Let us know what you think in the comments. take care everybody!