2023 Silver Kings Hard Enduro Race Recap | Lesson Learned | Highland Cycles

[@crosslinkedcomponents4494]

You forgot your swingarm guard homies were there too! Glad you enjoyed. Hard Enduro is addicting. If you make it to a second and see how far you progress, you will be hooked!

[@highlandcycles]

Dang. Sorry man. We will see.

[@d.brayman3165]

Never stop learning!!! I think you did pretty damn good. At least you went out and actually did it, unlike our keyboard warrior friends. Good on you, Morgan.

[@fzbastos]

Cheers from Portugal. Don’t be so Hard with you its just your First Hard enduro After all.

[@richardhartley7094]

So rewarding when you do stuff out of your comfort zone well done you 👍

[@larrytobin6603]

Reminds me of my first Tennessee knockout experience. Keep at it, oh and add tko to your list🤘

[@highlandcycles]

For sure

[@zachfarkash6430]

Morgan you did absolutely awesome for your first Hard enduro. I just turned 45 this year and would love to get into something like what you're doing. Keep up the good work man.

[@hardcoreenduro]

yaaaaa buddy I knew one wouldn’t be enough lol. Same for the starting of the race. They needed to be ready to go. Motto tally does all the work for them tracking times so I don’t what the hold up was Hopefully they solve that for next year. Try Donner out and be prepared for the rock slab carnage

[@jmoto385]

Morgan, I recommend watching Rich Larsen U-tube videos at "IRC Tire USA Moto". The videos have helped me alot and I'm over 60, been riding off-road since I was 12. I also like IRC gummy tires, they work great. Good luck on your next Hard Enduro.

[@erniea1175]

Over the years I was never a fan of gummy front tires. Always felt like traction went from great to none with little warning. Surprisingly my current all time favorite is now a gummy 90/100. I ran the non-gummy version for several years before a hard enduro friend convinced me to try it. At first I wasn't overly impressed, but remembering advice from Vance Earl years ago I increased pressure about 4 psi and absolutely love it. I've not tried the VX40, so no idea how it would respond to increased pressure (stiffer mousse in your case?) but might be worth a little experimentation.

[@easterntownshipsenduro]

Rock on!!! It's great to see that you haved got sting by hard enduro, welcome to the suffering!!! Pushing, moving the dirt bike around is a technic it self, even Trystan Hart, Cody Webb and all the pros have to push their dirt bikes at some point in most races, so being in shape is not a bad idea! 🤘🤘

[@designatron7894]

Great review buddy, hope the event organizers take the prologue issues to heart. It set us way back for the main. I'm hoping they learn how to progress the prolohue a lil better so riders can work through the course w/o bottle necks.

[@highlandcycles]

I hope so too

[@enduro-parts-aus]

It looks like one of the coolest courses , would love to see it in person

[@ridersride1]

Yea buddy 48 your doing good 👍

[@williamcrotts7054]

Great job and effort on your part. FYI, Manny Lettenbichler runs a 12/52 gearing and as you know, Trystan chases him. LOL

[@highlandcycles]

Thanks for the info!

[@NorthWestMotos]

I love the story times with Morgan, you're a good story teller. That's interesting you say the hills in Colorado aren't like the ones in Idaho. I just assumed all the mountain areas are steep and gnarly but maybe that's just up North here? I kind of want to get a trials bike so I can get better at the hard stuff on the big bikes faster. If you liked Idaho, you're gonna have a blast in Washington. Stoked!

[@alanpontone6599]

You did great. See you at Erzberg next year.

[@highlandcycles]

😂🤣

[@tjpighin]

I thought that was a great way to separate the pack and allow the better riders to get through the pack up to where they should be if maybe they had a bad prolog. Hard Enduro races are hard to get by people, so I thought that first steep hill in the final race really separated the group and allowed the pack to spread out and made for better racing. There are always going to be traffic jams, but when there are wide taped lines like that, it makes for smaller bottle necks later in the race in the creeks where there is physically nowhere to pass. I think they thought that through very well. And later in the race, it got ten times gnarlier up the shale hills and some of the creeks. I thought the hardness of the A course was pretty dang spot on for A riders. It's a hard enduro, so I would expect not many finishers. If everyone is finishing, then I would call it enduro or xc or hare scramble not hard enduro. If anything, the course could have even been a touch harder for A. I think everyone did suuuuucchhh a great job and the course was marked top notch with no questions.

[@painsrides3616]

This vid makes me think about how I felt when I started trying local races... I was already over 50 at the time, they made me realize I just didn't care for that sort of riding, racing wasn't enjoyable for me. I want a challenge but at my own pace, I want to be able to ride how I feel like going, not feeling like I'm being pushed or have to push. ...Getting in better shape is never a bad idea 😉

[@GrayRidesEnduro]

Talked to you a couple times out there (you were basically a celebrity so I doubt you remember lol) but after seeing this I think you would've enjoyed the bronze course soooo much better. It was by no means easy, but not anything crazy hard. In fact that first hill you were talking about is a hill that was on the bronze course, just not past that road.

[@highlandcycles]

Yeah. I was planning that but my buddy talked me into silver. I’m glad I got to see it but I’m definitely more suited to bronze

[@woodysrockspyro6436]

Dang! 270 dollar entry! Thought i might try one sometime. Sheer insanity.

[@garrettanderson7803]

That one is much more than most

[@nick4872]

I was there and thought it was great value

[@grantbowen5047]

I think 13-52 was good gearing for Silver Kings because you need the speed at the bottom of those hills in 2nd gear and then the torque to keep pulling at the top, or if you get off line.

[@grantbowen5047]

Oh, my old ass moose seemed to be perfect for that terrain, I'm guessing it was about the same as 5-6 PSI.

[@mikebarnato7632]

I think strategy is a big player and how well you do how far you get there, making them so hard at our level might be hard to finish unless you strategize big time #1 prologue super important to get a good time to start up for it. Hare scramble start get in front.#2 strength😂 230 pounds plus you got a pick it up a whole bunch better be ready😢😢 better not be as small as me #3 bike set up super soft, big rear tire. You don’t want to try and kick it all day.😂 pretty sure I need a e start#4 in bottlenecks get in line stay in line be a nice guy help everybody😂 keep moving forward don’t quit it doesn’t feel good😢

[@200xcBruce]

Get them to make the spring thingy for a Beta. Mousse balls need to come drilled or not drilled?

[@highlandcycles]

Better to come not drilled then you can tune

[@mraycgz]

Nah it’s a legit gripe. If everyone is timed out than everyone is timed out. That’s that. You can’t tell people that and then give times to the people that didn’t listen to officials.

[@highlandcycles]

That is how I feel

[@garrettanderson7803]

I'll break my bike with you whenever I can

[@jarredschatz7544]

To all of you giving him a hard time due to his finishing position; how many golds in hard enduro do you have?

[@philipsmith6152]

Great review, You may have sucked, but so did the event organizer's. I've done a few of these events, they seem to be good at organising the event, but suck at running them.!! My biggest gripe is the lack of safety in place, how do you get injured riders out that can't ride, or their bikes broken down etc. You can't just rely on a chopper!! There needs to be proper chicken trails / ext routes for to get riders out.

[@highlandcycles]

Agree 💯

[@robh3267]

$270 amateur entry fee is outrageous, the club was using all the amateur fees to fund the whole race and then for a course worker to tell you you have to go back down is total BS, you can be sure without the amateurs this race wouldn't even be happening or any others in this series.

[@JRlastofthebreed]

It is not a club. The race is held on a private ski resort buy a for profit company. 1000's of man hours building the track every year. Price is steep but it has to be for that type of event. I think there were 18 checkpoints. all fuel was provided and 2 days of racing. Now that the last 2 years have had a lot of.... "growing pains" that need to be worked out. Delays, confusing, ridiculous 2 hour long bottlenecks right out of the gate. ect. I think this year was better than last year but they have a lot of room for improvement

[@Dissentient01]

If you are not practicing IRC Tire Guys low speed drills, you are cheating yourself.

[@highlandcycles]

Yep.