How Tough Is It To Be An Enduro Racer? | The Reality Behind The Results

Enduro is tough, possibly the toughest MTB discipline out there. You need the fitness of an XC racer, the precision of a downhill rider, but be built to do it all day and have an amazingly strong mental game. We followed Norco Factory Racing's Gehrig twins at the first rounds of the 2021 EWS to find out what life is really like at the sharp end of the toughest mountain biking discipline.
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Leave us a comment below!

[@thehighground4920]

I’m doing my first ever enduro race this upcoming weekend. Wish me luck! Edit: thanks for all the support guys!

[@harrydestcroix5516]

Good luck which is it?

[@thehighground4920]

@@harrydestcroix5516 Western Australia gravity enduro

[@yengsabio5315]

I hope you and your bike already in winning condition! What bike are you ridin', eh mate? All the best for you! Cheers & Mabuhay, from tropical Philippines!

[@ollieeales6676]

Good luck I am still working my way up to racing enduro

[@thehighground4920]

@@yengsabio5315 I’m running a specialised stump jumper, so not quite an “enduro” bike but so far she’s served me well.

[@davidgeorge7443]

Me: Braking the whole time downhill. Gehrig Twins: Peddling the whole time downhill.

[@josephorr945]

@@justnothing8692 what's the death grip challenge

[@Naah732]

@@josephorr945 no brakes challenge actually one downhill than higher you start than better

[@josephorr945]

@@Naah732 wdym

[@geetarthneo]

Started with road cycling, fell in love with mountain biking.

[@jefferson9428]

Make sure you convert all your road cycling friends too.

[@thomasstubbington3249]

Yeaaaa

[@oliverlamont5239]

Gmbn videos are always so well timed, just finished a grim enduro race😂

[@wildearpsadventures4991]

Love this type of content! Thanks for the "insiders view"

[@sfynn1]

Fantastic content (and perspective)! Thank you!

[@anyssen]

How come nobody talks about the climbing part of the stages, it is a very important part of enduro, otherwise is a downhill cut into stages... In our Epic Enduro Series we even have a hill climb stage, with prices and stuff...

[@sanabibimtb]

Great video dude as always thank you again from me and my Channel!👍❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@cb6866]

Thanks Rich....that was cool .

[@mariopejovic]

it is amazing how MTB progressed over the years. enduro and xc made huge leaps, with how fit they have to be, how good technical riders they have to be, and how mentally sharp they have to be. i wonder will see more of crossing between enduro and xc riders, with gap in a way being narrower every year (shape aspect of the enduro and technical challenges introduced into xc every year).

[@inflams]

It´s more likely that some XC riders will cross over to enduro but not the other way arround. The level of fitness required for top XC is really another world which can be only reached by years of specified training. For XC it´s more likely we see even more Street riders crossing especially sprinters if mtb gets more lukrativ.

[@mariopejovic]

@@inflams yeah, that's what i meant, xx going enduro. I think Nino even raced some enduro events or plans to eventually. With his skill set and xc stamina, that will be interesting to watch

[@charliewheeler6992]

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[@charliewheeler6992]

Ooooo polo oooooaooooooooo no o

[@charliewheeler6992]

@@inflams o ok oooooooo o

[@Bessunger]

Fantastic. It's awesome what enduro racers do!

[@RegularJonMTB]

They went full on Rocky IV style training there! 💪🏻

[@Toxic-ps2xy]

They have super cool bikes🤩

[@Mr.P.Griffith]

I don't normally support channels or TV shows that turn minorities into majorities in what ever genre but this is awesome seeing all these women kicking ass in such a fast pace physical sport. Love it. Keep it coming.

[@chucknorris7221]

There are heaps of women in XC/Enduro but we need to support everyone - we're all mountain bikers 💪

[@diviscadilek1764]

@@chucknorris7221 Not comparitively. In my local XC race, every woman that attends gets on the podium, because there is only about 1 woman for every 10 men. I have to imagine enduro is the same, or even more of a sausage fest.

[@petermcinnes6987]

Should be an Olympic sport.

[@zon3ful]

Too boring to watch

[@thehighground4920]

@@zon3ful you’re wrong

[@majorbadidea]

yeah, definitely way less fun than any athletics - irony hopefully implied :)

[@CanonFirefly]

@@zon3ful the Olympics is like a collection of the most boring sports in the world. They still do shot put and javelin ffs. Enduro is a massive step up in energy and spectical compared to most. Downhill and Enduro should both be in the Olympics. Can't have to much cycling.

[@mountainbikeparadise4763]

@@zon3ful How dare you

[@TrailsJunkie]

Riding and learning everyday so I can one day race in one of these 🤙

[@jimmygrimshaw3318]

Brilliant content…. U guys should follow a different team each country….. 👌🏻👍🏻👌🏻👊🏻

[@jactvlogs7820]

I made a mistake I saw Neil at bike park pales on Wednesday and was wheeling up the car park while he was coming down towards me and kinda go in his way sorry didn’t know it was you 😅😅

[@gabrielsegura1530]

I have been waiting to race enduro for my first time since may of last year maybe, but it’s always been pushed back due to covid, there was a dh race not too long ago and the enduro was going to happen, but no pushed back again rumor has it it may happen in september, thats just so frustrating waiting so long, but if you put 22 guys chasing a ball ⚽️ it’s like there weren’t supposed sanitary restrictions

[@damonm3]

Damn I need some cooler friends 😂🍻. Time to find some new riding buddies🔥🔥

[@snat6299]

Cool 😊👍

[@shemshem9998]

enduro is for sure the hardest discipline to get into (with into i mean finish) (discounting local races because they always varry and pro ones which i will discuss later, just think races that are large scale but dont require you to have done previos races, think megavalanche, ews 80 and 100, random bike park races etc) and requires the most time to be ready to do. xc is quite easy to get into, most races dont require hard tracks and most more dificult features have a way round, moslty they just require fitness, you can easely do them they just require more time. then you have DH, which takes a while because the nature of the tracks means you have to have developed skills and be able to ride a black oro double black with confidence. and then you have enduro which requires both, especialy multy day races like enduro. but at the end, to be a pro everything is just as hard, because all those guys are the peak of what we are currenctly capble of.

[@alex_2891]

Indeed

[@TopJoe]

first, loved the video

[@Jarod391]

True

[@freyatheuncontrollablesaus3202]

Epic

[@TidyDawg]

What the hell is that chain setup at @3:58 I've never seen that before!

[@kiltymacbagpipe]

High pivot? Watch some GMBN tech and doddy will explain it he did some vids on the new high pivot bikes recently.

[@TidyDawg]

@@kiltymacbagpipe ok thanks I’ll check it out!

[@gmbn]

Take a closer look at Caro's bike here! gmbn.tech/CaroGehrigProBike

[@TidyDawg]

@@gmbn the bike looks incredible, and I love how he’s soldiering on in the pouring down rain haha.

[@coreyking5135]

Difficult for these athletes when they have to learn the lines so quickly.

[@adrian_veidt]

Enduro might be the most complete mtb discipline.

[@josipkasalo70]

Enduro is a sport where one small root can be more harsh then a rock

[@chiefchero6198]

I wish I had a twin to ride with :(

[@chiefsilverback]

Slightly off-topic, but would elbow pads have prevented that dislocated elbow?

[@jonathanchao5067]

Perhaps, but she might have landed with an out stretched arm like landing on her palm to catch herself, if that’s the case, the I don’t think elbow pads would help.

[@diviscadilek1764]

Pads only ever really help against scratches and cuts. They don't even prevent bone fractures properly, and the only way a pad would prevent a dislocation is if it restricted movement in some way, which elbow pads don't do.

[@Tastaturmusik]

How tough is [subgenre] ? But more importantly, can [group of riders] do [subgenre] ? Also, does [whatever] matter ?

[@ShitStefanShoots]

Swiss riders flying Italian flags? Or is that due to the place where the race was held?

[@andreapaladini7279]

The race was probably held in italy. At 6:40 you can read vittoria la thuile. La thuile is in italy, near france

[@ShitStefanShoots]

@@andreapaladini7279 thank you

[@cloroxbleach9222]

I find that XC is getting more technical and Enduro is getting more physically demanding it makes me wonder if the disciplines will ever intercept at some point

[@diviscadilek1764]

No, they definitely won't, as you will never find a 10 minute long descent in XC, and you'll never find a 1 hour long sustained maximum effort in enduro.

[@cloroxbleach9222]

@@diviscadilek1764 hehe you're quite right

[@LeMADFacteur]

All this talk about xc strength and dh precision.. All this fight about what is the "real" mtb. If we listen to GMBN then EWS athletes would just destroy the competition in either XC or DH. All of these disciplines have their special skills required and you can never compare them.

[@DemonicVelocity]

What they say is that you need the widest spectrum of abilities for being sucessful in enduro. More like a jack of all trades instead of a very specialized skill. Being a bikepark-king does not mean you rule this category, because if thousands of meters of climbing elevation for several days requires another kind of fitness than 5 minute all out rough downhill for example.

[@diviscadilek1764]

Yea, enduro riders definitely don't have XC fitness. Sure, they might have an FTP of 300W, but top level XC racers are in the 400s.

[@davidamora2565]

Is enduro And Downhill the same?

[@aaronlobido5120]

no. you have stages that you need to climb thats where fitness of an XC racers come in hand and the downhills are a bit different not that much kinda similar from dh tracks, if you have broken components you need to repair it yourself i think and the obvious one is the bike less travel suspension and more gears

[@boostmags6165]

I thought it was more travel but the seat angle is higher is greater to allow better peddling uphill?

[@aaronlobido5120]

@@boostmags6165 its less travel but not that big of a difference, the stantions size is smaller just compare fox 40 and fox 38 or 36 and you will see the difference in fork, suspension travel stuff. Yeah in dh you dont need dropper post because you will just go downhill in enduro you need it cause you will pedal to every stages and wider range of casset 1x12 is the most common one

[@davidamora2565]

I'm too broke to Have a Enduro bike

[@cooperlegal69]

Just sold my kidney for one!

[@stewieftw9805]

ROFL fitness of an XC racer? at the local trails all the enduro riders with their 6k$ bikes cant even ride the lightest climbs.

[@timothekid2557]

So i thought you have to kick your bike by yourself uphill in enduro. This looks like downhill for me.

[@andynelson1977]

Different races all have slightly different formats - some more heavy use of lifts, some self uplifted, but all have plenty of physical input either in the format of transfers above the lift to the start of the stage, or even some climbs mid stage as in this video.

[@croatianmountainbiking6624]

Enduro is proper hard, but not even close as hard as xc, so please dont compare both again by difficulty

[@bobothericefarmer1878]

E

[@gcygnet8817]

Looks like everything is going down, why isnt this called downhill?

[@kiltymacbagpipe]

Filming riders going up isn’t very exciting.

[@gcygnet8817]

@@kiltymacbagpipe ah yes, that is true.

[@diviscadilek1764]

It's downhill racing with extra steps

[@Kaisersozze]

Too bad they cut out the crash.....and the swearing...is this the Disney Channel?

[@calebw707]

Ummmmmmm tough

[@Nightl0rd]

Imagine being married to Them as trio

[@chucknorris7221]

What an unnecessary comment 🤮

[@fabijan03]

some of this guys dont know how to ever ride a bike just look ak this in vid

[@ImMikoFreako]

Enduro is boring to watch. DH is much more fun. To do? Different story, but not as a spectator.

[@rhythmm8832]

Ur mum

[@Tefloncoated]

Not as tough as a real job i would suggest that saps the will to live for a lot of people. This is something you do cause you want to and not cause you have to to support your family mostly.

[@xXRunDeathXx]

"a real job" ... sure

[@terribleteddy]

Having a bad day now are we?

[@frecklelizzy]

The amount of judgement and resentment in this comment 🙄 don't project being unhappy and being triggered by people that are in their power and flow being happy.

[@potto1488]

"I work in an oil rig so you must too or you're not doing anything tough" type beats

[@Tefloncoated]

@@frecklelizzy oh so the amount of assumptions being made by your comment? Im not resentful at all. Im 54 years old and have a great life. Being young and fit is great. I competed in XC races 25 years ago and finished 4 in my very first race. Its fun not work. When you grow up you will realise that.