Unless you’re a hardcore hard enduro maniac, chances are excellent that you might know about a couple major international events. Erzbergrodeo is probably the biggest, with Romaniacs a close second on the calendar.
That’s for good reason; not for nothing, but Red Bull has done an incredible job at promoting those absolutely bonkers hard enduro events for several years. But Erzberg is in Austria, and Romaniacs kind of speaks for itself with regard to its geographic location.
What about the US? It’s such a massive country, with so many different types of topography to be found within its borders. Is hard enduro just not a thing here?
That’s absolutely not the case, as the US Hard Enduro championship is already well underway for 2025. While it might not get the kind of attention that those massive European events do, it’s no less impressive if you actually get a look at what goes on.
The 2025 Tough Like RORR round took place at the end of May in Pennsylvania, and as you’ll see in this video, it featured plenty of challenges for all 130 participants (not to mention everyone who showed up to qualifying and didn’t make it into the actual race).
How do we know? Because Craig of The Bearded Mechanic worked on this event, and he took us all behind the scenes in his most recent video.
The day before the course, Craig and his buddies take a nice little trail ride through part of it, just to check the ribbon placement that’s been set up to keep the racers on the predetermined course during all parts of the event. Some of the harder stuff, like crawling over massive boulders, they don’t run; instead, opting for nearby trails.
It looks like good fun, assuming you’re a rider who can handle themselves in these conditions. In other words, not me.
There are a ton of amateurs that rock up to try their skills at this event, as well as a handful of seasoned pros. In 2024, apparently the course was so hard that just one rider managed to complete it: the man himself, Cody Webb. He’s back again in 2025 to see how he does, and I won’t spoil the end result for you so you can go watch this video when you have a spare 25 minutes.
But I will say that it’s worth your time!
