The Day After The Rodeo
Now after something as brilliant as the Erzberg Rodeo the mood can be a little flat, all that’s left is home and normality. Well, not on this trip – we are off to the KTM factory for a tour ;-)
Or guy at KTM is Jochi Sauer, he is a bit of a dirt biker dude and has won the International Six Day Enduro [That’s a massive deal!!!|].
We are greeted by Jochi and taken to a very nice meeting room where he runs through the KTM business model and company philosophy. We then swiftly move on to the factory, WOW!
They have an immaculate factory, everything in its place, so shiny and clean. Jochi explains the process and why KTM take most of the build process in-house. The production line is a busy place, not automated but hand operated by real humans [no machines here]. We look up at the production line notice board and it shows that 130 bikes had been made so far today, its only 1pm although they start early at KTM: 6am.
A thoroughly inspiring and informative visit, I think everyone of our group now wants to become a lifelong loyal KTM owner. They have a name for people like that – Orange Bleeders - I’m in.
Sunday - the main event. The other Rodeo events before this are just a sideshow to this incredibly hard race – The Red Bull Hare Scramble. With the sun beating down on us at a rate of 35 degrees it feels so hot. We await the start, its nerve wracking and I can feel their anticipation.
The 500 riders line up and at the bottom of the largest open face mine in Europe and then it starts.
Once all the riders are away we move to check point one, a sharp downhill that is proving a problem for some riders. Luckily Archway crew are on hand to help; the team pulled rider and machine through the messy quicksand that was placed there to catch them out.
Taddy Blauzusiak completes the course in record time followed by Andres Lettenbichler, britond Dougie Lampkin takes the final sport on the podium.
It’s hard to describe the Erzberg Rodeo without writing a dissertation. The Glastonbury of dirt biking is truly amazing. Watch the DVD’s, read the books and get yourself out there.
Day Four – Erzberg Rodeo.
We arrived at the Rodeo and split it up in to two groups, we then went to the top of the mountain. We found a good spot to watch the prologue; it was better to watch than yesterday because the riders were a lot quicker.
We all meet back at the minibus for a packed lunch and then chilled out in the shade as it was too hot, I think it was 30 degrees or higher.
After lunch we went back to the prologue to see if we could find Guy Chandler, Guy is a UK based racer.
We made our way back the Erzberg Arena to watch the freestyle moto-x and had to wait a long time before it started. When it started it was brilliant but it quickly went wrong. One of the riders didn’t jump far enough and had an unexpected [bad] accident, I think he was hurt and they then called a helicopter.
Although we all saw the accident we all remember the best bits of today and it was Banging.
Jack Cox aka Jumping Jack
Archway to Erzberg - Day three
Up, breakfast downstairs at 8am and then in to the study room where we prepared for Erzberg Rodeo interviews. We worked on questions and who we’d like to interview. We got to the Rodeo and we watched the prologue start, the riders race from the bottom to the top of the mountain. We meet lots of the riders and got them to sign our shirts. It was a nice hot day, better than yesterday.
Chole Olding
Day Two: Frankfurt to Erzberg
Got up at 3.30am thinking it was 4.30am to leave Frankfurt at 6am. Quick breaky then hit the road for a very long time. Scenery was mainly countryside and we ended up in the Alps, it was quite amazing you could see the clouds touching the mountains.
When we arrived we went straight to the hostel, unpacked had a shower then left to go to Ertzberg Rodeo. Neil gave us the VIP passes and after 18 of us had chicken and chips. We walked up to the Rocket launch competition, it was raining, wet, and soggy but it was still good.
The rocket launch is an amazing race; riders start from no run up and go up three massive hills. There was five bikes at the start gate and one gate kept sticking, three went through then the winners go against each other. We saw loads of people crashing, falling off and doing stunts.
Today has been fun, a great laugh, interesting and I loved trying new things and meeting new people. Tomorrow is going to be a great day. After a good nights sleep I can’t wait to see the qualifying for the Iron Giant Race.
Anthony Tomlinson
First Day
After an early start at Archway Project we drove 500 miles to Frankfurt, Germany. Everyone was and is very tired. The channel tunnel was fast and we then drove through France, Belgium and then Germany. It took us hours and hours.
We arrived at Frankfurt Hostel, which is in central Frankfurt. A spot of sightseeing was followed by a Chinese meal. Our bellies filled we popped back to the hostel for some card games and then bed…. Early start tomorrow!
We should arrive at the Erzberg Rodeo by mid afternoon tomorrow, crunching another 500 miles Erzberg Rodeo – here we come!
