Endurocross Day #1: Road Trip!

It's rough. It's rocky. And for the first time ever, it's actually a series. The 2007 Maxxis Endurocross circuit kicks off tomorrow in Denver, Colorado with continuing action next week in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Read on as Dirt Rider gives you all the dirt from the road.

In true gusto fashion, we hit California's I-15 freeway at 5am in Big Air Tod Sciacqua's trusty motor home, loaded to the gills with bikes, riders and several cases of Arizona iced tea. Along for the ride is Tod, goofball Gary Fogg, hard enduro master Kyle Redmond, photographer extraordinaire Tony Scavo and me (Chris Denison), a scary mixture of attention deficit disorder and slapstick humor, no doubt. The drive went slow as usually, but we kept things entertaining with stupid jokes and a Police greatest hits CD. In an odd twist, we bumped into Endurocross racers Matt Karlson and Eric Rhoten at a Wendy's in Grand Junction last night, headed in the wrong direction. Apparently, these guys are racing the WORCS race in Hollister, California on Sunday, which means that they had to park their van their today and then fly back to Denver for the race tomorrow. Now THAT is gusto! We finally rolled in to town 18 hours later, bleary eyed but still laughing. This morning we got up early and headed straight to the track to check things out and get signed up. Once again, EX masterminds Tim Clark and Eric Perronard?along with track builder Shane Schaffer have created a beauty. Filling the entire floor of the National Western sports complex in downtown Denver, the course is a mix of the usually big rocks, slick logs, even bigger rocks, water holes and sand whoops. The track is more wide-open than Vegas, but that isn't to say it?s going to be easy! The rider list looks insane as well, with a host of qualifying riders trying to best the likes of John Down, Ty Davis, Damon Huffman, Geoff Aaron, Ricky Dietrich, Nick Mantzoros, Nathan Woods and several others. Practice starts in less than 12 hours, and I am now going to grab some sleep. Check back soon for an update from the smelliest motor home on the road to Endurocross. See you then!