Australasian Dirt Bike — January 2018

http://www.adbmag.com.au JANUARY 2018| 155

http://www.adbmag.com.au AUGUST 2016 | 155

Itried

Wildwood

back in 2011

and hated it

whole track is gnarly but I think
because I wasn’t trying to set any
records I actually enjoyed it. The last
time I was here, technically, I don’t
think I finished. I spent a lot of time
laying on a hill helping a teammate
who was faking an injury. I didn’t
want to have this race bugging me
and I’ll probably be silly enough to
come back and do it again next year.

THE YOUNG AND FAST
Wade Young lapped me around
halfway. On the flat enduro stuff I
could ride with him because it’s not
that hard but on the technical stuff he
just doesn’t get hung up or slow
down. Even when we got to sections
where there were riders banked up he
could do something special and go

over a rock and be gone, whereas I’d

just have to sit there.

Wade is at another level to everyone

else who was at Wildwood. He’s

obviously very bloody fit. I could ride

his pace but only for a quarter of a lap

and to do his pace for four hours is

another thing altogether.

You can easily get caught up in the

mentality that this stuff is shit and no

fun and I almost let myself go there.

But then I thought about how fun it

can be watching guys loop out with

steam coming off them.

There were a couple of guys at

Wildwood who get paid to race as a

job and guys that race full time and

live at home, but they shouldn’t have

some rum drinker that’s been sitting

on the couch for four years beating

them. When you look at the off-road

racing calendar and realise there was

no Australian Four-Day Enduro this

year, more of the top enduro riders

should have been at Wildwood.

For riders wanting to give it a go

you need to get out and ride the

shittiest trails you can find. It’s a

bloody hard race by Australian

standards.

It’s super hard, and different. It’s

like Finke and Hattah.

It takes it to another level where it’s

that hard, it takes you to that pain

place that no other race does and

that’s why riders do come back. I

could see how bad some of the riders

were hurting through the back of

their helmets. And to be honest, that’s

what made me feel better.

Young would like to see

more internationals come

over for Wildwood