The smell of burning clutch filled the air as a swarm of motorbikes, cars, and pick-up trucks fought for space on the narrow, dusty dirt road, with the backing track of beeping horns. It was organised chaos.
It felt as though I was in Mumbai during rush hour. As I looked to my right, I saw three friends crammed onto one bike, weaving through gaps that at first glance seemed so impossibly small that only the most flexible of people would be able to bend themselves through.
However, this was not a traffic jam in India, but rather an active iron mine deep in the Styrian Alps of Austria .
I’m crouching down in the back of a truck, making my way back from watching the chaotic Rocket Ride that kicks off the start of Red Bull Erzbergrodeo, a four-day hard enduro motorcycling event that is deemed one of the most extreme in motorsport.
Crammed in with fellow media professionals, we were returning from the rocky and muddy slopes where we had just watched riders attempt to climb inclines that are barely walkable at rip-roaring speeds.
I had only been at the ‘Iron Giant’ for a matter of hours but was already realising why the event has built the reputation it has. The moment I heard that first chainsaw – yes, chainsaw – while standing amongst the passionate Austrian motorport fanatics, I knew this was a unique event.
Red Bull Erzbergrodeo is a four-day hard enduro motorcycling festival in Austria
Nevertheless, when I landed in Vienna earlier that day, I was naive as ever. I’ve covered both Red Bull Rampage and Dakar Rally in the past year; I’d seen it all before. Surely this race can’t match the unhinged nature of that dynamic duo? But as always, I hadn’t learned my lesson.
The best way to describe Red Bull Erzbergrodeo is that it is like Apres Ski meets punk rock festival meets football-like fandom meets enduro motocross. A crazy concoction of enthusiasm, fun, freedom, and sporting excellence.
‘We have this festival vibe,’ five-time champion and Red Bull athlete Manuel Lettenbichler tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘Here people are going to ride a little bit, but they also want to have a good time and just party.’
It’s a four-day-long weekend of racing that begins on a Thursday and culminates in 500 riders trying to traverse treacherous rocky terrain on an active iron mine that is surrounded by a mountain range that is so picturesque it almost looks like a painted background.
The event starts with almost 1,500 participants who have a crack at the prologue, a speedier timed ride around the iron ore quarry at the base of the mine that serves as a qualification round, before it is whittled down to the best 500 to take on the most famous and toughest race extreme enduro has to offer.
Out of those 500 competitors, only a handful will finish the main race, also known as the Hare Scramble. They are given a four-hour time limit to climb the ‘Iron Giant’, which may seem like a decent chunk of time, but when you witness the track that has been created, you will wonder how any finish at all.
Riders have to complete 27 checkpoints on the iron mine, which is active 361 days per year, with operation only halting during the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo. Only a small per centage of those who started the race even manage to get past checkpoint 10.
Only 15 competitors managed to complete the race this year, with Lettenbichler taking the chequered flag for a record fifth-straight time with a dominant display from start to finish on the ‘Iron Giant’.
The German rider has always been a record-breaker, writing history in hard enduro since before he was even allowed to buy a Jager Bomb from the famous on-site beer tent (we will get to that later).
The event culminates in a race up an active iron mine in the middle of the Styrian Alps
Red Bull athlete Manuel Lettenbichler won his fifth-straight title in the 30th edition of the event
Lettenbichler was just 16 years old when he finished Red Bull Erzbergrodeo for the first time in his debut at the event, making him the youngest rider to ever complete the race. However, while the feat was ground-breaking, it taught him just how taxing the sport could be.
‘I remember an hour before the finish, I was so cooked,’ he adds. ‘I was in the trees, engine off, sitting on my bike, my legs were cramping up everywhere, and I was like “I think I’m not going to make it”. I was just lying on the bike and couldn’t believe how tough this race is.
‘I knew it from my dad and watching videos and stuff, but you do it for the first time yourself, and you are like “what the f***, this is nuts”. This was quite a shocking moment, to be honest.’
What makes this event unparalleled, though, are the fans. They are the beating heart of this extravaganza, scaling unrelenting rocky ground to support their favourite riders, wielding chainless chainsaws to generate noise and necking cans of beer as they do so.
They generate an atmosphere like nothing I have ever experienced. It’s almost like football fandom in the way that fans are constantly chanting, and many show off their beer bellies like a Geordie on a rainy day, but there is no aggression, just a shared passion for the sport they love.
Lettenbichler continues: ‘It’s not like hooligans. Everybody who is on this mountain loves motorsport, loves motorbikes, and you can see it. They bring their chainsaws, they bring their scooters to go around the mountain.
‘I remember years ago, they used to bring dinosaurs just to have them in the paddock. Huge dinosaurs out of cardboard and couches that have a motor in just so you can ride on the couches. You can see that everybody is super enthusiastic about motorsport; this is something really unique.’
And Lettenbichler is bang on. I have never seen such love and passion for an event in my life.
Where I saw this most was during the Kessler, which is something of a pre-event parade that occurs the day before the main race. To say that it’s the most mental thing I have ever witnessed, let alone been a part of, is an understatement. It was unhinged but beautiful carnage from the off.
Red Bull Erzbegrodeo is known for its enthusiastic fanbase as as thousands of riders enjoy a festival-like weekend
There is a beer tent where fans can enjoy riders doing crazy tricks on stage and live music
The Mumbai comparison rang true again as thousands of riders descended into the quarry at the bottom of the mine. Yet more friends piled onto one bike: one that I saw was holding five people and a crate of beer. There were also an array of fancy-dress fits, burnouts, and outrageous tricks on display.
However, it did end up with me getting soaked by a rider. Many others and I were sitting ducks in the back of a pick-up, as the rider positioned his bike in the monstrous puddle in front of us, and well, started throwing a roost.
While it’s fair to say that the group were miffed at first, all ended up being forgotten within hours when some colleagues and I descended on the famous beer tent (I told you I would get to it).
So what is the beer tent? The beer tent: a haven for those who love booze, a boogie, and a sing-song. It’s basically the equivalent of a stage at a festival; you could compare it to Woodsies at Glastonbury, only it is surrounded by bars and is full of tables.
Oh yeah, and it is also home to the infamous beer slide, which I can neither confirm nor deny whether the journalist writing this piece went down on the final party night during the competition.
The beer tent, and even the slide, encapsulate what this event is. It’s one massive party. Riders, mechanics, fans, and media all congregate at the tent following a long day to let off steam. It’s what makes the event so special.
‘It’s wild, if you go in that beer tent, phoar,’ three-time winner and Red Bull athlete Johnny Walker tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘I’ve never been in; I just see videos of what’s happening. I would go in it, but if you go in you just get mobbed. If one person takes a picture, then everybody takes a picture.
‘The fans are cool, and I guess the fans being able to get so close to us, which doesn’t happen in many other sports, so it’s a bit different. It’s good because when I was younger I was like that. We should have more races like this because of the atmosphere.’
Nearly 1,500 riders start the prologue before 500 qualify for the race and only 15 finished it this year
The unity of the fans and riders is something that race founder, Karl Katoch, who launched the event back in 1995, has always wanted to keep at the centre of everything, no matter how big it gets.
When Katoch launched the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo three decades only between 170 and 200 people either watched or participated in it. The beer tent used to be a fraction of the size it is now, and Katoch was even able to cook local food on a grill for the attendees because ‘there were that little people’.
‘I want to leave everything open,’ Katoch explains to Daily Mail Sport. ‘Of course, there are rules and regulations for the races, but actually I want the people to have fun here.
‘After racing is done, people need a room to talk with each other. Food and play. In the beginning, it was a small beer tent, and it grew when more people attended; more spectators came in.
‘When I go to MotoGP or F1, there are always regulations, but here little regulation. If you know how to behave, you can do anything. You can work, enjoy yourself, and you can ride here. Even though you need a band or accreditation to get in here, when someone wants to join me or talk to me then just come in.’
Now, Katoch’s methods may be unconventional — most sporting events don’t exactly have party tents on site — but they have worked tremendously well. If not for his grounded nature and creative ideas, the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo wouldn’t have become the ‘Xtreme Spectacular’ it is today.
Multiple world champion Billy Bolt, who hails from Newcastle, was due to race this year, seeking to win the title that has alluded him throughout his career. However, unfortunately, he was forced to withdraw at the last minute after an infection developed in his hand following an operation.
The rider was one of the favourites to challenge Lettenbichler, but three days prior to the beginning of the event, he was in a hospital bed in Munich. At one point it didn’t look as though Bolt would be able to attend at all.
But the Red Bull athlete was not going to miss it for the world. With Munich being so close to Austria, he managed to recover quickly enough to travel over in time to watch as a fan, rather than participate.
Red Bull Erzbergrodeo is known as one of the toughtest and extreme hard enduro events in the world
‘It’s the biggest race of the year so the most disappointing race to miss, and I was feeling really good before all of this,’ Bolt tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘It felt like I had a good shot at this year, but it is what it is. I’ve been injured as much as I haven’t been injured in my career, to be honest. I’m quite used to that feeling, watching from the sidelines.
‘This race is what helped our sport grow into what it is. This race can literally [change your life], you can become a professional overnight from racing good at this race. There are just so many eyes on it, so much media attention; it’s massive in every way.
‘For me, since I was a kid, it just looked like the maddest, craziest thing ever. It was something I was always kind of aware of. I’ve got a lot of friends who are hobby riders here. I couldn’t even count how many close friends I’ve got that aren’t professionals that just come here for a holiday and try and do their best.
‘There’s no rules, but there are loads of rules. It’s mad.’
I ended my piece on the Dakar Rally saying that it ‘may well be the most chaotic but spectacular event on this earth,’ but after spending four barmy days in the Austrian mountains, Red Bull Erzbergrodeo may have just changed my mind.
