The most difficult part of racing enduro mountain bikes is explaining to everyone and their mother what enduro is.

Usually, when people ask me what I do with my life I just lie and say I’m an accountant or a graduate student (the two things guaranteed to elicit no further interrogation), but sometimes I get lured into a sense of false security and accidentally admit that I race mountain bikes for a living. Then I have to qualify that no, I’m not one of those dudes on Redbull TV who does backflips off 70 foot cliffs (thanks for that, Rampage) nor am I Danny McKaskill, sorry to disappoint. I actually race this thing called enduro downhill — and then I see the blank stares and I’m like, cool, okay, no one cares. Either that happens, or the person assumes I race motorcycles and I have to start all over again. Or, worst case scenario, someone is actually really interested and I have to try to explain it to them and inevitably I make a huge mess of it and they end up more confused than ever and/or thinking I’m crazy.

I’m writing this blog post to clear things up, because despite all the hype and confusion and ridiculous new products, enduro is not all that complicated. And it’s actually pretty cool and something I think that anyone could, under the right circumstances, learn to appreciate.

So, here we go.

Mountain Bike Enduro for Dummies Everyone.

Enduro is a discipline of mountain biking, in which racers ride casually to the top of a hill or mountain {liaison stage} and then race down the hill or mountain {special stage} on generally challenging trails, starting at 30 second or 1 min intervals. A race can have anywhere from three to eight special stages, usually over the course of one or two days.

Ride. Race. Rinse. Repeat. THAT’S IT. THAT’S LITERALLY ALL THERE IS TO IT.

Of course there are a million and ten caveats — sometimes you might take a ski lift or a shuttle to the top, instead of pedaling. Sometimes races are three days long, instead of one or two. Some are even five or seven days long, although these usually have the word “ultra” tagged on there somewhere. Sometimes riders have pre-assigned start-times (as in, you better get your ass to the top of the hill by this time), but often it’s more casual and you can start whenever you get the top of the hill. Sometimes the race stages are three minutes long. Sometimes they are forty minutes. Sometimes they require a lot of pedaling and aerobic endurance, sometimes they require a lot of downhill skills and cojones. Every enduro race is different, but the basis is usually the same.

Here is a little cheat sheet, of what enduro is and isn’t, for those among us who might still be confused (*cough*the-entire-bike-industry*cough*).

What enduro is:

…A race discipline with a world series and an international governing body.

…A full day of riding with new friends and some racing splashed in (aka loads of fun).

…A style of riding and racing that is pushing bike companies to build bikes that both weigh almost nothing AND descend like beasts.

…growing exponentially and attracting lots of people to mountain biking.

What enduro isn’t:

…the only real mountain biking. Real mountain biking is you on a bike on anything that isn’t pavement. Errrybuddy rrrrrrrelax yo shit.

…a bastion for washed up downhill racers, no matter what the pinkbike comments say.

…a backpack, a watch, a pair of handlebars, a granola bar or any other product that isn’t a bike race in the aforementioned style.

…a verb. “Enduro-ing” is not a thing, please let’s stop this madness.

…just for guys. We may be outnumbered, but the ladies of enduro definitely have the most fun.

Now you have some idea of what I spend my life doing and, hopefully, you see A) that it does not involve motorcycles or endurance and B) that it’s a lot of fun. If you’re still confused, please leave a comment to that effect and I will try to elaborate further.

And in the meantime, happy enduro-ing. I mean, um, whatever, I give up.

{Edit 11/19 9:22 AM: Thanks to the reader who pointed out that I forgot to clarify start intervals. That has now been rectified! See, even I don’t know what I’m talking about.}