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Come Watch the Entire Erzbergrodeo Hard Enduro Race

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What are you doing for the next 4 hours and 45 minutes? Take a break from your office-drone life and come watch the hardest single-day motorcycle event in the world.

That’s right, the entire Erzbergrodeo is up on YouTube (complete with a livestream chat feed), for your dirty-biking pleasure and two-centric practice of schadenfreude.

This year was the 24th running of the Erzbergrodeo, and this hard enduro hare scramble lived up to the hype once again. Only 23 riders finished this year’s race in the four-hour time limit (out of the 1,500 entrants and 500 qualifiers), and the clear winner didn’t emerge until the end of the course.

The “Iron Mountain” proved once again to be a great equalizer in rider skill and machine setup, which is why so many people flock to this old iron mine in Austria.

Over the years, thanks largely to the support of Red Bull, the Erzbergrodeo has become one of those iconic motorcycle races that lives a live of its own. Each year we see more top riders flocking to Erzberg, and this year saw the debut of the race’s first electric competitor: Ty Tremaine with Alta Motors.

We don’t want to give too much away, for those who don’t know the result and want to come into the stream clean, but it’s a worthwhile watch. Grab a beverage (or ten), turn off the phone, and enjoy!

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Dirt

Get Excited, The Erzbergrodeo Is This Weekend

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The Erzbergrodeo is billed as motorcycling’s toughest single-day event, and it certainly lives up to the hype. Last year, only five competitors crossed the finish line, after the event organizers decided to “toughen up” the already grueling day of racing by adding the new “downtown” section.

With its iconic start out of the bottom of a open-pit iron mine, those riders that can make it up the mine’s walls are then a barraged by a numbers of hard enduro sections – it is easy to see why the hare scramble styled event is so popular with fans and competitors.

The 2016 edition of the Erzbergrodeo is this weekend (the main event is Sunday), and it is anyone’s guess as to who, and how many, of its competitors will even finish the race, let alone win it.

To get us pumped up for this weekend, event sponsor Red Bull has put together a video that tells the history of the off-road race. Enjoy it, after the jump.

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Watch Only Five Competitors Finish the 2015 Erzbergrodeo

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The Erzbergrodeo billed as the toughest single-day motorcycle race on the planet – a name the race more than live up to each year. For 2015 though, Sunday’s Red Bull Hare Scramble, as its known to the marketing-hip, was something out of Dante’s seven circles of Hell.

500 riders qualified for the main event, a number that was whittled down from the 1,500 entries. Of those 500 riders though, only 5 of them finished the course, known better as “The Iron Giant”.

Though the Erzbergrodeo is known for its low-finishing rate, this year’s event was extra difficult because the race organizers added an additional 21 miles to its length, including the new “Downtown” section, which was a virtually impassable with its ravine and steep muddy hill.

With four co-winners (Jonny Walker, Graham Jarvis, Andreas Lettenbichler, and Alfredo Gómez), and a fifth lone finisher (Mario Roman Serrano), we bet this will be a race talked about for some time. Luckily if you missed it on TV, we have the full TV episode right here, after the jump. Enjoy!

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Dirt

2015 Erzberg Rodeo Finishes With Four-Way Tie

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The Erzberg Rodeo billed as the toughest single-day motorcycle race on the planet, and all you have to do in order to check that superlative against hyperbole is to ask a competitor about the Red Bull Hare Scramble event.

With 500 riders qualifying for Sunday’s Red Bull Hare Scramble, out of some 1,500 entries, only five…yes five…finished the gruelling “Iron Giant”.

As if the past races in the open-air Austrian pit mine, haven’t been hard enough, this year’s event included a number of changes, including an all-new section lovingly named “Downtown” that was right before the finish line.

Adding 21 miles to the previous course length, the Downtown section was virtually impassable with its ravine and steep muddy hill, even for the top entries. Accordingly, the Top 4 riders banded together in order to make it through the meatgrinder and finish the race.

As such, Jonny Walker, Graham Jarvis, Andreas Lettenbichler, and Alfredo Gómez are this year’s joint Erzberg Rodeo winners, with Mario Roman Serrano credited as the fifth and final race finisher.

In case the race wasn’t breath-taking enough, the photos seemingly do it justice. We have 71 high-resoltuion shots for you, after the jump.

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Come Watch the 2014 Erzbergrodeo – The Most Grueling Single-Day Motorcycling Event

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Billed as the toughest single-day enduro in the world, the Erzbergrodeo certainly seems to live up to the hyperbole. Four days of events, the Erzbergrodeo is crowned by the last day’s Red Bull Hare Scramble, where 500 qualifiers (pared down from over 1,000 entries) take to the Austrian quarry, and only a handful find the finish line.

The Erzbergrodeo is mildly ridiculous, and completely laborious…so, obviously we like it. Thankfully for the 2014 competitors, the rain wasn’t too big of a factor this year…because you know, it’s not like the hare scramble wasn’t hard enough to begin with. We won’t spoil the results for you, so a summary video (along with a bunch of hi-res photos) is waiting for you after the jump, while you can watch the 4hr long version right here.

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Racing

Erzberg Rodeo – Red Bull’s S&M Playhouse for Motorcycles

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There is nothing about the Erzberg Rodeo that appeals to me, other than the fact that it is totally bonkers, awesome, and horrible all rolled into one single-day event (there’s a reason this site is called Asphalt & Rubber).

Any race where 1,500 riders start, 500 qualify, and only 14 finish, has got to be an epic competition, and considering the fact that the Erzberg Rodeo starts in the excavation pit of an Austrian mine…well, it takes a special rider to be enticed by such an event.

One such special rider is Graham Jarvis, who was the first of the fourteen men to reach the 20th and final checkpoint. Taking 2 hours and 52 seconds to complete the course, Jarvis made the 2013 Erzberg Rodeo look downright easy.

However, with one look at the race-day conditions from this past weekend, we know it was anything but. Take a look for yourself after the jump — race results are here.

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Racing

Motorcycling’s Most Grueling Single-Day Race?

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At over to 5,000 miles long, and with 14 days of competition, the 2013 Dakar Rally may be the most grueling event you can race on a motorcycle. But what about the most grueling single-day race? That honor would have to go to the Red Bull Hare Scamble at the Erzberg Rodeo. An enduro event like no other, the 2012 edition saw 500+ competitors at the starting line, but only seven actually finish the race.

An active open-air iron mine the rest of the year, the “Iron Giant” hosts some of the most determined enduro and trials riders in the world each year. A test of bike control, navigation, stamina, and a bit of luck, we imagine you will be tired simply after watching the hour-long video that is waiting for you beyond the jump. As for The Dakar? Imagine something like this for two weeks straight and you would be in the right ballpark.

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