Lots of our readers dabble with enduro or off-road riding, especially at this time of year when the conditions aren’t great and the roads are saltier than a pretzel. I mean, what’s not to love about getting blathered up to the eyeballs and riding around without a worry of doing five grand’s worth of damage if you roof it – as would probably be the case with our beloved road bikes. The beautiful thing about enduro is that it blurs the lines between MX and trials riding, combining the speed of motocross with the technicality of trials, meaning it’s a great discipline to keep you on your toes. I’m a huge fan of off-road riding, but while I’m not too bad at turning left on a flat track bike, by no means would I call myself an off-road expert. I’ve dabbled in motocross over the years, mainly on stubble field turn tracks, and I’ve had the odd day on a trials bike, but enduro was a whole new world and I was more than happy to let five-time British enduro champion Ady Smith take my enduro virginity. This chap has been around a bit and since starting enduro in 1981 has claimed five British championships – before moving over to Supermoto and taking another two British titles on tarmac.
Nowadays, Ady is flat-out running his KTM Enduro Experience days, so I thought who better to show me the ropes in this discipline than the man himself. Bruce generally needs a lot of help, and especially so in the enduro department, so I dragged him along to get dirty with me on a hillside in Matlock, one of five venues Ady uses for his schools. He uses this one for the more personal tuition days, such as two-one or one-to-one, as it’s the perfect little spot with a good mix of terrain, obstacles and challenges.
After an early start and a long drive to the venue, we were met with a sight for sore eyes – a selection of immaculately prepped KTMs, kitted out with some of Michelin’s finest enduro rubber. We had the choice of six 2022 models: I opted for the new KTM 450 EXC-F, Ady went for the KTM 300 EXC TPI two-smoker, and Bruce took the KTM 250 EXC-F – he looked a bit frightened by the bigger bikes, bless him.
We were armed and dangerous but understandably
