There is a reason Barbed Wire seems to win “ECEA Enduro of The Year” damn near every year. And few ever argue. This event is special. There is just something about it. Yes, they have excellent trails, they have the slide and the event is in a beautiful part of the country. Yes, this course is well designed and arrowed and they hand you a beer at the finish line. It has all that and more. But there is something else that is hard to put into words, but anyone who has ever attended Barbed Wire knows it’s there.
There is a “feeling” you get at this event. There is a positive energy surrounding Barbed Wire that you have to be there to experience. Maybe it’s how friendly everyone is. The locals seem to love us being there. Maybe it’s the scene of you and your buddies taking a run at “The Slide” while the crowd cheers you on. It could be the Gatorade stand set up right as you come out of section 3, or certainly the cold beer they hand you as you cross the finish line plays into the Enduro dream that is Barbed Wire. This event is special.
The week started out looking like all sunshine for the days leading up to the race. Then midweek we saw some predictions for rain. No matter, good for the dust. Then we went to bed on Saturday night seeing “Potential Heavy Rains, Flood Watch in Effect” flashing on our phones!
Everyone was ready for it. Extra gloves and goggles got packed up and then It rained for about 30 minutes over night and stayed dry until the last rider crossed the last check. Sometimes it goes that way.
Barbed wire is a great layout of technical and challenging terrain mixed in and out with fast and flowing single track. Add in some mud, lots of rocks and roots and a ton of elevation changes. It’s an all-day, up and down hill, in an out of trees, fast and fun as hell ECEA Enduro! You get what you came here for. The entire course was excellent, and the long section right after lunch was one of the best all around sections of the year and something I could ride every day and it would never get old. Thank you to the folks manning the Gatorade Stand as we came out of the check! The race was awesome to say the least. Sections were well thought out, arrowed and staffed with club members and sweep riders everywhere. Barbed Wire is Enduro Heaven - period.
Kyle McDonal (Beta) took the day, finishing 1st
Robert Lapinski (Sherco) took 2nd
Adam Hartnagle (KTM) finished the day in 3rd
Robert Lapinski (Sherco ) took the overall in A class
Michael Rockefeller (Yam) took the overall in B class
Wade Schoenberger (Gas Gas) took the overall in C class.
Kerri Shank (KTM) took first in Women’s class
Tom Folkl (KTM) took first in Masters A Class
Stanley Poulsen (KTM) took first in Masters B/C class
Charley Stapleford (KTM) took the win in Legends Class
Lastly, Thank you to STER for putting on an amazing event as always, and to the local people for welcoming a couple hundred enduro riders to your beautiful area of the world.
To my fellow ECEA brothers and sisters. We were blessed with four awesome New Jersey enduros to start the year. A lot of the single-track trails we were allowed to ride at Curly Fern and Pine Hill were just opened to us this season thanks to years of behind the scenes work. All of these races were sold out. We then got to ride an awesome RRMC Sprint and we followed that up with yesterday’s Barbed Wire. These are great days we are living and racing! Thank you to all of those that make this possible.
See you in two weeks at Rattle Snake for the National!
Pig Pen