TAKE AN AERIAL TOUR OF TODAY’S 3 BROS 24 HOURS OF GLEN HELEN COURSE

Every year in September, Glen Helen closes down all of its motocross tracks (REM, National, Stadiumcross) and connects them to its extensive of-road trail network for eight miles of twists, turns, pavement and high-speed ridges for its annual 24 Hour Endurance race—with classes for all skill levels, but with the focus on the Pro class. It is a challenge beyond belief. How do we know? The MXA team won last year’s event with a team of Josh Mosiman, Zac Commans, Preston Campbell and Carlen Gardner (and an Army of pit crew members, including Mitch Payton, Bones Bacon and Mike “Schnikey” Tomlin). Over their 24 hours in the saddle these four Pros covered 712 miles with an average speed of 30 miles per hours on the same Honda CRF450X the whole time —including half of the 24 hours in the dark and half the race without fourth gear.

This year’s 3 Bros-sponsored 24 Hours of Glen Helen starts on Saturday morning an 10:00 a.m. and ends on Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m.

Pro teams are limited to four riders and one bike. The amateur teams can have six riders and two bikes, but one of their bikes must always be in impound at all times. This is Yamaha Hill, with the Hip Jump at the bottom. It looks like it is lit by a series of lights, but it isn’t. What you see is a time lapse photo of the racer’s headlights as the climb the hill.

How the teams choose to use their riders is crucial in race planning, with the fastest laps just under 20 minutes, do you change riders every two laps or three? Or do you entered the Ironman class and try to race the whole 24 hours by yourself (amazingly, there are a lot of riders attempting this feat?). If you have a bike issue on a Pro team, you have to fix it in the pits. If an Amateur team has a mechanical issue, they can get their spare bike out of the impound, but they have to put their broken bike in the impound area (where they can’t work on it). Sleep is hard to come by at night because not only is one rider on the track, but the next rider must be ready and waiting should the rider on the bike get hurt, sick or quit.