I Raced The Hardest MTB Race EVER! It Went Wrong…

This is the Hard MTB League. I had nightmares last night about this jump. It's a race that challenges every aspect of mountain biking, from downhill, uphill, dual slalom, and even raw slalom. What's more, you have just one bike to do it all. When I first saw the test event for the 2025 Hard MTB League, it piqued my interest. When I got the opportunity to not only come here and see this event firsthand, but terrifyingly compete in it, I had to take that opportunity. Unlike most events I've raced in, the goal here is not to go fast, but instead, for me, it is merely survival. Welcome to Boise, Idaho, the home of the Hard MTB League. It's very hard. An event conjured up by pro rider, Brayden Brinkhurst. Brayden Brinkhurst. Hard MTB League, from the original thoughts, is to develop that middle ground in mountain biking. We've got downhill, freeride, enduro, cross-country, trials. It really was just like, okay, how can I build this arena-style display of ultimate rider? That's where it started. Whilst I certainly wouldn't call myself a jack of all trades, I love a good challenge. This event right here has all of that and more. On that note, let's check out what myself and the other riders have in store for this weekend. The event is broken into four disciplines, Tech Rhythm, Tech Climb, Raw Slalom, and Downhill Gnar. The Tech Rhythm is a sculpted flow trail with some moto-inspired features. This stage requires big berm-to-berm gaps and some seriously good timing to go fast. On the Tech Climb side of things, riders are judged more like a trials MTB format, where it's on dabs and completion rather than out-and-out speed. Most riders, because of this, would opt for an e-bike, but lucky for me, I've been training for Leadville, so I've got that in my back pocket. Raw Slalom is exactly as it sounds, taking mountain biking back to its roots. Flat turns, some foot-out style, and some seriously dusty conditions really puts this event on the map. This year, this stage also includes some crazy log features that riders must overcome to reach the finish line. Finally, Downhill Gnar, and this, again, is exactly as it sounds. It has some of the gnarliest downhill features, big drops, huge man-made rock guns, and at the finish line, a massive 30-foot kicker. Let's go. Let's go. Looking at the stages here at the Hard MTB League, it is obvious that you'd want to use a different type of bike for each stage. However, the rules dictate that riders must choose just one bike to take on the whole event. Riders are not only required to have the best all-round skill, but they must also choose the best all-round bike. As for myself, I've gone for the perfect blend of two of my favorite bikes I have at home, the Propain Tyee Trail. I ride the Hugene and the Tyee loads and loads at home, and this bike really is the best of both worlds. It has the agility of the Hugene combined with the compliance of the Tyee. In my mind, it is the dream bike for an event like this. Featuring 145 mil of travel in the rear and 160 up front, I also have the bike set up in dual 29 with some Reynolds carbon wheels as well. This bike really is super lightweight and agile, perfect for the stages behind me. This event certainly has a unique feel. Whilst it is still a race with some of the highest prize money in the game, it doesn't have that same cutthroat feel of other races on the calendar. This is in part because every rider here has stood at the top of a feature just like this one, praying for someone to tow them in. Here at the Hard MTB League, this is all part of the process, creating camaraderie and stoke instead of rivalry. Who in their right mind competes in an event like this? Being such a demanding event that divides disciplines, the roster of riders is also quite unique. From downhill racers like Phil Atwill to freeride legends in Carl Strait, this event draws from every genre of riding and again, brings the mountain bike community as a whole together. We even get to see some of the future generations taking part, just like the young phenomenon, Western Lukens. Then you have a washed-up rider turned presenter to show you guys just how hard this event is. While others make it look easy, I make it look very, very hard. First things first, we headed over to co-founder of the Hard MTB League, Adam Pischel's house. We are waiting for the rider meeting. This is a chance for all the riders to meet each other and for Braden and the whole team at Hard MTB League to run us through the whole concept for the week, what we're going to be doing in practice and also, crucially, the community vibe, which is one of the big things that they're trying to push with this event is everyone working together. There's youngsters here, lots of youngsters. I feel very old. I'm going to need every bit of help I can get, really. Well, I was not expecting a jump that big for the finish line. That is absolutely insane. Wait till you guys see this. Just have a look. It's in the middle of nowhere. We've just driven up through the hills and we're going through some kind of building site and then just turn a corner and then literally this insane track just hidden away in the hills. It's like nothing I've seen before. Let's go check it out. Straight out of the car onto the big rig. A bit of jank to start off with. Jesus Christ. Never in anything like that. That is terrifying. We'll get there. That's run one. I got three days. I just got to keep telling myself three days to work it all out. Just want to have a look at this section right here. I don't know if you guys can tell, but that is one of the tightest corners I've ever ridden. What's more, it is so soft. Just like powdered dirt, which is not what I'm used to. It's not in the UK. It's like nothing I've ever ridden, just like moon dust. You have to hit the corner with enough speed and prep to be able to then pop your way out over another log and keep your speed to stay high into the next left because that then sets you up straight away into the trials logs, trials moto logs. I don't know exactly what to call them, but you need enough speed to be able to double them, but not too much speed, you then miss the timing. I think that's the biggest thing with this course is it just feels like you've never got a minute to relax or get your composure back. It's just one feature into another and so much about finding that flow, which right now I am not finding any flow at all out on the track. I tried to get the rhythm, so I'm really struggling in the middle. Got the first two nice, but I'm landing too deep on the second one and then just decompressing. I can't get my arms in the right timing. My chain ring paid the price quite hard. Yes, it's hard. I think that's as good as we're going to get today. At least, I feel like I've ticked off all the features on that stage. Not fast and definitely not smooth, but I think I've got to keep just ticking them off, working my way through. Some of the lines that the guys are putting on and the girls as well on that other track is just mental. Yes, I'm going to head up there now and start trying to take some stuff off, but I'm honestly terrified. Look at it. What? Oh, that is absolutely insane. The organizer is showing us all how it should be done. That was insane. I have not got that in my locker. I tell you that for a start. This is pretty intimidating. Just every feature, every transition is just a complete mental block. Yes, even that bone log at the start is just slow and awkward. I'm just finding it really hard to get my brain in the right mindset to get myself through it. I might have to go and find one of the other guys to drag me off it, but yes, it's something else. Just really high consequence if you get it wrong. I felt like I was falling out of a building. That was crazy. Yes. Oh, my. Come on. Nose bumps off it as well. Whoa. Slowly, but surely. The rest of the riders have already ticked off probably the whole track and I think I've made it to feature two. Definitely happy with the bike choice. I think if I'd gone for the tie, it just would have been just a little bit too much. You need to be really poppy and the bike needs to be super active. Especially on stuff like this, it's just like it's perfect. It's taking the hits when I'm throwing those cases in and it feels nice and agile to maneuver in the air. There was a pretty heavy slam just now, which definitely changed the mood for me a little bit. I was very jovial and it all of a sudden just got real. I hit home how easy it is things can go wrong. These riders are all some of the best in the world and this track is extracting every ounce of skill that it can to just complete the thing. Yes, that's pretty crazy. I took a small slam trying to do this middle double. I'm going to call that a day for today, I think, the middle section. I'm going to work on another section of track. I think that's the best way I did. Just tick off today isn't about being a hero. I think my days of being a hero probably passed it, but it's certainly sick to watch some of these guys just letting loose and making it look so cool. I'm just trying to emulate a few of them, follow a few guys through. This new whoop section here is pretty sick, so I'm going to try and take that off. We'll move on from there. What? That is it for day one of practice here at Boise, Idaho, the Hard MTB League. I've had the most insane day. Honestly, this track has been so much more than I anticipated. It's been so hard. I've had massive crashes, plenty of cases, but also some crazy successes like taking off the berm-to-berm feature and also getting the bone log at the very top of the track done as well. There's still loads of track to get through for tomorrow. I haven't touched the downhill track yet. Of course, I still have to do that massive feature that Wes just made look way too easy with a backflip, but that's all saved for the next few days. I've got another two days of practice, but for now, I'm going to head back. I think there's an ice bath in the sauna in town, so I'm going to head to there. Yes, I'll catch you guys tomorrow. For me, the thing that is most special is not necessarily the race itself, but it's really the communication that we have out to the world that is to take hard things. We have lots of hard things coming at us all the time. How do we overcome those challenges? Getting in the right mental space to really overcome virtually anything. We see these riders out here doing it all week long. Some really, really tough challenges, and they're meeting the challenge every single day. Oh, man, it makes me so happy. To see riders come in, it feels like I just put a stake in the ground, and it is a certain bar, but it is not the top. You can see riders coming here, unlocking and just having so much gas in the tank to just let's push the bar even further. This is where the track is. I'm not going to be able to hold the bar up. We're going to have riders coming in, testing, developing the tracks further, and we'll see where it goes. I'm a believer, though, there's no end to progression. It's just a fun thing to be like, okay, this is where we're at. Where's it going to go? Day two, we survived day one. Few little scrapes, but on the whole, feeling good. Pressures, we've got 150 in the front, which is, I think, the equivalent of 100-kilo rider according to RockShox, which I am a little bit overweight, but I don't think I've weighed quite 100 kilos just yet. Then in the rear, we're at 260. Running it pretty firm, like 20% sag in the back and then probably 15% in the front. I'm just hoping it's going to take some of those bigger hits. Those faster compressions are so hard. Then I've also got all the compression wound on as well, which is something that I'm not used to. I try to run the bike quite open and just having to wind it all on for, again, just how fast some of those compressions are. It's needed, but yes, bike's feeling good. I'm feeling good. I'm not feeling too battered. Then, yes, hopefully, we have as successful a day as we did yesterday. You have no time to get your body composed. You have to just keep your body weight so central because I think it's this one here. Get through the rock garden, you're like, okay, I'm all right, straight into big compression hard. A nice little somersault in. Wes gets to do a backflip on that. I had to do a frontflip on that one. Luckily, I had my bluegrass back protector on because I went full OTB straight onto my back, but it kept me safe and the bike's all good as well. This is more my style. It's downhill. Just way less deadly. It's still precise, but it's my kind of precise. You just have to weave the bike through the rock garden, eat some compressions, which is more like downhill and enduro, but a bit more what I'm about. It's crazy because all I want to do is be as good as those guys on the tech rhythm. I love this, but it's way sicker to be good at that one, in my opinion. One thing that is really important when you're doing events like this, and I think it's a big learning point that anyone can take, is when you're really pushing the limits of what you're capable of, is not biting off too much and really being wary of just how tired and how tiring, like mentally tiring, doing this stuff is. I'm feeling pretty cooked right now. I've had a few crashes. I've done some really cool things that I'm really stoked with, but things are starting to get a bit loose now. I think I'm going to probably call it a day today. We've always got tomorrow. I think that's a super important lesson that anyone can take home from any level, no matter what the feature or the track you're trying to accomplish. Take your time and also be just really conscious of the amount of mental capacity it takes to overcome some of these things. I'm no good at this climbing malarkey. Oh, we're going up. Oh, no, we're not. Oh, that's two dabs, three. That counts. Oh, my goodness. What on earth? How are you even meant to get up this? I don't know what to do now, though. I'm just bouncing around like an idiot. Oh, no. I'm just hopping around like a numpty. Oh, this is so embarrassing. I've never felt like more of a squid in my life. Another example of where the Hard MTB League has identified some of my key holes in my skill platform. Oh, my. Pedaling is not the answer. Oh, no. I just can't do it. I don't want to be negative. I'm not a negative guy, but I haven't got the tools and it's pointless trying to even try it. I need to go home and basically just practice riding up technical ascents. Honestly, I can't wait to see riders actually take this off. It won't look like anything on the camera, but honestly, that is the most insane thing to try and get up. It's absolutely mental. Oh, no. Nick's currently turned the camera on, so I'm just going to tell everyone while I'm on the phone to you. Phil has broken the head of your ulna. Is she Hard MTB League? She's Hard MTB League. Made a mess of that one, didn't I? That thing is doing nothing, brother. That is doing absolutely nothing. If I had two working ulnas, I'd show you how to do it. I just hate seeing my friends crash and get hurt, but we really do try and take that risk into consideration and build side hits and progression into the course. Accidents do just happen, and I know that's part of this sport. It just guts me so bad to see riders going down. Like you said, hopefully, it's not too bad and riders come out of here more or less okay in a couple of weeks and they're back riding. I won't lie. I had nightmares last night about this jump. I'm really finding it hard to justify. I want to make a really good video for you guys, but it's also such high risk to reward ratio. It's a massive jump. I've hit jumps like this before in my life and hit bigger jumps, but I just got to trust that process and keep the head game right. I literally came up here. First thing I've come up to today, I just want to get myself in the mindset of doing it and visualize myself doing it. I think I'll be fine, but I think I might need a bit of help from some of the other riders who've hit it already just to judge speed and stuff because it's not one of those jumps you want to case at all. Just got to send it, dude. That's my train. Literally perfect. That was his first time. That's insane. Three cranks done. I'll follow you in and then I'll pull off right. Just watch. Oh, yes. Sick. Yes. That sounds good. All right. A good couple of cranks in. Three hop. Three hop. Solid top. How did you feel the first time you hit it? Terrified. I'd never gone up something so big. I thought maybe my speed was going to slow down or something. It was so scary. It really is all about that compressing the bike and realizing that top three feet is just off-ramp. It's just flat. Yes. It's a nine-foot lip. Yes. Ride it. You did it. That was so sick. I told you it's nothing other than if you hit those marks. Yes. Oh, man. That was terrifying. Good job. Yes, dude. Thank you so much. Yes. Be proud of yourself. I was scared so bad all night. Be proud of yourself, dude. I barely slept last night thinking about that thing. Look what you just did, though. I know. That was sick. You just hit that same line multiple times. Yes. That was the most fun as well. It was so good. I heard you cheer in the air and I was like, yes. As soon as I was in the air and the bike felt like it didn't do anything, I was like, oh, we're all good. Yes, dude. That was so good. If I could show you. There you go. I was shaking so bad like a leaf. That one was for you, Phil. I know you and I were both scared about that. It's actually insane. Let's go ahead and get this party started. Awesome job. We still got a full day of practice tomorrow. This is more or less just another practice lap, so don't take it too serious. This will determine the starting order tomorrow. Just hit lines you feel good about and just have fun out there. I got down safe. I wanted to set a rundown on each one. I messed up the berm-to-berm gap. I hit it the slowest I've ever hit and still pulled it, which on the one hand is cool, but on the other hand, it's lucky that my Reynolds wheels are so strong because I nose cased the hell out of that. Really happy with the Royal Slalom. I think I might have squeezed into the top 10 on that, so that's good. I can still ride ruts, which is cool, and hit weird wooden logs, so I guess that's all right. On the downhill, I got a bit scared. I hit the jump and I was really stoked with having hit the jump, got comfy, but I haven't hit it in a full run yet. The biggest thing for me is today has been so much fun. I've been so scared the whole day. I've been riding the adrenaline to the max. Yes, everyone's been super helpful. Braden's been amazing. I don't know how many times he dragged me into that jump. Now, we're going to go home. I think I might have a beer because I think I've earned one for today. Anyway, cheers, guys. Boosh. Race day, baby. Let's go. Kicking things off, we had a whip-off jam to warm up the crowd with $1,000 up for grabs for the best male and female whip. Hard MTB League 2026 whip-off 20-minute jam session opening up right now. Who's dropping in first? Well, how about kicking it off out of Southern California Canyon Bikes rider for the ladies, Olivia Silva, opening things up, and the mastermind behind the Elite Hard River Heels, Ray Briggers. That was too flat. That was huge. Wow. That was insane. I thought she was going in hot, full boost mode downhill. I was like, oh, and then just the big whip, but just to the bit, oh, she's fine. Look at that. Wow. That's the whip-off rounded out. It was the most insane event. I am so smoked from the last few days of practice. This track has really taken a toll on an old man's body, but I can never resist a whip-off. That was honestly one of the most fun jumps I've ever hit. It's time to turn that race brain on and see if I can once again conquer this course. The race format is simple. The best of two runs on each stage except for the climb where you only have one attempt. First things first, we had the tech rhythm. After the tech rhythm, I was sat in 21st, more of a survival than a race run. That is run number one done. I survived. The tech rhythm was definitely the hardest stage for me. Now, we have Ross Island, which I'm super excited about. It's basically the dustiest trail, which feels like riding rats back home. I got two runs of that and then, unfortunately, it's the climb stage, which, of course, we've already established I'm not very good at, but I'm going to give it my all because that's what today is all about. I've been really enjoying the challenge all week, so I'm going to finish on a high. I'm all good. I'm all good. Just smoked my thumb a little bit. It's all good. I went way too far into the whoops, and I just started drifting right, and then I tried to correct and get my wheels around it, and I was just way too leant over when I went into the thing and just washed the front completely. All my finest work. I was really enjoying that track all day and all week, but I slammed pretty hard. My thumb's hurting. My whole body just feels like it's been through the washing machine for the last week. So many compressions, so many slams, and that's all I had today. After the Ross Island, I'd moved up one place to 20th. Now, for my nemesis, the uphill. Finally, finishing out the day, it was, of course, the downhill. We are at the final run of the day here at the Hard MTB League. It has been the most insane week of my life. Honestly, pushing limits I didn't know I had. I didn't know I needed to have. It's been so fun. I've crashed a bunch. I've hurt my hand. I've been through it all, and it's been the most emotional and sick time. I want to thank everyone for watching at home, and just thanks to Hard MTB League for having us out here because I've had the best time. It's been so good. Come along for the last final run with me. There we have it, guys. Hard MTB League, definitely the hardest event I've ever taken part in, but more importantly, it's one of the most community and really, really supportive events. Everyone came in to help me, guide me through all the stages, got me over the gaps, got me over the massive jump. I've had the sickest time. As you can see, I've been through the ringer. I feel like I've had so many crashes, but I've also got a really good beer. I finished the event. Let us know down in the comments below what you think. Is this the future of mountain bike events, and could this be the ultimate test of skill? Let us know down in the comments. Of course, don't forget to like and subscribe, and I'll catch you guys in the next one. Right now, I'm going to have my beer and go chill out. You are so lucky. You do not know how lucky you are. If there was anything in that spot where you drove your head into, you'd be dead. I'd be broke. You'd be broke. Somehow, you set one of the fastest times with your bike and your body wasn't that far behind. You are the rubber man.