I’m of the belief that every single rider must take up off-road riding at least once in their life. Not only is it an excellent way to really get good at riding, it’s also pretty good at developing virtues like perseverance and creativity, as you’ll need to come up with ways to get over all the obstacles the trail throws your way.
Off-road riding is very much like life, actually. We focus on the challenges that come our way, and cook up ways to overcome them. More often than not, these challenges lead to a certain goal—or a destination, if you will. But what usually happens when we reach the destination is that we realize that the journey was really what mattered most.
Of course, said journey would be much easier (and way more fun) if you were well-equipped to handle the challenges thrown at you. This is true for both off-road riding and life in general. But as Matt Spears (who finally managed to find himself a pair of gloves) demonstrated in his recent video, having a super powerful electric dirtbike in the form of a Stark Varg and some pretty insane skills are really all you need to conquer the most difficult dirtbike trail in the US.
Matt and a bunch of his buddies decided to head over to Montana and conquer what many consider to be the most difficult legal dirtbike trail in the US. And if that wasn’t hard enough, they decided to challenge themselves even more by taping an egg onto each of their bikes, with the goal of keeping the eggs intact all throughout the journey—something that would prove much easier said than done.
Needless to say, the group tackles all sorts of rugged terrain, conquering challenging features, and taking lots and lots of spills, with eggs shattering left and right.
The entire thing is actually pretty tiring to watch—but surely nowhere nearly as tiring as what these guys actually went through. Dirt biking, along with other things like mountain biking, hiking, and rock climbing, is one of those hobbies for folks whose lives are so chill that they make it a pastime to give themselves a hard time.
But no matter how crazy the terrain was and how steep the climbs were, the Stark Varg managed to keep up, and do so in a very quiet manner. At first, I found it weird hearing nothing but the tires gripping the gravel, flinging rocks and gravel out, without the growl of a two- or four-stroke engine—it sort of made me feel like something was about to break at any moment.
But it seemed that the Varg was more than up to the task, happily climbing the steep terrain like a mountain goat, all while doing a great job of managing its battery life. Through all the crazy climbs and gnarly terrain, the video makes two things abundantly clear: the Stark Varg is one capable (and not to mention extremely durable) dirtbike, and Matt Spears is one hell of a rider.
So, does the Stark Varg have what it takes to keep up with some of the best enduros in the world? You bet your ass. And when you pair it with a rider who knows exactly what they’re doing, the Stark Varg can pretty much go anywhere humanly possible.
And so if bikes like the Stark Varg hold the key to the future of off-road riding, and perhaps even motorcycling as a whole, then sign me up because it sure as hell looks like tons of fun.
