2025 Weekend Recap

TDS Enduro 2025: A Weekend of Grit, Glory, and Good Vibes

Every year, the Dirty Sanchez (TDS) Enduro feels like a reunion of riders, spectators, volunteers — folks who just love to push limits, share laughs, and ride hard. 2025 was no different. If anything, the weather delivered its own twist to the tale, and the trails told stories all weekend long.

Setting the Stage

• Location: Grass Valley, California — the usual wild, beautiful ranch setting, rugged and alive with late-spring energy.
  
  

• Dates: late April 2025. Practice fell on Friday, followed by racing across multiple stages.
  
  

• Weather: Friday offered dry (relatively speaking) conditions for practice, but Mother Nature turned up the volume Saturday with steady rain and mist. Trails went from dusty & firm to slippery, sloppy, and slick. It made for challenging riding, muddy bikes, and memorable crashes. But also fun, because when things get messy, the spirit ratchets up.
  
  

Trails, Conditions, and Vibe

• Several stages tested both technical skill and adaptability. Courses included features like blind turns, loose rocks (especially in a section nicknamed “Vigilante”), tricky descents, and climbs turned greasy.
  
  

• The rain changed the game: what was rideable on Friday became a test of finesse, grip, and courage by Saturday. Riders were sliding, washing bikes between stages, and leaning heavily on tires and traction.
  
  

• Off the bike, the atmosphere stayed warm (despite the cold): fire pits, mud-covered gear, cheering crowds, shared moments at campsites — heckling in good fun, smiles despite soaked socks.
  
  

What Stood Out

• Traction & Tires mattered more than ever. Some riders leaned into higher grip setups; brands like WTB had strong representation, especially those using tires that handled mixed wet/slippery terrain well.
  
  

• Enduro + E-MTB: Both analog (traditional mountain bikes) and E-MTB classes saw serious competition. Riders in the E-Bike categories had the added variable of battery management and power delivery, which under muddy, wet stages meant being smart and controlled.
  
  

• Spectator Energy: When parts of the course got rough, the crowd got louder. Stages like “Vigilante” (with blind or risky sections) became focal points. The shared feeling of “this is wild, but we’re here for it” permeated the weekend.
  
  

Podium Highlights / Who Took It

Here are some of the top results from 2025:

What It Meant

• For many riders, finishing clean or un-crashed in the mud felt like a win in itself. The conditions separated those who could adapt fast.
  
  

• The tight competition in both analog and E-MTB categories shows how mountain biking is evolving: more skill, more tech, more overlap among disciplines.
  
  

• TDS continues to prove itself not just as a race, but as a culture: people come back year after year, knowing there will be mud, there will be chaos, there will be late-night stories. And yet every time it still surprises.
  
  

Lessons from the Mud

• Be ready for anything: tires, gears, clothing, bike prep — the weather can change fast.
  
  

• Trust the trail and trust your instincts. Sometimes blind corners or slippy descents don’t give much rehearsal time.
  
  

• Enjoy the support: the cheering, the aid stations, the moto & volunteer crews. Especially on days where everything feels heavy, the community lifts you up.
  
  

Looking Forward

Knowing how 2025 went, it’s exciting to think how folks will show up in 2026: better gear, maybe more riders trying to challenge the podium, perhaps tweaks in stage design to push the envelope further. The vibe, though — that raw, messy, joyful energy — probably won’t change.