IN THE MEDIA
The TDS Enduro is an event unlike any other; principled on good times, going fast, and getting rowdy. TDS is as grassroots as it gets, hosted by the Sanchez family on their ranch in the hills of Grass Valley, CA. Racing bikes on trails burnt by dirt bikes is right up our alley, so we loaded up our van and headed north to see what good times we would get into. Our buddies at Fasthouse rolled up from SoCal to meet us at the ranch with our crew of riders like Ryan Howard, Tyler McCaul, The Trek Enduro Team – Shane Leslie, Cole Picchiottino, Travis Claypool, Trail Peek boys (Zach and Dane Petersen) along with many more. The team was dialed! Huge thanks to Ron & Casey Sanchez and the TDS Crew for putting on another amazing race, we can’t wait till next year!
DIALED HEALTH RECAP:
SPECIALZIED RECAP:
After the racing, the party begins. We sat in awe at one point while we simultaneously watched an RC car race go down with riders hitting dirt jumps in the background under stadium lights and listened to the sound of Supercross racing blaring from a bigscreen TV. This event is an adrenaline junky’s dream, with enough going on to please any interest. This year the TDS crew even added a dual-slalom track to the ranch to further spice up the fun. Along with plenty of action there is amazing food, including pizzas cooked in a stone-fire oven. A massive bonfire sits in the middle of the ranch, calling all riders to come together and share their experiences. The TDS Enduro is so much more than racing. We could go on and on, but we figured we’d leave it up to the spirit leader of TDS to tell you what it’s like.
Dirty Sanchez Enduro is an off-the-grid, invite-only mountain biking event on private steeps of hella NorCal. TDS embraces the paradox of true mountain biking. True mountain biking involves physically creating places to ride your mountain bike. Countless hours of sweat, swearing and shovel provide priceless few seconds of two-wheeled thrills, while at the same time, destroying the created place to ride your bike. A mountain biker creates something so they can enjoy destroying it. The gnardoggies behind TDS (like Mark Weir and the Sanchez family for example) love to work, love to build and most importantly, love to destroy what they make with friends and family. Open it up, rip it to shreds, burn it down, build it back up, do it again next year. We're honored that the fun-loving crew at Transition Bikes shared their TDS experience and survival with all of us. Enjoy! -gordo
TDS Enduro is no ordinary race. Receiving an invitation to the pro-only event is an honor. The venue, known as 'The Ranch,' is 240 acres of hero dirt, perfect berms and jagged rocks, plus Polaris rally shuttles and a scary amount of poison oak. The course has it all: jumps, steeps, punchy climbs and a notorious rock chute called Vigilante. As a racer said to me last year, “If you get invited, you go.”
There’s a reason an invite to The Dirty Sanchez (TDS) Enduro elicits cheers of joy and instagram posts from elite level enduro athletes, why entries given via video submission are coined “Golden Tickets” a-la Willy Wonka, and why spectators line the course of this grassroots event held in a small town in the Northern California foothills. The TDS is a bucket list event for athletes and spectators alike, providing a course on par with many EWS events while incorporating a community feel focusing on good times getting rowdy with friends. This atmosphere is not something that is simply designed by an organizer, it is the result of organic growth stemming from a driven and passionate family (the Sanchez’s) encouraging friends to help design, build, maintain, and shred the countless incredible trails on their property while sharing a few laughs and beers.
TDS enduro, if you know you know. This is one of the true invite only enduro races in the United States, full of a rowdy couple days both on and off the bike. TDS founders Ron and Debbie Sanchez opened their property up to help with a two-day camp hosting injured veterans.