Corduroy Enduro Adds Electric Racing Class!

[advrider]

The Corduroy Enduro, one of North America’s oldest off-road races, and one of the toughest, is opening things up for 2022. This year, the organizers have decided to put in an ebike/electric motorcycle class!

The Corduroy Enduro, aka “The Cord,” runs September 23-25 this year, with a two-day race for most bikes on the Saturday/Sunday of September 24-25. There’s a shorter Vintage course for Friday, September 23, and that’s the course the electric machines will run—except, they’ll run an even shorter version, since their batteries can’t handle the full distance.

The news dropped this week on the event’s Facebook page:

Exciting news for the Friday of this year’s Cord. In addition to the Vintage Corduroy Enduro we are going to have the KTM E- bike enduro and the HUSQVARNA E-mountain bike enduro. Any make or model of E-bike or E-bicycle are eligible to compete. The course will be about 20km long with 4 timed test sections.

There isn’t much more to add; head honcho Blair Sharpless says organizers aren’t sure on entry fees at this point “We’ve just got to make enough money to pay for the awards.” The electric motorcycles and ebikes will be in separate classes, for the sake of fairness. And, that’s about all they can say right now—if you want to participate, keep an eye on the event’s Facebook page for more details.

A unique opportunity

While many Americans, and even many Canadians, might have never heard about the Corduroy Enduro, it’s very much a bucket list event for others. That term is a wince-worthy cliche, but riders come from all over North America to compete, and US-based racers have won many times. With a history that goes all the way back to 1953, and a reputation as “the original Hard Enduro event,” the Cord has earned a lot of respect while still maintaining its unique place in racing, as sort of a one-off event.

That will make it easier for organizers to shoehorn a new electric class into the race without worrying too much about keeping oversight bodies happy. There’s no doubt that motorcycle racing is moving forward into the electric age, and while the Cord has a long history, organizers can see a future for electric machines, and it’s good news to see them make the race more inclusive.

Sharpless notes that there’s actually been an electric motorcycle at the event before. An Alta ran the event in 2019, with the rider transporting the bike on a trailer between some stages with a generator running to recharge the battery. Obviously, this resulted in a DNF, officially—but that racer was the first to ever take a battery bike to the Cord!

Curious about the Corduroy Enduro? See a few different takes on the race below:

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