My First Enduro Ride

Last October I rode my WRR in my first enduro event.  It was actually the first time I ever truly rode a motorcycle off-road.  I'm mostly a street rider with dual-sporting on gravel and dirt roads, but they were generally at least one car lane wide.  However this enduro was a 'woods' ride.  Honestly it pretty much kicked my butt, but I made it through.  The YT video link is from a different rider (much better off-road than me), but it's the same trail/route.  My clutch, fan, and starter got quite a workout too.  I now know the difference between a dual sport ride and an enduro ride.  Big difference!  I also now understand and appreciate the difference between the lower gearing of an enduro vs. a dual-sport much more too.  

I think I was the only motorcyclist who rode their bike to the enduro event, rode it in the event, and then rode home.  It was about a 1.5 hour ride each way for me.  I believe everyone else had true enduros and trailered their bikes to the ride.  I was also the only guy foolish enough to ride with extra weight via a tank bag, tank panniers (both from Wolfman), a soft tail bag (old Kawasaki KLR650 OEM bag), H-T SU racks, and HT luggage rack.  Hey, I needed a place to put my jacket liner, spares, tools, water, snacks, etc.  

As a street-rider, it seemed the trail was mapped out by following a drunk goat through the woods.      I also rode with the street-biased OEM tires with about 1,800 miles of wear on them.  Next year I'll be sure to have a D606 on the rear for that type of riding.  The combination of (1) first-time off-road rider, (2) carrying extra weight, (3) riding a dual-sport and not an enduro, and (4) worn OEM tires really made it tough but I did finish.  Not very gracefully, but hey I made it.  

 Good work! Very brave of you. Hopefully next time things will be more graceful.
Don't fool yourself though-the bike wasn't a problem, just the set up of the bike. You can make the wrr a good woods bike, but you wouldn't want to ride to the event.
Good luke next time

I've gone through the same thing in which I rode to a known trail area and found myself ill-equipped. People may look at you a little funny; they may even have to help you drag your bike out of a ditch and lead you to the easier sections, but it's part of the adventure of owning a dual-sport! I found the lessons you learn are as numerous as they are difficult to forget, and often embarrassingly obvious in hindsight. And then you get the bonus level of riding home afterwards!

Needless to say, the next time you go out to something like that, you will be much better prepared. You will probably learn a whole new set of lessons. We're lucky that the learning process for our hobby is fun (and lengthy).