by Greg Nolf
What’s your name?
Greg Nolf
How old are you?
26
Where are you from?
Waynesburg Ohio until 2020 Now I live in Union Mills North Carolina
When did you get into the sport of hard enduro and when did you ride a dirt bike for the first time?
First Dirt bike was in 2012 I bought a 2012 Honda Crf 250R, I grew up in Rail buggys and on fourwheelers. My first hard enduro was the Grizzly Run in 2018 presented by the SEER team
What bike do you ride?
I rode a 2018 Ktm 300xc at the race.
What team do you ride in (if any)
I do not
How many hard enduro races have you entered (roughly, doesn’t have to be 100% accurate)?
Id guess between SEER and the AMA Extremes about 20
If possible, what would you characterize yourself as? Beginner, weekend warrior, ambitious amateur, semi-pro or pro?
Id say I was a very Ambitious Amateur at the beginning of the year and have reached the Semi Pro level here recently with multiply top 10 finishes
What race are you going to talk about and what year did you do it?
The GPS river monster at Kairos which was round 4 I believe in the SEER series this year (2021)
What was the race format like – how many days, hours or races did you have to do to finish/win the race?
1 day, gps guided, random single start 30 seconds apart, 8 hour time limit, roughly 27 miles. I started about 45th or 46th.
What excited you the most about this race? Was it the terrain, the grip, the camaraderie, the organisation, the weather, your own performance or something entirely different?
What excited me the most was the diversity in the race. A lot of races are just rocks.. everyone thinks to make it hard keep them in the rocks, which is true and still fun. On the other hand at the River Monster there was many big long climbs and long steep down hills and lots of off camber trails that were just as difficult as the rock sections so it was nice to have a change for once but still being challenged nearly the whole race. This was the first race I really noticed my fitness helping me that I really started focusing on this year. I rode for nearly 5 hours to obtain 1st in silver and 8th overall.
What kind of tires/mousse/tubeless/tube did you use and why? More importantly – would you recommend your setup or did you learn that something else would have been better?
I run the Bridgestone Battle cross E50 on a tubliss setup with half a front bib in the tire as well, this setup has been mine for 2 years now and worked great on the kenda Ibex aswell.
Was there anything bike setup-wise that you discovered to work great and that you’d like to share?
Getting my suspension done was a game changer for me. Coppersmith Racing did a fabulous job and my body hurts much less now after the race.
How tough did you find the track physically and mentally?
The track wasn’t the hardest of the year at any giving time but the distance we had to go started wearing me down physically which turns into a mental game of wanting to stop and take breaks but I was able to fight those thoughts and just kept pushing towards the finish.
Was the track easy to follow (markings or GPS) and was the difficulty level of the track what you expected, easier or harder?
wasn’t per say easy to follow but was definitely do able and I think it adds to level of skills it takes to finish one of these races if you can look ahead for arrows or follow a Gps course.
Where did you stay during the race, was it a good choice and would you do it again? (camping, hotel, private etc.)
This was one of the Races I camped out of my Van at due to the 8am start, I liked this decision due to waking up and being able to jump right into eating and prepping the bike
What result did you get and are you happy with it?
1st in Silver and 8th Overall, I was very happy with these results because I knew at the time it was about the best I could do, Next year I’m going for a better finish
Did you feel like you got a good value for your money at this race?
Yes and having food available after was also a nice touch.
What would be your best piece of advice, to a person who is considering entering this race for the first time?
Pack snacks and hydrate all week prior. Prep is key.
What (if anything) would you like to see changed in the event to improve it?
More Random cases of water throughout the course to add to our hydration packs. Might sound silly but Spectators are a huge key to this sport and we cant do as much crowd pleasing if we have to stop for water where the crowds are.
Finally, would you do this race again and recommend it to other riders?
I recommend This race and all the other SEER races to everyone. I hope to do all of them again.