It had been a while since I rode out with Endurofun. From the allroad trip to the Alps in 2016 to be precise. One Saturday in July the stars finally aligned again. A good occasion too to use my Anakee Wilds for what they’re made for.

Endurofun’s Midsummer Ride slightly differs from their Spring and Autumn Rides. No departure in the morning but in the afternoon, after a sandwich lunch. A dinner closes off the day, and Endurofun also offer the possibility to stay overnight. Location: in the orchard of a fruit farmer.

In addition to allroads and enduro’s, 4×4’s can also participate in the Midsummer Ride. They all get different routes, the allroads even have four routes to choose from: soft, medium, nuts and hardcore.

I joined a group that picked the nuts route: Hugo on his Tiger 800, Stef with an Africa Twin and two Dutch boys (Africa Twin and CRF250L). I myself rode on my 800 GS. With the extremely dry Belgian summer the big question was how nuts our route would actually be. Could that tiny bit of rain overnight have caused a few mud pools? 

Soon it became clear that today we would – as expected – eat dust. A lot. I could almost count the number of mini pools on one hand. So was it an easy ride? I can imagine beginners occasionally having their hands full with this track. A tough strip of sand here, a long line of deep gravel there, single tracks through dense vegetation, a path full of big loose stones, a deeply rutted climb and a few pits begging us to lie the bike down.

But for more experienced allroad riders this ride probably wasn’t challenging enough. Personally I would’ve liked a bit tougher conditions, but the weather obviously spoiled some fun. Anyway, except two whoopsie daisy moments where I had to put a quick foot on the ground, I really enjoyed the sometimes jaw-dropping sceneries. And I note for next time: pick the hardcore route if the ride’s planned after weeks and weeks of dry weather.

After 130 km and 5 hours en route it was 6.45 pm with still 30 km to go if we’d follow the nuts track. However, we were expected to finish around 7 pm. So we asked the Tripy to guide us to the orchard via the fastest route. 20 minutes later we were there, ready to attack Fonske the pig.

Thanks to Endurofun for the extra pics. Check out the complete album of this event here.