On The Pegs May 2019 - Volume 4 - Issue 5 | Page 113

On The Pegs
Vol. 4 Issue 5 - May 2019
113
Team USA set a precedent in 2016 when it won the
World Trophy division at the International Six Days
Enduro in Navarra, Spain, a landmark achievement that
future teams will be judged against from now on. The
past two years, American teams have come up short in
returning to that milestone, but rest assured that team
manager Antti Kallonen is plotting and planning this
year’s strategy.
In an effort to raise awareness and to build interest
early, On The Pegs will feature a story or interview about
the ISDE in every issue until November. For our first
installment, we thought we’d talk to Aussie off-roader
Josh Strang, who was a big part of last year’s winning
team in Chile. Josh has also been a big part of the Amer-
ican off-road scene for the past 10 years or so. In fact, it’s
easy to forget that Josh is actually a foreign asset who
has infiltrated US dirt bike racing.
With the aid of an interpreter (sly/happy face), we
spoke to Josh about last year’s event, and Australia’s big
win.
For the average off-roader, give us a comparison of
the ISDE in Chile verses, say, a normal GNCC.
Six Days this year for me was more mentally demand-
ing than the other ones. I felt physically fine and I felt
like I was riding the same every day, but mentally I was
drained. Long days and real repetitive stuff. So, days
one and two were all the same, and both days we had
two loops. By the end of the second day we were doing
the same trail and it’s wore out because it’s so dry and
there’s so many guys riding on it. Because you’re just
riding at a slow speed, it’s just draining. My wrist was
giving troubles towards the end of day five just because
you’re sitting in the same spot from 8:15 to 3:30 in the
afternoon. So it’s just long days. Even though they’re