It’s funny how people think riding a motorcycle requires little effort – “you just sit on the seat and turn the throttle, don’t ya?”.

I was recently reminded of a general view on this issue during dinner with a lady friend, who was curious about what I actually do for a living. I covered as much ground as possible without any mention of a dirt bike and just dropped a few lines about the journo/photographer thing.

It generally goes down well and I also mentioned I’d just spent two days on a photo shoot with some athletes. It was all sounding pretty impressive as she sipped her wine and hung off my every word. Inevitably though, I had to elaborate on the fact these athletes were dirt bike riders.

“They ride dirt bikes… they’re not exactly athletes then are they?” she replied. Her uneducated response was typical and deserving of footing the dinner bill, but I bit my tongue as she poured another glass of wine.

While her cosmopolitan life seemed forged within the boundaries of the Sydney CBD, I forgave her for being oblivious to the world of an action sports athlete. These particular so-called athletes in question are the riders of the Motorex KTM Off Road team, whom I have worked with very closely over the past few years.

They may be at the top of their game in off-road, but their training, race craft and fitness on a bike stems from the motocross track. 30 minutes at maximum intensity around a rough, deteriorating MX track is arguably the toughest sporting environment on the planet. It’s been thrown around forums and chat rooms for the last decade, most of the time being rated second behind soccer, cycling, rowing or whatever.

I can appreciate it takes elite fitness to be at the top of any sport, but there’s one factor with motocross or any dirt bike racing for that matter, that separates it from most others. Courage.

Just hear me out for a second: If you’re a rower going for the glory of a win, the potential to cross the finish line first is defined by how long you can maintain a reciprocating action in a floating canoe. Correct? Grow weak, your canoe will slow down and someone tougher than you will glide past for the win. Grow weak while you’re racing a dirt bike and you risk being thrown into a nightmare of broken bones, concussion or worse.

What most people don’t understand is that dirt bikes don’t get tired or weak, they will continue to propel you across the ground at high speed despite the rider growing tired. To operate one at maximum intensity not only requires elite fitness, but you need massive mental strength to stay ahead of your competition, at the risk of injury!

You need the legs of a cyclist, the cardio of a swimmer and the endurance of a rower, just to stay in control of the bike when it’s smashing into bumps and holes at high speed. It’s a big call, and I’m no professional athlete, but I’ve experienced enough physical exertion in my time to make some fair comparisons.

In particular, I attempted a 30-minute moto on a pretty rough motocross track a few weeks ago. It was just me versus the clock. For starters, there’s no way I could ride at maximum intensity for that duration. Two or three laps at full pace was all it took to provoke that spewing sensation within my abdomen.

At about the 20-minute mark, the sweat seeping into my mouth wasn’t even salty, but tasted like poison. A clear indication my internals were on overdrive and exhausting toxins to the surface of my skin. I reckon it took another 30 minutes just to get my core temp to stabilise after I’d finished, and, during that time I came to one simple realization – anyone who wants to become a champion in this sport has so much work ahead of them.

When I think of the Motorex KTM boys doing what they do for a living, I think of the countless hours they spend conditioning their bodies off the bike, just to be good at what they do on the bike. Collectively, they all have similar training programs involving running, cycling, rowing and weight training.

Current Australian Off-Road Champion Chris Hollis has even competed in a few triathlons and put a few of the top guys to shame. No real surprise though, as he recently clocked a 15 in the beep test at the Australian Institute of Sport. That’s right, the place were Australia’s best ‘athletes’ train, but I wouldn’t expect a cosmopolitan Sydney chick to know they allow dirt bike riders on the premises.

No doubt I’ll get shot down in flames at various levels for some of the references to athletes I’ve made in this feature, but let me just sign off on that word again – courage.

Hypothetically speaking, if you were a professional rower who’d never ridden, nor could really appreciate what it takes to be a top-level dirt bike racer, would you have the courage to take a simple test that would help you fathom the level these riders operate at during competition?

All that’s required is for you to put on a helmet and full riding apparel, then sit in a rowing machine and maintain 95 percent intensity for 30 minutes. As a professional rower, you’d probably have no troubles, right?

The only catch is that the rowing machine is bolted to the back of a ute traveling at 100kph down a dirt road. If at any point the intensity meter drops below 90 percent, you will be instantly ejected off the side and rag-doll heavily through the scrub. Still want to take the test? There’s that word again – courage.

One of the training devices the KTM boys use to prepare themselves for events like the Finke Desert Race is the rowing machine. The motion helps strengthen their legs, lower back, core and arms to withstand the brutal fatigue that comes with pounding away at the deep sand whoops and square edge bumps for two hours straight. And yeah, their hypothetical ute is carting the rowing machine along at 150-170kph.

People may question motocross or any dirt bike racing as being the most physically demanding sport, but there’s no question the riders are of the bravest, toughest athletes on the planet.