Fall is the best riding of the year and most people miss it. The heat breaks, the dirt finally holds water, and the summer crowds go back to whatever they do when they aren't at the track. If you only get a handful of weekends between now and the first hard freeze, it is worth knowing how to tell a good one from a famous one before you commit a Saturday to it.
What makes a track worth the drive
Three things, in order: how often they prep, whether the soil holds moisture, and how they run practice. A famous track that discs once a week and runs forty riders in a session is worse than an unknown one that waters twice a day and splits by skill.
- Prep frequency — ask when they last ripped it, not when they last watered
- Soil type — loam holds a rut, sand eats bikes, hardpack eats collarbones
- Session structure — split by skill or split by class, but split
- Gate access — some places only drop the gate on race weekends
Call ahead. Every time.
Websites go stale, Facebook pages go quiet, and nothing ruins a Saturday like a four-hour drive to a locked gate. One phone call the night before is the cheapest insurance in the sport.
The best track near you is usually the one you haven't bothered to call.
Pack for cold mornings and warm afternoons — fall swings thirty degrees between the first practice and the last moto, which is exactly why a hoodie lives in the van from September on.
Get On The Gate
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