January = Time To Race Dirt Bikes!

January, at least where I live, means cold and snow... which translates into not much riding. But, it also means the launch of two great offroad events: The Dakar and the start of the Supercross season!

The Dakar always gets underway on New Year's day and it never fails to dissapoint in terms of exciting off road racing, in fact, that's putting it lightly... really, it's a test of much more than a riders ability on a bike as riders endure 15 days of absolute hell on wheels. It does look fun though 😉

In 2012, the Dakar will be staging a pan-American adventure of more than 9,000 kilometres in total. Unlike previous year's loops, the route will transport the rally from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to those of the Pacific, enabling its competitors to discover new lands and another aspect of South America. The scale of this challenge has also led to a change in the race's format, which will include 14 days of racing in 2012. Constantly guided by the Andes Mountain range, the drivers and riders will be crossing the Atacama, and will experience in particular the diversity of the dunes as they head into Peru.

As of today, they are on stage 6. Today's stage has unfortunately been cancelled due to weather concerns (namely, rain and snow over the Andes).

http://www.dakar.com/

The 2012 Supercross season gets underway this weekend in Anaheim! Based on last year's SX season, which was one of the best in many many years, and given some of the off-season moves for many riders, this season is going to be well worth following.

I wonder how Dungey will do on his new KTM?