Watch This Motorcycle Magician Take A Big Bike Places It Was Never Meant To Go

I am unilaterally declaring today a Pol Tarrés appreciation day. The Andorran rider got his start as a trials rider, but that wasn't challenging enough for him, so now he does most of his riding on a 450-pound Yamaha T7. That isn't a bike that normally competes in trials and enduro riding, but somehow he makes it work. The guy's "Seeker" video series is unbeatable, but his competition clips are perhaps even more impressive. Anyway, clear your schedule, have them hold your calls, and watch this talent slam a big bike around in ways it wasn't ever meant to.

It's Friday and you've got nothing better to do today, certainly not work, so why not sit back and watch a couple hours of hardly-believable motorcycle action from the best in the biz? You won't regret it.

A seven-time Trials World Champion, Pol has elevated the sport beyond just kids in the woods. What he's doing today is damn far removed from what John Penton was doing at the Jack Pine 500 in 1948, for example. This video four years ago was the first that really got Pol on a lot of non-Trials people's radar. He wanted to show off what he could do in a non-competition environment. You could think of this as Pol's version of Ken Block's Gymkhana Practice video. It was the start of something new.

This was before he found his calling as the Yamaha T7 guy.

If you haven't watched anything from Ezbergrodeo before, you owe it to yourself to fall down that rabbit hole, too. This is a truly crazy motorcycle enduro event held every spring in Austria, and it's the largest of its kind in Europe. This lengthy onboard video shows off a lot of Tarrés talent, going up against some of the toughest terrain, and strong riders on lighter bikes.

Hixpania Hard Enduro is known as one of the toughest enduro races around, and everyone thought racing it on a T7 would be a bonkers move. It's a big bike for the tight and technical circuit, but not only did Pol manage it, but he won his class. Above you can see him ride the prologue in the city, and below is the Sunday trials race.

Seriously, this is the kind of stuff that tiny dirtbikes and enduros are built for. Big comfy twin-cylinder dual-sports are supposed to be reserved for high-speed desert riding out in the middle of nowhere, not these short course runs.

What's the highest altitude that has ever been achieved on a motorcycle? I've been up Mount Blue in Colorado, the highest paved road in the U.S., which caps off at 14,130 feet. I needed to stop to huff canned oxygen a couple of times because it was super high up. So Pol riding off-road up to the top of a mountain at 20,202 feet is truly mind boggling to me. There's not a lot of riders who could make this happen. Hats off to him.

Once Pol became a trials champion, he began experimenting with running larger and heavier bikes. I think it's kind of like running with weights to train for getting faster. Once you take the weights out, it makes the run easier. Training with a bigger bike makes the little bike just a whole lot easier to huck around. So when he started doing trials shit on enduro-sized bikes, the world started taking notice.

Look, this video is just 10 minutes long, you need to watch it. Not only do you get to see a true champ in his prime, but you can start to see just how much better he is than the folks on bikes that, by all accounts, should be the faster method of getting around the course.

Lately Pol has taken to running his old 1983 Ténéré 600 in old school races.

Just watch this little clip of him loading the bike into his Ram TRX if you want to see some old bike whipping. (It's an Instagram Reel, so we can't embed it here.) Truly special.

What happens when you give him a small YZ250? Big things.

What if he doesn't have an engine, can he still do the wild tricks that he can on a big motorcycle? Yeah, apparently he can.

During the 2022 Ezbergrodeo, Pol gets tied up behind some youngsters on dirtbikes who are in over their head. After getting impatient at their failure to get the heck out of his way, he shouts "Give me that fucking bike." and rides it off the course for the downed competitor to figure out later. Look man, you're in my way, I need you out of it. Ace.

This guy makes a 450 pound dualsport look like a 230 pound enduro. There's just no two ways about it. Maybe I could ride as good as him if I bought a new T7, right?

Now we're into the truly great stuff. The first Seeker film, I believe, is the best of the bunch. Like any good band or television show, the sophomore album or second season aren't ever as good. The original is just an unabashedly amazing video showcasing a talented person's extraordinary ability to completely stomp all over everyone. This is maybe the greatest 17 minutes in motorcycle history.

Just like the Gymkhana series, the stunts get bigger with each successive film, and while I liked the first film best for its simplicity, this one packs so much action into a video that it's nigh unbelievable. The closing beach action sequence is probably the coolest anyone has ever been on a bike.

Seeker 3 has been out for nine months already, but I keep going back to watch it again and again. It's just off the wall what some people can do when they set their mind to it, train, and have a heaping helping of natural talent.