There is something about The Roof of Africa that is difficult to explain until you have actually stood in those mountains.
For a few days, everything revolves around motorcycles. The sound of bikes echoes through the valleys, riders disappear over mountain passes and reappear somewhere you weren't expecting them, while spectators position themselves wherever they can get a glimpse of the action. You can spend hours driving across Lesotho looking for the next section of the race, only to arrive just in time to watch a rider tackle something that makes you question both their sanity and their riding ability.
This year was no different. If anything, The Roof delivered an even bigger dose of everything that makes this event so special.
We had beautiful blue skies and scorching sunshine across the first couple of days, followed by a dramatic change in conditions on the final afternoon. By then, the rain had arrived, the wind was howling and the mountains were shrouded in cold, wet weather that made an already brutal event that much harder.
It was classic Roof.
THE STORY
The Roof brings the rain.
Registration and the start once again took place at the Avani Maseru Race Village, which was already buzzing as riders arrived, caught up with friends, went through registration and got themselves organised for what lay ahead. Wednesday's parade through Maseru was wet, but nobody seemed particularly surprised. After all, Lesotho is undoubtedly the best place to ride – and The Roof seems to have a way of bringing the weather along for the ride.
We made our way across the mountains throughout the event, chasing the action and trying to get ourselves into the right places at the right time. That, for me, is a huge part of the attraction of The Roof. You never quite know what you're going to find when you turn the next corner.
Music Box was one of our favourite spots this year and proved to be a fantastic place to watch the riders coming through. Getting around the mountains also gave us the opportunity to reach some of the DSPs and refuelling points around Bushmans Pass, where spectators could get surprisingly close to the action.
And there were spectators everywhere. Families, groups of friends, riders who had finished their own days of racing and plenty of hardcore Roof followers who clearly knew exactly where they wanted to be. They were spread across the mountains, waiting patiently for the next bike to appear.
Then you would hear it: a bike somewhere in the distance, followed a few seconds later by a rider appearing between the rocks, fighting their way up a climb, sliding through a river or somehow finding a line through a section that looked completely impossible. Then they were gone again.
That is The Roof.
It isn't polished, predictable or easy, but it is incredibly easy to become completely hooked on it.
AND THEN THERE WAS THE RACING
While the mountains and atmosphere are a massive part of The Roof experience, eventually it all comes down to the racing, and this year the Gold Class was seriously stacked.
The sixth round of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship brought some of the biggest names in the sport to Lesotho, with three days of racing combining Thursday's time trial, Friday's brutal mountain race and Saturday's final two-lap assault.
Teodor Kabakchiev came away with the Gold Class victory, completing the event in just under ten hours. Behind him, Mani Lettenbichler took second, with South Africa's own Wade Young finishing third. The gap between second and third was a remarkable 0.1 seconds after more than ten hours of racing.
That is the sort of racing The Roof produces. Tiny mistakes, a lost second here or a few seconds gained there can ultimately decide the podium.
Matthew Green put in an impressive ride for fourth, while James Moore fought his way back to fifth after a difficult Friday. Thomas Scales finished sixth, Luke Walker seventh and Kyle Flanagan eighth, with the Brightmore brothers rounding out the Gold top ten.
It was a seriously competitive field, and watching these riders tackle the same mountains from completely different lines and approaches was one of the highlights of the event.
THE ROOF ISN'T JUST ABOUT GOLD
One of the things I really enjoyed about this year's event was watching what was happening further down the classes. The Roof is tough enough in any category, and every rider who takes on those mountains has their own battle going on.
Grant Burton-Durham took the Silver Class win, Paulus van Niekerk Jnr claimed Bronze and Luke Lawlor came out on top in Iron.
Every one of those wins tells a different story. Different bikes, different levels of experience and different goals, but ultimately the same mountains and the same challenge of getting to the finish.
And then there was a particular bike that caught our attention.
IAN RALL AND THE KTM 390 ADVENTURE R
After finishing on the Iron podium in 2025, Ian stepped up a class for 2026 and took on the Roof in Bronze aboard the KTM 390 Adventure R.
If you've watched The Roof, you'll understand why this is interesting. This isn't the lightweight, purpose-built hard enduro machinery that you normally associate with tackling the nastiest sections of Lesotho. This is an adventure bike, and Ian rode it into terrain that makes even dedicated hard enduro bikes look like they're having a particularly bad day.
The 390 Adventure R was a top adventure bike contender in the Bronze Class during the time trial, and watching Ian take it through the Roof was seriously impressive.
There was no shortage of big bikes and bigger challenges around him, yet Ian just got on with the job. He moved up a class, took on the challenge and showed exactly what can be done when you have the right attitude, a capable bike and perhaps a healthy dose of stubbornness.
And perhaps the best part was seeing the smile on his face.
That is something I really loved about this year's event. Because while The Roof is brutal, challenging and sometimes downright ridiculous, there is still that element of adventure that keeps people coming back.
He wasn't there simply to prove that an adventure bike could survive The Roof. He was there to ride it, enjoy it and see just how far he could push it.
And it wasn't just Ian giving the adventure-bike crowd something to talk about. Travis Teasdale also took on Bronze aboard a CFMOTO 450, adding another interesting dimension to the class.
THE RIDING HAS GONE TO ANOTHER LEVEL
As far as the racing goes, there was one thing we kept coming back to throughout the event: the skill levels these days are insane.
Every year, the riders seem to find another level. Especially in Gold, we are seeing them take on terrain that, just a few short years ago, would have been classified as unrideable. Now they are not only riding it, they are attacking it.
What is perhaps even more exciting is seeing the younger riders coming through. They are being exposed to more racing, more training and more international competition than ever before, and you can see the difference.
The standard is rising quickly. The youngsters are learning from the best in the world and then going out and trying to beat them, which can only be good for the future of South African hard enduro.
THE MOUNTAIN ALWAYS HAS THE FINAL SAY
Standing on the side of a mountain watching these riders battle their way through the terrain, it is easy to forget just how much goes into getting them there.
There are teams, mechanics, marshals, medics, volunteers, media crews, families, spectators and countless people behind the scenes making the event happen. Then there are the riders – the ones who keep getting back on the bike, pick themselves up after a crash, drag a bike up a hill, fight through exhaustion and keep moving when every sensible part of their body is telling them to stop.
That is what makes The Roof so special.
For me, being at The Roof this year was about far more than simply photographing a race. It was about being there, chasing the action through the mountains, finding the next viewpoint, getting caught in the rain, watching riders appear from nowhere and trying to capture those split seconds that tell the real story of what these guys are putting themselves through.
Some moments were spectacular, others were downright ridiculous, but the ones that stayed with me were often much simpler – a rider helping another rider, a mechanic working late into the night, spectators standing in the cold waiting for the next bike or a rider finally reaching the top of a climb that had looked impossible from below.
That is the beauty of hard enduro.
The dust will eventually disappear, the tracks will slowly be swallowed by the mountains, the bikes will be cleaned and the bruises will eventually fade. But the stories will remain.
Kabakchiev will take home the Gold victory. Burton-Durham, van Niekerk Jnr and Lawlor will have their class wins to remember. Ian Rall will have another Roof in the books, this time on a KTM 390 Adventure R.
And the rest of us will probably spend the next few weeks talking about the things we saw in those mountains.
Until the next one.
Because once you've experienced The Roof, you understand why riders keep coming back.