Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

There are some thin gs that can be lea rned best by watching an actual demonstration and then trying it yo u rs elf with guidance fro m an instru ctor. Therefore, in so m e ways this book is better th an attending a mO[O CTO SS scho o l in person? and in so me ways it is not as good. I don't think th is book is a substitute for a tten di ng a school where you can ride yo ur m otorcycle and the instruct or can tell you what you are doing righ t and what yo u are doing wrong. I do t hink thi s book is the next best thing to be ing there in person. It will sh ow you som e riding t echniques that you m ay not be using and it sh o uld help yo u so lve some pro blems y o u m ay be ha ving like m aking go od starts or go ing over j um ps . When y o u h ave read the book and put t he ideas in to pra ctice, you should b e m uch smoother and faster on the race trac k . So you can ask, as we did . "Does this book really te ll how to win? " The answer is yes, we believe. hut that answer requires so me discussion . If you've just been out the re trying to ride fas t and doin what comes naturally, you may no t be do ing so me of t he things I teach . To do it my way requires slo wing down at first to master the t echnique and get the feel of it . Then the te chnique itself will start making yo u ride fast er - faster th an you did befor e. However, so me riders won't ever slo w down. not ev en lon g I en ough to improve. - In th e beginnin g classes - No vice o r Junior or wh atever th ey are ca lled wher e you race - none of the riders are very good be cause th at's what beginning clas ses are fo r. If yo u watch th ese ra ces or ride in th em, yo u will see some asto nishing th ings. Rid er s pull whe elies at the start, go o ver the jumps sitting do wn, d o t he flying W in the ro ugh st u ff and cras h so m et im es. Finally so mebo d y wins . What the winning rider did prob abl y bears not t he slightest resemblance to wh at is recommended in this boo k. Decide for yourself if that means an ythi ng. Now move up to the top classe s where the riders go so fast it scares you to watch , and so smoothly they make it loo k easy. These are the guys who are using th e techniques you will find in this book and at m y schools. When you sta rt racing among the b ig boys , that 's when this book tells y ou how to win. Does this me an you w ill win? I ho pe so, but th at's all I can sa y. If two racers . both kn ow how, o nly o ne can win. Maybe it's the guy who wants to win so bad he ca n tast e it. Or the rider whose bike is set up a littl e better for a particul ar co urse . This is wh at I th ink: I think the .winner is usu ally a rider wh o has prep ared hims elf arid his motorcycle for the rac e. And th en he races every single second and fr acti on o f a second, from flag to flag, o r a t leas t un til th ere is no o ther rider challengi ng h im. The experience o f rac ing at the top of y our ability, constan tly an d with out let-up until you win , is enj oyed by o nly a few . I hope you experience it o ften . Learn to ride anywhere on the t rack, so whe n you overtake so meone you can go around him. sure would be nice to get lu c ky today . At th e end, 39 guys are d isap poin ted. You kno w how it is. everybody has had the experience . Yo u try as har d as you ca n and then you ride ba ck to y o ur pit an d nob ody say s much . At a particular track , the same pe op le seem to win all the time , d on't th ey ? There's a top rider in each class or so me times e ven one rider wh o w ins several classes. Th is gu y is j us t always out th er e in fron t. He's usua lly in fr o nt at th e start and eve n if he d oe sn't get the best start for so me reason it isn't long b efore he 's ou t th ere leadi ng th e way . And at th e end. it's him again. If o ne of these to p rid ers is y o ur friend. yo u ca n ask him, " Hey o le buddy , wh at d o y ou do? How d o yo u go out there an d beat eve rybody ?" He 'll probabl y respond serio usly to your questi on an d he'll tell you so m et hing. If you don't as k him , maybe a maga zine writer o r reporter will as k him how t o be a wi nner. If he 's modest ab ou t it, he'll kinda look aro und and say something lik e, "W ell you just have t o go faster than the other gu y ." If he's on a big ego trip he'll say, "T here's no c o m pe ti tio n around here for a guy like m e. " T he main thing wrong w it h answers like these is they don't tell you anything you can go ou t th ere and start doing. They do n't tell you h o w to im prove, they just say to d o it better or faster or something. I'm up here on the soap box and you are as king me th e q ues tion. You want to .kn o w wh at you have to d o to w in. I'm go nna t ell you and you ar e n ot go in g to beli eve it at first. Maybe yo u are never going to believe it be cause I thin k 50 pe rcent of t he riders leave m y school with out acceptin g th e basic id ea and I thin k 9 0 percent o f the rac ers o n any track d on't have th e basic idea. It's to o sim ple. Guys want to hear so me tric k st uff o r some ki nd of magic th at wiII make them win tomorrow. I c an 't promise yo u that. I do promise you that if you start wit h one sim p le basic id ea and th en build from it, t h ere will be no thing to st op yo u fro m winning. Except some other guy who is do ing the same thing but doing it harder th an y ou. T hat 's wh at racing is about and why abo ut half th e people in the world ar e fasci na te d by racing in o ne form or another. You ca n 't avo id hard co m pe ti tio n bu t yo u ca n give yo urself the bes t shot a t bei ng a winn er by sta rti ng right here, right n ow, wi th t his basic ide a : Don't follow. Don ' t follo w anybod y . any time, fo r any reason. I hop e yo u ar e skepti cal. Yo u paid your goo d m oney to co m e t o m y school - o r b uy this book - o r maybe bo th . I buil t you up a littl e, pr o mi se you a biggie, and th en I say , "Don 't foll o w ." I hope yo u are skeptical enough to challenge the idea. I mean challenge it beyond the o bvio us thing, wh ich "is if you foll ow somebody ar ound an d around the trac k y o u are never go in g to get in fro nt of him . That's obvious of co urse . Keep on challenging, and you'll st art improving right now. You don't want somebody t o tell you no t t o foll ow o ther riders arou nd the co urse. You want t o learn how to m a ke good st arts. You will . Accelerate as hard as y our motorcycle wil l go and then learn to get it stopped as quickly as you possib ly ca n. You'll learn that too . Get aro un d the co rn er and accelerate onto the straigh t. Ge t over a j um p and then get back d own o n the ground so you can put some power o n the track. T hat to o, and a lo t mor e. No w 111 ch allenge you. Suppose you learn all th ose good things an d yo u can d o th em be tter than any body yo u race agains t. That m eans yo u ar e fas t est. right ? Does it mean yo u wiII win? No sir ! If yo u take all th at ta len t and ab ility out on the track and th en follow o ther riders around all day, you will not win anything. Following somebody a ro und the track is the easiest th ing in the world to do . It even lo oks like you are racing. The gu y in fro n t gets it on and throws •some dirt. You get it o n an d throw so m e dirt. He goes over a big j ump and flies a hundred feet in th e air. Man, here you come flapp ing your wings r igh t behind him. All your fri ends say , " Boy he's real ly on that gu y. He's really racing !" The rider in fro n t ma y even think you are raci ng h im . But there's one p erson out there who kn ows. It's yo u . You know if y o u are foll owing yo u 're not racing. So that's the way we start and th at's the big secret o f winning. Don't follow. I am going t o say that 89 times and somebody won 't even he ar it once. After you have decided not to fo llo w , then you can concentrate on the positive th ings to do so you wo n't have to follow . The things th at h elp you get around the other rider when you can go faster than he can . The things th at get you do wn to th e che ckered flag first. After you have decided not to follow, that 's when y o u ca n star t to win. That's why it is so impor t ant. OK. You 're convinc ed . I'm co nvinc ed. every body is convinced so we ca n move ahe ad to so m eth ing else no w. Nobody is go nna follow anyb ody an y more and tha t's your basic at ti tude abou t racing from now o n . Imagine you are in a big race , it's th e seco nd lap and you are ru n ni ng a stro ng fifth , closing fast on the number four rider. There 's a big sweepe r tum up th ere wi th a go od be rm all ar ound th e ou tside an d just as yo u ge t there y.o u ar e right o n th is othe r rider . Your fro nt ti re is jus t n ib bli ng th e knobs on his re ar tire . He gets o ut th er e o n the berm and lays it over and jus t goes ar ound there ro oty-t oot. You're so close he ca n feel it an d the pressure is on him. He knows he can't make even o ne littl e bobble. Coming off th e berm, th ere is o n e perfect line . It goe s a little wide o n the short straight and sets up just right for the next corne r. Number four is srno kin • down that pe rfe ct line and he is really getting it on. You can't aff o rd to lose even one-te n th o f a seco nd when you're breathing on tha t guy and you know from pract ice tha t going wide is the fastest line t o th e next turn. So there you are , hal fwa y between the corners, and you are just go b bll ing tha t guy up and the cro wd is jumping up and d own and they are waving at y o u. You know th e pressure is on him an d pretty so on he is going to make j ust op e ' littl e mist ake an d wh at are you doing? YO U A R E FO LLOWI NG THAT GUY! We've go t a lo t of work to d o o n th at sim ple idea. .... ~ .c o ...... u o Next week : Your equ ipment. Bailey works at hel pin g other people do it better. It shows. The Secret: .~~If you are following, you .,., . are not racmg. Y OU arc ou t there on the race track wit h may be 40 riders and each one of them hop es to win. Some of them think. t hey can wi n, some arc pre tt y su re they can w in , some figure they are still lea rning but it 7

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