Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• ; Gary Bailey's IilI a: IilI H ow to WIn . ~MOTOCROSS* O'l ,....; Part eight: Riding technique, cont'd. You don't always sit down Peo ple get th e id ea th at yo u always ha ve to sit do wn and get o ne foo t o ut when you ar e making a tu rn . A lo t of turns should be made feet up - meaning on the pegs - and sta nding. Suppose you ar e riding fast th ro ugh a rough stretch of track - y o u have to be standing on the pegs - and then yo u co me to a quick little turn fo llowed by more rough stu ff. The turn itself may take only hal f a second to get around. If you have the habit of sitting down you will come up to the turn and sit down. And wh ile y ou are doing that you are slowing down , then make the turn, then stand up and start racing again. When you ar e com ing ou t of the turn and trying to get off th e seat and back up on the pegs y o u will allow the motorcycle to keep go ing slowly and you won't really turn o n the power un til you are up on the pegs again and set for the rough track. In that one-half second turn you will probably lose another hal f-second du e to getting up an d down o n th e seat. It 's better to mak e th e turn standi ng on the pegs. If y o u need a foot ou t in the middl e of the turn, put it ou t . This is one of the things yo u do in motocr oss which is exactly like riding observed trials. Th e trials rider cal ls it "taking a dab" when he puts his foot down. He rides standing up all the time an d will never sit down just to take a dab . lie learns to ride with his two hands on the bars and one foot on a peg and he can control the mo to rcycle while doing that. You can do the same thing at mo tocross speeds . At what speed should you fir st lear n to do it? Yep . Trials speeds. If you haven 't do ne it th a t 's something else for you to practice. Earlier when I asked you to practice making tight turns, I said to do it sitting down. Mos t peo ple feel safer that wa y at the beginning. Now, while you are pra cticing getting a foot down while you are standing up, you can add some more versatility to your riding styl e. Try making the tigh t turn st anding up, o ne foot on th e peg and o ne foo t on th e ground. You sh ould get back th at hal f seco nd yo u were los in g due to sitting down. • .. You don't actually sit down 30 \Vhen ever you are maneuvering th e motorcycle you sho uld not have all yo ur weight on th e seat even if it loo ks that way to the spectators. Here's something you can try which will show you the difference . Sit on your motorcycle with one foot on the ground and all of y o ur body wei ght resting on the sea t. Your other fo ot is just resting lightly on th e pe g. Now, imagine that the bike is bouncing and jump ing around and the rear en d is trying to slide out from under you . Just sitting there on top of it , you don't feel lik e yo u have much control, do you ? Now take th e same positi on bu t carry a lo t of your body weigh t o n the ou tside foot pe g. You ar e touch in g the ' sea t but yo u ar e not ac tua lly sitti ng on it co m pletely . Feel th e d iffer ence in yo ur ab ili ty to co n tro l the rear end of the motorcy cle. With th at foo t wh ich is bearing down on the fo ot pe g, yo u can make the m otorcycle m o ve if yo u need to . Medium turns Sometim es a tigh t turn will lead ou t int o a piece o f track tha t curves gently down to th e next turn. That's reall y a medium tum . You a re a ccel era ting wi de open out of the tight turn an d yo ur rear tire keeps wanting to drift to th e outside. The o nly problem there is the rear tire wan ting to drift au t. One way to keep can trol is to flat -track it around the bend. You get crossed up and let th e rear end hang out . Steer with the throttle as you go around and have a lot of fun. The spectators will think you are great. That 's OK if the bend leads onto a long straight where you can gradually get uncrossed without losing any time or speed. Bu t wh at if the bend leads into another tight turn? You arr ive a t the tight turn all crossed up and maybe even pointing in the wrong direction. Before you can stop you hav e to slow down enough to get uncrossed and ge t th e bike vertical and pointed straight. Then you can pull it down fo r the turn. You have lost a lot of time. A medium turn is also the kind where you have to use th e brakes briefl y to get in to it but yo u do not really have to stop. After you are in it yo u can use power go ing around. Sometim es the turn gets wider af te r yo u are in it so you can gain sp eed goi ng around. The pro ble m is the rea r en d keeps trying to slide out. If you have the choice between a fro nt-en d was hou t and the rear end sliding a u t , wh ich will yo u take? Yo u never wa nt the front en d to slide out because it almost always leads to a cras h. A fr o n t -end was hout i s uncontrollable. So you always ke ep weigh t on th e front end in a turn. Bu t when the back end is slid ing out, yo u h ave to do so mething about it or you will wind up racing in th e opposit e dire ction. How 'bout thi s solution? Reduce throttle. That will work but you don 't want to do that, do you? You want t o keep your th ro t tle wide o pen o r else closed. What yo u do is dig in one to e and use yo ur other leg to pull th e mo torcycl e ba ck under yo u, wh ere it belongs. Suppose yo u are turning to th e right and the rear wheel is slid ing out to th e left. Pu t yo ur right foot o n th e ground back near the rear tire j ust th e same way yo u did on th e st ar ti ng lin e. Dig your toe into the ground so it gives yo u an anchor point that you can put so me force on , eve n though it is slidi ng along. Put your left knee hard into the side o f the tank and push th e inside of your left foot against the frame or engine case . keeping your foot o n th e peg. You so rt of curl the mo to rcycle back underneath you and ho ld it there with your right toe in the ground and pressure fr om yo ur left leg until yo u don't need to anymore. Whil e yo u are usin g you r toe o n th e gro und and yo u r kn ee in to the side of th e tank to co ntrol the rear end of th e mo to rcycle, yo u also h ave to be war kin g up fran t . Get up o ver th e bar s and dri ve the front tir e down into the tra ck so it has traction. When y ou feel th e rear end trying to slide au t , your na tural instin ct ma y ca use yo u to turn th e fr ont wh eel in th e d irec t io n of th e slide and just let it drift. You ar en't doing tha t at the back becaus e yo u are ho lding th e rear end in under yo u . So you don't stee r into the slid e a t th e front ," Steer in the direc tion y o u want the bike to go and co nt rol the motorcycle at both ends so it goes in that d irection. The main problem in a medium bend is the rear end d rifting o ut. The best so lution is to pull it back in where it belongs. Look around and you will see people using part th ro ttl e on medium bends to keep the rear en d fr o m sliding. Yo u can use full throttle. You can beat them. The big sweeper A b ig turn is one yo u don 't have to slow do wn for. You can go into it at whatever spee d you have wh en you get th ere , lean it over and romp right around. Yo u can use power all the wa y and sometimes even gain speed. Sweepers are not very ha rd to ride. Frequently there is more than on e line which is regularly used by racers. One on the outside and one on th e inside, with a visib le groove eac h pl ac e. Most riders will always go wide if they h ave the choice but the inside groove may be faster. Neither of the popular routes may be the fastest, but we get into that in the later section o n racing te chnique an d strategy. There may be a berm all the way aro und the outside of a big ro und turn an d th ese are pract icall y irresis tib le. Rid ers will slo w down an d line up to get on it and th en foll ow each o ther aro und th e bi g berm all day lo ng . Watc h a sit ua tion like that ca re fu lly and so metimes it's funny. A rider who goes o n the inside will pi ck up two or th ree pla ces pe r lap right th ere in th e big turn b ut somehow the riders on the berm don't seem t o notice it. If y o u notice it then yo u don't wan t to join th e parade out there riding wide. Racing Rule : Don't use a berm unless it is ac tu ally helpin g you and yo u are ac tu ally going fast er wh en yo u ride o n it. There's th is stro ng fix ation th at rid ing on th e berm is the proper way to race. This is rei nforced wh en people see a berm in a cu rve becau se th en they know somebody is using it and they think they hav e to ge t o u t there and get on it be cau se it mu st be the o fficial fas t way. I have seen riders co me into a turn with a berm on' the outside and suddenly real ize that they are not going to hit it . They will look o ver at the berm, slow down, ste er to the outside of th e curv e and ride o ut th ere wh ere it is. Then they will roll th eir wheels o n it fo r a few feet while t urning and finally wander back onto th e ra ce t rac k. While th ey were o u t th er e p laying on th e berm tw o or three rid er s go t past on the insid e. Th ese ride rs ge t so loc ked up in th eir groove t ha t th ey never change and th ey ge t passed on th e ins ide all day . If so me bo d y is passing you on the inside, you're doing it wrong. Using the berm A berm allows you to go rast er into a tu rn th an any other way, but"it has to be the righ t tu rn and th e right berm. On the hig sweepers the be rm may not help. On any wide turn where you have a choice, be sus p icio us of the route that use s th e berm. But if there is a tight turn of ab o u t 9 0 degrees more or less, with a goo d berm on the outside o f it, and a long fast st raig h t in front of it , you have the sit uation where a berm-sh o t is necessary. Even on a tight turn wi th a good berm yo u have some choices. Yo u can come in wi de. sq uare it off and th en sh oot ac r oss the ins id e of the turn. Or you can han g in close all th e way, ma king a piv ot turn on the inside and th en accelerati ng o ut aga in as we dis cussed earlie r. With a slow rider using th e berm. either o f th ese ways may get you past h im. But if the berm is right and the turn is righ t and nobody is o n it, using th at ber m will be th e fastest way. You will go in faster and co me out fast er by bouncing off the berm. You already kn ow most of how t o do it. Remember about pi tch ing the motorcycle into a tigh t turn. Do th e same thi ng o nly faster. As you come into th e turn , pitch the mo torcycle sideways and slide on bo th wheels into th e be rm. It's a controlled cras h in to the berm and you'll make a th ud when you hit it. You should hit it with both wheels at the same time. The suspension will co mp ress an d then you will rebound off the berm in th e new direction of travel. With the suspension compressed due to the force of yo ur impact, the re ar tire will have fantastic trac tion. Open the throttle, hold the front end down and you'll just flyaway from that corn er. That 's the way to get m ax imum benefit from a berm in terms of slowing down the least and ; spending the shortest amount of ti me in the corner. It depends on a lo t of factors such as the shape of the corner an d of the berm, how fast you are traveling when you get th ere , and the line you are taking, whic h may be influenced by other riders or th e preceding turn. Any of these things can cause you not to ma ke that sliding crash in to a berm. There are st ill way s yo u can use it. Fo r example so me peop le bring th e mo t orcycle up to th e berm without ever pit ching it ove r. When th e fro nt tire hits the berm, then the rider leans th e bike an d lets the rea r tire slide into co n tact . At tha t point the wh ole motorcycle will tend to bounce off the berm, but no t the way it does when you have slid into the berm, both wheels at the same ti me. On a fairlybig turn , with a be rm all the way around th e outside , you may want to stay on th e berm an d ride it all th e wa y around. In that case you don't wa nt to b ounce off so yo u don't hit it hard. As yo u begin the turn, you ride up o n to th e sid e o f the berm and lea n th e bik e in to it. The more you lean , th e fast er yo u ean go a nd cen trifugal force holds you up o n th e side of the berm. When yo u are practicing o n a race course, y o u will pro babl y find different kinds of b erms an d yo u ca n try ridi ng them th e ways we have jus t dis cussed. Keep in mind th o ugh, unl ess the berm is actuall y helping yo u ride faster, don't go o ut loo king for it and waste ti me riding it . Off-camber turns Here's another th in g we can learn fro m the trials riders. First let's just co nside r riding alo ng th e side of a hill in a straight lin e. The lat est wo rd from th e tri als gang is you should put your weigh t o n th e downhi ll foot peg and hold th e b ik e as nearly ver tic al as you can. Do ing th is is part of body English and it 's a thing yo u start doing naturally once you get th e feel fo r it. Putting weigh t on the do wnhill pe g helps hold th e tires into th e hill and reduces the chance o f the tire s slip ping downhill. Also, if the b ike does slip a little bit and

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