Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126397
Non-rid ing sports, like racquetball. help keep you fit. A.C. Bakken, as shown in this photo by Randy Tunnell, has become good enough in his " other sport" that he played in the $270,000 Coors All Pro Racquetball Championship. The lady is world champion squash player Heather McKay. Championship . Enduro Getting In . Shape 16 What t he top riders do In any sport it's what you do d uring the off-season that determines how much wor k it'll be .to get ready for co m petition agai n. If you hibern a te a ll winter , it will take a lot of rid ing and exercise to get back to the shape you were in at the end of the previous year. The experts know this, and they try to maintain their condition in various ways, depending on where they live and what their ath letic interests are. Riding does it best , all the top enduro stars agree , but riding is not - -- . too practical if you have deep snow on the ground for several months a year like Skip Olson does around his home in northern Wisconsin . Skip has been one of the most serious contenders for Dick Bu rleson's enduro crown, and he knows more about the body and its conditioning than most of us because he'S' a full-time physical therapist by profession , even when he's campaigning for the Can-Am factory during the enduro season. Although .he gets plenty of exercise in his job, Skip makes sure he gets more after work , too, at least three times a week . . In the winter he plays basketball in a league. and he goes cross -country or downhill skiing regularly . During the enduro season he's usually too busy riding the events and working to do much more than go riding once after work in the middle of the week, before he starts preparing his bike for the next ru n . Champion Dick Burleson and his Husqvarna teammate, Bob Popiel, work for Husky in Tennessee whe re the climate's a lot milder , so as you'd expect, they do more ridi ng d u ring the winte r. They co mpete in hare scramb les when they ca n find them, and racquet ba ll and a litt le running help keep them in shape. Jack Penton agrees about running, although he believes riding is the best conditioni ng for enduro. (Sometimes he and his brother Tom ride 400 mi les on a weekend .) For people who don't ride as much, he thinks running is very good because it builds up many muscles and helps your lungs. He also thinks motocross exercises are good . Jack thinks it's important to stick with whatever you decide to do in the way of conditioning, even if it's not much. But what if you 've been getting soft all winter, and suddenly the enduro season is about to start? You know you're out of shape, and you may not admit it but you're a year older than when the last season began . The thought of 100 miles of wet, early spring woods riding may sound like fun after a winter of sitting by the fire, but you know you won 't have an easy tim e finishing well . The answer is to get in as much riding as possib le before the first event, and ma ybe to a ugment the riding with an- exercise program . New Eng land T rail Rider Association advises long trail rides of at least 100 mi les in a day with a m inim um of stops. This builds up you r body and your stamina for t he rigors of enduro competition, and also it sharpens your riding rechniq r-es, which may have become a bit rusty during the long months of idleness. One good exercise program No one enjoys conditioning exercises , but they're easier to stick with if they work and they don't take too much time. This series, which includes running and calisthenrics. is used by my son George in the spring as the riding season is getting under way , and at other times when he hasn't been riding much . It's his personal adapta tion of the program used by Rolf Tibblin at the Husqvarna Motocross School. (I) Start by doing some stretch calisthen ties like those used by almost all ath letes, winding up with 30 jumping jacks (side -straddle hops)' to get you fully loosened up. (2) Ru n I ~ to 2 miles. Up and down hill is good . (3) Do 20 push -ups , Rest 10 seconds , then do 10 more , Rest 10 seconds, and do 10 more push-ups. (4) Do 10 deep knee bends, arms out to side. 10 more arms up, then 10 with arms out to front. (5) Sta nd ing , feet slightly apart, do 20 -body rolls counterclockwise. then 20 clockwise. (6) Standing, do 20 head rolls coun terclockwise, then 20 clockwise,