Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ C(j C'J .... Q.) ..0 o ..... u o Part Nine: How To'Practice How to be a MX Star By David Bailey with Thomas Scott 22 &.... ~ In a ny thi ng you do , practice is a big part of ge ll ing better. I' ve logg ed t ho usa n ds o f h ou r s o f pra c t ice throughout my mot ocross ca reer, co nsta nt ly refining m y skills and learning new techn iques. I'd like to g ive yo u a few tips you ca n follow regardin g yo ur pra ctice sess ions , and hopeIul ly.. once yo u incorpora te th em , yo u' ll find th at yo u' re ge tt ing m ore o u t o f th e time yo u spe nd pr eparing for th e races. Wh en you first start p ra cti cing , three tim es a week shou ld be enough. I p racti ce a lmost every day wh en I'm h ealthy a nd I'm a t home. I have ) ~ ' I '. t L' ' '' 1' ~ ) 'J \0 (' .. , f • 11 I ::J I access 10 m y supercross track, which is abou t 200 yards fro m my ho use, a nd La ke Suga rtree, which is about half a mi le away. Fo r me, it's easy 10 ride in th e-morn in g a nd agai n a t ni ght, whil e othe r riders have to load up to go rid ing, an d things a ren' t a; co n venient. If yo u' re goin g 10 mak e racin g yo ur number-one priori ty, co ns ider fin d ing a pl ace 10 rid e which is n ear yo ur home, so you can ge t th ere without having 10 ha ul your bik e. Wh en yo u have to load up, get gas for your bik e, an d gas up your tru ck, it gets 10 be a pain in the bu tt. You take ':' )~"l l ·1~( ~ '\ '" .. , f. "" r ' . up more time getting to th e track than riding, and it's a real drag. , So me riders practi ce every day,like m e, a nd a re still hungry for th eir m otorcycle o n race day . If yo u ca n do that a nd not wear yo u rself o ut. fin e. Other riders get tired and bl ister th eir ha nds, so that th ey' re hat in g life before practice ends on race da y. Remem ber to mainta in good p hys ical conditioni ng, so th at you' re always ready 10 race. If you race 'and practice o n th e same bi ke, a nd can 'I ride verv o ften , because of p rep tim e on your mach in e, try to ride on T uesday and Wedn esday, then agai n on Frida y or bett er yet Saturday. The closer to th e ra ce you practice, th e better, because you'll be more tu ned in on race day . The theory behi nd how 10 practice varies between di fferen t riders, but the mai n idea is 10 lea rn a nd a lso have fu n . A co u p le times a week I'll go o u t a nd ride rea lly hard for five or six laps. Even if I just go o u t 'and pl ay-ride for th e day, I'll tak e 10or 15 m inutes to go berserk , and not even worry abo u t my lin es. The reason I do tha t is 10 develop a more aggressi ve a pproach . I'm th e type of rider who tak es h is time; I usu all y ge t slo w starts so tha t I'm co mfortable with the track , and I don ' I tak e many ri sks or cha nces. T hat 's good, but some times I ge t a little too co nserva tive. I co ns ider that a weak p o in t, so I practice aggressiveness so tha t in a race I' ll make a mo ve if I need to. Wh en I need 10 take a co up le o f chances o n race day, it won' t be suc h a bad risk beca use I' ve p ract iced m y m oves. I have a full -scal e supercross track , a na tio na l track a n d woods tra ils, so I li ke to jum p bac k a nd forth between the three. I' ll ride the woods, con nec t it in to the track, and the n head back into the woods. The woo ds are grea i for your reflexes. Those tight trail s mak e yo u move in the trees, a nd it 's like getting a m idpack sta rt. Dod gin g trees is a lot like ge tti ng thro ugh slo wer riders. If yo u lea rn to charge th ro ugh a trail - one th at yo u kn ow - yo u 'll sharpen yo ur reflexes. I've a lso ridden a few cross co u ntry races so that I learned to be prepar ed for th e unex p ected . You have to wa tch o u t for fall en trees an d slip pe ry ro o ts, an d yo u ca n co py those moves during a su percross race - everyth ing happen s quickly. T he lap times for my su percross track are a bo u t a minute, 20 seconds, an d I ha ve anothe r 45 secon ds to a m inu te of woods trail s th at I add 10 th a t. T ha t's th e wa y to pract ice; have a good time by adding va riety to yo ur rid ing area. ' Wh en I'm o u t in Cal ifornia , I stay w ith J ohnny O'Mara , an d th en I rid ein th e h ill s where th ere are no trees. T he ground is dr y, so th ere 's no pl ant life or vege ta tio n, a nd I like to find erosion ditch es 10 jump ove r. T he re w ill be si n k h ol es a nd deep d itch es, a nd there isn 't much room for error. If you have to pu t yo u r foot down , it's a 1O-1O-15-foo t d ro p o n eac h side of you , a nd that d efin itely teac hes yo u 10 rel ax a nd increases your bal ance whi le forc ing yo u 10 keep fro m ten sing up . J ohnn y and I ha ve mad e tra ils over th ese areas , and we ride them once or twice, just so we kn o w we ca n do th em well. T he n we move o n 10 so me thi ng else. Wh en yo u go riding , do a number o f th ings an d mak e su re yo u ' re do in g th ings right. Ride so me wood s, do so me jumps, a nd ch eck yo ur timing ; do so me wh oop sectio ns, rid e so me hills, go down so me do w n h ills . Pol ish up yo ur a bi lity 10 rid e, a nd keep in mind your bal ance a nd timing. Jumping up ledg es an d jumping mounds o f d irt is fun . J ohnny an d I jump up cliffs, a nd it ca n be risky, but we kn ow we ca n mak e it. Wh en I I ~ I It .. . r ., I r • r approach someth ing, I very seldo m have a question in my m ind that I can do it. I weigh o u t situa tions before I a ttem p t th in g s, but I do try so me hai ry st u ff in orde r to ge t bet ter. A few weeks ago I ro de a ride a t Six Flags in G eo rgi a calle d Free Fall. Something to ld me I n eeded to try it , and it sca red th e pee wa ddies o u t of m e l After th at ride, I did it a co u p le m ore times, a nd it's j ust like th at o n a m ot orcycle. If I kn o w Ward , H annah o r J oh nson will do so me th ing, I' ll do it, too. It 's a co nf idence bu ilder, someth in g th a t increases' yo ur abili ties. You 'll proba bly never enco unter these th in gs o n a race trac k, but the techni q ues you use are th e same . If yo u do a ttempt d ifficu lt jumps, make sure you're ridi ng with a pa rt ner in case some th ing does go wrong. R idi n g a lo ne ca n get borin g , so it's good for both ri de rs to learn from each other. One th in g th at a lways mak es m y ridin g fun is bein g crea tive wh en I pra ct ice. No m ailer wh ere I am , I'm ' a lway s looking for a roc k, bu sh , bank or an y othe r o bstacle . I 'never rid e from one spot 10 another , I a lways hit a ro ck and wh ip up th e back en d, or I'll jump up a bank and bounce back down. Make th e m ost o ut o f every minute of you r p ract icin g. T here's always somethi ng yo u can add to you r riding to im prove yourself. The g uy wh o does tha t wi ll co me o u t ahe ad because he'll have m ore co nf iden ce in hi s a bility. Learn to read th e ' terr ain a ro u nd you, a nd you can make ju m ps and pl at eaus o u t o f di fferent areas you never noticed before. So me days yo u ' ll go o u t a nd not have any th ing pl anned . Get sta rted by working yo u r timing to mak e sure yo u' re usin g th e cl u tch correctly, hitting th e j u mps right, and corner ing wel l. Th en fig ur e o u t h ow m an y laps yo u ' ll h ave to go in yo ur next race, and gas it. If thi ngs a re goi ng well , keep yo ur speed up, but if no t, just ride yo ur best an d keep smooth. One m istak e I made earlier in my ca reer wa s th at I never wen t fast th e ent ire length o f a race wit hou t ge tt ing sidetracked. You shou ld si m u la te racing co nditio ns a t least once a week . Work 'OIlyour co nce ntra tio n wh en yo u practi ce. I used to go fas t until halfwa y through th e race, a nd the I'd sta rt th in king a bo u t a movie I'd seen or a good time I' d had a t th e beach . You ca n't let yo ur mi n d wander lik e th at , or you' ll find yo ur self o n th e ground. For su pe rcrosses, a lot of th e tri ck rid ing yo u do is a lmos t freestyle rid in g . At th e National s yo u can get away with more beca use yo u have m omentum , but at s u percrosses, yo u're a lmos t stoppi ng a nd goi ng a ll th e time. I'll wa rm up on my su percross tra ck for a few m inutes, a nd th en I'll practice sta rts . Since o ur ma in events are 12 laps, I'll start a nd go 12 laps as fas t as I can . T he n I'll ta ke a short break and go 12 laps agai n. T he n I' ve done my race p ractici ng, a nd af ter that I'll go o u t and p la y for th e da y. If the grou nd is fla t, I'll fla t track it arou nd the turns . I reme m ber one time I was at Sadd leback ridi ng, ha ving a good time, an d Kent H ow erton wa s out th ere. T he pits were smooth a nd slip pery, and th ere were tras h ca ns a ll arou nd. We sta rte d racing arou nd th e ca ns , a n d I bet we rod e around th ere for a h alf hour. You wouldn 't eve r think a bout doing something lik e that, bUI it 's p ra ctical experience . It's just like co m ing up to a corn er without a ' berm - you'll have to kn ow how to slide. Never o ver look any thi ng. Make th e most out of every minute yo u spe nd o n yo ur bik e, a nd yo u r practi ce sessions wi ll prepa re yo u 10 en ter th e ra n ks of,MX star dom. • r r r i r s r : ,; 1 '11 1 C,l I I ' i

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