Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

videotape o f the d a y's a ction is reviewed , a n d during th e viewing further instructi on is given . Wh en not ridi ng, st u de nts learn abou t bike preparat ion a nd m a in tai ne nce (alo ng with th e proper use o f tool s), mental a ttitu de, physical condi tion ing, obt ai n ing ,sponsors, and p ro per nutri tion. Darnell rea ll y .stresses the importance of conditionin g and p ro p er nu trition a t this camp. The 995 price tag includes food a nd lodgin g , transportation , track entries, use of gym and workshop, a ll training, en tries for the two days of ra cing, a copy of th e vid eo ca ssette, and products from his spo n sors, Ka wa sa k i , Yokohama, Spectre, Shoei, Smith Goggles and Tackla Racin g Pro du cts. Darnell schedules these camps ni ne months in advance, and said each class usu all y fills u p at least fou r months in adva nce. Before he race d m ot ocross, Darnell co m pe ted in just abo ut every ot he r form of motorcycl e racing. Wh en m otocross b egan to ca tch on in Am eri ca, Darnell focu sed a ll his en er g y into the n ew sport and eventually earned a factory ride in Europe. Darnell be~n teaching his . motocross schools In 1969 when he returned to th e United States after racing th e European Grand Prix cir cuit as a factory Husqvarna rider. " I had a di fferent style so people started asking m e for lessons," h e said. Darnell began giving one-day classes, usu all y held th e day before a race. That fir st year Darnell taught just eig h t classes; his sched u le has expanded to n earl y -fs) classes this year. · I T here are th ings to be learned by every rider, regardl ess o f skill level, accordi ng to Darnel l. " T he novice has 10 seconds to ta ke off of lap times," said Darnell. "T he top pros do n 't. You have to ta ke off tenths o f a seco nd a nd a coach ca n te ach so me body into m inu te im p rove me nts. There's always room for im p rovem ent." Although th ere a re no real coaches em p loyed by the fact ories toda y, Darnell beli eves that some day th ey will be com mon. "T he top p ro s don 't see th e va lue of having a coach. But it's like o the r sports, su ch as downhill skiing, golf a nd tennis - everyo ne (in th ose sports) employs a p ro," said Darnell. "T here is so much to know that one ride r can' t know it a ll . Therefore yo u need th e experie nce o f a seasoned rider. " , Darnell sai d h e is ins tructi n g m ore riders a t th e professional level. When Au stralian J eff Leisk, a Yamaha factory rider , wa n ted to improve h is skills so he co u ld compete wi th th e fastest Ame rican riders, h e went to Darnell. Other factory riders Darnell sai d h e has taugh t incl ude George H olland, Erik Keh oe, Ji m Holley, Keith Bowen a nd former Supercross Ch ampion Mi ke Bel l. Darn ell al so h a s in stru ct ed several Euro p ea n champions. Recently we joined Darn ell o n the seco n d da y o f his seven-da y adv anced ca m p . His fi ve students were beginner and novice level ride rs.' Two were South Am erica ns from Brazil , one was from Sea tt le. Wa shington, and th e g roup wa s rounded out by two southern Californians w ho had a lready be en through hi s shorter schoo ls. We arrived j ust in tim e for br eakfa st , wh ic h consis ted o f b a con , pancakes, a protei n milkshake a nd vi ta mi ns. T he stu de nts had a lrea dy done th eir m orning workouts in th e gy m. During th e course of the sch ool , th e 'stu den ts work o n a we ight program in which each rider has to lift a total of 1000 times his body weight by th e end of th e week. The co nd itio n ing h elps to prepare th em not onl y for riding, but also for th e m ini-triathalon Darnell holds on th e fifth day . Next, everyo ne helped load up th e trailer, the n we all climbed in to Darnell 's motorhorne and headed to Gl en H el en OHV P ark in San Bernardino , California. After unloading an d dressing in riding gear, Darnell led the gr oup through a series of stre tch in g exercises. Then everyone took to th e track, whe re we rode a few laps to warm up, followed b y fi ve laps a rou n d the co urse sta nd ing up. Wh en we were fin ish ed wit h the warm -u p, everyone gathered a t th e m oto rh ome and Darnell u sed a stu de n t's bike to dem onstrate h ow to pro perl y set u p suspension. He no t o n ly showed everyone th e wa y to properl y set preload and damping adjustments, but al so exp lained the fun cti on o f eac h adj us tme nt a nd h ow it would work ou t on th e trac k. Following o ur mechanical lesson, it was back ou t to th e track for a three-lap timed practi ce session. The times tak en would later be used as a co m pariso n for th e 40-m in u te moto. Wh en this sessio n was done, it was ti me for Darnell to work with us on a specific part of the track. Cornering was discu ssed the previous day a nd that is where he began the da y's lesson. Darnell first wa lked through a corner, exp lai n inll' braking points a nd bod y positio n ing. H e poin ted o u t th e best lines through th e tu rn a nd why th ey were the best pl aces to ri de. H e th en h op ped on h is b ike a nd showed us what h e had just taught, goi ng through th e co rner slowl y so eac h st udent co u ld observe h is technique. When he wa s finished , it w.asour tu rn, a nd we rode many p asses through the corner. Darnell stood at the tum 's exi t and wou ld shout or give hand signals for sugges tions. If a studen t reall y b lew it , as we did several times, Darnell would stop him , exp lai n wha t h e wa s doing wrong an d suggest ways to correct th e techn ique. After co rnering for a wh ile it wa s tim e for lunch . Darnell 's wife Sh erri, who helps ou t in a ll aspec ts o f th e school, prov ided us with san dwiches . While ea ting, Darnell stressed th e importance of n u tri tio n and ea ting th e ri gh t foods. There was a short br eak a fter lunch in which so me stude nts went back o u t o n th e track wh ile o thers rested in th e sha de . Darnell ,was kept busy repairin g a broken br ak e pedal. The n ex t topic to be di scu ssed wa s tabletop and double jumps. Once Darnell shows a student how to properly adjust the rear suspension during the mechanical lesson of the day. again Darnell lectured, th en dem onstra ted. There were no real double jumps on th e track we pract iced o n, b u t Darnell ha s co me up with a sa fe way to crea te th em for practi cing. On th e far side of th e tabletop, o r a fter a ny jump, Darnell would set up a pi ece o f pl astic PVC pipe propped up o n so me tr ack m arker s. If a stu de nt failed to clear th e " do u ble" th e pipe wo u ld get knocked o ff its sta nd ins tea d o f th e rider cras hi ng. We ma de many p asses a t th e p racti ce jump, th en co m bine d a co rner a nd jump a nd mad e m ore circ u its over th e section . By the tim e we had finished this last exercise it was rela tively late in the a fternoon , so after a brief rest we began th e 40-m in ute moto. T his turned out to be o ne of the hardest p ar ts of the day since m ost o f us weren't in shape to ri de 40 m in utes non-stop. But this wa s where we fou nd th at Darnell 's ' instructio ns rea lly do work. After falli ng a few times, and after fatigu e bega n to set in, we felt rea lly sloppy. We began m issi ng lines and generally started to h a te the ride. Then we began to follow Darnell 's instruc tions a nd started to ri de m uc h more smooth ly. By stu dyi ng th e la p times th a t Darnell kept th roughout th e rnot o, we were later able to see th e im proveme nt. Wh en we co m p leted th e mo to, everyone was beat. Darnell hel ped load a ll th e bikes, th en we left. We were a ll pretty q ui et an d tir ed, so Darnell ga ve a little speech on th e importance of co nditio n ing an d h ow it would help u s get th rough long m ot os whi le making us stro nger in shorter o nes . Back at th e h ouse, Darnell fixed dinn er (h e cooks break fa st a n d dinner while Sherri prepares lunch ) while th e stu de nts unload ed a n d washed th eir bik es. Afterdinner it was tim e to work o n th e bikes, or to get in so me weigh t lifting. . The day con clu ded with a scree ni n g of th e videotape. Ever yon e ga the red arou nd th e television and watched th e actio n, while Darnell made comments an d suggestio ns ab out what we were seein g on th e scree n . By wat ching th e tape, riders not o n ly learned from wat ch in g the ir own mistakes or impro vem ents, but a lso from wat ching th ose o f th e othe r studen ts. If yo u ca n ' t a tte n d one o f Darnell 's schools, yo u ca n still ben efi t fro m h is lesso ns th ro ugh video. Darnell is a bo u t to complete h is R uss Darn ell Motocross School Trai ni ng/Coaching Video ta pe and it shou ld be availa ble through dea lers o r fro m Darnell in tim e for Chri stm a s. The n ext seven-da y camp will be he ld December 28 through J a n u ary 3 at Darnell 's new loca tion, not far from h is presen t Canyon La ke home. T he re shoul d be at leas t one practice track on the p remises, possib ly two , depending on j ust when Da rn ell moves in to h is n ew h om e a n d th e amou nt of time a nd money he wi ll h a ve to build th e tracks . Three entries to the seven-day camp were sti ll ava ila ble as of Sep tember 14. Th ere a re a lso se vera l tw o -d a y schools sche du led September 19-20 a t H ollister in northern California , . O ctob er 3 1-Novem ber I a t Gl en H el en a n d Dece mb er 21-2 2 a t DeAnza Cy cl e Park i n so u the rn Cal ifornia. Pri vat e lessons are also sti ll a vaila ble b y appointmen t. For more in for ma tio n o n the Russ Darnell Mo tocro ss School, co ntact Darnell a t P .O. Box 8004, Canyon Lake, Cal ifornia 92380, 714/244- , 1213. ' • 21

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