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/128130
Trials Training Center's Cross-Training 101 STORY AND PHOTOS BY MARK KARIYA irt bikes are probably the greatest way for someone to explore trails at speed, be they in the desert or the woods. And most people who ride them enjoy testing their limits by play-racing with their buddies, trying to beat them down a trail, or up a hill, or around a track. When it comes time to go faster, the usual response 'is to simply try harder - open the throttle earlier, leave it on longer, slam the brakes later. Another, more expensive method is throwing money at the machine by installing an aftermarket exhaust or other hop-up parts or getting the suspension tuned exclusively for you. All of these measures are certainly valid, but they often ignore the fundamental reason why one rider is faster than another: The faster rider outrides his competitors. How? Generally speaking, it's all a matter of technique. Whether he knows it or not, the better rider employs superior riding techniques, thus making the bike work for him. There are, of course, a number of ways to improve one's techniques, and a riding school is one of the most effective. There are a number of such schools around the country, but nearly all of them are motocross-based. Now, there's nothing wrong with moto, but many MX schools overlook something: Most motorcycle riders have never really learned the proper basics of piloting a two-wheeled vehicle. That's where observed-trials techniques come in. You can't ride trials effectively without knowing and practicing the fundamental techniques of controlling a motorcycle - and isn't control what competitive riding is all about? As Guy Cooper, Roger DeCoster, Damon Huffman and a host of others know, riding trials is fun and a great training complement to riding regular dirt bikes, though the principles can also aid street bike riders. Trials enthusiasts are a small, enthusiastic family within the motorcycling fraternity, and they've long espoused their subset of the sport as the basis for all forms of riding. Learn trials, they say, and everything else comes easier. You must walk before you can run, after all. Those who ride regular dirt bikes are often ignorant of this, however. There is also the general (and incorrect) perception that observed tria Is has little to do with improving one's skills on a "normal" bike, whether it's dirt or street. The Trials Training Center in Tennessee hopes to change both facts and use its Cross-Training 101 class to wake people up, one by one, to the relevance of observed trials to riding regular motorcycles. Designed to teach trials techniques to those who ride off-road or motocross, Cross-Training 101 is the only school of its kind that we're aware of. Based entirely on the TTC's private 640-acre facility on a mountain in Sequatchie, just outside of Chatanooga, students receive one-on-one training in trials for two days on the center's new-model trials bikes. They also stay at the facility's comfortable and spacious lodge, which doubles as the home for TTC proprietors Tony and Laura Bussing (the latter is a former women's-class trials champion). The $475 package price includes bike rental, food and lodging for the two days. Class size is generally five or less, as chief instructor Tony Bussing declares, "I'd prefer that nobody ever take a run at something and me not see what they did, to get constructive criticism or praise [for what they did] that worked good, and it's harder with more people." Bussing, by the way, has an interesting background. He has ridden dirt bikes quite a bit since getting a Suzuki TS125 as a 12-year-old, then moving on to a variety of other machines and racing in the northeastern woods. He then jumped into trials with both feet, parking his regu- lar bikes after purchasing trials-specific machines. But a funny thing happened to Bussing when he started riding his old '85 Honda XR350R again to lead trail rides on the property he and Laura purchased: "I think Laura's the first one who recognized that when I got off an enduro bike and had about a four-year hiatus where I didn't ride any what I've come to term 'go-fast' bikes and hopped back on one to do some guided off-roading, I was immediately faster than I was when I'd quit. We realized that it was the trials that did it." So, the Bussings developed Cross-Training 10 I, utilizing Tony's diverse riding backgrouno and his experience teaching fellow engineers at a nuclear plant: "Basically, I guess I just have this innate desire that if I think it's worthwhile, I want someone else to know about it," he says. "I have a hard time teaching subjects that I don't feel are worthwhile, but if I feel it's worthwhile, I'll come up with every analogy I can think of, every method that I can attempt to get the point across to you." We took part in a recent CrossTraining 101 school that included a group of SETRA enduro competitors from Georgia with a wide variety of abilities, from C rider to AA. The Fundam.entals As with most schools, this one starts with the basics, which is simply getting used to standing correctly on the bike. In front of the TIC lodge, Bussing makes sure each student's feet are positioned correctly on the pegs (between the arch and ball) and that the legs - not the hands - do the primary job of supporting the body. Control positioning is also important. The "radical" (or retro, depending on your view) horizontal, or above, orientation of the hand levers seen on motocross hero machines nowadays has been around in trials for years, since there was never really a push to angle levers downward on trials bikes. A horizontal orientation makes it easier to reach the lever when you're thrusting your weight radically rearward, after all. Bussing continued the lessons on a large, grassy area below the house, and the first riding exercise was simply to ride as slowly as possible in a straight line back to the lodge_ It's harder than it sounds. While the students quickly learned that trials bikes can chug down incredibly slowly thanks to their heavy flywheels, maintaining a straight line without the gyroscopic effect of rapidly spinning wheels means relying on or developing a heightened sense of balance. Making turns is another early lesson, with Bussing teaching how to initiate tight, lowspeed turns by weighting the inside peg. Once you've started the turn, maintaining or changing the arc is a matter of rolling your outside ankle so you look bow-legged, and of turning your entire upper body - from your hips to your head - in the direction you wish to go. As in most motocross or road-racing schools, Bussing stresses looking at where you want to go - which is not at the ground directly in front of the front tire, even at trials/walking speed. 54 NOVEMBER 14,2001 • cue •• -n e vv s