VOL. 50 ISSUE 44 NOVEMBER 5, 2013
P61
Carmichael can't
do it all, so he
recruits instructional help from
other champs,
such as Jeff Emig,
who worked with
students and their
starting technique
at RedBud.
when I was 10-12 years old, it would have been a
dream come true. It's cool that they're doing this,
to get these guys out here and teach the kids how
to ride. Just get out here and have a good time."
MOTO >>
Ultimately, though, it's about moto. It truly is a
school, after all. But if you ever paid attention to
Ricky Carmichael's riding style, it's easy to wonder
how useful his lessons would be to most racers.
It's something that Carmichael is aware of, though.
"That's why you'll never hear me giving advice
on style," Carmichael says. "I'm giving them advice
on how to get the job done. Like, this is what you
need to do to go faster. Never about style. Braking
points, gas points, stuff like that. Where to look,
what to look for. I'll never tell them style stuff, unless I can see that it's a problem. Not basing it off
my riding style, basing it on what I've been taught
and what I know is right, even if I couldn't ride like
that. That's the only time I'll give them points on,
'Hey, put your body position like this.' I don't stress
on like elbows and stuff like that because it doesn't
take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you're a
taller guy, it's going to be easier for you to keep
your elbows up. If you're a little guy like me, and I
always used to use high-rise bars, it's impossible
to keep your elbows up. And at the end of the day,
if they have a decent amount of talent and can
ride the bike, their style will be okay to get the job
done. I'm more interested in helping these people
mentally and giving them advice on how they can
make themselves better all-around faster riders.
I'm not too worried about the style, unless they just
have really horrible style."
At the RedBud RCU event, Jeff Emig was teaching starts, Jeff Stanton was teaching in the ski
jump and downhill braking section, Ivan Tedesco
was teaching the sand whoops, Grant Langston
was teaching in a muddy roller section followed by
a left-hand turn and a muddy uphill, and Ricky Carmichael was teaching in some sandy switchbacks.
Emig was the only instructor not riding at RCU,
as he was still recovering from some injuries from
a crash a few months earler, and that had as
much to do with him getting the "starts" section
of the school as anything, as it's perhaps easiest
to teach starts without demonstrating it yourself.
It doesn't hurt that he was always a really good
starter, either.
