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1614
Joined
7/13/2008
Location
Fort Myers, FL, USA
Edited Date/Time
8/14/2012 1:01am
So Mike Brown gets a 6th overall today, what Brown and Dowd have done today and this season is really incredible and congrats to both of them.
This leaves me to ponder two questions:
Do the top guys retire to early and does this expand riders thinking about retirement age?
What does this say about the "progression" of the sport when Mike Brown finishes 6th? Most people would say a person like Brown and Dowd shouldn't even be able to finish in the top 20 because the new guys are just so much faster than the riders of old, WHO consequently ARE OLD compared to the competition.
Sure some top guys are injured, but really? He was almost top 5, give him another few weekends and he may just put his bike on the podium. Are KTM's really just that good........
This leaves me to ponder two questions:
Do the top guys retire to early and does this expand riders thinking about retirement age?
What does this say about the "progression" of the sport when Mike Brown finishes 6th? Most people would say a person like Brown and Dowd shouldn't even be able to finish in the top 20 because the new guys are just so much faster than the riders of old, WHO consequently ARE OLD compared to the competition.
Sure some top guys are injured, but really? He was almost top 5, give him another few weekends and he may just put his bike on the podium. Are KTM's really just that good........
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Brown and Dowd are studs. They prepared well for these races. Bikes have progressed, not racers as much.
Now, that I'm done ranting...
It seems to me that the Sport and it's athletes are changing.
Excellent Equipment is available to EVERYONE.
Good tracks, good training info/techniques and good medical technology (Read "Ortho"...) is avail to EVERYONE, too...hence...a lot of us "Old Guys" aren't as "Torn-Up" as the Generation(s) before us; because, we were fortunate enough to have good Doctors to put us Back TOGETHER...literally.
Look at RV2: His Injuries from 2010 were Career Ending just a few years previous...and to think, he not only got put back together; but, he was on the bike REALLY QUICKLY.
Then there's the Dubach Factor: As some of us Older Guys get "older"...we keep riding just for the fun of it...some of us...like Doug...actually make it our business and or our "recreation" & drag a lot of other people out to the track & get them riding awfully damn fast, too...all the while HE is riding damn near as fast as he did when he was running up front in the Nat's/SX.
Then there's the bikes...altho many in here will FooFoo the point: The Equipment you buy off of the Showroom floor is Soooooo damn close to the Factory stuff that it's not even believable.
All of this has contributed to making the sport faster and broader when it comes to the development of the sport...It (The Sport) and most everyone participating in it on a continual basis are...getting Faster.
The Resource base for this sport is so vast and, yet, available to all that it allows for MANY to develop and...KEEP...the skills...in some cases...for as long as they're willing to work for it...and as long as their bodies will hold out...
Which...is...
Longer!
* Disclaimer: Yes! I remember when Elsinores were a little more than a grand and it seems like we could all go out and ride at the lot on the corner. Things HAVE changed; yet, we've still got it pretty DAMN GOOD! Example: If Angry Ol' BoobyM had f'd up his leg 40 days ago, instead of 40 years ago...? He'd probably still have it. "Progress"...
If either one of them really "wanted" to do this...?
Remember, both of these guys have a lot of "Moto-Wisdom" built on a lot of years of Pro-Racing.
a stock bike with pipes and suspension setup is pretty damn good.
i'd put $$ on RV2 showing up at a national on a kx450 with pipes and revalved suspesnion..and getting top 5
Problem is, most start taking it super seriously straight out of the womb and get burned out on the grind (training/traveling/injuries) by their mid-20s.
If I'm not mistaken, Brown & Dowd both didn't start racing MX till they were teenagers.
It leads me to believe that the increase in pace the sport has witnessed as a whole over the past seven years has a lot to do with bike technology and development. John Dowd is nearly 50 years old! He was probobably flying around the track faster today than he would have on his factory Yamaha back in 1995, despite his body being in more youthful condition fifteen years ago.
A lot of people compare different generation of motocross stars, which really isn't fair since different generations race on different tracks and equipment. Rick Johnson said in circa 2005 (Daytona Supercross), that if the pros of his generation were somehow able to race with the Reed and Carmichael at that time, they would find a way to battle with those guys. Even Johnson believed this about himself when asked if he could run with Ricky and Chad. Today's finishes by Dowd and Brown really seem to solidify that statement.
Pit Row
This wears on all of their bodies and on some of their pocket books.
So if Brown gets a 6th where would that put RC if he lined up? I know I have heard on here many times that RC would not be able to hang any more but.................I think he would eventually podium if he did several races like Brown has done.
He was on fire yesterday.
I believe the more common thing people overlook for retirements or early retirements is that riders have simply exhausted there resources in the sport. They have a harder time finding rides and or money to make it all worth while. The time away from their families isn't worth peanuts which is why we see a lot of riders just pack it in, in their lates 20's and early 30's. Its not solely the fact that the pace is picking up and younger kids are coming in.
If a lot of these in their early 30's mid 30's were still able to lock in big money contracts each year they would still race on. And if they didn't have to race SX, they would certainly do it. But going non-stop from January-September. Will take a toll on a older and those older bodies and no one wants to be away from their families that much. Specially when you get older and realize they are everything you have and worked for.
I wouldn't say the bikes make it easier for what Brown and Dowd are doing either.
Everyone out their, well a majority of everyone out there (excluding the factory guys) is on the same equipement.
They all have the same advantages and disadvantages.
wick and was crucified for making such an outrageous comment. I was told he was too old and was washed up
to ride with todays professional riders.People tend to forget how fast some of these "old" riders are.
But the topic of the post is progression. To use an exception that an old guy doing well shows no progression, would assume the new guys are not bringing new techniques, and if they are that the old guys are not continuing to learn. But all in all, exceptions don't really tell us anything other than "they are exceptional" you have to look at the group as a whole and throw out the outliers. When you do that, you'll find retirement at an early age is still mandatory.
TM
Firstly as has already been mentioned... with a few guys injured, the 450 class isn't very deep right now. Obviously with the return of RV, TC, CR, JS, maybe an on form Kyle Regal (KR he has had an appalling year) - then a rider like Mike Brown is going to get pushed down to the lower order of the top 10 or maybe just outside it. In that case the result would look a bit less weird. However lets face it, it's still awesome.
Secondly, (using Mike as the main example) we all underestimated how good he is.
Not everyone retires with a bang or on their best form. I remember Mickael Pichon having good years in 2004 and 2005 on Martin Honda. Both times he was in title contention. He then signed for KTM in 06 but was badly injured almost instantly at the first round and thus retired. When he came back for a one off appearance at the British GP in 2009 I believe it was, he did bloody good and was damn near on the podium. But as surprising as that was, it wasn't THAT surprising in some ways because I still had this image of him from 2005 as one of the top riders. I half expected it.
Mike and John may not have formally retired at their best but the truth is they're fu@king good and have a ton of experience. These guys may joke about being the "old" but underneath they've got pride and are going out there to do well.
Post a reply to: Progression? Not so much........