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I believe an athlete gets some of it for free at a young age. He doesn't necessarily have the years of experience and pain built up to be as tough as an older guy. It seems to me that age and experience dulls the day to day stuff that seems hard for most young guys. Essentially what I'm saying is that older guys have to work harder to be in shape, but some of them can because they're used to hard work and pain.
On the other hand, motivation to go out each day and just pick up a weight or put on your running shoes can be a challenge the older you get. Getting motivated to get started becomes the hard part.
I also think some of the old guys remember past injuries so they don't take those extra risks because they know it's a gamble. Instead they tend to play it safe in order to be on every starting gate through the season.
So I think motivation and willingness to take that extra level of risk are the main things that escape an older guy's grasp and prevent him from winning.
Edit. Sorry, didn`t read your last two sentences before I posted.
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The best physical shape I've ever been in was at age 32 (I'm 35 now). I'm convinced that for at least some of us, the physical is still attainable into our 30's. That was my point with the cyclists, triathletes, etc. I agree that their mental game is nothing like motocross in terms of risk/danger.
The guy who can stay smooth and stay in the "race line" is the fast guy in a car. They have the cars and the traction so well tuned that it's well within the range of human error. So the only variable for the driver is to stay in the race line, that takes practice. That's why I'm not as interested in car racing, it does not reward creative racers the way moto does.
Even Moto GP rewards a little creative racing. I never got into it, but not because it isn't exciting.
I think in motocross, you have so many factors that go into racing. The mental aspect is huge. I think by the time most guys have the mental game figured out, they lose that youthful ability to take risks. I think if you graphed curves for willingness to take risk vs age and experience vs age, they would cross somewhere in the younger or mid 20s for most of the current pro motocross racers.
the older they are the more slower they are to teach. So young ones don't think about consequences of fucking up.
another year older another 10th slower aye
We are talking about guys being able to win a championship. So that is allready a very small group of riders, for MX1 today you are talking about Dungey, Roczen, Tomac, Barcia.
When these guys are 30 they will have won titles, have made an enormous amount of money and have been doing this for over 10 to even 15 years. I can see that there comes a point where the motivation will simply be gone. Like RV2.
has anyone apart from Everts done it in the last 30 years?
I honestly think that with all extreme sports that have high risk factors you peak not at your physical peak, but somewhere close to when the mental aspect kicks in for self preservation.
A lot of modern down hill mountain bikers, snow boarders, BMX'rs, Skaters etc etc all struggle as they approach 30 and beyond. Its certainly not a physical thing.
Take some of the hardest sports in the world physically, Boxing, Soccer, Basketball, Cycling, MMA, Athletics, and the list goes on. They physically peak typically late twenties early thirties.
But boxing/MMA has some similarities on the self preservation thing. There are some boxers you couldn't knock down with a truck, yet typically there comes a time when they are in a war and there body can't take it by either being knocked out or TKO'd or the corner throws in the towel.
Is it because they can't physically compete in that war. I don't think so. I think the mental aspect of self preservation in that particular fight or camp leading up to it has kicked in and they don't perform to the same level. Now it is probably so little of a performance drop just like motocross i.e. not willing to push or take that chance thats needed for the knockout punch or 1/10th of a second in a section.
But that adds up to slow lap times, getting knocked out.
Can Chad compete at that level for example. Of course he can. Is he mentally prepared to push for 17 rounds and 12 rounds. Not so sure. We will see the same thing with Dungey in a few years as well. He will be physically as able as anyone on the track. But the younger riders will be willing to risk it all and that is when the reigns pass over to the next dominant force.
I think the major factor is the length and starting age of a racer's career. In motocross, turning pro at 19 is considered late, in cycling a 22 year old pro is considered extremely young.
By the time they are 30, a motocross racer has had a pro career of nearly 15 years. That is a long freaking time in a sport as mentally and physically draining as motocross. I am convinced that if it was more 'normal' to turn pro at age 20 or later we would have a lot more championship contenders in their 30s.
My endurance dropped, my reaction times slowed and my general skill level seemed to decrease, not just riding but in other sports I also play/played. Reeds skills have been developed and conditioned over many years, technically he's one of the best SX riders ever, but I expect he's finding it a lot tougher than he'll admit, especially mentally.
When Ben comes to Latvia in a month, I`ll be cheering for him to kick major euro ass.
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He is still very good, but he isn't close to what he used to be.
But really, it's going to be very tough for a 30+ rider to get a championship in this young mans sport, especially with the training regimen that the young kids are going through. You may see some 30+ guys put in some podiums and sprinkle a few wins here and there (Reed, Stewart if he continues riding), but I doubt you see them win a championship.
John dowd won the 98 West SX title in 98 @ 32.
....and i think thats it.
mike brown won the 125 mx in 01 @ 29.
this is young man sport and most guys by age 30 have hit the deck a bunch of times and are just biologically behind.
biologically the body, slows down around age 27. this is the point where the body slows its production of cells down so recovery, mental acuity, etc start degrading.
Mentally i think guys can sty in the sport for a long time but physically its much harder
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