What do you wish you knew sooner?

Check gas before going on 10 mile ride.

Never take a sleeping pill and a laxative at the same time.

One you pass by is one you can never get back.

How to beat McGrath, then Carmichael

Wait I never figured that out...my bad, but for real? I rode in the days where you had to have skill,momentum, and timing to clear certain things...so there was more fear...How to overcome that fear when you don’t have a four stroke to bail you out Would’ve been nice to know sooner

Only the top .0001% making a living in our sport so focus on keeping that smile and the good times rollin..

A dollar spent on riding schools, tires, or fuel will make you 10x better than any dollar ever spent on graphics, exhausts, or useless bling ever will.

Injuries fucking sick, poor technique and lack of fitness leads to a greater chance of injury.

Life is short, ride as much as you can.

The biggest weight savings you will ever find on a dirt bike is the nut that connects the seat to the handlebars.

This right here... I wish I knew that I had the talent and speed that people were telling me I had so that I would have been motivated to get in better shape. I couldn't grasp that the reason I would fall from the lead or top 3 to top 10 was because it was ME that was fading...

Don’t ride on a hangover you’ll end up with injuries (true story)

There is a zone in front and behind the center point of the bars that you want to keep your head in everywhere on track. Like a 2' window total. Ping even mentions something about it in that new moto 101 video posted today. Its pretty easy to stay in it when in attack position with your elbows up.

Pretty much everything....... ESPECIALLY lotto numbers 😂

Aaahahahahahhaha

Roll the turns

Literally ALL of my buddies bitch moan and complain about "armpump" and I am by far and away in the worst shape of all of them but I grip the bike with my legs and have a very loose upper body grip on the bike .....that and I always keep my middle fingers on the clutch and brake and I've never had arm pump since I started doing this...... nobody listens to me when i tell them why they're getting arm pump i can ride and ride and ride without EVER getting it anymore and it's been years since I've even felt my forearms tighten up

I would add to the riding school or a training session now while you are new! Bad form/riding habits are harder to break.

At work whenever we had weapons training, the people who had never shot a gun before often qualified easily because they didn’t have any bad habits they needed to break. When the learned good form and technique first they could build on that as a baseline. Same theory I think for riding a dirt bike.

Also most Mx schools will teach you bike setup which is very helpful. Idk how many arguments I’ve had with buddies about if their bad suspension setup was due to compression or rebound and if you need to add rebound or back out compression etc.

Also a good tip I learned from a suspension tuner was, if you are playing with your clickers, make a 4-5 click change first and then move your way back to the stock setting one click at a time. The theory is, it’s hard to tell if you start at one click if you’re going the right way.

First lap of practice should be a sight lap. Or You may find yourself in the local ER unit. Trust me, been there and got the T shirt !!!

Wasting my money on a four stroke years ago thinking I would like it more than my 250 2 stroke. Nothing against 4 strokes I just can’t go as fast on one.

That if you put your stand next to your ramp and use it like a step you can walk the bike into the truck instead of jacking around with holding the brake and trying to crawl into the bed.

That a non-trade/skill college degree is meaningless. For moto; late braking.

Proper spring rate.

Makes a very big difference.

That when all is said and done chicks are all the same with lights off... just sayin 😏

Number 1 for
Me was proper use of the front brake. Improved lap times almost immediately.

How much being in shape counts during and after your 20s... Well, most people are always told almost jokingly "it's all downhill after 30" when we are younger, but does anyone ever take it serious? I doubt it. I sure didn't.

It completely baffles me when I look back to when I was 15-16 and could go through 5 gallons+ a day on a 125 and not even feel tired. Today, I use a 3 gallon gas can that usually has 2 gallons in it...

Just turned 35, I do cardio 4-5 days a week and full body resistance/weights 2 days a week just to BARELY be able to push hard to the end of a 16-18 minute moto. My left hip has been sore for about 2 years and I've been nursing my right knee for about a month hoping it "feels good enough" by the time I'm back on the track next weekend. It feels pretty solid now, but I'm almost positive its a meniscus issue and I'm basically just waiting to see how much better it gets before I go to the doc. Yay.

Train smart and don't get over weight. I was 50lbs over for a good decade and I sit at a desk all day. I finally woke up at 32 and got my ass in gear and feel great now, but some damage is simply there for good (or until I get it looked at and fixed surgically). Definitely paying for it.

Go to a MX training camp, program or reputable trainer....more than once. It will make you better and faster than you’ll ever do on your own.

I had absolutely zero technique riding as a kid. I got hurt when I was 14 and didn’t really ride again until I was around 20. My cousins raced Mx around that time period and told me about riding techniques and it all sort of stuck with me. It was easy because after my long break I didn’t have any bad habits and didn’t have to try hard to grip the bike or ride on the balls of my feet when I got going again. I was a better rider the first time back on the bike.

I see a lot of "grip with your legs" posts here. I could never figure it out until almost 20 years of riding. The magic words that finally helped me to grip with my legs were "point your toes in", it will automatically help you grip the bike. Thank you to Dungy and one of the Transworld skills videos for that.

Head over the tripple clamps weight the out side peg and push your out side knee into the bike in turns and make sure you do not run out of gear before you exit the corner.

That my ex was a sociopath.

Oh... Mx. Sorry. I wish I knew the advantages running gave you in moto

Invest in suspension before ANYTHING else on your bike. You don’t need race gas, high comp pistons, or bore kits. You need a bike that is set up exactly for you.

The best advice that helped me the most was, control the bike with your lower body, not your upper body. Everything a rider does ultimately goes through the foot pegs which creates a lower center of gravity on the bike. Squeeze the bike with your feet (your legs/knees will follow what your feet do), while pointing toes inward. Mentally think about riding the bike like you are down hill snow skiing, controlling the bike with your lower body, weighting the pegs to turn the bike unlocking your hips. Remember, Downhill snow skiing like on moguls.....This is what made the most difference to me.

There are many other tips in this thread that are extremely beneficial as well. Just remember, everything you control turning on the bike goes through the pegs.