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8/1/2013
Location
Avondale, PA
US
How often were you riding? Anyone made it to that level with 1x a week at most riding wise?
Am working hard on improving and ultimately my goal is to be local A class and Atleast competitive there. So mid pack would be the goal.
Curious who’s made it that far how often you were riding etc.
Am working hard on improving and ultimately my goal is to be local A class and Atleast competitive there. So mid pack would be the goal.
Curious who’s made it that far how often you were riding etc.
When I went A, I rode once a week and on race weekends I didn't ride at all until the actual race. Was lucky the Vegas pro scene was small, but some of the guys were ex SX and MX dudes too. I also had 2 big brothers who were ok on dirtbikes and taught me how to go fast when I was young, so that helped.
Really comes down to how ready YOU think you are. I just said fuck it at a local race one day and never looked back. Won the first one I signed up for and kept making money, albeit not a lot most weekends.
Back in the 80's when I was a pro privateer racing local stuff and the nationals or SX when they came through Texas, I would try to ride 2-3 times a week and race on the weekends. I was also a student with a job or working full time when I wasn't going to school. Sometimes I could only get 1 ride a week in, but if I rode 2 or 3 times the previous week I would be OK.
If I skipped a week or two because of weather or other reasons, I tried to keep my cardio going, mainly with running. If I was doing it now, I would definitely be training on a mountain bike if I couldn't get to the track.
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Ride with faster guys, take classes from someone reputable if possible, make sure you’re in shape. But really ride as much as you can.
I can only fit 1x a week in as it is now and I’ve been steadily improving - but sometimes feels like a mountain to move to get where the FAST guys are.
Keep chipping away!
I realize how negative this post sounds and I don't mean it that way. It is just a obvious to me that the 4 stroke has shortened the learning curve and made it easier to go fast.
But I can't really answer your question about how many days a week to ride. I got there when I was a teenager and I rode all the time, damn near everyday from the time I was 5 and went to big bikes from the 80 expert class. If it is your goal then reach it. Put the time in, have fun and don't worry about how long it takes.
I was riding about 300hrs a year, pretty much every other day for a couple hours. To sustain that speed I believe I would have to ride between 150-200hrs a year...
I do come from a competitive mtn bike background and have good fitness. The latter is the easiest (relatively) to control and always comes into play when I'm around faster guys.
My $0.02 is quantity of riding matters, but so does being around fast dudes. If you can routinely ride with people at the level you want to be at, you'll get closeish.
Total hours on a dirt bike ~300
if you can qualify at lorettas , id say that makes you fast.
Pit Row
Regarding the topic, I would honestly say don't rush in advancing out of the B class. I pointed out of B and was forced into racing A and tbh its just not as fun. B class is a nice sweet spot to where you get enough guys signing up at local races to make it fun and usually there is a good mix of fast guys and slower guys to spread the pack out. A class usually has 3-6 guys tops at a local race and usually 3 of them are fast as fuck or pro level. For me it really kind of took the fun out of local racing. Sucks going to the gate w/ 5 dudes knowing you are going to have to go balls out just to try to keep up.
A class can be super variable in speed depending on region as well. I race pro class off road locally, and honestly I get destroyed when I leave my region and race bigger races. Most of the guys in my local pro class, including myself, are decent A riders anywhere else.
Regarding your original question, I rode from age 12-18 and made local A, took 10 years off for school, and now ride 2-3x a week and have for the last 5 years. Average 100-150 hours a year on a bike.
Post a reply to: Made it to local A class or better questions