Being fast

RCB33
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RCB33 3/23/2022 2:58pm
3/23/2022 2:58pm
I feel like there's a few ways to "get fast" but personally, I went from a "sportsman" level rider(in our area, think of it a C minus) in the woods to a fairly competitive B rider in the woods on my good days (fastish but not FAST). What changed is I started riding with people faster than me...then I realized the people faster than me were riding with people faster than them as well. I think at some point other factors come into play such as mentality, fitness, and to some extent funding but for the average person, the easiest way to get fast is to find faster people.

This idea of finding faster people is what annoys me most about the MX side of racing when I race moto. So many people sandbag C when they could move up and race faster people and thus, get faster themselves. To me, the fastest dude you can follow long enough to learn from, that's who you need to be lining up with and practicing with. That's how you get fast in my book. That's why I feel like the people who aren't "THE GUY" throughout amatuers seem to have better pro careers (villopoto, Dungey, Sexton, Webb, etc.). That whole time they were learning instead of leading.

Definitely interesting prepositions from others too though, and I could be totally off base with my ideas. Just my .02.
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Spergen
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Spergen 3/23/2022 4:46pm
3/23/2022 4:46pm
When younger I was always at a Moto track, but jumping was my biggest downfall, never did have the ability or courage to jump very far, ironically though loved jumping up or down the hills? Work that one out? Could always keep up with good riders on the flat or in corners no matter how roughly whooped out it got, especially on sand tracks too. But then I tried hare and hounds a good few years ago and never looked back. I love and look forward to the rough technical bits others dread.

Maybe I should of gone road racing instead?
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mmain62
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mmain62 3/24/2022 4:54am
3/24/2022 4:54am
I see a guys all of the time that consistently ride with A guys and never get faster. The mental aspect of it is pretty insane. Also seat time plays a huge roll. I was next to pretty much the fastest +30 guy in the state in staging last year and he had 148h on his hour meter. I had 25h on mine and it was the second year I had the bike. I was closer to him than I expected to be and have thought many times since that day, that if I had that much seat time I wonder how good I would go.
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ElliotB16
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ElliotB16 3/24/2022 5:37am
3/24/2022 5:37am
There’s a lot of average C riders training full time at training a facilities and not getting any better in speed. Some riders just have the natural ability.

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Gordon Liddy
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Gordon Liddy 3/24/2022 6:02am
3/24/2022 6:02am
A person is definitely born with it. A long time friend of mine who moved away has three kids. His first two are normal. His youngest one must be in the 0.01% or 0.001% of humans with freak muscle control, balance, reactions etc. He sent me a video of him riding a bicycle at 3 years old. He rode it like he had been doing it every day for 5 years. Not just riding along balancing. The kid could really ride and move around on the bike, power slide it hitting the brake, etc. I have never seen anything like it.
flarider
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flarider 3/24/2022 6:16am
3/24/2022 6:16am
Gordon Liddy wrote:
A person is definitely born with it. A long time friend of mine who moved away has three kids. His first two are normal. His youngest...
A person is definitely born with it. A long time friend of mine who moved away has three kids. His first two are normal. His youngest one must be in the 0.01% or 0.001% of humans with freak muscle control, balance, reactions etc. He sent me a video of him riding a bicycle at 3 years old. He rode it like he had been doing it every day for 5 years. Not just riding along balancing. The kid could really ride and move around on the bike, power slide it hitting the brake, etc. I have never seen anything like it.
I have seen some kids pick up a stacyc like they were born with it instead of legs.

Future of moto is gonna be scary
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Bruce372
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Bruce372 3/24/2022 6:36am
3/24/2022 6:36am
jones618 wrote:
Really great feedback from everyone. Really enjoyed this thread. I was laying in bed last night feeling sorry for myself cause I don't have any real...
Really great feedback from everyone. Really enjoyed this thread. I was laying in bed last night feeling sorry for myself cause I don't have any real motocross accomplishments. So I made this post about what I was thinking and thought I was gonna lit up, saying I'm being a bitch and just go for it. But surprisingly it's been alot of insightful responses and I'm glad everyone tagged into the thread 💪
I am slow as crap, but to me it's a hobby and as long as I get to hang with friends, see my son ride and leave the track with us in one piece and a big smile then mission accomplished.
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Tank_Slapper
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Tank_Slapper 3/24/2022 6:40am
3/24/2022 6:40am
No amount of practice can make up for talent

Can you run a sub 5 min mile
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Gworm
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Gworm 3/24/2022 7:06am
3/24/2022 7:06am
They say there are 3 secrets to landing a plane perfectly every time, but nobody knows what they are.

The same here. There are a lot of different answers in this thread, and they are all correct. You have a Jlaw that had the talent, and you have Stanton who succeeded mainly from hard work.

Anyone around my parts that remembers back in the 80’s seeing battles between Joe Burke and Shan Niday could see that. Burke was talented for sure, but he worked hard at it and raced almost every weekend somewhere. You wouldn’t see Niday very often but he was always a threat to win when he was there. They would have battles that would blow you mind.
JB 19
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JB 19 3/24/2022 7:17am
3/24/2022 7:17am
I didn't read much of this yet, but I will say that if you have been riding for years you spend much of your riding time around people who are pretty experienced. You forget how awkward and clueless a true beginner looks. How much difficulty they have grasping the concept of operating a clutch, throttle and shifter at the same time. Operating 2 brakes independent of each other. Turning by leaning instead of turning the handlebars....and 100 other factors going on. Watching a true beginner gives you an appreciation of how difficult the sport really is and how talented even the bad people at it are.
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Thisusernameisavailable 3/24/2022 7:25am
3/24/2022 7:25am
Here in the UK, I watched Tommy Searle grow up. He and his two brothers all raced. One of em I saw at a practice track just 3/4 weeks ago in fact. His elder brother was pretty good, but a mile away from Tommy's level.

Why did Tommy succeed and the others didnt? I'll ask his dad one day for his thoughts on it.

I also watched Mel Pocock (EMX250 champion 2012) grow up. I actually felt his younger brother showed a little more talent than Mel did on the 85cc/150cc bikes. But he was plagued with injury after injury. He rides on & off now and is a good local expert when he does.

For these boys, it was graft! I dont think they were natural, but they weren't afraid to graft from a very young age.
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Bruce372
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Bruce372 3/24/2022 7:36am
3/24/2022 7:36am
If you took a guy that can't qualify for a 450 main out of the LCQ and put them on a factory bike and training program, would they win a main and how long would that take?

Peick was at the sharp end of rhe LCQ and might have won heats or semi, did he make the podium in a 450 main? I can't remember him winning one.
Bultaco
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Bultaco 3/24/2022 7:41am
3/24/2022 7:41am
This is a good interview. Bruce had one comment on this very topic that stood out to me….”You can’t teach speed”.

https://youtu.be/VBeydly51sc
jleews6
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jleews6 3/24/2022 5:40pm
3/24/2022 5:40pm
This is a great thread with some good comments. I believe it has a lot to do with the natural makeup of each person. I help a lot of local kids and have done riding schools for years and what I see is that some kids are just natural athletes and others aren't as gifted in that area. For my son it was easy and he went from beginner on 85s to one of the faster local B class kids in 3 years but i have worked with some kids that have been riding for 5 or 6 years and are still mid pack C class.
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RaceFace58
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RaceFace58 3/24/2022 5:51pm
3/24/2022 5:51pm
RCB33 wrote:
I feel like there's a few ways to "get fast" but personally, I went from a "sportsman" level rider(in our area, think of it a C...
I feel like there's a few ways to "get fast" but personally, I went from a "sportsman" level rider(in our area, think of it a C minus) in the woods to a fairly competitive B rider in the woods on my good days (fastish but not FAST). What changed is I started riding with people faster than me...then I realized the people faster than me were riding with people faster than them as well. I think at some point other factors come into play such as mentality, fitness, and to some extent funding but for the average person, the easiest way to get fast is to find faster people.

This idea of finding faster people is what annoys me most about the MX side of racing when I race moto. So many people sandbag C when they could move up and race faster people and thus, get faster themselves. To me, the fastest dude you can follow long enough to learn from, that's who you need to be lining up with and practicing with. That's how you get fast in my book. That's why I feel like the people who aren't "THE GUY" throughout amatuers seem to have better pro careers (villopoto, Dungey, Sexton, Webb, etc.). That whole time they were learning instead of leading.

Definitely interesting prepositions from others too though, and I could be totally off base with my ideas. Just my .02.
It’s a good 2 cents. Jeff Stanton was a good rider then he stayed with RJ one winter and became a great rider. If you look at the lesson Haiden Deegan is learning every day practicing with Tomac and Craig and Ferrandis? That’s one way to get faster for sure!
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RealityCheck
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RealityCheck 3/25/2022 6:58am
3/25/2022 6:58am
Motocross is like anything else. Some people have the knack, most don't. I could practice the violin 24 hours a day and never even come close to the skills of Itzhak Perlman. I could take all the singing lessons in the world and never be able to belt one out like Freddie Mercury. No amount of art lessons will make be able to paint like Leonardo Di Vinci. And no amount of practice or physical fitness will every make me a truly fast motocross rider.
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Falcon
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Falcon 3/25/2022 3:09pm
3/25/2022 3:09pm
RealityCheck wrote:
Motocross is like anything else. Some people have the knack, most don't. I could practice the violin 24 hours a day and never even come close...
Motocross is like anything else. Some people have the knack, most don't. I could practice the violin 24 hours a day and never even come close to the skills of Itzhak Perlman. I could take all the singing lessons in the world and never be able to belt one out like Freddie Mercury. No amount of art lessons will make be able to paint like Leonardo Di Vinci. And no amount of practice or physical fitness will every make me a truly fast motocross rider.
How do you know any of those statements are true, though? How many hours did Perlman practice his instrument? I'd bet it's well over the 10,000 hours they recommend for mastery.
nornevrder
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nornevrder 3/25/2022 3:59pm
3/25/2022 3:59pm
I was a stick and ball player until I got my first bike at 18. I then turned to racing. Turned local pro at 24 and was able to hold my own throughout the west coast. Best finish at my biggest race was a 4th in the 25x class at the Vet World Championships at Glen Helen at 28 years old.
Fast forward almost 20 years. I have two kids, my oldest (13) is full blown athlete and she has potential being a good rider, but she lacks the grit and motivation. Now my youngest is 9 and he can’t catch or throw a ball, but put him on anything like a bike, board skis ect….. he picks up on it and immediately excels. He wants to ride bad but his grades are not where they need to be to have that privilege yet. He busted his butt last semester and the future looks good for him.
In short I feel like some ppl have “it” and some don’t. It’s not all about spinning laps, I feel it’s also recognizing a level needs to stepped up and rising to the occasion. Some do faster than others and some do it to fast resulting in injury.

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Robgvx
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Robgvx 3/26/2022 2:45am
3/26/2022 2:45am
Falcon wrote:
Great assessment. There are "naturals" and "workers." Jeff Stanton was a worker. It sounds like you are, too, as am I.
I’ve always said the same thing. And once in a while someone comes along who is both a natural AND a worker. Then you have a champion.
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