Slowing down to speed up / technique

Pretty much describes my situation.  54 years old. When I ride "race" speed I make too many small mistakes. I realize now that my "race "speed is actually faster then my skills allow. So my new "race" speed is slower. In order to speed up I would need to improve my technique.  Im trying but what I really need is some proper one on one coaching. 

Well I don’t want to discourage you but I have been trying the “slow down to speed up” technique since the early 80’s and while I got the “slow down” part dialed I am beginning to think the “go faster” part is going to elude me forever!!? 😝 🤪❗️in all seriousness I think it just comes down to how much your willing to risk and I have just never been able to 100% set my fear of catastrophic injury etc aside to progress any further than I ever made it!

 I had only achieved intermediate status before I got old enough to ride the Vet classes and by then I had a career and wife etc and knew Moto was only gonna be my “recreation, NOT my obligation” and I have just made it my lifelong hobby and try to remember to keep it fun etc!

 I truly do hope you find the key to your conundrum and get that extra bit of speed that you desire if thats your mission!         Just remember to keep it fun & enjoy it while ya can! Life passes by WAY to fast to sweat every little detail! Hell it seems like just last week I was loading my son’s 65 in with my bike and now he is turning 30 with a son of his own and I’ll be buying a 50 before I know it for my grandson!

good luck to you and I hope someone has better advice for you than I can offer! Have a great weekend! 😎 👍❗️

It’s all in your head mannn….

no, seriously. It’s all in the head😂 try to look further ahead. A lot of times I can pick up the pace if I can force myself to spot out further. Don’t “ride in front of yourself”. Plenty more head games to play but that’s a good start. If you can back it down to maybe 80% and start riding in front of yourself more you could probably start inching past “100%” using that same “scale” of speed or effort. 
another one is line selection. The first thing I was ever taught is line selection and it’s stuck with me. It’s not always true but riding the same lines as everyone else will keep you going the speed of everyone else. Pay attention to some of the main lines and start to search for where they’re slowing down too much or covering too much ground. I make passes a lot of times squaring up and shooting over ruts and stuff. If you watched the nationals this summer it’s what RJ called “squirting up inside a guy” (ironman 2022)

When I realized I couldn't hang with the kids for a whole moto, I started picking the tracks apart. I would ride my good parts real good and maintain in the other sections ( ruts in general since I came from flattrack lol) That helped in my regression to not racing anymore at all. I stick to announcing and thrashing my XR 100 now.

I think it is natural for progression in any sport to level off at some point.  However, I dont think that leveling off is necessarily a cieling that cant be raised with better technique and better fitness.

Ive found that going out and just riding as fast as I can brings out the flaws in my techniques and the weak areas in my fitness and those can both manifest in making mistakes and crashes.

When you put a lot of time in a sport you develop muscle memory that you fall back on when you are really pushing your limits or get in a panick situation.  If you have developed perfect technique over the course of years of experience/practice that is a good thing, but if you have committed poor technique to muscle memory it can bite you.

The trick is to identify the areas where you need to improve and work on those bad habits until you commit them to muscle memory and they become good habits that you dont even have to think about.

I'm far faster/more experienced on a mountain bike than a dirt bike so I will use that as an example.  After 25+ years of training and racing bmx and the mtb I felt like my progression really leveled off and started back sliding.  I decided to do some training with a mtb coach who has worked with some very high level riders.  He was able to pick out some flaws in my technique, and I was able to work on those with basic drills and it vastly improved my riding.

It took me a couple years of focusing on those new techniques while riding at 80-90% pace to committ them to muscle memory and replace the bad habits.  During that process, it was very evident when I was pushing the pace to the ragged edge that I defaulted back back to the old bad habits.  Now those old bad habits are fully replaced and I'm faster, safer, and crash less.

Point being that despite decades of experience riding/racing at a decent level and having what I thought was a fair bit of natural talent and good technique, I was able to push past that barrier by slowing down a bit on training rides and focusing on improving my technique.

I've carried that same approach over to moto and so far it is helping me develop better technique while trying to minimize developing bad habits. Ive also done a little bit of work with a coach for moto and it has helped pick out the areas I need to work on.

The other thing that is helping me is having someone video my riding.  I'm finding what feels like good technique when riding doesn't look so good on video.

I did the slow down to go faster thing and I found it to be incredibly beneficial!

I spend the first 25-30% of my track time doing drills - 4 laps sitting, 4 laps standing and 4 laps one handed or Maybe accelerating and braking drills or working on form through a rhythm section for example. Then do 3 motos at speed focusing on what I just practiced.

Over time, putting all of those drills together has equated to me going a lot faster! Spending the first part of my session going slow and focusing on technique allows me to adapt those skills at speed.

Check out Moto Academy or MX Factory on YouTube. They have good stuff on their channels.

You might just need some more saddle time to smooth out at your current 100%. Then you can push a little more and get to your next level. 

I found I’d get stuck at a level, ride that speed for a few months, smooth out at that level and after a while riding smooth, I could push harder and go faster. That cycle repeated for me for about 25 years, then in my 40s i plateaued. As my 40s turned into my 50s I started regressing a little every year, and I’m totally good with that.

Just keep riding!

The idea is to back it off until you can run consistent lap times. When you can maintain the lap times for a moto bump it up a little and continuing this process will increase your speed over the race. Through in some sprint laps then back it back down to your consistent lap times. Over time you will feel like things are not coming at you as fast even though you are doing faster lap times. 

For me it’s corner speed. Working on that takes care of a lot. The other thing I started doing is twisting the throttle till it stops on longer straights. Your bike is a lot faster than you think it is when you open it up. Most times when you think you’re wide open, you’re not. 

So turn the throttle more? imma try that. thanks. haha

Till it stops!

I forget which coach/pro coined the phrase, but it was something along the lines of "Re-gripping (the throttle), is the most effective speed upgrade one can make to their bike..."

You will never be able to ride faster…..if you are “thinking” when you are riding!

until all thoughts are gone and you can just ride naturally and react without having to think about the next 50 feet, you will be stuck in 3rd gear!

Not sure he coined the phrase, but Langston is/was a big proponent of the re-grip technique.  Its helpful for sure.

Gary Semics thought me that via VHS video in England back in 2002. 
 

if you not regripping after breaking, or another term is using over grip when accelerating, then you will be straining your arms & finding it more awkward to stand. For me it was a game changer.

Other key things are line choice, soft hands, head forward under gas, stand late into turns, be patient in turns to get the exit better, improve balance standing, use knees to take weight of hands.

 I still try to improve and I’m 40, good luck ! 

Semics 

Have you tried GPS tracking to see if maybe changing the way you are riding the track could make you faster? I see you are in GB,  CrossBox actually has their device back in stock and that may be something that could help you shed some time. 

You could at least change up your training using something like that. Changing a way you hit a turn/section and seeing the time differences via the app. Maybe useful. Or following someone faster then you. 

"Perfect your technique first... then bring the intensity." 

-Rick Johnson

I remember, laughing at a friend of mine, who was having trouble getting over a step up jump. He figured out he wasn’t holding the throttle wide-open, even though he thought he was. He said he found extra horsepower in the engine and that has been an inside joke for a while. Now there is some merit in making sure you have the throttle all the way open because you think you do but often times you don’t. 

Having someone Video taping you and reviewing it will help you get faster

One of the techniques I found helped reset my slow down when your tired issue was in practice sessions, doing my moto's and finishing up when I was tired, forcing myself to complete 2-3 more laps standing.

That helped a lot.

Regripping or confirming you have 100% throttle is another good one.

My technique usually goes out the window when I get tired, unfortunately fitness is the main thing that holds you back from improving , however I’ve been using it to try something lately,when I get tired and usually pull off the track for a breather I’ve been staying out and focusing on technique when tired, not worrying about lap times but taking big breaths and trying to ride technically sound, it has helped my technique when I first go out full of energy,can ride 2 laps longer and is starting to set in as a default when I wear out and used to sit down.cheers 

Riding school all the way, and if you can 1 on 1 coaching.  You will be amazed at the progress you can make.  Also yes trial riding, but I would say the slower technical stuff like logs etc.  Ideally get yourself a trials bike but spend that cash on lessons.

Would Jason Anderson go any faster if he slowed down to use the “proper” technique Chase Sexton does? If you’re riding flat footed, or doing things egregiously wrong, then sure, fix it. If not, line choice, looking ahead more, rolling on the throttle earlier in the turn, are good things to work on, regardless of how you look on the bike. 

In my humble opinion , true speed will come when you will be able to step up your rythm late in your moto when the track break down bad. Speed on groomed track is not very difficult and it's a "fake" speed. Better cardio better flow.

How often do you get to ride? That and how deep the track is ripped usually are usually what effect how hard I can ride, for how long, and whether I feel like I’m plateauing. 
I always tell my self to take the first couple motos easy but end up going full speed as soon as I’m comfortable full tard. Can’t imagine committing to riding at 80% the full day and following through.