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chasetwo79
6/22/2022 4:51pm
6/22/2022 4:51pm
Off-road friends who also race Moto, I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you have effectively mixed in trail riding, enduro, or hell even super Moto into your training programs for racing MX in a track form.
Any primarily track riders who like to do trail or other Moto for cross-training? If so, what type of sessions are you doing? What’s the pros that you are seeing as it impacts your on track riding?
Curious to hear some feedback. I’ve been lucky enough to race Moto for 30 years and as I have gotten older, I am starting to enjoy a good scramble plus I live closer to world class off-road than the track.
Thanks in advance!
Any primarily track riders who like to do trail or other Moto for cross-training? If so, what type of sessions are you doing? What’s the pros that you are seeing as it impacts your on track riding?
Curious to hear some feedback. I’ve been lucky enough to race Moto for 30 years and as I have gotten older, I am starting to enjoy a good scramble plus I live closer to world class off-road than the track.
Thanks in advance!
I still prefer the track and jumps and all that, I’m just curious what types of sessions people are putting in on the trails and such when they aren’t at the track.
I find that my endurance from off road helps me put in long motos at the track and the track riding helps me work on my sprint speed off road. I’m a believer any seat time is better than no seat time.
The Shop
There is very little correlation between trail riding and racing motocross.
Trail riding isn’t a replacement for the track…but it can help sharpen certain skills…and perhaps more importantly, provide a change of scenery to help keep the motivation up.
Today I saw that I could drive 1.5 hours to suffer in the heat or I could ride out my back door to an OHV loop for an hour. Not only did I save 3 hours of driving, I didn’t pay any gas to get there or an entry fee.
I still don’t love enduro enough to go race WORCs or GNCC event over a MX one or anything, but I am finding it gives me a close enough workout to my track days if done right. I’m totally fine with it being my second or third day of riding in a week, but don’t think I could do days on end of it.
Thanks for the laugh.
When I ride technical single track and get back on a moto track I feel like I have this freaky balance that is kind of strange. Like you can go around flat corners with your feet on the pegs and be like .
Also, I definitely recommend riding in Costa Rica if you get the chance. It was a wild experience!
Pit Row
You're talking about rudimentary fundamentals. Those certainly require seat time on a bike, which can be accomplished anywhere. If you want to excel at motocross, you need to be on a motocross track. When is the last time any of the top pros spent time riding trails to hone their skills? Never. They hone their skills on a motorcross track. A variety of motocross tracks.
I raced all these disciplines for years. Until I actually put in 3/4 to full intensity laps on a motocross track, my motocross fitness was shit. There is simply no replicating motocross conditions and motocross intensity anywhere but a motocross track.
Most of the top enduro and desert racers practice on motocross tracks to improve their fitness. You'll never find a top motocross racer cross-training on trails. What does that tell you?
In my day - and I am old - there was always playriding at the track. We would ride a moto or two, for sure, but popping wheelies up a hill, or just trying to master a hillclimb, were all things we did as well. A popular "game" was paying "Follow the Leader": a bunch would follow one guy around while he tried to loose the rest of us. It was trailriding, but it was also a race over any and all ground and obstacles, was as fast or slow as the leader would make it, and taught us how to handle those obstacles by doing and/or watching the others. And it was great fun. So that begs the question: if we're not doing this for fun at it's base level, then what are we doing it for?
Mike Allessi
Brett Metcalfe
Eli Tomac
Zach Osborne
Aaron Plessinger - why do you think he's a contender to win any time it's a mudder?
and most recently Chance Hymas, you know the kid who has the full factory Honda Amateur ride?
These guys must think there is at least SOME value in it.
Riding single track has always paid huge dividends on the motocross track...pushing hard on an 18 inch wide trail, around trees, over/around rocks, uphills, downhills, switch backs, not knowing what is around the corner or over that hill, with less than ideal dirt conditions (usually) etc. makes the moto track seem HUGE, and smooth, with great dirt (traction), therefore, for me at least, it makes it much easier to go fast on.
Never mind all the body position, throttle/clutch/brake control, balance, etc.benefits.
And for a top pro, though they could probably benefit from riding off road, its not nearly as beneficial to them as it is to the amateur weekend warrior (like us). So using the argument that because the top pros (or all the tops pros) don't do it, it won't help us normal folk doesn't hold any water.
If cross training on a mountain bike is beneficial to moto...its just silly to say that riding off road isn't beneficial to moto.
I road cycle a lot and I think skipping a session there to trail ride is a much higher plus for my normal track riding focus. I wasn’t in here suggesting replacing the track with the trail, more like using it as a consistent compliment.
I can ride amazing mountain bike, road bike, or enduro right out of my garage. I still go to the track twice a week as it is, but I would rather enduro on my other training days than cycle pretty much any day from a pure fun perspective.
I listened to the Mike Craig episode earlier in the week and he talks a ton about how gwowing up play riding influenced his racing and the advantage it gave him in crappy hard pack conditions.
Ping always asks about how these guys got their start in moto, and it seems like the majority of top guys from the 80s and 90s mention play riding in the hills as an amatuer and/or during their career.
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