OzVMX Forum
Clubroom => General Discussion => Topic started by: Graeme M on March 06, 2009, 12:38:53 pm
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Does anyone else suffer this? It has to be the number one cloud on the horizon of my vintage motocross golden years... Here I am, almost 50 and with a few nice bikes in the garage to go riding on, and more race meetings than you can poke a stick at. So this should be some sort of nirvana, shouldn't it?
But for all sorts of reasons, I just don't get the time to ride. For a while there I made up for that by getting out on the MTB for a trailride or run over the local X-circuit. Lately though I don't even get to do that. So the upshot is, I'm rusty.
Now, this is not so bad if you're an ex A-grader - if you have talent to burn a bit of rust is easily blown off within a couple of laps. But if like me you have all the riding talent of an Arctic Elephant Seal, well... the rust aint going nowhere. I got to ride maybe a dozen times last year, possibly as much as 5-6 actual hours of riding. Maybe it was a bit more, 10 hours? But what I do know is that every time I went to a race, I spent the first several races just trying to feel comfortable out there with all these other fast nutcases.
This is really bad if the riding in question is in with the local club day riding Over 35s on a 1975 RM125. I won't even go near practice for fear of being landed on, taken out, or just plain roosted into oblivion. Do you have any idea how much slower than a CRF450 a 1975 anything is?
Usually, I don't feel like I am even able to ride until about the last lap of the day. Then it's all over until the next time I get to go out and gumby my way round. The only time it's any better than this is on a HEAVEN race day at the local track, when they have practice on Saturday. Then come Sunday, I am just plain slow. Comfortable, but slow. I need to practice.
But how?
Family, home, work and all sorts of other demands leave me without any decent time to go practicing. As a kid, I rode EVERY weekend. These days, I'm lucky to manage one day a month. And that's not a full day either cos just getting a leave pass for a morning involves a sad, emasculating process of sucking up and downright begging.
I don't see this improving either. At least not any time soon. And that's a shame. Cos I watch the Over 35 and Over 45 class, and while some of them are quick-ish, most are not. And at vintage meets, the average guys slowness is really slow. And yet, I am still last! Surely, just a little practice would see me up in the pack and going home feeling like I've just beat Bubba. Instead, the usual drive home involves lengthy dissections of how poorly my racing went and marvelling at how the heck anyone can actually feel comfortable being more than 18cm off the ground on a dirtbike, much less jump a double...
Don't get me wrong, I have fun. I love this stuff. But it'd be nice to go along and race, feel OK doing it, and leave satisfied with my performance, even if I don't figure in the results.
To give you a sense of what I mean, take the last time I rode a bike. Last November, I think. I borrowed Mr 555 KTM's 250 to race in the Over 35s and Classics at Canberra. He'd loaned that bike out to some kid a few months earlier and the kid had promptly laid waste to everyone in the Classics. The bike was clearly a winner.
So off I went, actually took it out in practice. And I was hooting. Or at least, I was moving and only three people had passed me within the first lap. I started to think I was good. Down a short straight and my practised eye spotted a nice inside line everyone else was ignoring, so over the little kicker jump I dived to the right. And stopped dead. Then toppled over. Under the bike. In about 3 feet of thick, treacle like mud.
So THAT'S why no-one was using the downhill, righthand side of the overwatered track! By the time I struggled clear, practice was over. The day didn't get any better from there either. I won't bore you with the details of how the rest of the racing went, except to say that in my 3rd race I left the canteen ladies worried that their favourite vintage racer (that's Mr Personality Dennis, not me!) was dead. That's because a guy on a 555 white KTM had just been highsided violently when he cross-rutted right in front of them and didn't move at all after he hit the deck. Yep, that was me.
So, the drive home involved lengthy dissections of how poorly my racing went and marvelling at how the heck anyone can actually feel comfortable being more than 18cm off the ground on a dirtbike, much less jump a double...
I need to practice. Or, I need to find some form of racing that is carried out with people who are happy to plod around on an oval grasstrack with plenty of run-off. But of course, we all know that isn't at all satisfying. So, I need to practice.
Which brings us back to my question. How? Or am I doomed to a slow, creaking descent into rusted immobility? Should I give up now, and just take to watching and observing how much better racing was 'back in my day'. And picking on kids for having too many piercings?
I honestly don't know. But what I can say is that after my highside off that rotten KTM, I decided I was retiring. But you know, 4 months off a bike can do strange things to a man. For some reason, I am hanging out to go race. And I really, truly, BELIEVE that I can go fast. So, this weekend, I'm off to practice. Wish me luck...
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go for it graeme
remember its not where you come
it the enjoyment of building and working
on a vmx bike then riding it
nothing better ;)
i thought i was rusty :o
cheers rusty ;D
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Spend more time on the Dirt track, Fairburn park has a great track and even if the big boys come out there is so much room they can find there own way past. you get to fly around at your own pace, and enjoy your 2 stroke ringing in your ear.
I get maybe 2 rides in a year on the MX and maybe 8 on the DT, the mx smashes me and the bike to bits, on the Dt rounds i just turn up in the morning, Fuel up and ride, after just cruise home with coffee in my hand and wake up revved to go to work on monday. bIkes not real dirty so dont even wash it.
MAybe you just need to find differant options to ride your bike in ? change of scenery and an easier pace ? I wont ride my PRe 75 on any modern tracks or with modern , its just not work the effort before , during or afterwards. Find a nice big hillside and ride you pre 75 and the love will come back.
If you choose you moments i think you'll get better rides out of it and more results.
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Same story here Graeme....turned 50, kids are all but gone and built myself a VMXer.Finished it the day before CD 5.Figured it would take a couple of meetings to sort out and be ready for 2009.
Well i must have kicked a chinaman. Because of the downturn in the Sydney building market we decided to undertake building Medical Centres right across Australia. It seems every Heaven meeting is on when i am interstate. Heading to Townsville next week so will miss the first two Heaven meets and the MA turnout at Broadford. Whether i could have ridden these meets is probably unlikely anyway ( would have enjoyed flagging though ) as in November `08 i snapped the schaphoid implant that was put in my wrist in 1979 clean in half. Three orthapaedic surgeons that i have seen all recommend fusing the wrist. Locking it solid with absolutely no movement whatsoever. I`m not real keen on that idea.
So i guess for the moment i will continue to build more bikes and see what happens in the future
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Hi Graeme
Good luck on the come back trail.
Hope you have a great ride and it washes away all those thoughts of retirement out of your head.
We have some much time for everyone else, We forget ourselves in the process.
We all need to take time out. So get on that bike ride till the sun goes down or until your ass is so sore you cant sit on the seat anymore and watch the smile come back on your face.
Im missing our weekends out riding my other half is working sevendays a week at night and im work during the day so at the moment we are like ships in the night just passing each other, so no time for riding our bikes. With Broadford coming up in six weeks i will be going with no practise i need to blow the cob webs away :)
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I bought this (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230317275341) to commute and blow away a few cobwebs. Now I am back to my ducking, weaving, short cutting, traffic dodging, curb jumping ways ;D ;D ;D
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Put my name to that and call it something I wrote. I know just how you feel.
Like you time is my biggest enemy. And for me it’s hard to say where it all goes. We have no kids but still can’t find time to do the things we enjoy.
Just getting ready for a race takes the best part of the day before. Sometimes I’ll have to re-write a month’s worth of call out rosters for work so I can get a certain weekend off. Then there’s getting the weekends “jobs” out of the way and finding all the riding gear and spare parts to take.
I also find that now I’m one of “them” or “they” You know the ones who set out the track and all that goes with running an event. When the young guns say that “they” should have done this or that differently, well that’s me now.
I race, and I use that term loosely, when I can. Throw in a few trail rides and it could be 10-12 times a year or as few as 3. Practice? That’s usually the sighting lap, if I’m lucky. Drop it on the way round and it’s all over before I get restarted.
We’re fairly lucky here in that we can ride our vintage bikes in C grade and have our own little races at the back. There are a few of us who are about the same speed and a few of the hot shots (in C grade for F’s sake) have found that the old guys on heavy old bikes are not soft targets and that they will lean those heavy bikes on you if you try it on too much.
My mate Muz is one of those infuriating type who has more talent than any three people need! He rides just a little more than me but then runs up to 4th place in a local B grade event on a YZ250G. He joins in C grade with the other vintage bikes and wins the race (including the moderns) by half a lap, ON A YZ125C!!!!!!!!!!!!
As kids he was the guy who turned at a local hillclimb on a Suzuki A50, and got to the top.
I marvel at guys like him, their ability to make a motorcycle turn a corner where I end stopping for a lie down. Their ability to hang on to a motorcycle at the limit of it’s stability and still stay in control, and GO FASTER!
I think I’m lucky in that I enjoy working on my bikes as much as riding them. To go for a ride means time to prepare, travel, ride and clean up afterwards. Probably more than the riding time itself. At least I can do a few minutes or hours of tinkering when time allows.
As slow as I am, and I was never fast, I enjoy my little slow races with other old guys more than I enjoyed trying to race in the 70’s.
I enjoy making little improvements to my bikes and being able to notice them.
The only pressure I feel now is to have fun.
If you ever come to Darwin Graeme I can see some epic battles for last place coming up.
Neil Young said “rust never sleeps” but I’ll tell you it gets thicker!
Brent
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Graeme
I think maybe your expectations are too high. :-X
Ride where you like to ride :o ,hang out and ride with people on the same level with the same era bikes :o
The younger riders will be writing and saying the above in 20 years time,(that as we know! is not far away).
Be more disciplined,pack the car Friday night/Saturday morning- don't sit there thinking about it :-\ -get high- :P get excited :o -get mean >:( -like when you where young-come on 50-don't make excuses-just do it :o
sorry if it upsets you,but that's how I feel :-[
think of it like this,if your up the front you have more chances of being run over ;D
keep at it and have a good year,no matter what eventuates. :)
alison :-*
ps this is personal cheer squad kinda stuff :D
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graeme, like brent said, change the name you have something I could have written. Although not as well.
I know I was average at best when I was riding as a kid, and I've only been back on the bike half a dozen times since my my "comeback" ;D last year. But it's still frustrating when you don't seem to be noticing much of an improvement.
I've been trying to fit in as much mountain bike riding as I can on the way home from work. At best it's a couple of times a week, and I'm trying to stick to the tight single trail kind of tracks. It certainly can't hurt, I don't know whether this is a training option for you?
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Rusty I'm seized I can't bring my self to ride at all :'( I've taken my son Tom to a couple of Heaven meets and he rides but for me it just dosen't happen :-[ my job is very physical and injury is always in the back of my head. The local track is set up for moden bikes so thats out plus the people there are of a new era that I don't fit in ::) jimson
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Yep.
I circle the events on the calender at the beginning of the year
I don't get to ride at all between race days,
that's why I like the Heaven meetings .I know some people complain about to day events,
But
with free riding sat and Racing Sunday ;D ;D ;D, I try to put primer on the rust
I try to get to the track as early as possible Saturday,
and I am often the first on track, I then practice slowly ,riding a different line or off line every lap .and as
many laps as I can get, sometimes on other peoples bikes while they ride mine, or lend my bikes to fast guys and watch them,( thanks Paul), or just circulating, even if I'm being a roaming Marshall, ,sometime watch what the fast guys are doing, wait for them to pass me on the track at a particular corner etc.
Sunday racing. and finishing rather than falling off is the name of the game. and some times I'm even at the Pointy end.
then physically I pay for it in the following week ::)
cheers
Noel
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yep the local chiropractor should sponsoring VMX events not the struggling motorcycle industry. I don't know, try rubbing in a heap of denko rub first thing in the morning before the event, for an older dude its like wearing tyre warmers. ;)
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....I left the canteen ladies worried that their favourite vintage racer (that's Mr Personality Dennis, not me!) was dead.
I think this is the funniest thing I've read on the forums. Ever.
But getting back to the topic, I know the pain. As a kid, I too would get to ride every weekend, but I've been riding three times since September - and two of those times were just faffing around on the moderns at a mate's property.
And I also know from the rally car the recent experience helps me heaps. I'd always thought of myself as a 'slow starter' until the year where I made the effort to get to every event - and then discovered that in the first few stages, I was snotting the guys who would equal or beat my stage times near the end of the event.
One thing that has helped me, is thinking about riding in the days before hand. "Mental Rehersal" they call it. Imagine yourself on the bike doing everything as well as you've ever done it. Imagine the jitters before the gate drops. Imagine the noise of the other bikes are you scream toward the first corner, etc.
It helps a lot more than you'd think.
One thing that took me a while to get right, was not being overly optimistic in my mental rehersal - you want it to reflect reality, not some pie-in-the-sky roosting Chad Reed nonsense that will be blown out of the water when you're actually at the track.
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Ah, so there you go. It's not just me, huh?
My piece above is a little tongue in cheek, brought on by a conversation with young TwistnShout on the way to Mr KTMs place for some bench racing and Honda repairs (Dennis had to fumigate the garage after we went - good bloke he is, letting that bike into his KTM palace). We both find it hard to make the time for riding for all the usual reasons, so we spend a lot of time thinking about it rather than doing it. Most days we email back and forwards, imagining how nice it'd be to be able to ride whenever we want. Or even... to be able to ride FAST.
Then we have to read stuff on this very forum by blokes with unlikely names like Magoo who describe trips to Queensland that involve more bikes and bench racing than we'd experience in a couple of years.
And yes, like Brent we know plenty of people with more natural talent than is entirely reasonable. In fact, most of the guys I rode with way back when were fast. They had the trophies to prove it too. All I had was a Snoopy trophy given to me, out of misplaced pity, by my then girlfriend. She always used to say "Don't worry, just relax and it'll happen. Sooner or later"...
Though come to think of it, I don't know it was the bike racing she meant there.
Still, I relaxed and tried to be at one with the bike. I took up meditation. I did my affirmations. I silently imagined myself winning at every moment I got. Especially before I went to sleep. My girlfriend started staying out late, but I didn't care. I was gonna get FAST. But of course, I never did. I had to put up with endless stories of race victories from my mates. In the end, I just kinda accepted my lot in life and took to chucking endless wheelies, the only thing I was ever actually good at.
So when I took up vintage, I thought, here's my chance to revisit my youth and go FAST.
But, as you've seen, that's been foiled by the lack of time to practice and the aforementioned lack of talent. And young Twisty, who never raced before he got into VMX, is in much the same boat (except that he is faster than me - goes without saying hmmm). Still, I exercise religiously. I spend a fortune on my old shitheaps. I read every dirtbike mag I can get my hands on. I've even... done a coaching school.
And, of course, I love it. There is nothing quite like it, the thrill of restoring, riding and racing vintage MX bikes. So I will keep on doing it for as long as I can. Just not often. Or very quickly...
Wonder where my girlfriend is now?
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Graeme , Go out and enjoy yourself and have fun .
life is too short to sit back and watch it pass by
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I think you can just plonk around on ride day and enjoy these old bikes a whole lot however if the competition 'bug' still bites then there's nothing other than 'bike' time that's going to improve your 'lap' time. ::)
So I've come to the inescapable conclusion that to do a lot of bike time with the least amount of fuss, forget trying to practice on your old clunker. There's just too much heartache involved in wheeling them out every week, taking all morning to start the thing and getting 'psyched' out by some 16 yr old on a sweet handling modern 4 banger. Then there's all the dramas of what's broken, trying to get the parts etc, etc, blah, blah.
If you want to do some regular bike time, get an early 2000's two stroke 250 and just ride the shit out of it. Wash it, do the air-cleaner and next week, ride the shit out of it again! Once a year put a piston kit in it for about 200 bucks and occasionally do the linkages.
Your confidence and fitness will go through the roof and after a while you might even give that 16 year old twerp on the four-farter a run for his money.
When you line up against your 'fellows' on race day they'll be flabberghasted by your increase in speed and your clunker will need little work to make it ready for the next battle! ;)
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I think you can just plonk around on ride day and enjoy these old bikes a whole lot however if the competition 'bug' still bites then there's nothing other than 'bike' time that's going to improve your 'lap' time. ::)
So I've come to the inescapable conclusion that to do a lot of bike time with the least amount of fuss, forget trying to practice on your old clunker. There's just too much heartache involved in wheeling them out every week, taking all morning to start the thing and getting 'psyched' out by some 16 yr old on a sweet handling modern 4 banger. Then there's all the dramas of what's broken, trying to get the parts etc, etc, blah, blah.
If you want to do some regular bike time, get an early 2000's two stroke 250 and just ride the shit out of it. Wash it, do the air-cleaner and next week, ride the shit out of it again! Once a year put a piston kit in it for about 200 bucks and occasionally do the linkages.
Your confidence and fitness will go through the roof and after a while you might even give that 16 twerp on the four-farter a run for his money.
When you line up against your 'fellows' on race day they'll be flabberghasted by your increase in speed and your clunker will need little work to make it ready for the next battle! ;)
Exactly the words I was looking for. 8) best of both worlds :P
Love ya ,knew you had it in you all the time .....doing us proud Ross.
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Golly! (blush) :P
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Wonder where my girlfriend is now?
Greame she is in the shed mate go and ride her ;D
On a serious note though, I dont get the time to ride as much as i would like and i was not to good way back then or now, but after pretty much 20 years away from bikes,,,,, I rode in my one and only Vinduro to date, I would recommend highly if you can find the time to ride in as many as you can, there is no pressure to go hard or get taken out by someone, just hours of riding time at your own pace, I know it's not vmx but it's still good riding time and with others that came from the same era which is a bonus.
Just my thoughts
Cheers Mick.
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You just have to laugh at it all. I hadn't ridden for 30yrs and last year i got hold of a 1974 MX360A, and away we went down to Narrogin. The wife (Christine) said, please be careful, just ride it like a "Nanna". Well let's say she hasn't had to worry cause I ride it like a "Nanna with a zimmer frame".
But do I have fun hell yeah, even though i can't ride on Sunday and can't walk on Monday. But the funny thing is that the wife has taken up photography and instead of being my "Pit Bitch", she's out there with an SLR camera leaving me to die alone when i come back from a race. She then has some of the photo's placed on the VMXWA website along with our other photographer Alison, funny that they are both females cataloguing our pain and humiliation, though they never caught my brilliantly executed one and a half with tuck over the handle bars, would have scored a perfect ten (thank god for full face helmets)
She has even forced me to take her to the "King of Wanneroo" with a heap of UK and irish Superbike riders and then next week to the Australian Historic Road racing Championships, just so she can take photo's. I'm hoping she forces me to attend Phillip Island this year
Maybe it's not the fact of how fast or slow I am, it's how much fun "we" have. She even enjoys camping in the freezing rain (when we get some) on the Saturday night, just enjoying the atmosphere of VMX in WA oh and the port!!!
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For me a day long trail ride with a few good mates is as good as it gets anywhere anytime. Always had a great time at any event I've attended but it isn't really my natural habitat ;)
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Yep, much the same story from me.
When I was young (up to late 20's) it felt odd when a weekend would go by & I didn't ride. Now it feels odd when I do go for a ride on a week end.
I usually manage 1/2 dozen rides a year but for what ever reason 08 was a crap year & I don't recall getting out at all.
How hopeless am I,
well I have my own private track just outside my workshop door :o
When I was young old people would tell me how quick the years go by when you get old. Never believed them until I got old myself. I'm also facing the big five O this year & about to have another mid-life crisis :o
At the end of every year I swear the next year will be different. I was inspired by the pushbike thread, got some quotes to fix my Diamond Back ( the tyres & grips are all perished) borrowed a bike for my son & had planned to do some rides. With the hot days we had recently that plan went out the window.
Recently picked up an 87 KX 250, the plan was it would be low maintenance bike & would help me get "riding fit" again, much like Ross suggested.
Hardly had time to look at it. I had the work experiance kid here on Thursday so I got him to clean the carby make a few adjustments & fuel it up.
Took it for it's first ride to discover it's got no bloody 3rd gear. Just another neutral with nothing but grinding / rumbling noises. I can only imagine all the dogs have broken off.
Bugger, another plan out the window untill I find time to split the cases.
I believe doing things that can keep you fit are a definate benefit, so that when you do get on the bike you have the energy to try things the way you intend to.
But, as they say, theirs no substitute for experiance.
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I have to agree with Tossa. Because of work I will only get 2 meets this year - real pisser that is because I thoroughly enjoy the social atmosphere of our club as well. However the formula we use over here (WA) suits me down to the gound and on the day whether I am riding A grade fast (not really likely but since we were doing a bit of mental racing.......) or back of the pack one of my mates is there to race with which is all that matters - regardless of whether it's 1st and 2nd we are arguing over or 21st and 22nd. But boy because I ride so infrequently don't I look funny at work on the following Tuesday and Wednesday walking down the hall like I have ridden one of those mechanical bulls for a week and a half!!!!! I would like to weigh a little less (!!!!!!) and be a lot fitter so I could ride for logner and harder and better etc etc etc but I just keep aiming for it not matter how difficult it is coz I really don't want to give up.
cheers
Rossco :D
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Gotta go with Rosco. Only change is a 125 in place of the 250.
You can pick up a good 99,00,01,02 125/250 from one Japanese manafactures for less than 2K. Spend another $500 on the consumbles and you'll have a bike that will do a years plus riding and never need to touch it other than maintenance. It is great training for the old girls and saves the wear and tear on them. I say a 125 because it makes you ride clean and you have to find the clever lines. The 250, like the 450 4T can make you a little lazy. Last year i ran a 00 RM125 and this year the bike will be a 1998 60HP Husaberg FC600 - Go figure.
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All sounds llike you guys need some trail time? Yeah I know easier said than done but sell it to the missus like "well, you know I don't play golf (hope you don't? - what a waste of good MX track!) and don't booze up at the pub on a sat arvo with the mates, etc etc" (or get a new missus?) Then convince her to let you buy a traily and away you go - instant bike time.
The best thing I reckon have done is ditch the boring WR250F and picked up a cheap as chips 05 KTM 250EXC. The little jigger rips and is a ball to ride with none of the linkage bullshit like the Yammy and a FAST two stroke to keep you connected to your roots.
My problem is more my stupid fire brigade shift work which seems to clash with anything that involves fun (ie trial riding when my mates are going) but I am planning on doing as much as possible this year. Life is WAY too short.
For all of us old farts - draw some inspiration from the old guys featured in the last VMX - that was cool !
See ya out there in HEAVEN
Dave Mac :o
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Owning the trail bike isn't the problem, getting the time to use it is...
:'(
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Yep - time is certainly the issue !
I wonder if it might be an idea if the clubs run a pre season ride day or weekend so all the sorting and stuff can be done without the race day 'pressure'
Another problem is even when you get time you normally (and safety wise) need someone to ride with. Because of my shift work I miss alot of weekends and then there is no one left to ride with M - F - that means wasted days to me.
Anyone with a registered traily in Sydney looking for a mid week ride?
Dave Mac ;D
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I went searching for the words "King of Wanneroo" Road Racing and found this old thread ;D
I just don't get the time to ride.
How you going this year get some ride/me time Graeme ??
cheers
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I've been tackling age versus riding head-on since start of year, as there are so many recent good things out there like Classic Dirt, Honda BBB, Vinduros ... enough to get fit for.
This is what I've been doing. I am 54.
1. Exercises in lounge. Only 25 minutes in a session. I always use the same small set of dumb-bells. (I never change the weight up; only upping the reps)
I believe in keeping the sets small, so it doesn't feel daunting when it comes time to do it. Sometimes I do them at midnight, when all jobs/kids chores done and this is free time.
If you stay consistent, it starts to add up. EG: 25 by 3 sets of sit-ups, twice a week = 150 situps per week, or 7000+ a year.
2. Timing - i try to do exercise three times a week. Never two days in a row ... always have a day off between sessions. I try to include one aerobic session every week or so(swimming or jogging on soft beach)
I also believe strongly in motor-twitch skills. I have a half-round big ball (it has a flat base) which you stand on. It's incredibly unstable, and my ankles/feet twitch and shake to try and keep balance.
Why? I can feel the old fogies syndrome in my body, as far as coordination and balance ... that I am losing it. Sometimes it can be tricky, just getting up from a table.
3. I practise on a 5-year old unloved WRF 250, about once every five or six weeks.
4. I ride first two or three laps in third gear only, at approx. 3000 rpm. Sometimes the bike is nearly stalling in slow corners. Ride slow ... check the lines ... have a think
5. After those three laps, I decide where I maybe want to shift back to second, and start to gas it a little. Then build on each lap's speed.
6. I used to ride too hard, and hit a lot of bumps and things - always wound up winded (and sore for days) if I tried to do a whole lap fast. I recently learnt to back off, and ride about 85% pace. Yesterday, doing this, I rode 30 laps in a row.
7. Cool down. I ride one final lap almost on idle, as a cooling down period.
8. Body weight.
A/ If I'm not hungry, I don't eat.
B/ After 28 years of shop coffees on a daily basis, I switched to skim milk coffee in the cafes. I lost about six kilos and 1.5 belt notches in about two months.
9. I just bought the prescription inserts off Goggleman, so finally have responsible, clear vision.
10. I take joint pills (Broke both ACLs six years ago). Still not sure about them, so I go off them for a month every so often ... trying to suss out the placebo effect.
11. I don't do vintage races any more.
PS: Bahnzy must have some good tips - I reckon he rode ALL Saturday and ALL Sunday long at CD7. Rode and rode and rode.
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That's some list Doggy and I can identify with each point, except maybe #11...
Alison, my riding this year has been not too different to last year. On average, I think I ride once per month. I rode CD7, then I think it was a HEAVEN round at Lakes in August, then again here in Canberra a couple of weeks ago, and next will be HEAVEN at Canowindra in October. I find a race day is a bit of a funny thing - it takes me all day to get used to riding again and I don't have any pace till the last race.
In any case, I am physically exhausted after about a lap.
I have no idea how some of these guys do it. I train a little - 20 minutes on the stationary cycle most evenings, 20-30 mins weights and stretching every second evening, watch my food and weight etc. But I cannot ride for more than a lap or two at race pace. I watch guys like Snowy and Noel who seem to do every race on the program, at the pointy end, and I am amazed that they can do it.
At the last race in Canberra I adopted a new approach. I go for the holeshot (and actually got it in one race), ride hard for a lap, then back off to my 'comfortable' pace. Sadly comfortable is slower than anyone else there! But it's fun so it's my new race strategy.
I'd love to find the time to ride more often. As a young bloke I rode every day, went trailriding or racing every weekend for years. Nowadays, I can go months between rides. It just aint right!
I consulted the figures the other day and I can retire at 60. So, the plan is to do lots more then...
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Grum - we are on the same track buddy. I only get a couple of rides a year so Rusty is an understatement. However I try the holeshot approach and also rely upon the adrenaline rush (red mist) to keep me going for as long as possible. But what also shits me, besides the lack of fitness, is the lack of consistency. My 2 meets this year were our Wandering natural Terrain and our 15th Annviersary meet. I rode so bad at Wandering I actually dropped back to C grade and got my arse handed to me by somebody whom I use to call a friend (thanks Duncan >:() - yet went to the 15th and rode better than I have ever since coming back into bikes - 2 weeks apart.
For sure are gone the days where I could go to the local badminton (???) grand final, go to the after GF party until 0430 and then decide it was a good idea to go and race a 4 hour Pony express on my own - at least that is how the fading memory remebers it ;D
But - I still love it - I just wish work didn't get in the way so I could build up some fitness, get some consistency and enjoy my 3 "quick" laps!!!
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I've decided to have a decent 'crack' next year and that means starting now.....
With my wife's consent (ya gotta love the girl) I'm allocating every Wed to do some riding training. Not doing endless laps of a track flat-out but practising technique. I do this on my modern YZ 250 which I'm trying to race or ride every weekend that I'm not on the old girl.
I got a heap of Gary Semics DVD's and his training manual. It just blows me away how much the guy can help and just how many bad things I've been doing when I've been riding over the years.... That's the whole idea of the training days. Practising these things until they become natural.
I do some basic dumb-bell exercises for the arm pump (from the DVD's) and that helps heaps.
I'm doing it all as a bit of a mid-life crisis experiment and I find it all very interesting. Just things like use of controls (not just "turn that thing as hard as you can an' go!"), body pivot points, stuff to do on race day and lots of stuff I would have thought was crap until now.
I did a tri-club day at Barrabool on the weekend and whilst I enjoyed running with the younger guys I did a lot of crashing which was a bit demoralising. I evaluated the day, worked out what the problem is (with the bike, not me for a change) and am looking forward to my next modern meet again.
It's all very interesting and I'm enjoying it! ;)
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On the South East side of Melbourne where i am located the nearest public track (Wells Rd Public Track Aside) is Parwin which is 90 minutes away, a total of three hours of traveling to just to get there and back. That means a commitment of a full day just to practice.
We used to ride at various mates places but thay have been scared into a position that they have stopped riding on the property altogether, either by fear of litigation in the case of someone being injured or the local council by laws that barely allow a ride on lawn mower to be used.
I'd ride more, if i could ride somewhere closer to home that diddn't take a full days commitment.
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You can't get more rusty than 28 years between races but I had my first race 5 weeks ago.
As far as training goes, unfortunately I still work on the tools and I walk the dog every day, thats about it.
I've got another ride coming up in 4 weeks and I'm already on the search for more horsepower.