Below is a video of an epic battle between Chad Reed and Kevin Windham.  You can use it as a visual aid and it is a great race to watch as well.  A great example of a block pass is at 6:55.

Before you even get to the corner, you want to set up in the section prior to it.  You want to set it up so you can be on the inside of the other rider.  You can see Chad Reed is right behind and on the inside of Windham.  If you notice, Reed sets up for the corner the same time as Kevin which ensures that he can cut inside while Windham goes wide.

When the two are in the corner, they are even and Reed has complete control of where Windham goes.  One thing Reed could have done is drift out wide, but he kept to the inside which allowed Kevin to keep that 450’s momentum up.  That allowed Windham to make a pretty easy pass on the next straight.

As I said earlier, this requires a lot of control over the bike.  In the section before the corner, you want to make sure that you are squeezing the bike with your lower body and your elbows are up.  When your elbows are up in the corner, there is less of a chance of your handle bars coming together.  This is somewhat of a tricky technique, so take it slow and when you feel comfortable with it, try in a race situation.

Like I said, at the amateur level, racing is a little frantic.  If you are behind someone, you can rev the hell out of your engine, scream in corners or anything that breaks their concentration.  When they aren’t concentrating on the track ahead of them, they are going to make mistakes.  Now, this really isn’t something you want to do every race, just as a last resort.  Sometimes, just pressuring the rider in front of you will force a mistake on their part.  Again, this is more for the amateur level because professionals are just that, pros.  They are used to the mind games.

As far as line selection, you never want to follow the person in front of you.  How do you expect to get around someone if you are doing the exact same thing they are?  If they go wide, try to slip in on the inside and vise versa.  On race day, the main line around the track may not be the best place to make passes because it gets beat up.  Searching for smoother lines at the end of the day will also help you conserve energy and also keep your speed up to make a pass.

Being that the amateur races are generally shorter in duration, it is better to make passes at the beginning of the race when everyone is still close to each other.  If you are going to make a pass, you need to commit to it.  The longer you stay behind someone and eating dirt, the less time you have to move up in position.  So if you are going try to get around someone, do it quick and do it cleanly.  There’s no sense in taking out the both of you.

Tomorrow, I will go through block passing, so stay tuned!

Because you don’t have anything to help you lean, your approach needs to be a little different.  A good idea is to take a wider approach than you normally would.  If you have ever watched road racing, their lines through corners are usually wide arcs.  When you are still upright before the turn, this is the point where your braking should be done; your weight is vertical and your tires have the most available traction.  You want to stand through the braking bumps so you ensure that your entrance into the corner is nice and smooth.

So, when you get your braking done and sit down, you want to sit right up on the gas cap.  That way, you put as much weight on the front wheel as possible for optimal traction. The way in which you lean the bike over is crucial here, as well.  The best way is to sit on the outside edge of the seat.  This keeps your weight centered and straight down, rather than out and away.

Like always, keep weight on the outside foot peg and the outside elbow up put additional weight on the front wheel.  As I mentioned earlier, a steady throttle hand is the biggest part.  Slipping the clutch and getting the rear wheel rotating too quickly will just spin you out.  So, you want a steady roll on of the throttle to make sure the rear has plenty of traction

Drifting out too wide can leave the door open for a pass.  Keeping your elbow up and weight on the outside peg gives you the traction to power through the turn and avoid drifting out.  Unlike riding through a wide arc, squaring up flat turns robs momentum and drive.  It is time consuming and a waste of energy.  Once you find that balance between leaning and twisting the throttle, these corners become excellent passing opportunities.

One quote, that is truly an oxymoron, can be applied to these circumstances says to go slow to go fast.  That couldn’t be any truer.  Bombing into corners and sliding in does not work.  If you do that in every corner, you need to look through this site on cornering techniques immediately.  When lines get beat down and harden up, traction is scarce.  Therefore, controlled braking between both the front and rear brakes is essential to ensure a smooth entrance to any corner.  Chattering your rear brake helps conserve your forward drive and doesn’t lock it up.  In both slick and muddy conditions, you want your corners to smooth arcs with steady throttle application.  And if you are still having trouble, you can drag your rear brake when exiting corners.  This will help weigh down the rear and force the wheel into the ground.

Getting on the gas is just as important as the braking.  Avoid stabbing the clutch when you are leaned over or anything like that.  The excessive wheel spin will spin you out and potentially send you to the dirt.  So, a steady right hand in any situation will keep you upright.  Another aspect that plays a role in smooth drive is your gearing.  Not so much sprocket rations but the gear you are actually in makes a difference in traction.  If you are too high a gear, the rear does not hook up as well.  So, making sure you in a higher gear will help you get a solid, chug out of your bike will help avoid any wheel spin issues.

One important thing is stay loose.  Riding tight only leads to arm pump and mistakes.  When you are loosened up, you will be able to react and flow through everything rather than fight the track.  Working against the course in the conditions like High Point will not work.  And most important, keep it fun!

One of the most common reasons for head shake is fatigue.  When you are fatigued, your form goes out the window and it gets worse as the moto progresses.  Your elbows drop and you cannot get enough leverage to keep the bars straight.  As you get more and more head shake, you begin to grip harder with your hands and the forearms pump up to bricks.  Sound about right?  When your upper body feels like rubber, the need to grip with your legs becomes even greater.  Again, the quadriceps and hamstrings are a much larger muscle group that can support greater loads of stress for longer periods of times.  Start the moto out with a conscience effort of using your legs more than your arms and you will be better off.

Another problem is RPM range.  The relationship between the motor and suspension is pretty crazy when you really think about it.  When you hear pros run through whoops and moguls, they are running a higher gear.  The RPMs are lower and take some of the load off of the forks and shock.  They travel smoother and won’t bind, which gives you that bouncing effect through the rough stuff.  If you shift down AFTER the braking bumps, you allow your suspension to ride with you, instead of against you.  The forks will travel through the entire stroke and do their job; soak up the terrain.  When you ride in too low of a gear, the fork don’t travel all the way through the stroke and rebound too fast.

Weight distribution is also important.  Maintaining your attack position through the rough chop will help keep your elbows up and in good form.  This attack position will place your weight evenly over the bike, allowing you to make changes if need be.  As I have said before, riding on the balls of your feet will give you some extra “suspension” and forces you to grip the bike with your legs.

By throwing good form and the right gear together, head shake will be a thing of the past.  Of course, making sure your sag is set on the shock and your clickers are dialed is important, but the rider can make a big difference.  As always, remember the basics and keep it fun.

Here’s the info.

I’ll have another post up tomorrow, so be sure to check back.

One thing that I notice between champions and contenders are that the champs never look back.  They are not concerned about what is behind them.  They are focused on what is ahead of them and keep their vision on the next obstacle.  Even when practicing, looking back throws me off rhythm.  You cannot expect to race forward if you’re always thinking about the people behind you.  Like I said last week, you want to race the track and block out the competitors.  Not to say that Mike Alessi is a bad rider, but when I watch him race, I can tell he looks behind him more than most riders.  I’m not saying this is the reason why he hasn’t won a championship, but RV2 and RD5 don’t really look back….

When you have a nice lead on 2^nd place, guarding the inside is not the best idea.  Sure, you are closing the door, but it is pointless when you have the option of taking your normal line.  However, once things get tighter, a lot of times, the inside line is usually a good passing option.  Keeping the other rider on the outside of you allows you to choose between the inside or outside.  This gives you the option to sweep out and block them from passing you.

Obviously, practicing this can be somewhat tough.  Each race situation is different and anything can happen.  However, just be aware of where the rider is behind you and keep your line.  Riding defensively can sometimes slow you down, so just keep concentrating and racing ahead.

No matter what region you are from or what class you race, there is always going to be one person that everyone is worried about.  I can remember when I was at an Area Qualifier a few years back and there was one guy I was always worried about.  He was consistently up front and I could never catch him.  So, the whole time I was on the line, I was thinking about how fast he was.  I doubted myself and my abilities before my bike was even started.  This negative thinking played a big part and screwed up my race.

One of my biggest problems was that I would always put the “faster” person on a pedestal.  I would compare myself to them and always seem to trick myself into thinking they were so much better than me.  These kids who you see on videos and in magazines are just like you.  They are human and they can be beaten.  However, instead of trying to race them, race the track.

That is how every great rider trains and keeps their speed up.  When you stop worrying about who is on the gate with you and you ride the track, it is easier for you to get in the “zone” and settle into a fast race pace.  You almost need to look at the other riders as moving obstacles.  They are just in the way and you just need to get around them.  That’s it.  Attacking the track will help you keep your lap times down and you will always be charging when others are cruising.

If you qualified for a Regional race, congrats.  Just remember that everyone on the gate has two arms and two legs like you do.  Race the track and don’t worry about the other riders.

For the most part, a rough track doesn’t bother me.  In fact, it makes riding better because it challenges you at a higher level.  Sure, that sounds pretty corny, but it is true.  As you ride more and more on rough tracks, you start to get into a flow that just keeps you going.  However, the only downside, for me anyway, is rough jump faces.  Give me fast rollers, destroyed turns and braking bumps, but chewed up jumps make my skin crawl.  However, just like the rest of the track, if you keep the fundamentals in mind, you should be fine.

First of all, body position is pretty important.  Normally, I like to keep a pretty neutral position over the seat.  The attack position is a sure way to get over an obstacle cleanly and jump faces are no different.  As the track gets rougher and rougher, you need to put more emphasis on squeezing the bike with your legs.  You are probably pretty sick of hearing that, but it helps a ton.  If you hit something that throws your tire out, you will be in more control of the bike’s rear end.

Another aspect is power.  When the track is smooth, you can get away with letting off on the face of a jump.  But, when that same face gets chewed up, letting off the gas is bad.  When there is no drive from the rear wheel, the bike has a tendency (especially four strokes) to throw all the weight forward.  If you hit a kicker or a rock, you could be on the ground before you know what happened.  Keeping the bike in the right gear helps tremendously as well.  I always like to hit rough faces with a smooth, hearty dose of throttle.  Cracking the gas open just spins the rear wheel and chews up the face even more.  However, when you put the power to the ground effectively and tract through everything, you prevent the rear wheel from any kind of hopping or something going wrong.

Trusting your ability and remembering the fundamentals are the best ways to get through anything.  As with most rough tracks, hitting the sides or any line other than the main helps keep you away from the hole, bumps and kickers.  Keeping the power to the ground is important takes a little bit to get used to, especially in wet conditions.  But like I said, keep yourself in the attack position and squeezing the bike will keep you on two wheels and ahead of everyone else.

Everyone knows what they are getting into when they ride a dirtbike, that’s why we ride. It seems like racing in general has taken on a new level and things are getting serious; even in the amateur ranks, kids are getting bikes that rival professional race teams.  The speed is getting ridiculous and the bikes and equipment get better and better each passing year.  If you throw a pipe on a 450, odds are, you will be pushing the low 50’s in horsepower.

That is just crazy.  Most people can’t even handle the stock power, let alone a modified beast.  However, with the technology advancements in mechanics, the advancements in protection have stepped up as well.  The Leatt Brace has saved thousands of riders from paralysis and chest protectors are not just a piece of plastic anymore.  Now I know that some of the protection costs a pretty penny, but having that security is well worth the cost.

I have crashed, washed out and swapped out too many times to count, but I was able to walk away from each one (knock on wood) because I had a quality helmet, neck protection, and a chest protector.  At first I felt like I couldn’t even move with everything on, but now I feel naked without everything.  Leatt, EVS and other companies are coming out with some great stuff and I urge everyone to look into their products.

I don’t know Jesse nor I have met him, but I have him in my thoughts and hoping for the best.  Please, try and save up, beg your parents or do whatever you have to (legally) to protect yourself so you can keep doing what you love…riding.