Greetings and Happy Birthday to Canada. Yes, today Canada is 157 years old and right across the country we’ll be celebrating it with parties and fireworks. Hopefully, everyone is having a great long weekend and Happy Canada Day to everyone!
So, while it’s a holiday for most Canadians today, for our pro riders the final countdown to the toughest national of the year has officially begun. Obviously, the preparation is different for each rider, but the one common denominator is that they all need to be ready to suffer, both physically and mentally. Because, at some point during the day on Sunday (most likely around the 20 minute mark of moto two) every rider on the track, regardless of their fitness, is going to be hating life. I’m not sure if you watched the Southwick National on television this past weekend, but it definitely gave everyone a good perspective of what the riders go through when the track is very challenging. As we saw, in moto one the riders are reluctant to battle in the late stages as their mindset is all about trying to save energy for moto two. To be honest, this is what racing the Canadian Nationals was like in the 1990s when all of the riders had to race both classes, and four long motos each weekend. The first three motos were all about trying to save some energy for the final race of the day. Yes, you pushed at certain times during the opening three motos, depending of what position you were in. However, your primary goal was trying to conserve at least a little energy for the second half of moto four. Anyway, back to Southwick. This is why the second motos were so entertaining as the riders knew their day was done as soon as the checkered flag came out. In the 250 class, Shimoda, Deegan, and Vialle all emptied the tank in the final laps as they battled for the lead. In the 450 class, Chase Sexton struggled in the early part of the second moto, but then with ten minutes to go, he turned up the heat and rocketed to the lead. It was very entertaining to watch, and I suspect we’ll see the same type of racing this Sunday at Gopher Dunes.
If you watched the Tour de France (which is going on as we speak), we see this type mental and physical struggle, and race strategy in almost every stage of the race. Riders will make a push, and then back off if it doesn’t work. At that point, they regroup, get their breathing and heart rate back under control, and then make another push to the front. Then, with the finish line in sight they make one last mad dash and try to hold that sprint pace until the finish line. If they try and sprint too soon, their legs will give out and they won’t be able to hold that feverish pace to the checkered flag. This is exactly what we saw from Sexton in moto two on Saturday. He made a push early to try and take the lead, but at the point the Lawrence Brother’s had enough left in the tank to fend him off. Sexton then fell back and appeared to be out of it, but then he found his flow, got his second or third wind, and made one last push to win the moto. Hunter, and especially Jett, had nothing left to give, and they had to watch Sexton ride off to a solid moto win. Whether it was Sexton’s fitness, grit, line choice, or all of the above, his second moto win was a thing of beauty and a testament to just what a strong rider he is.
So while there are similarities to what we see in the Tour de France, the one area that is different, and you hear it mentioned all of the time in motocross, is the word Flow. We used to call it rhythm back in my day, but it’s the same thing, and on a track like Southwick, or this coming weekend at Gopher Dunes, you either have it, or you’re a passenger on the struggle bus. And, as I mentioned with Sexton in moto two on Saturday, the right flow can come and go during a moto. You can have it early and then lose it, and then all of sudden it can come back when you least expect it. Unfortunately, you can lose it quickly by missing a line, or getting stuck behind a lapper. As a rider, when you do have the flow or some sort of rhythm, you really need to take advantage of it, or as our parents used to say, make hay when the sun shines.
I spoke to our current Triple Crown Series 450 class points leader Jess Pettis last week, and during our chat about Gopher Dunes, he spoke a lot about flow and how important it is. When you have it, riding a track like Gopher Dunes can seem somewhat effortless as each section flows into the next. You don’t feel like you’re in a rush as you’ve mentally slowed things down. This allows you to stay in the moment and not fall behind the track. We’ve all felt this type of flow before on all types of tracks, not just sand tracks. Sometimes it can last for a few laps, or if you’re lucky, the entire race. This feeling is incredible, and it’s one big reason we love riding. Like playing the 18th hole under par, when you’ve just played the first 17 holes twenty over par, it just keeps us coming back! Over the past few seasons, Pettis has had some good success at Gopher Dunes, and he’s excited to head back there this weekend.
With all of this talk about flow and rhythm, it begs the question, how do you get it during a challenging race on a track like Southwick, or Gopher Dunes? I believe it comes from a few things, some we’re in control of, and some we’re not. First, riding a rough track like Gopher Dunes takes an incredible amount of physical fitness, there is no question about that. However, a rider can have a good day there, even if they’re not the fittest rider on the track. This is because riding a rough sand track is all about line choice and efficiency. Yes, you can pound through the sand and try and muscle your way to success, but rarely does that work for 35 minutes. You have to ride loose, you have to use your legs (remember, our legs are the strongest part of our body), and perhaps most importantly, you have to open your mind up and use your imagination when looking for smoother lines, or how to get through a rough section. Maybe you have to enter the section wide and then cut down on the exit, maybe you have to slow down more than you normally would before the section, so you can use the deep sand rollers as small double jumps? Regardless, the riders who have an open mind to trying some unorthodox lines sometimes are the ones who find success at Gopher Dunes. Sometimes a riders line choice can be determined by their height. If you’re a taller rider, like Matt Goerke, he could use his longer legs to allow the bike to pitch back and forth under him. This would allow him to wheelie (or manual like a BMX rider) through a rough section, keeping the front end very light. But, a shorter rider like Brett Metcalfe, or Josiah Natzke (they ride very similar), like to keep the bike more level, using smaller bumps to hop over the bigger ones. Both techniques work, both are fun to watch, and I’m sure we’ll see both these techniques on display this weekend.
Last week, Jess Pettis also mentioned that at some point during the second motos at Gopher Dunes it really comes down to which riders are willing to suffer the most. So, this brings me to my final point about racing a track like Gopher Dunes and finding that all important flow. As much as it’s easy to get miserable and take a turn to negative town, you have to work hard to remain positive or at the very least, not begin to hate your life. Once an athlete begins to get mad or negative, they end up closing their mind off and on a track like Gopher Dunes, they could miss seeing a good line, or another way of making it through a certain section. As a rider, you have to try and talk to yourself in a positive manner as much as possible. I mean, if you’re not going to talk nice to yourself, no one else is. You should allow yourself at least two mistakes a lap. Meaning, you don’t have to ride perfect laps at Gopher Dunes. So, by allowing yourself two or three mistakes, or even close calls per lap, it will help you remain positive about your riding. For instance, how many times have we witnessed Dylan Wright almost throwing it away at Gopher Dunes, only to come back the following lap and put in his best time of the moto. Dylan has a short memory and he moves on from his mistakes very quickly. Finally, as a rider immersed in a tough second moto at Gopher Dunes, you’re going to get tired and it’s easy to think that you’re the only tired rider on the track. This is simply not true as I can almost guarantee that every rider, including Wright and Pettis, are just as tired as you are. It’s just that race winners and champions do a great job of both masking their fatigue, and then pushing through it.
Oh yes, Sunday is going to be fun to watch, and I’m sure like always, some riders are looking forward to the challenging conditions, while some are already dreading them. One thing is for sure, races like this are the closest we have to old school motocross. Meaning, that at some point during the race, how your bike is set up or how your suspension is, it doesn’t matter. It usually comes down to which rider is able to suffer while having that flow that I just spoke about. Yes, you have to have a certain set-up for sand tracks, I get it. But, you don’t hear riders talk much about how their bike was working after a tough sand moto. It’s more about how they felt, and how they rode the track. Because today’s bikes are so complicated and so adjustable, riders (rightly so), are consumed with proper bike set-up. However, I can almost guarantee that at the 20 minute mark of moto two on Sunday, not one rider on the track will be thinking about how much better their bike might be if they could just pull over and change their suspension a click or two. Just as it was twenty years ago, thirty years ago, or with Sexton this past Saturday, it’s the furthest thing from a riders mind at that point in a moto. As Bill Murray started chanting in the 1979 movie Meatballs, “It just doesn’t matter”!
I hope everyone has a great week and a Happy Canada Day. With Gopher Dunes not only being Round 4 of the Triple Crown Series, it also marks the beginning of the Eastern half of the series. This means that there will be some new faces on the starting line, including riders like Krystian Janik, Luke Fauser, Chris Blackmer, Jeremy McKie, just to name a few. It is also the opening round of the FXR Pre-Mix East Series, as well as the Thor WMX East Series. I know Katrine Ferguson is coming out from Manitoba to race the Eastern rounds, so she will add to an already deep field. It’s going to be a great weekend at Gopher Dunes, and as of right now the weather looks great. Today is also Derek Schuster’s birthday so Happy 40th Birthday to him. I’m sure this week will be a busy one for him as he prepares the track and his GDR Honda Team for this weekend’s big race! Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please email me at chris@mxpmag.com. Finally, thank you to the Walton Raceway crew for battling Mother Nature all weekend to help put on a great AMO Racing event. See you all at Gopher Dunes!
