Ask Ping!
Friday, June 15, 2012 | 9:35 AM
ODI dates back to the 1980’s as the leader in grip manufacturing. Focusing primarily on the bmx and mountain bike industries through the 90’s and early 2000’s, ODI re-entered the motocross scene when they developed the patented lock-on grip system that eliminates wire and glue. Continuing to advance the way riders hold on to their bikes, ODI has worked closely with the teams they support such as Troy Lee Designs to create the product that is now being used by some of the top teams in the industry.
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PrintHey there, Ping!
My buddies and I were shooting the breeze, reminiscing about the good old days and how rough the tracks were back in the day. Now back in the day for me is eighties and early nineties when two strokes ruled the roost. Do you think that the tracks rip up differently when two strokes rode them versus four strokes? I have even noticed it at the local races. Please bestow your knowledge spanning decades, oh master of the moto.
I keep telling the kids at Southwick they don’t know what rough is!
John Derocher
Berkley, MA
How much rougher was Southwick for Karsmakers and Hannah?
There are two right answers here, John. First, older generations always remember the past in a candy-coated haze that makes it seem better than it was. Most guys with a few gray hairs will tell you the fish they caught was always bigger than it was, their ex-girlfriend was hotter than she really was and they were much better riders than they really were. In reality, the fish you caught was a guppy, your lady was a complete cockroach and you couldn’t get out of your own way on a dirt bike. Now, I’m not saying you dated ugly women, John, but the memories you have of Southwick might be skewed with beers or the fog of many, many birthdays. So, there’s that.
On the other hand, I think there is something different about the way tracks form up compared to a decade ago when two-strokes were all we had. I don’t think that ruts and braking bumps form up nearly as big as they used to. I would guess it has something to do with the engine brake and the smoother power application of the four-stroke that keeps the ruts and bumps from building up but I’m just guessing.
I remember dropping into the Frog Pond at Southwick on a 125 and having to jump the bumps because they were so big. Now, maybe it really is smoother out there at MX338 these days. Or maybe I’ve just had too many birthdays?
PING
Dear Ping,
During the post race interviews with riders, the riders have a way of totally avoiding or deflecting any questions from the interviewer regarding the race. Their replies are a laundry list of sponsor plugs, which is great, but drives me absolutely nuts. I'm thinking, they are already have or are wearing their sponsors on their gear....why don't they just have a small billboard in the frame with their sponsors on it? Then, they would have time to actually answer the questions. Ex. What did you think of the pass so and so put on you on the last lap? Answer. It was a good race and I just want to thank Thor, Parts Unlimited, Pro.........blah, blah, blah. Don't get me wrong, I am all about plugging the sponsors, but answer the damn questions! Nuts, like they are friggan robots! Ping, are u with me?
Timbo
That's right. The Balls.
We’ve beat this subject up like I was Chris Brown and podium speeches were Rihanna. Like Ike and Tina. Marshall Mathers and Kim. I cut these guys slack when they first jump off their bikes and they get a camera shoved in their face. After all, they are full of adrenaline and not thinking clearly. But you are absolutely right about the way they fail to answer the questions. Just once I’d like a pit reporter to stop them, mid-monologue, and say, “Yeah, we know who your sponsors are… can you please just answer the question that I asked you?” That would be, as Ron Burgundy puts it, the balls. But it will probably never happen so lets just realize that most of these kids won’t master the art of the interview before their fifteen minutes are up. Just enjoy the racing and be familiar with where the mute button is on your remote control, I guess.
PING
Hey Ping,
I love reading your response to these questions during lunch at work. The guys hear me bust out laughing for no apparent reason. Anyway please shed some light on why there is such a big gap between the top 5 and the rest of the field. I just find it hard to believe that there are only five guys in the world that are on the same level. Is it the bikes, is there some special training that only the top guys know about, or is it that only 5 guys want it that bad. Please keep me laughing and keep up the good work. And no, I don’t want it that bad. The last place guy out there would make me look like Pee-wee-Herman on a bicycle.
THANKS MADMOTO48
That's a confident hot dog. He could be a podium threat.
I don’t think it has anything to do with not wanting it. Maybe some of it could be attributed to not wanting to work for it, but all the guys who are in the mix want to be at or near the front. Equipment matters, but that isn’t the difference. Brett Metcalfe is on a great bike but he might never win a supercross race. Why? It isn’t because he doesn’t work hard, because he certainly does. I don’t really know the answer. I never made it to that level but I know that the power you have upstairs is unimaginable. I tell this story a lot about winning my first supercross race. It was near the end of the season and I had done somewhere around a million laps around the Kawasaki test track as a member of the Pro Circuit/ Kawasaki team. My lap times hovered around the same number all year long, within a second of my best time there depending on track conditions. After I won the San Jose supercross in 1995 I went to the test track to prepare for the season finale in Las Vegas and for no reason whatsoever I was almost two seconds faster per lap than I had ever been. The track was no different and I hadn’t made a breakthrough in my riding technique since the week before. The only difference was that I won a race over the weekend. Confidence is everything in sports and our little sport is no different. So, to answer your question, I think the top five guys all believe they should be winning. The rest of the guys are hoping to be on the podium at some point and that shift in mindset makes all the difference.
PING
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Last week I agreed with both Jason, Redux and Matthes,Observastions, now I agree with Ping...A big dose of C&C can make all the differance in rider..Comfort on the motorcyle and Confidence in your self. Wow, I guess great minds do think alike...lol
Pingmaster: Never see much about mental training(sic), yet it has to be the most important component to success in this sport. I would think the top riders have (or had) someone around that kept or got them motivated. Perhaps not a riding coach, but someone that keeps them confident mentally. We hear about having the right attitude, but not about getting it. Hear about the machines and all the things that are done to make them faster, but very little about the rider other than "get more aggressive." I would like to see a bit about what goes through a rider's brain (or should at least) in practice versus race situations. Why little things like lever placement (or any similar thing) that is to the riders liking gives a person one less thing to distract them from the focus of going fast.
Always have thought that the mental aspect of racing is what puts you in the top tier of the sport, as opposed to being just another "fast person." There are no slugs at this level (nationals and SX), but there are differences. I was always struck by the mental attitude of winners (local racers and those who went on to the top level) as opposed to those who were easily fast enough to win, but did not... Not about having that winning attitude, but GETTING that attitude.
HandlebarDragger, True. We rode the concrete tracks (Carlsbad, Saddleback, Escape country) here in So.Cal. for weeks at a time with no prep. Still had tons of fun though...
No amateur day held on the national tracks the day before a national takes place may help with the rough terrain of yesteryear...
The track is usually cut, for amateurs from what I remember but the main sections are still used. Think about it, Unidilla was the first track to to build a totally separate facility for amateurs. Now the only time of the year amateurs/pros can ride it other than the national is track day the following day, GNCC where they only use portions of the track or a special event held once or twice a year in the off season no where near the summer national season.
I'm not sure how other tracks run it but I'm sure if it's not like Dilla it's something else. Look now the nationals are held on Saturday as opposed Sundays. Travel purposes I get that. There is still that other side of me that believes that it has something to do with other rides that are not pro's tearing up the track the day before.
Yup here I is!, Im just gonna coment on the first and last question. I middle one has been asked a million and 1 times now. So first of all I gotta tell you old fart I still have 27 teeth left that includes the 2 1/2 teeth that are left. I think because my right side of my face is stil numb from a massive endo in 75 whare I busted up the right side of may face the teeth are bad Anyhoooo I got way of subject there mabe the gas is stil working????????
To add to previous post, Many pro's (Ryno in 96 was riding amateur day every one I went to that year) used amateur day to make the decision to which bike they would ride the following day for the national and or get some extra testing in for ideal set up. Pro's and Con's, Pro's and Con's
I wonder how roczens lap times changed this week at the practice track? I remember hearing kdub complaining about Millville because they had amauter day before the national and there was something he didn't like about the track, not sure why? They go out with the dozer after and make it perfect again.
Ok on the first question, Are the tracks rougher? I cannot vouch for the track of now with the 4 bangers because I retired in 96 or 97? But then what do I know I only raced for 27 years. So I rode a couple of differewnt tracks. In the early 70's they just laid out the tracks nneve had a water truck much so the tracks usually got pretty choppy with that whoppinf 4 inches of travel and some of thos holes got deep! Then we started building our so called long travel bikes WOW we got faster in one week bumps what bumbs espesially if you were the first to do it! Then the big drawback at the 15 minute mark of the moto the rear shocks turned into pogosticks! Well then we got better shocks and the tracks then got rougher. I think the tracks were the most difficult in the mid 80s till the early 90s then the great breakthroughs in suspension came about.
Then the ting about a 4 stroke is there are only 1/2 as many power pulses to dig the trak out so there fore the tracks had less bumps but maybe biger ones from the delay of power thrust. Also maybe some of the tracks just got wore out as for instance Lake Whitney seemed to be less rough unless it was a big race and the old 2nd turn sweeper did not get as whooped out anymore.
Anyhoooooo What do I know?
The last question is pretty easy to explain. At the top level it is more mental most of the bike can only go so fast then it gets down to figuring out to figure lines out and keep from losing your momentum or speed. Then there is the story about Joe Motocross AKA Snoopy when he won and it was because he got new leathers! that works also. WE have saw a lot of people when on thier firs facotory ride or fist national go and make a big spash. then they come down to earth and gotta figure out what the heck did they do that day it was easy then?
Then there was this day in 73 when Gilbert Gillian won the b class and we all asked what he did to get so good? he said "I put on my most scratched up goggles so I could not see the bumps and stuff, so I did not get scared and slow down" Yes that was his real name and a true story. no he never won the b class again cause we bought him some new goggle lenses.
I figured the 4 strokes would make for rougher tracks.
First, they make more torque which would equate to them digging into the track more. Second, the increased weight of the bike would help them not only dig, but displace more dirt too.
Since the bikes are faster and heavier, the riders would have to be harder on the brakes, thus the braking bumps would be more prevalent. As the riders leave the turns the acceleration chop develops into an irregular whoop section because, again, the bikes faster and heavier. The increased weight and speed of the motorcycle would also play a role in the development of ruts, as the riders spin laps hitting the same line the power of the engine can cut deeper and the weight would encourage the trench to develop. Since the suspension is so much better than yesteryear, riders can continue to pound the track harder despite the rough condition, only tearing it up further.
Here's what's different today- suspension. It is so much better it is amazing and it makes the tracks easier. Look at how you can float through bumps that would have put you on your head 20 years ago. For that matter coming up short on a big double or triple, you could break an ankle on this 20 years ago (ask Jeff Ward), today you can ride it out.
Georgia Lindsay is the only track side reporter that I've seen in recent years that can conduct an interview without adding "...what does it mean to you..." to every question. These announcers tee up the riders with the same questions time after time. The rare occasion they ask something unique, the rider is mid-routine. As we all know, you can't triple stamp a double stamp, Lloyd.
That being said, the interviews that guys like Weege, Fro, Donn Maeda, ah hell- even Matthes do are great because they actually have a conversation. Weird, I know.
Could someone please tell me where I submit my question to Ping? Thank You!
When you consider the track prep, the motors and suspensions todays racers have it made compared to 70's or 80's. Races never got cancelled or shortened in the 60's or 70's not even in a blizzard. Modern bikes make riding easy and hard to crash on just look at the saves you see now. They were men in those days, Roger.
The kids these days have it so easy. Back in the day, real men were scrubbing quad sections on steam-powered motorized cycles with wooden wheels.
Just sayin'.
In relation to the interviewing thing, at least with the answers given, one thing I have noticed is that TV interviewers in the US, (with no disrespect), have this incredibly annoying thing of asking two questions within one. In other words, they'll ask the main question like, "..when he passed you, what was going through your mind?, and second, did you feel like your bike was up to the task of getting back past him?." They then give all of 3 seconds to answer everything, and what happens is, the riders want to give cred to their sponsors, which is fair enough, before the interview is over. Answer to this is; ask one question, and recieve one answer, and then a second question for a second answer, and then go gangbusters on your sponsors. BTW love the column Ping.
I wonder if anyone has done any study to compare injury / safety between a sand track like Southwick and a more traditional style track.
Love readin your stuff every week Ping. most of the time.!! I would think the tracks have to shape up differently w/ a 4 banger. I havent seen any 4 ft deep breaking bumps in a long time, Ya never had to worry about scrubbing the ol Hodaka back in the day either.
@ welker it was a pr of Heckle boots., and yes i did win again :)
Keith Bowen was the guy to beat in the b class in my day, dont think ya beat him either....lol
Matter a fact michigan hasnt put out the 3rd most pro's for nothing,,,,,pack a lunch if ya race dist 14.