Ask Ping!

PING,

Can we please stop calling the Euros "World Champions"? I catch myself stifling a groan and a grin every time I hear this title used in any sport.
Our pro baseball players get their butts kicked in the World Baseball Classic, and yet the Americans still call themselves “World Series Champions.” Villopoto waxes everybody in the Des Nations and he isn't the World Motocross Champion for a day? The only person who can claim to be the best in the world at the simplest form of competition is Usain Bolt, and we never hear him introduced as "World Champion". I guess it really doesn't matter anyway: everybody in the world knows that if you want to be one of the best motocross racers on the planet, then you have to be crowned as an AMA champion in one of three classes. Do you see a Euro claiming either the 250, 450, or women's outdoor titles in 2009, and if not, then can we please stop referring to them as "World Champions"?

Jim Dandy

Dear Jim,

That’s a promoter ploy to make a series sound more important than it really is. Generally speaking, when they throw that term around it usually means that the series is much less important than another and they are trying to sell the name. Remember when Heath Voss was the Supercross World Champion a few years back? I’m not picking on Heath here, he’s a great guy and a great rider, but we would all agree that Ricky Carmichael was the global supercross champ that year if there was one. You can pick any sport you want that crowns a world champion and pretty much pick it apart that way. Except pro wrestling… that stuff is the real deal. Those are athletes, man. To inject that much juice and keep your testicles from retreating inside your bonch is real talent.

PING

yo ping-

I’m sure you get asked this all the time, but are you that grendel guy from the motoboards? And if you aren’t, why do people always say you are?

Keep on rockin in the free world,

Tyler

Tyler,

I’ve never heard that before and I don’t have the slightest idea who Grendel is. Here is something you can take to the bank: I do not post on message boards. I think they are a monumental waste of time and if I had a spare minute left at the end of the day I’d spend it riding, not writing about other people that do. That’s just me. I’m sure there are some hard-core fans out there that really just want to talk about the sport they love with other enthusiasts. That sounds great in theory. The problem is that a handful of ignorant assfaces inevitably sound off about something they know nothing about and ruin it for everyone. Rather than skyrocket my blood pressure trying to set things straight in a virtual world I choose to just ignore it. So if you ever see anyone posting as me or think that someone who is posting might be me, you can bet the farm that it is not. I’ll make the occasional comment at the bottom of this column if I need to and that is the only contribution I make to the motocross cyber world. TTYL.

PING

Ping

I was hoping you could help solve a little argument between a buddy and I.  With all the cycling, and psychical training that top level motocross racers do today how do you think they would do in a local road cycle race in the expert/pro class?  I remember hearing a DMXS show that Nick Wey was on and telling a story about Nick and a couple buddies holding their own in some sort of time trail.  Anyways, could you enlighten me on how much the top racers are cycling a week (road or MTB) during the season and off-season.  Maybe this would be a better question for the virtual trainer, but I typically enjoy your responses more.

Thanks, Trevor

Dear Trevor,

Cycling is the hot training tool right now. A large majority of the riders use road bikes as their sole, or at least their prominent, training tool. Riders have been cycling for years so it isn’t something totally new. But in the last ten years there has been a major influx of trainers from the cycling industry and the one tool that they know is a bicycle. Aldon Baker, Randy Lawrence, Darren Stockton and several others all have bicycle racing backgrounds. Personally, I think that it is a great training tool for recovery exercises and some base training but to use it exclusively leaves a lot of things on the table. Some riders spend a crazy amount of time on their bikes and cover well over 100 miles per week. Those guys could hang in pretty good in any local crit race or relatively short event. Most guys don’t ride more than a couple hours at a time because it is counterproductive to the sport they are trying to excel in. So, in a longer event they would probably bonk pretty hard. You would think that these guys would spend more time on mountain bikes but most of them prefer to stay on the road, mostly because they can take off right from their houses. The main reason I ride on the road is because I look fantastic in a pair of tight, rubber shorts. Potatoes and carrots, anyone?

PING