Phil Nicoletti is here to answer your questions! You just have to send him questions. This week they cover three very important topics: Christmas budget, dirt bikes with headlights, and practicing versus racing.
Got something else to ask? Email Phil phil@racerxonline.com and he will give you his best answer.
Dear Phil,
Christmas is coming. What’s the over/under on spending upwards of $10 for your entire shopping run this year? Will you keep it in the single digits or not?
Chase
Chase,
Yeah, Christmas is here. I don’t know what happened to the spirit of Christmas though! Seems like the whole point of it now is who gets the biggest, baddest, and most expensive gift. It’s like the spirit of Christmas has now turned into a materialistic Christmas. It’s just crazy to me. Not even getting gift for kids, but getting crazy gifts for wives and girlfriends. Maybe I’m the f@&$ing Grinch, I don’t know. [Editor’s note: you are, Phil] But I’d rather enjoy time with friends and family, rather than hear about who got who an extravagant gift. Now, having said all that, I did spend some money on gifts. Definitely more than $10, lol! Yeah, I wish it was $0 dollars, but I don’t feel like living in the doghouse. I guess you can’t put a price on everything.
Phil,
What are your thoughts on dirt bikes with headlights on them? Dual sport and enduro bikes? I know you hate hand guards. Is a headlight even worse? Have you ever even ridden a bike with a headlight?
Mike
Mikey,
I think dual sports are badass. I have never done them personally but would love to. The rides I see some of these guys do are amazing. Back country mountain roads and camping in the middle of nowhere. Would be amazing to do it up in Canada, from Calgary over to Alaska. I heard that is absolutely insane. The price of a dual sport bike I do not like though!
Phil!
In a recent podcast I heard Jason Thomas saying how top supercross riders actually don’t crash much during the off-season, and it’s really racing, with other guys crammed on the track, and Tuff Blox all around, that ups the risk factor. I think as fans we figure a set of whoops or some gnarly rhythms can get anyone at any time. We’ve all seen that horrible video of you rag dolling through a rhythm section back in the day! What do you think of this? Are endless practice track laps just as dangerous or is racing a whole ‘nother level?
Crash Master
Crash,
It’s not a matter of if we crash, it’s when. Can happen in practice and at a race at any time. There is such a high risk for both circumstances. I feel like practice crashes either happen from a bike issue, or the rider falling asleep at the switch. Meaning the rider has done so many laps at a specific track, that they get lazy, lose focus and end up going down. Personally, 95 percent of all my injuries have all came from practice. So take that for what it is. I spend more time practicing than racing, as do most of us. You’re riding several days a week and only racing on Saturday. So my personal opinion is that practice takes down more guys than racing. There are A LOT more laps around a practice track.
