Posts
1531
Joined
5/28/2016
Location
AU
Edited Date/Time
4/20/2019 4:04pm
Yesterday, my worst bad habit finally bit me in the arse.
Every riding coach I ever had, and friends are always telling me to stop looking straight at the ground right in front of me, most recently it was Cheyne Boyd and Kade Mosig at a school at park 4, they were really on my case about it.
I just can't seem to break the habit..cant muster up the presence of mind when I am riding to force myself to look further foward.
It is especially bad on jumps, every photo I have of me, Im looking straight down at where the front wheel is gonna land, its ridiculous really..
Well rode Saturday on my old 125, the motor is stuffed, way down on power, but Im not riding my 450 for my first ride since December. It didnt have the power to pull up the hill in 6th to clear the step up double clean, so i was just landing on the top and bouncing, didn't even attempt the full throttle top gear jump over the brow of the hill that follows the double...but i started to think I would wind up being road kill in the expert class id I didn't start jumping that thing, the speed difference between jumping and not is massive, so i parked it for the day.
On Sunday I rode my 250f and immediately started jumping that jump, its about 110 feet to the downside and a real flat trajectory take off...full throttle in 5th from the landing of the double before it to the upface of the jump...
If I hadn't been looking down where my front wheel was gonna land after the double, I woulda seen the girl on the enduro bike trairiding over the big jump...nope ,didnt see her and nailed it!
As I got airborne, I spotted her just over the far side of the jump, riding slow and angling from left to right across my line.
Landed about 2 feet behind her and slightly to the right and tried to veer to the right but she was heading that way..
I hit her hard! I somehow just pushed her and her bike straight ahead with my left shoulder then ploughed into the ground face first and with my left shoulder, ploughed the back 40 a couplof meters then flipped over when the chin piece on my helmet really dug in and crashed down on my right hand.
All I have is fracture in my right wrist and not another scratch! My helmet is toast and the left shoulder cup om my roost 3 looks like its gone 3 rounds with an angle grinder!
Amazingly the girl rode it out, never fell and wasnt hurt.
Scariest and highest speed crash I ever had!
I got off so light injury wise, I for sure must have been kissed on the dick by the good luck fairy!
So the moral to this story....look up and live dickhead!
When I get back on the bike, Ive gotta slow down and concentrate on eliminating this habit
Every riding coach I ever had, and friends are always telling me to stop looking straight at the ground right in front of me, most recently it was Cheyne Boyd and Kade Mosig at a school at park 4, they were really on my case about it.
I just can't seem to break the habit..cant muster up the presence of mind when I am riding to force myself to look further foward.
It is especially bad on jumps, every photo I have of me, Im looking straight down at where the front wheel is gonna land, its ridiculous really..
Well rode Saturday on my old 125, the motor is stuffed, way down on power, but Im not riding my 450 for my first ride since December. It didnt have the power to pull up the hill in 6th to clear the step up double clean, so i was just landing on the top and bouncing, didn't even attempt the full throttle top gear jump over the brow of the hill that follows the double...but i started to think I would wind up being road kill in the expert class id I didn't start jumping that thing, the speed difference between jumping and not is massive, so i parked it for the day.
On Sunday I rode my 250f and immediately started jumping that jump, its about 110 feet to the downside and a real flat trajectory take off...full throttle in 5th from the landing of the double before it to the upface of the jump...
If I hadn't been looking down where my front wheel was gonna land after the double, I woulda seen the girl on the enduro bike trairiding over the big jump...nope ,didnt see her and nailed it!
As I got airborne, I spotted her just over the far side of the jump, riding slow and angling from left to right across my line.
Landed about 2 feet behind her and slightly to the right and tried to veer to the right but she was heading that way..
I hit her hard! I somehow just pushed her and her bike straight ahead with my left shoulder then ploughed into the ground face first and with my left shoulder, ploughed the back 40 a couplof meters then flipped over when the chin piece on my helmet really dug in and crashed down on my right hand.
All I have is fracture in my right wrist and not another scratch! My helmet is toast and the left shoulder cup om my roost 3 looks like its gone 3 rounds with an angle grinder!
Amazingly the girl rode it out, never fell and wasnt hurt.
Scariest and highest speed crash I ever had!
I got off so light injury wise, I for sure must have been kissed on the dick by the good luck fairy!
So the moral to this story....look up and live dickhead!
When I get back on the bike, Ive gotta slow down and concentrate on eliminating this habit
Glad you’re alright! Heal up and toss the lid and make sure not to cheap out on it! The most inportant piece of equipment every rider should have.
Seriously though , I dont know why I do it and im never aware im doing it til someone tells me...when im on the bike i just cant seem to think of it
The Shop
Yes it could have been tragic at that speed , I was crapping my dacks that Id killed her...i got straight up and was spinning around with a soundly rung bell , desperately trying to see where she was..she was pulled up in the corner at the bottom of the hill, probably trying to figure out what the fuck just happened!
I find my self looking down more when the track is really wet or choppy, if its nice and groomed I tend to look up and out. 9 times out of 10 these are the days that “flow” better than anyother.
As someone else said, go ride at 75% and just focus far ahead. Go ride trails and tracks you dont ride.
Glad you're not hurt worse
Now I’m concentrating on weighting pegs thru corners , and standing up as much as possible on track.
Pit Row
Im not a crasher, Ive been racing since 1981, and I was once an a grade rider...typically on this track with its usual clientele, im about mid pack pace in the expert class..I dont understand why or how it is that I ride this way..other than making me slower than i could otherwise be, its never been a problem before...
Ive gotta fix this...I have no intention of ever quitting or backing off the pace, quite the opposite in fact.
Been given some good advice in thus thread already...I intend to follow it as soon as the plaster comes off..
Well sitting here with my arm in plaster and nothing better to do.
Someone said nobody jumps a jump tapped in fifth...here you get a very good look at the jump i had the incident on.
Im riding the yz 250f that is running like a bag of shit! Was my first ever ride on that bike and its the bike I crashed on yesterday.
This video is from last year b4 the track was open to the public...you can see us all come over a jump going up the hill then hitting a low trajectory jumgoing over the brow of the hill. That jump is different now, the up ramp is a lot higher but the angle is still flat..the landing area has been built right up so that its more of a big rounded mound..to downside it requires a lot of ground speed...its a very safe jump because if you land short its no big deal, but its scary when you commit to clearing it and theres somebody in front of you not doing that.
In this video, my bad , head down riding style is on full display...I never fully realised just how bad it looks..its not like im not seeing where im going...of course I do or I'd run right off the track, but why the fuck my chin is stuck to my chest protector most of the time...I just dont know and never know that im doing that when im riding...
Cheyne Boyd would kick my arse if he saw me doing this...Maybe at 53 ,im just going senile or something, but I just cant even think about this problem when i ride..
If you are riding on the balls of your feet, and with unlocked hips, I don’t see how it wouldn’t force the head up...
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