What are you good at and why?

[Loosenut]

Have you ever sat down and thought about the skills you use while riding. I do and more than I would like to admit. I do find that it helps me if I analyze where I excel and where I am deficient.

I excel on downhills. The harder the better and we have plenty available here in Northern California. Part of the reason I am good at downhills stems from a ride I did up in the Shasta Trinity forest. I broke the right side foot peg mount early into the ride. Rather than sit the ride out, I clamped a full size set of Vice Grips to the frame and continued the ride, but from the rear of the pack. The Vice grips worked OK, but they presented 2 problems. #1. They stuck out twice as far as the peg. #2. The stopped the brake pedal from moving down, thus no rear brake. They has plenty of steep downhills and I learned how to maximize my braking and moved right back to the front of the pack. The forced non-use of the rear brake taught me to seek out places where my efforts were maximized.

 

[Nick]

I'm good at drinking beer. It takes lots of practice.

 

[Rick]

Yea, I think about it all the time. I know that I am not fast, don't like fast tracks, and would rather race or ride in 2nd through 4 gear than WFO.......still can't figure out why I raced 90% of the cross country series last year....I did it because I needed to work on my speed, flat out speed.

I wish I had more speed!

Last weekend I rode with sierrarider and his riding buddy, and those guys flat out haul the mail! Jon's freind broke the tip off of his brake pedal and was left without a brake lever...no tip, just a lever, that did not slow this guy down one bit! I would not have felt very comfortable at those speeds and terrain without the comfort of my rear brake!

 

[sierrarider]

That was a lot of fun except for that gnarly uphill rocky canyon. That was more like work! That seperated the men from the boys. Luckily we were all up to the task. You certainly held your own Rick. We will get together again and ride again!
As far as what I excel at... riding fast in transport sections and in rocks. I try to look way ahead and some guys don't turn the throttle as much. It makes for easy passing in 2 track if they don't keep crossing back and forth. What bike and setup you have contributes to your strengths. I really struggled with rocks on my KTM 200 because the deflections would knock me off line with such a light front end. I still have a lot of skills that can be honed.

 

[SpeedyManiac]

I never, ever give up. If the bike still works (sort of) and my body still works (sort of), I'll finish come hell or highwater.

 

[2 strokes 4 life]

I will try just about anything. I will go out of my comfort zone if someone eles requests me to.

But something I am really good at would be ridding in mud thats full of ruts and slick. I just love to ride mud because we always have lots of it up here in the North.

Otherthan that I dont think I have anything special because anyone can go wide open fast on old fire roads and what not. Also love whipping through long sand washes with whoops that are deep and a far way apart.

 

[Metalefty]

Had to think about this one for awhile, I seem to have a fairly well rounded set of skills. But if I had to nitpick I guess it would be rock gardens and technical rocks, as long as there isn't a big penalty for screwing up, like a cliff. A lot of times when there are multiple lines through rock sections, I'll take the harder line on purpose just for practice. Most of the time I'm still moving faster than the guys I'm riding with in the same section.
In rock gardens, I think I'm good at loosening up and letting the bike do what it needs to do to get through at a higher speed. That's usually were I pass most riders.

 

[Cruiser]

I'm good at drinking beer. It takes lots of practice.

I'm also good at this,, been off the bike for a year plus so I'm much better at this than the bike right now..

Just getting back on and I'm going to be re-learning it all again.. I still have it in my head so it should come back,,, but I need to change me style of riding.. I ride almost too aggressive and wear myself out early.. I have speed,, but not the control in the head to slow down so I'm not wiped out 1/2-3/4 through a race.. I do need to change that and try to ride smooth,, I ride with one guy who rides like he is out playing and looks like he is barley doing anything,, but he does it fast.. and I clip trees slide and muscle my way though the same spots.. kinda ugly to watch I'm sure..

So yes I think about it,,, and with being off for so long its on my mind a lot...

 

[ibero2]

I´m great at bike falling, some times try to descend and fall as well.

 

[Loosenut]

Look guys, I have a good skill set, or I wouldn't be in the A class, but I hate to talk about it because I don't want to sound like a jerk. I generally let my riding speak for itself.

2 things that have really improved my speed without much more physical effort are cornering speed and line selection. I carry more speed into blind turns than most of my friends. So, I gotta be careful not to run them down if I'm not leading. I also ride as strait as possible. All the zig-zagging through the rocks waste time, but you need your suspension working for you. I find that it's almost as smooth and passing is way easier.

 

[2 strokes 4 life]

Look guys, I have a good skill set, or I wouldn't be in the A class, but I hate to talk about it because I don't want to sound like a jerk. I generally let my riding speak for itself.

2 things that have really improved my speed without much more physical effort are cornering speed and line selection. I carry more speed into blind turns than most of my friends. So, I gotta be careful not to run them down if I'm not leading. I also ride as strait as possible. All the zig-zagging through the rocks waste time, but you need your suspension working for you. I find that it's almost as smooth and passing is way easier.

Good stuff there. Anyone can go fast in a straight line but the corrners is where it is all lost or gained.

I have beeb told that to race A class in the series I am going to do this year is easier than B class due to all the sandbaggers. If it was not for that I would just start B classs.

I am sure A is A thoe and it does make you a good rider.

 

[REVERUP]

I probably would say the ability to finish even the toughest races, and to know when and where to conserve and push.
I'm not in great shape, not young, or overly gifted, but luckily I am tough.

But if your talking just strictly fundamentals I would say my balance is at the top of the list. Followed closely by the ability to ride smooth which conserves energy. Smooth is fast.


My weak points are sit down riding and huge intimidating MX jumps. You all know the ones, where mistakes mean traction. Ya, for some other guy as he uses your broken body for it, Or you end up in the hospital in it.

Roscoe

 

[SpeedyManiac]

Good stuff there. Anyone can go fast in a straight line but the corrners is where it is all lost or gained.

I have beeb told that to race A class in the series I am going to do this year is easier than B class due to all the sandbaggers. If it was not for that I would just start B classs.

I am sure A is A thoe and it does make you a good rider.

I'd recommend you start out in the Junior or Intermediate class at PN races. Definitely Junior if you haven't raced before. Intermediate, Expert and Masters are all really, really fast classes. This is my last year in the expert class - next year I should hopefully be moving up to Pro/AA/Masters up here.

 

[GMP]

I don't quit either, I've puked in my helmet and kept going. Other than that I do better if its nasty, because I live and practice in a nasty place. High speed sand whoops are my weakness, but like most rock guys I have limited practice.

 

[cladoo]

I've been told that I look real smooth when I ride and by being smooth I use less energy. I also believe that you must keep the rubber side down to finish a race, so slow down and finish rather than go faster and crash.

 

[2 strokes 4 life]

I'd recommend you start out in the Junior or Intermediate class at PN races. Definitely Junior if you haven't raced before. Intermediate, Expert and Masters are all really, really fast classes. This is my last year in the expert class - next year I should hopefully be moving up to Pro/AA/Masters up here.

Will do for sure, I can race 250B on the moto track but I guess its a different ball game in the PN series. I am going to do junior over for sure then.

 

[whodat]

good at picking the bike up and exceptional at quick lever changes!

 

[gasser]

I'm good at riding slow and conserving my energy so I can stay awake for the ride home.

 

[cvl05]

skills

I'm good at leading a group into no mans land and getting lost, " now i know that damn trail was there last week" Thank god for maps and gps. I also love the slower and tougher the better, as long as i don't have to carry the bike i'm ok.

 

[T.Low]

great thread.

As a point of reference for you Washington guys, I ride Walker Valley a lot.

Strengths:
When it comes to climbing hills, I'm a hard charger. Guys that have gapped me somewhere along the way, I'll catch them on twisty, rocky, rutted, bermed, hillclimbs. Against gravity, I'm confident and agressive as hell. I'm not sure, but I think its because if I screw up, I can break easily up hill.

And I can wheelie thru gears up hill. Luv getting the sliding power wheelie, but only on slight ascending grade.

Been complimented more than a few times on picking good fast lines. It dawned on me one day that maybe I have a vision for good lines in general as I was a good running back in football, a natural playmaker in basketball and hockey, and I white water kayak a lot, which is dependant on being able to pick (and stay on ) good lines.

Weaknesses:
DOWNHILL. I'm slow cornering downhill. I'm slow and afraid to commit. My bro in law says i need to practice braking until i'm comfortable doing stoppies and that will give me more confidence in my stopping abilites so i will be able to commit to some downhill speed.

Flat corners. Will not commit to lowering the bike or pivoting. Will roost a little at the end of the sorner but thats about the extent of it. Have no confidence to trust the bike and the physics. Tired of sprained knees and ankles (more from other sports, not motorcycling). Yeah, I know, I'm a wuss.

Any advice will be appreciated.