Stimilon Academy Today

[Paul_E_D]

Headed out the door for a school day at Southwick. Stoked!

[typeone]

lucky bastages, i'm chained to a computer pushing pixels

hope the school rips, cant wait for the report

[BMFR6]

lucky bastages, i'm chained to a computer pushing pixels

hope the school rips, cant wait for the report

[deeto]

Have fun!!!

<< JEALOUS!!

[Paul_E_D]

It was AWESOME. So much repitition and feedback. Great muscle memory work. 3 hours of actual ride time at southwick. For an old guy like me that is herculean. It was hot too. THe track was primo with the sand turning up brown in the morning and and pretty much holding up all day. It did get dusty, but underneath it still had a little moisture in it. The whoops were more prevalent than at Stimilon, but there were still decent lines to be had if you had the control to put your bike there. Jump faces all whooped made things interesting. More later...

[typeone]

so jealous! sounds like a great day, looking forward to more details. i cant even imagine how worked i'd be after 3hrs on that track. wooohooo!

Justin, did you make it out???

[Paul_E_D]

Well, now that I can see straight, I'll review the day. They start this thing EARLY for some reason. By 8:30 we were lapping in a 20 minute open practice. The instructors circulated to get an idea of the riding level (low!) We had 24 or so riders from age 5 to mid forties. They decided to keep us together as a single group with 2 instructors and a few assitants.

First exercise was starts. I really didn't care about this as I don't plan to race MX much, but I tried a few new things. Putting you feet down in front of the pegs puts your weight forward, then dropping into the seat weights the rear wheel for spin control.

Next we set up to do laps of a short section of the track (starting at T3). We lapped and lapped practicing body position in a whooped out sweeper, and a whooped out straight. We would stop for feedback and to space the riders out a bit. This was like MSF in a lot of ways and it was GREAT. I improved my body position a lot (elbows up and head over the bars. I also learned that I was revving the bike out too much. Carrying a higher gear helped keep the bike in line.

Next we set up for the one flat, rutted turn at southwick and did a TON of laps of this little section. Again, a lot like MSF where we practiced, then talked, then practiced some more. Again, very effective. I doubled my corner speed there, but still have some work to do on that. Key points were sit down LATE, elbows up, sit on outside corner of seat, look way ahead. Not much throttle application in the rut. Enough to keep the rolling speed up.

Then we took a much needed lunch.

After lunch we had another 15 minute open session, followed by a fun activity where we formed small groups and ran the back hill section trying to steal each others lines and force people into changing their plan for the corner and try alternate lines. This was great fun for me as I learned to do this in roadracing, so it was natural for me. There's a LOT more options for a given corner on dirt which makes things very interesting.

When we were all exhausted, we had an optional session were we could focus on any one sectione we had worked on earlier. Most people went back to the rutted corner, myself included. I was tired, and it was tough to put all the pieces together.

The day finished with an hour of open track time. I could only do 2 lap stints by that time. All the other old guys were done. I was lapping southwick SOLO for a bit, which was a cool feeling. I rode til I puked in my mouth a little then called it a day.

All in all a great day. A little pricey at 2 benjamins, but more riding and feedback than I could handle. Kudos to Dave, Pete and Tyson for running a great day.

[typeone]

man, that sounds like a great day! really would have loved to attend this.

interesting to hear about the 'elbows-up' style they're teaching, did they talk about Ryan Hughes' 'new' body positioning techniques at all? its totally different than what i was taught growing up... riders like Carmichael, Stewart, etc. use the same techniques as Hughes where you keep your elbows more down, toes in, butt out and 'unlocked' hips. Dirt Rider just had a writeup on this style with comparison pics.

guys over on TT were talking about it if you dont get the mag... Ryan Hughes and his open hips theory???

[typeone]

a good quote from that thread that quotes the article and gets at the essence...

"While Gary Bailey preached heads up, arms up in an athletic pose that had the upper body working with the up and down attitude of the motorcycle, Ryan's Ryno Factor is butt out, back flat, hips unlocked and feet/toes in. According to Ryan, the old arms-up style forces you to tuck your hips in, which effectively locks you lower body and hampers your ability to deal with track input with anything but your upper body. 'It hurts cornering, whoops, jumping and, most important, you can't deal with a machine that gets knocked out of its line'."

The idea is that you let the "core" of your body and the legs do the work and control not your arms and chest, which makes sense because they're bigger muscles and supposedly after doing lots and lots of video study, he found that the better riders who lasted longer and didn't wear out were using this style to avoid arm pump, etc. I think it's important to note that Hughes is a freak for training, so I'm guessing where riding this way might wear many of us out, properly training these muscles on a tight regimen aimed at them would counter that.

Another big theme seems to be head over the bars in line with the number plate, which I can say is tough to get used to. This is a common theme in off-road training, but I think is counter to common MX theory of style. I think this forces the "flat back and unlocked hips" to some extent as far as I can tell.

Supposedly Stewart and RC both have this style naturally which Hughes theorizes comes from their riding so much sand tracks and conditions as younger kids which forced them to adapt.

[BMFR6]

I rode til I puked in my mouth a little then called it a day.

Now thats a fun day. Sounds like a ton of info, of course it sounds very similar to a first track day or first race, theres just so much to process it's tough to digest in one sitting.

Overall though, would you say your riding improved?

[Paul_E_D]

No, we didn't get into that. Also, I was corrected for riding straight backed and elbows down. I have to admit that my bike was much more in line and in control when I slumped my shoulders and got my elbows up. It was easier to keep my head over the number plate in the rough stuff too.

[Paul_E_D]

Now thats a fun day. Sounds like a ton of info, of course it sounds very similar to a first track day or first race, theres just so much to process it's tough to digest in one sitting.

Overall though, would you say your riding improved?

It was like a trackday and advanced msf all at once. At one point the instructor did say to me, you're only going to be able to learn so much in a day, which is very true. I feel I improved a lot, and now have some focus for my riding that will help me get to the next level.

[BMFR6]

cool.
nice they just kept you in one section at a time, i'm sure that allows much faster feedback. in my mind i was trying to work out how they were going to work with you guys if you were doing full laps and couldn't see a good approach unless they had a ton of instructors.

[typeone]

No, we didn't get into that. Also, I was corrected for riding straight backed and elbows down. I have to admit that my bike was much more in line and in control when I slumped my shoulders and got my elbows up. It was easier to keep my head over the number plate in the rough stuff too.

yeah, makes sense. the traditional MX style is definitely taught most, didnt know if the instructors were young and brought in some of this 'newer' thinking on body position. especially since Southwick is sandy.

i agree that working on specific sections with feedback must have been killer. i really need to do that.

[Paul_E_D]

One instructor was an old timer, and one was a young gun. The young guy definitely rode more butt out, but still elbows up etc.

[BMFR6]

hey paul, off topic but a quick question. discussing 125's and loudon with a buddy a work....... what was your best lap time?

[Paul_E_D]

1:16.4 I could do 16s at will. I'm sure I had some 15s in me but only really threw caution to the wind once and crashed in T12.

[The Crashing Tomato]

Paul ... sounds like it was worth the 2 benji's

are they running any more sessions like this????

[Paul_E_D]

Check out www.stimilon.com for info. I think they have more dates.

[danny86]

I know Pete

I just saw him today to pick up my bikes

[Paul_E_D]

I think he was talking about that at lunch. Were you on the phone with a woman talking about the bikes around 1:30??

[danny86]

I think he was talking about that at lunch. Were you on the phone with a woman talking about the bikes around 1:30??

me ? No, I asked Pete to get 2 bikes jetted and cleaned before Tuesday, dropped them off Saturday and he finished it Monday night.

He's a good guy and knows his stuff

[Paul_E_D]

BTW, if any of you decide to do a class day, make sure you train ALOT before hand. I'm sore as a MF and I've been training all spring/summer. A lot of guys had to just stop practicing because of exhaustion. For 200 bucks, I'm glad I had the stamina to finish the day strong. My legs are in sharp pain though.

[typeone]

A lot of guys had to just stop practicing because of exhaustion.

that would have been me... building sand castles instead of riding

[The Crashing Tomato]

dude i'll bring the bucket of water