Excellent vid! I'll never enter a hard Enduro or fling a 10k eurobike off a large drop, but I practice your techniques as a 62yr old on a 20yr old Kawi. Much love from WA state
There are parallels to "drills" in other sports..... I grew up ski racing. One thing I never understood till long after my athletic opportunities were gone, was how EASY it is to get very good. It just takes hard work, and focus. You have to know what your weaknesses are, and work on them till they are strengths. The way you do this is through Drills Drills Drills. Once you know your weak point, you have to know which drill will fix it, and make it a strength. You have to know how to do the drill, and you do it right till you are a master. Then you keep doing it. In the alpine ski racing world (a sport very similar to MX in its sheer dynamics and energy) world class skiers, multi time Olympic gold medalists still do drills drills drills, even long after they are world or Olympic champs. To this day...Mikaela Shiffrin always falls back on doing drills to keep her technique on point. Once I understood this, and become dedicated to spending probably 60% of my time on the slopes doing drills, my skiing improved at a phenomenal rate. I know it has nothing to do with Off-road riding, but here is 4 time World Cup Champion Mikaela Shiffrin talking about the importance and details of "drills". What is important is the mentality and focus. ru-vid.com/group/PLdyEYewNX9_iYKVg2AHJkYQ02pW6-x059 After hurting a knee...and being off for 8 weeks, here are what the first days back on the snow look like for one of the best technical skiers to ever compete. Not ripping up a course, or skiing fast, but doing mundane drills. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wNbEp1SRVag.html This is what doing years of Drills produces.... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UfY0oRwVIR4.html I personally have recently decided to take the same approach to all riding. 60%+ of my time will be spend doing drills.
as a former ski instructor and amateur racer I'm in total agreement and taking it one step further, competency at anything requires drills drills and more drills.
Great comment. Former ski teacher and have always respected Shriffen’s post-injury drills and endless perfection of technique. It’s the same in any sport, no? Like mountain riding on snowmobiles: spent one day doing drills with a guy new to the sport and within two weeks he was better than fellas who have ridden-without ever doing basic drills-for ten years. And now he is having way more fun than them because every ride opens up new possibilities. Adding just a little obsession, even one tiny goal for each ride, makes all these sports endlessly interesting.
You have said everything as always. Thanks for what you do for riders Rich. 🤙🏼 Keep practicing is the key. Being happy is normal but never stop working. 👊🏼✊🏼
I like your thinking regarding mastery. This is getting a bit off subject but what you implied made me think about what one might be able to do if we had eternity. I have friends who think heaven or the afterlife would become boring. On the contrary. Imagine how many things you could master! Thanks for the inspiration. I’m off to practice cone drills. Will be back once I can do it to make a comment about leg length. 😂
Great vid mate.. I can attest, the side hill cone drill pays dividends when your coming down a switch back, off camber single track.. made a big difference
I actually tried this today. It was really hard. At 6', it took me 10 times to get through it. These parking lot drills are everything. They make a huge difference in your balance. I'm getting there Rich. A little at a time. Thank you.
Yea im one of those short leg riders, bid disadvantage for me. But I totally understand what you said about balance, throttle and clutch control. I don't get to ride my bike at places but I can try and practice these drills in the yard. Thanks for inspiring us man!
Rich, thank you so much for giving me some stuff to practice. Baby steps for me. You are an amazing rider and your slow speed drill show that you are practicing a lot.
Hey Rich, Can you do a video about how to tackle steep climbs that have an axe high "step" at about 3/4 of the way up? a rock ledge or a tree root with a shelf, something that sucks your momentum and makes you want to chop the throttle to keep the front end from launching to the moon.
Nice video love how simple yet so completely hard at the same time. Will have to set some cones and give it a go. Reminds me of soccer coaching when I was younger. Keep up the good work Rich.
Hi Rich, I've already got the cones (but not the skills yet ...) ! I've bought them some months ago but I didn't figure out that I could practice all those exercises with them , thanks a lot for your videos and teaching !
Hey Rich. Your videos are awesome. As much info as you share though I think my favorite part of most of them is your dog supervising your progress. It’s awesome. What is the first drill you would recommend for someone who is just getting back to riding after 30 year layoff? Thanks 😊
Me gusta repasar periodicamente fundamentos tecnicos de aplicacion a motocicletas de campo ( es el gran secreto para la diversión asegurada) y tengo que decir que tus explicaciones y reflexiones son de lo mejor que he visto en la red, para mi gusto bastante mas brillantes que la de algunos pilotos y "embajadores" de marcas conocidas
Come on with the last one. That’s impossible 😅. Love your videos. I’m tall too it is nice to have long legs for slow wheelies but I’m also more cramped in the cockpit than the shorter guys. The grass isn’t always greener. You got skills 🤘 very inspiring.
i ll try my hardest , just to fail the last one ! the previus 4 , i do practise them every now n' then . . and the results are VISIBLE from the beginning !!
Last drill was way cool. I do try and put in some kind of practice when we are out on the trails the only problem is I don't have nearly the time I did 25+:years ago.
Hey Rich It would be great if you could draw out the cones on paper with dimensions so us mortal riders can try to duplicate your god like control over our machine.
Man, I do love your teaching! I'm beginning to get a good hold of my 200 KDX💚, thanks to you. I'm offering to my son a QR50 next week for his 4th birthday. What would be your best advice to give him?
Haha, last one is really impossible :) Even just go straight backwards down the slope is impossible for us mere mortals 🤣 Could you share some drills for mastering it btw?
A coach advised me that riding with your friends on Saturday is not practicing. Same as sports teams practice skills during the week before the game on Saturday.
Ben riding dirt for 36 years and was sorta fast for a while but if you can do even the first 2 you probably won't find too many people showing you up on the trail.
Hey! A have a few questions, wish I could reach out to you. Just got my first bike, extremely interested in Enduro and looking forward to this practice... Really worried about fouling my plug + wearing out my clutch a ton...
Just give her the old Italian tune up out through the field between cone drill reps lol. Keep the revs low during the drills and the clutch will be good to go.
I don`t beleave in mastery only the persuede of mastery. There is no end of the possibilit ys. Could be a quote from Bruce Lee. In my age there defenitly limits I have to accept. Just reasently got punished taking too much risk. Anyhow your teachings are brilliant.
Not that I have the balance and technique for it at the moment, but I think my rear brake disc is too bent to do the backwards roll one 😂 Good video, Rich. I'll have to head over to dick's sporting goods and buy some cones 🤙
