Motorcycling NSW

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Your Coaching Tips

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Tip #1 – Nutrition

Damien Adams

Strength & Performance Specialist Coach

Damien Adams is an affiliated coach with Motorcycling New South Wales. 
Get in touch with Coach Damien Adams via Instagram: @d.adamsperformancecoach or email him: damien@adamssap.com

Fuelling yourself is as important as fuelling your bike!

You service, maintain and fuel your bikes with good quality fuel and lubricants, but can you say that you do the same for yourself?

Fuelling yourself with quality food and staying hydrated is one of the easiest performance enhancements you could do. Your strength, fitness, mental focus, recovery, and results all rely on how well you fuel yourself. So, if you are putting in all the effort across other aspects of your riding and training, but neglecting your nutrition, you are holding yourself back from being your best.

Start fuelling yourself for performance!

 

Tip #2 – Supercross

Greg Moss

Greg Moss is an affiliated coach with Motorcycling New South Wales. 
Get in touch with Coach Greg Moss via his website or email him: mossy@mossyonline.com.au

Supercross has always been popular in Australia, with the second largest participation base worldwide. With Adam Baileys World Supercross and the Australian Supercross starting back up shortly there is further room for growth within this discipline.

Supercross is similar to BMX, with young riders developing skills on BMX trial style bikes and electric bikes.

Through my experience, I have found that tracks are being built too large with triple jumps and extended run ups, for those starting off and gaining confidence in this discipline this is to advanced. I believe that the best way to start is with smaller tracks with a tabletop section and steep up and down ramps so that you have to change the angle of the bike really quickly. That’s how I build the play jumps for juniors then you have the whoops that can be all different sizes etc.

Make sure to wear safety gear and enjoy

 

 

 

Tip #3 – Race Starts

Leigh Gainfort

Leigh Gainfort is an affiliated coach with Motorcycling New South Wales.
Get in touch with Leigh via https://www.facebook.com/TheMotocoach or email him: leigh@motocoach.com.au

In motocross, getting a good start is so important. It’s so much easier to get a top 5 finish with a top 5 start, you generally don’t get trapped into other rider’s pace and you can generally ride your lines. We raced last weekend on a track that was hard to pass on, and as the day progressed, there was a lot of dust. A great start was critical.  

Here’s 5 Basic tips for race starts

1. Picking the start position. Check out the races before you and watch where the holeshots are coming from and how long the starter holds the riders on the 5 second board. The full 5 seconds? More than that (they can hold you up to 10 seconds)? 

2.Consistency. Prep your gate the same every time you race. Focus on the body position you’ve practiced – If you’re a 2-foot down starter, race day is not the place to try 1-foot up/1-foot down! If you use a holeshot device, use it everytime. Race what you practice.

3.Consider the start dirt. Your body position will need to change if there is more traction, sand or a concrete start pad! The more traction there is, the further forward your position needs to be. Concrete starts are a whole different animal and need a much more central body position, smoother throttle/clutch control and no holeshot device.

4.Stay locked onto the motorcycle. You’ll see a lot of riders ‘lose’ their legs behind the footpegs off the start, causing a wheelie or lost traction. Keep those legs locked in front of the footpegs.

5.Don’t get drawn into other rider’s start line antics or issues. Focus on your prep, your usual process and stay focused on the goal – a great start  

Practice your starts, get into a good routine and execute them on race day. Above all, ride safe and enjoy your riding.

 

Tip #4 – Sponsorship

Michel Constantinou

Michel Constantinou is an affiliated coach with Motorcycling New South Wales.

Get in touch with Michel via:

Sponsorship can be very hard to come by these days. A lot has changed over the years on how riders and MX industry companies view sponsorship and the relationship between the two. Up until early 2000, there was heaps of sponsorship opportunities. Riders would send resumes to companies for sponsorship, and put a sticker on their bike and everyone was happy with that. But then with rising costs and business pressures, companies started looking closer at the way their sponsorship of riders was performing and more so how many customers was their sponsored rider returning to their businesses. Yes having cool bike graphics is definitely part of the deal, but sponsors realised very quickly that just a sticker on a rider’s bike wasn’t worth the sponsorship they were providing. Then social media changed everything with Facebook starting in about 2004 and other social media streams like Twitter and Instagram. Now, whether you are the best rider in the country or just a local club racer, being proactive on social media and plugging your sponsors is an important part of the package. Most importantly you have to be professional on and off the bike because you are representing the brands that sponsor you at all times.

The easiest way to get sponsored is to win races, but not everyone can achieve that goal so here are some tips on how you can get sponsored:

  1. Make up a 1-2 page (no more than 2 pages!) resume with some pictures and a little background about yourself including the races you will be attending, and some results if you have any.
  2. Approach your local bike shop because they are connected to all the product brands you will need. Supporting your local bike shop helps their business and It will be easier for them to negotiate sponsorship on your behalf.
  3. Don’t just expect free stuff! These days sponsorship is some freebies but mostly it’s a discount on products so be grateful for what you are given.
  4. Get some graphics made for your bike with your sponsor’s logos so you look the part.
  5. Create a social media page on FB and/or Instagram or both and share your sponsors’ posts and photos of yourself racing, riding or just hanging out at the track and race results as well.

I hope this info has been helpful and if you want more advice call, msg or send me an email.

 

Tip #  5 – Ride Like A Girl

Meg Rutledge

Meg Rutledge is an affiliated coach with Motorcycling New South Wales.

Get in touch with Meg via:

  • Facebook:        Sixtysix Personal Training & Motocross Coaching
  • Email:            sixtysixpt@gmail.com

After hosting several all girls coaching weekends my coaching tip is for all of the girls out there. Confidence and self-belief are the 2 main things that I see holding girls back in Motocross and Motorcycling generally.

My advice to you is that you can do it if you want to do it and if you believe you can do it. Commit to the task at hand and tell yourself “I CAN”

Start from the basics and aim for perfection in that as that will show more on the track than just being able to twist the throttle.

We are girls, we are strong we are confident!