practice
practice,more practice.....and yet more practice.
to give you an idea ken, tom hofmaster rode i bet every day for a long long time. his dad would call me in the morning or afternoon no matter i still herd a bike in the background. i would imagine that many of us riders hell even me that has rode for 27+ years, couldn't match the hours those young men have on a motorcyle. NOt to mention the desire, dtermination etc etc.
i don't know to many pro riders personally like i do tom, but i have witnessed his climb to pro status and observed the effort. it is pretty amazing to see a 14-16 year old, go to work basically and have the self starting attitude.
many of the young riders today think they clear a triple and they can win, wake up calls come early for those riders!