I think I am raising a Pastrana- decisions

[oldguy]

gotta post it in here to vent out of his sight
Now I know the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree as we had another of those -I would prefer to forget weekends. I seem to make a carreer of injuring myself but now spider has decided to follow along.

First race back in April he had a great day going in sportsmans class when he had the guy next to him in the start hit a rut and flip sideways into spiders path. Spider Tboned him and flipped over smashing face first into the track and knocking himself out.

Next weekend he decides after watching the A riders on their 450s jumping a triple into a rhythm section that he can do it on his 250f- he makes it 'almost' and flips the bike, which slams into the back of his head. He sees some stars but goes out later to finish the day and on the biggest triple the carb pops off.

Back to our club track for the May race he goes into a downhill corner hits a bad kicker and flips the bike. Just bumps and bruises but a bent subframe.
now we travel to a track up north last week and he comes in from practice without a visor. He again cross rutted and went over the bars face first. He still gets up and finishes 4th overall for the day
Yesterday back at our club track he has a soso 125B moto where he goes from 25th to 6th in a 1/2 lap then back to 18th when he highsides a corner and ends up finishing 9th. Not bad but his best class is coming up.

Sportsmen drops the gate and he gets out great, hits the corner in 3 or 4 and then out of site. I go over to the section of track where I usually watch the first lap and expecting him to come around in the top 3 I start counting. First 4 come thru together, next 2 and then a small gap and 5 more come thru. By this point I figure he laid it down but I hear a couple 4 strokes coming so I wait. As his friend goes by he yells "eric went down hard in the back" I start my walk and as I get to the hilltop all I see are medic flags and people running. The race is on and I run as fast as I can but everything is going slow motion as I see a figure on the ground. Then I see my wife waving her arms at me to hurry up, as I get closer I run past my mother on the ground crying, then I see spider. fetal position on the track and the worries flood in. I get to him and he is still out cold and moaning but slowly he is coming to. He finally looks around but 4 medics are immobilizing him as they put on the neck braces and backboard him. I watch as 2 of his friends that were in the moto with him drop their bikes and come running to be with him. As this is going on I am trying to analyze how it happened.

The jump is from a Valley onto a plateau but you have to turn as you jump it and there are ruts pushed up about 15 in high. I figured he jumped in and caught his front tire and flipped off the bike (I actually guessed right).

Now the trip on the 6 wheeler to the med trailer seems to take forever but we get there and once he is inside and thoroughly checked it is decided he has a concussion but no broken bones and after a while he is released. We spend the next 4 hours repeatedly answerring that he crashed , yes it was on the ledge jump, no you don'rt have to get ready for your next moto, and no you didn't trophy today.
In true kid fashion after a couple more hours in our trailer he wants to head out to watch his friends race and with assurance from his girlfriend that she knows what to look for we let him. Last night he and his friends went in the pool and soaked which he said also helped. This morning he was finally able to remember parts of the crash but still cant remember making the pass into first just before the crash.
It is a sick feeling seeing anyone laying on the track but man it sucks when it is your own.

 

[XRpredator]

maybe he should take up freestyle . . .

I'M KIDDING!!

I hear you, man. Sometimes I wish my boy was more skilled, but reading this stuff makes me glad he takes 'er easy like his old man. :)

 

[RM_guy]

I'm glad to hear he'll be OK. I can really feel for ya. Everytime my son went onto the track my stomach did filps. And when he did crash I was sick worring about how bad it was this time. It happened enough times for me to expect the worst. Sometimes I wonder if I should have let him race but I'm glad I didn't. It's great fun being out there racing but all it takes is one slight miscalculation and "wham", that's it.

When he sold his dirt bike I was torn but at the same time somewhat relieved. He's a good rider but the kid in him makes me nervous. He's 22 now, self employed and out of the house and can appreciate the dangers better but I'd still be worried if he got another dirt bike. Of course he bought a GSXR last year and I still have to worry about him.

I thought it would be easier when he moved out but you never stop worring about your kids.

 

[Tony Eeds]

Dave:

Sorry to hear about your troubles and I have to agree that crashing almost everytime would lead to a Pastrana comparision. Is there a MX school that you can send Spider too that would help him learn what Bubba learned this year, crashing does not lead to winning, consistency does.

 

[CaptainObvious]

Time to sit the young lad down and explain to him that if he doesn't either scale it back, or actually ride up to the ability that he "thinks" he has, it's time to rethink the racing. You owe it to the both of you.

The kid obviously has the balls to twist the throttle big, but maybe the skills are a nanosecond behind. Perhaps a weekend or two with a riding instructor would do him good. There are several riding"camps" that come to mind, like Gary Semics (mxtrainingcenter.com).

Good luck Dave, it's tough-love time.

 

[XRpredator]

. . . Is there a MX school that you can send Spider too that would help him learn what Bubba learned this year . . .

what? How to pull off because you aren't winning?

 

[oldguy]

what? How to pull off because you aren't winning?

Pred no way we have to worry about him pulling off because he isn't winning he puts in some of his best riding after a fall that drops him a couple places because he wants them back.


He has had a year like this in the past (when he stepped up into the 125 classes from 80's) and we worked thru it with a lot of seat time on nonracing days. This is what I hope we can work on again.
He is stepping up to a new class and in reality should be running top 3 consistently but he is pushing his physical skills trying to match what he thinks he can do. Clear example was at Wardys when Reddog kiddingly told him that he tripled wardys tabletop- next thing I hear is him coming out of the corner heading for it. He almost made it.
A couple of his crashes are from bad choices but most are just typical track conditions changing and catching him off guard. He runs 125B to scope out the track and warm up and then follows up with the sportsmans class where he is running the points series. This weekend the ruts that trapped him developed between when he finished the 125B moto and the start of his sportsman moto 45 minutes later. I know that he pushed just about as hard in B but in sports he was running in the lead and pushing (and probably jumping) just that little bit farther.

 

[Chili]

I'm glad to hear he's ok. Obviously I've got no advice. When you figure out what you're going to do with him make an appointment for the same treatment for Lazyboy too would ya?

 

[Wolf]

Dave, reading this gives me the chills.
I have no motorcycle related advice, but I will offer up what we did with our development skiers (some of the top kids in the country).
Most were extremely talented kids, technically very skilled, dedicated and commited. Problem was that they'd crash in 2 out of 3 races. The mindset was "1st place or die trying". A great mindset by the way, except...it takes a certain level of experience and maturity to carry that through. We have lost more top kids to career ending injuries than we cared for.
We ended up implementing artificial rules to make kids race "smarter". We required a certain "finish rate" in order to remain on the team (75%), and we ended up cutting kids...with a chance to earn back a spot of course. During my coaching years, we had one of the most consistent teams out there, our kids were the ones to beat. I would never want to discourage someone to go all out, however, this needs to include the decision making. Go all out physically AND mentally. Go all out but be smart about it FIRST!!

"He is stepping up to a new class and in reality should be running top 3 consistently but he is pushing his physical skills trying to match what he thinks he can do."

".....most are just typical track conditions changing and catching him off guard."

Are you sure its the "physical skills" that are holding him back?

My 2 cents

 

[oldguy]

Wolf good points in fact last night we talked about if he races this weekend it is just for fun with no expectation of placing just finishing and scraping in a couple points. He said he honestly didn't know if he could fight off the urge to go all out once the gate droped and we decided that if he started pushing the limit I would wave him off and he would pull off.
He really wants to just get a couple smooth fall free races to get his confidence and timing back
In the end this weekend is still on hold depending how he feels and his mindset on Sunday morning
The mindset is the basic problem right now he has the physical skills to run solid in sportsman and midpack in B but in his head he should be winning both. I am trying to find a compromise where he can mesh both physical and mental in order to keep improving his overall. Unfortunaetly I see alot of myself in him with the win or die trying attitude. I have outgrown it years ago but suffered many injuries before I knew better. This is also the exact reason Trudy has banned me from racing ever again. I go to the line knowing I am slow and hope only to not get lapped but once the gate drops I get stupid and think I can win which way overrides my physical ability. That is why I blew my knee at DW a couple years back I was screwing around just going to take a lap in the lead (thanks to skipping 1/3 of the track when I heard bikes coming behind me and I twisted the throttle way beyond my ability :coocoo:

 

[Offroadr]

Mr Obvious is so correct. Send him to Semics! It will do wonders for him. Go to Ohio so you can be with Gary himself. I did this when I was a C/B rider and it did wonders for me. And I didnt mx but he teaches you the basics of control. You will be money ahead Dave!

 

[nikki]

Just a suggestion Dave, but why not dial it back and just race one class (sportsmans) for the next few races and see how that goes. Half the track time and race adrenaline might result in half the crashes and mishaps, and maybe a couple decent finishes and some confidence building? Then add back 125B once things start rolling a little smoother?

 

[bclapham]

Dave- you need to get him a wife, 5 kids, 70hour a week job, mortgage and 2 car payments! should calm him down.

 

[Tony Eeds]

Dave- you need to get him a wife, 5 kids, 70hour a week job, mortgage and 2 car payments! should calm him down.

:rotfl:

 

[oldguy]

Dave- you need to get him a wife, 5 kids, 70hour a week job, mortgage and 2 car payments! should calm him down.

Dam you Bruce that is good :aj: but I don't think I am ready to be a granpa quite yet :yikes:

 

[Okiewan]

Sure you are. ;)

 

[Tony Eeds]

Dam you Bruce that is good :aj: but I don't think I am ready to be a granpa quite yet :yikes:

I'm with Okie! Remember grandchildren are the reward for not killing your kids. :cool:

 

[Kav]

isn't Spider a tad young for kids right now? :think:

 

[oldguy]

Yep Kav he is way to young

Today was a great day we went old school loaded one bike in the back of the truck and said if it doesn't feel right we will go home. Practice went perfect with him just riding and pacing a couple slower kids.
First up was 125B and we promised each other on the line that if he didn't feel right he would pull off and watch the rest. He waited in the gate for everyone to clear the holeshot then he pulled out. By the end of lap1 he was up to 10th. he rode smooth and didn't push hard and finished moto 1 in 7th.
Sportsmen moto 1 he held back again and then went out. as he went by the spectators I heard him laughing as he did the spectator jump alone. then he kicked it in with out pushing all out worked his way to 3rd and in the midst of a great 2 lap battle the 2nd place guy blew a berm and eric pulled away to get second.

PM motos went good 125 B he went out with the pack and finished 5th after a great 3 lap battle with 2 other riders he actually made the final pass at the finish and got 5th by less then a wheel.

whaen I got to the truck he was beaming and pretty dam proud of himself he ended up 6th overall

sportsmen went a bit tougher as he shot out and hit the holeshot in 3rd but then in the rhythym section he cased the triple and stalled the bike. got it going but had fallen back to 12th so he waited for his friend to catch up and rode a lap with him before taking off again and eneded the race in 10th for a 5th overall.

Great day no falls and some respectable finishes. he was pretty happy about it overall and agreed he needs to slow down a bit from what he had been doing and he would FINISH better then ever.

Lesson learned by both of us that we need to go back to just having fun again and turn down the competitive edge a bit

 

[Chili]

Lesson learned by both of us that we need to go back to just having fun again and turn down the competitive edge a bit

That's been my approach with Troy this season even though he has yet to race because of his shoulder problems. Everytime he get's out he keeps asking about his speed etc. I refuse to answer and just tell him go out and have fun, admittedly it's going to be tougher to do when he starts back to racing. Glad Eric had a great day and some fun!

 

[WaltCMoto]

Dave,
Im glad to hear that the weekend went smoother. Even though he doesnt have a mortgage and kids, he does only get so many concusions before his race days are over. If he realises this, maybe he will save those riskier decisions of how hard to push at what time for only the rare circumstances. It seems if hes crashing that often, hes right on the skill limit, maybe 5% over. If he backs off just a bit and spends some time there, That pace will eventually seem easy and then he will be ready to turn it up a notch again.
Good luck brother