Trials and Tribulations

I had a good Easter weekend even though the weather wasn't very good for most of it. Unfortunately the race was cancelled due to the severe weather which was a bit disappointing but at this time of year its what you have to expect.

Monday we had some awesome weather so my brother and I were able to go practice for about four hours. I also met up with James who brought his trials bike along which I was able to have a go on. It was different to what I expected but definitely quite fun. James has a spare trials bike which he says I can use when I want to go trials riding with him. I'll definitely be taking him up on his offer as I think this type of riding will benefit my MX skills in some way. Don't think I'll be rocking a one piece though :)

Feeling Strong

My first race is on Sunday and I'm feeling nice and strong. I went for a run yesterday and beat my PB for that course by 3 minutes which I think was quite a lot.

I have decided to ride NYMX instead of YMSA this year for a number of reasons. First of all the adult classes are a lot fuller so 40 rider motos are pretty common. The other big reason is that you don't need to provide a marshal. I might still ride the odd YMSA race as they do go to some good tracks this year and obviously I have some friends there but for this year I'll be focusing on NYMX.

Today I plan on resting and then tomorrow Ryan and I have been invited to ride a private track which should be awesome. It will give Ryan a chance to get back into riding again after his injury and it will be a nice warm up for me before the race on Sunday.

Nigel Smith Appeal

Wow its been ages since I did my last post. Things have been super busy. Lots of things have been happening within the world of motocross and outside. Instead of doing one massive long catchup post I'm going to do a few this week so we can get on top of things.



First and most importantly my good friend Lee Smith is raising money for his bro who was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. This is an awesome family who have been involved with motocross for probably well over 25 years. They are super friendly and Lee has always helped me out where can.

Lee has decided to organise a few fund raising events and do some events himself in order to raise money. Lee is still recovering with a bad shoulder injury that he picked up last year whilst racing and is still due to under go surgery. In spite of this he has decided to take on the 2008 White Peak Marathon, which is held on the 17th of May. This isn't just a regular marathon this is 27 miles of running hell. It is purely off road and as the name suggests it goes through the peak district.

Lee has setup a page here where you can donate and see how the Smith's are doing. I'm confident Lee will complete the marathon and they will reach their fund raising target. Good luck mate!

Lean forward

I went to Finningly Moto Park on saturday with Mason in the Shocktech race truck. He had some people to see and I had some motos to do... it was a perfect symphony... or something.

My first moto out I felt pretty quick for 3 laps and then the arm pump set in really bad. I think it was a combination of not warming up properly and riding way too tense.
My second moto was much better and I managed to ride consistently for 20 minutes. I felt really comfortable on the jumps which was one of my main reasons for going to the practice track. I feel I really need to work on my arms and upper body strength/fitness as I feel they are my biggest downfall at the moment. My legs, lungs, heart and breathing all feel strong.



Mason gave me a few tips. He said I need to loosen up loads. He also told me to lean forward whilst accellerating in order to save my arms. Now that I think about it, it is something that all the pro's seem to do when they are under hard accelleration. This definitely helped me in my last moto of the day especially when the track was at its worst. I'm going to continue working on this technique.



So my goal now is to work on my upper body fitness and to obviously work on technique in order to conserve energy and not tire my upper body too quickly.

Mental toughness

I'm at the beginning of my third week of interval training. Now I've already said that its by far the hardest type of training I've ever done but I'm starting to believe that it doesn't just make you physically stronger and fitter but it actually makes you mentally tougher.
In reality the intervals will never get easier because when you're training with a heart rate monitor you're aiming for a specific heart rate. Therefore the fitter you get the harder you pedal in order to reach your target heart rate but for some reason it still feels easier. I think this is the result of the mind getting stronger and more resistant to the pain.

I had a good day of riding on Sunday and this Saturday I'm hoping to get to a proper track. I'm really looking forward to getting some air time again.

Going to California...

The Led Zeppelin song wondered in and out of mind the entire weekend. I have a lot of time for English weather but this weekend was one of those weekends when you start thinking of ways to escape it all and just move out to the home of motocross where world class tracks are as common as the warm summer days.

As you might have guessed, no riding took place this weekend which is frustrating with the start of the season getting closer. I guess it did allow me some time of rest after last week's training and this week I have been pushing extra hard during each training session to make up for the weekend.

The weather is looking good for this weekend so fingers crossed we'll be out tearing up the track and going faster than ever before!

Man I love this sport!

I've been watching the Supercross series religiously every week and I find it gets me so amped for the up coming season. I'm busy looking into getting some new graphics for the bike and some new boots. Muhammad Ali Once said...
"To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you're not, pretend you are."
I love that quote because I think its so true. Its amazing what a new piece of kit can do to your confidence.

Tonight, Mason is bringing round the new Great Outdoors dvd called "The Formula". I've been wanting to watch it for ages so I can't wait. Just watching the trailer makes me all warm inside and makes me realise how much I love this sport.