It pleases me greatly to announce that the essay "Framebuilding
and Its Discontents", written by yours truly and guaranteed
to contain almost no plagiarism, is now available from BMX
Today for the paltry sum of $3.95, including shipping and
handling. (Note to Web readers: You can't get this any more,
but I am working on a new one, to be put on-line.) This essay
is an introduction to the art and science of framebuilding, and
contains information you will not find anywhere else, primarily
because I made it up. Seriously... Anybody who is interested in
designing and selling their own frame should not fail to order
this pup right away.
Last month, we considered the "elapsed-time" method
of measuring your personal abilities. Although you can learn a
lot from properly utilizing elapsed-time measurements, the truly
committed among you will no doubt yearn to further define your
skills in order that you might develop a perfectly focused training
program. Towards that end, I have ingeniously constructed a system
to really put your racing under the microscope. It is a pain to
put into effect, but the results will be worth it to anybody who
wants to be a lot faster right now.
The following system is known around the world as Boswell's Patented
Rad-O-Meter, but you can refer to it any way you like. It will
measure you in the racing environment, against your competition.
It will not be fooled by wrecks or luck. It can slice and dice.
Well, maybe not that last bit...
You definitely need a buddy or two to make this work. You also
need a pen and paper. Take that paper and make a series of horizontal
lines. Give each line a name. Now, I know you'd like to name those
lines "Fred, " or "Pistol Pete," or "Baron
Sengir," but instead we'll name each line after a feature
of the track. We'll name them in the order you encounter them.
Here's an imaginary track:
Phase IV Track List
Starting Gate
First Straight
Tabletop Jump
Straight
180 Degree Left Sweeper
Straight
90 Degree Left Bowl
Straight
90 Degree Right Bowl
Doubles
Straight
90 Degree Left Bowl
90 Degree Right Bowl
Triples
Straight
Roller
Straight
Finish Line
You'll note that I included every feature, even the straights
between turns when they were longer than fifteen feet or so. With
the list above, you can probably imagine what this track would
look like. Do the same with your local track.
At the bottom of the list, note the following symbols:
"---" No change
"+" Passed the rider ahead
"X" Was passed by rider behind
These are pretty simple. Your buddy is going to watch you go over
each noted feature. When you pass somebody, he's going to put
a "+" next to that feature on the track. When you are
passed, he puts a "X" sign. When nothing happens, he
makes a long line. Already we've got a pretty complete record
of the race. If doesn't tell you how you finished, but you'll
remember that. It also doesn't tell you how you came out of the
gate, but if you're like most riders you are obsessed with your
gates and need no further encouragement from me. Most riders will
probably want to add a starting gate line anyway. For the starting
gate line, have your buddy write down your position five feet
out of the gate. Let's add a couple more symbols to give us a
more complete picture.
"F" Closed on rider ahead
"S" Lost ground to rider ahead
Now we have a more precise picture. Maybe we didn't pass the guy
ahead of us, but we picked up ground when we made a proper exit
from the corner and he didn't. That might have set up your pass
on the next straight. Or, we messed up over the doubles and lost
ground. No wonder you couldn't catch up in the turns. So far,
though, we're depending on that rider ahead to be consistent.
Let's add a couple of signs to take care of that.
"New" New rider ahead (Due to passing or being passed)
"Bail" Rider ahead bails
When you've got a new rider ahead of us, our buddy will measure
your progress compared to the new guy.
There are some other signs we could use to be even more specific.
Make up your own. The focal point of the system is that is gives
you a good picture of how you fare compared to your competition.
Let's use the imaginary track above to chart our progress in an
imaginary race.
Phase IV Track List
Starting Gate Came out 4th
First Straight +
Tabletop Jump F
Straight F
180 Degree Left Sweeper S
Straight +
90 Degree Left Bowl S
Straight X
90 Degree Right Bowl F
Doubles +
Straight F
90 Degree Left Bowl ---
90 Degree Right Bowl S
Triples F
Straight +
Roller ---
Straight ---
Finish Line ---
Let's decode the above. We came out fourth. We passed the third-place
rider in the first straight. We picked up on the second-place
guy over the tabletop and got even closer in the next straight.
Alas, we lost ground in the turn, but passed #2 on the next straight.
We fell back in the next turn and were repassed. Through the next
turn, we sped up and got back into second over the doubles. We
ended up closing in on the first-place rider over the triples
and passing him in the second-to-last straight to be Number One.
Pretty good. We're good riders.
Looking over the race report, though, we find out something that
the trophy never would have told us: In the turns, we stink. We
either lost a place or lost ground on nearly every turn. Compared
to our competition, are we strong? Yes. Can we jump? Absolutely.
Are we utilizing the three lines and braking at the proper points?
Probably not.
Were we to design a training program based on what the above race
report told us, we would do well to concentrate on turns and blocking
skills. We would not neglect strength training or jumping practice,
but we're not too bad in those areas. Remember, one of the most
important things you can do to improve your riding is to know
your weaknesses.
Another angle to consider is that we came out of the gate fourth,
which seems to indicate that our gates are not as strong as they
could be. On the other hand, it could have been a bad gate. Most
riders are extremely conscious of how each of their starts "stacks
up" to their capabilities, so we're not going to worry about
the start unless we know we need to. Our time is probably better
spent working on the turns.
Most of my races, if chronicled in the above manner,
tell an opposite story from the one above. I generally pick up
places in the turns and in medium-length straights, only to lose
them over technical jumps and short, explosive straights. For
that reason, I don't spend too much practice time working turns,
but instead dedicate it to rolling jumps smoothly and getting
a few extra pedals in between turns and jumps.
Compared to the elapsed-time measurement method detailed last
month, Boswell's Patented Rad-O-Meter is an extremely exacting
method of examining one's strengths and weaknesses. By the time
you've detailed five or six of your motos, chances are that you
will have a pretty good idea of what you have to work on. Even
a race in which you lead from gate to finish can be analyzed with
some success if the recorder focuses on how the guy behind you
did in his efforts to close the gap.
The Rad-O-Meter's only weakness is the effort necessary to make
it work. You've got to find a dedicated pal or parent in order
to get detailed reports. An easy way to do that is to help a friend
of yours in his race and ask him to do the same for you. After
the races, go over the reports and look for strong and weak points.
When you get to a new track, rewrite your forms and try again.
There is an incidental benefit to using the Rad-O-Meter, as well:
Years from now, whether you are retired or the NBL #1 Pro. you
will be able to go over your entire career in precise detail.
Most older riders have very little idea of exactly how their riding
style has progressed over time---but you will have it all on paper,
ready to show your grandchildren. It would, of course, be considered
bad form to modify the records in the future to make yourself
look better.
We'll spend the new few months on gearing and some incidental
issues, but sometime in July or August we'll come back to this
and go over those forms again. (Web readers - Actually, I never
managed to come back to these forms, mainly because nobody in
the free world had the patience to put them to use. I still stand
behind the idea, though.) Chances are that you'll be on your
way to being the best rider possible. See you then.