Ok...who though it was a good idea for Zak to race?

[YAMYSAM]

Dude, have you ever ? crashed? People like you piss me off. When you take a hit that hard, you cant breath, you cant see, and you cant think. Your sitting there checking if anything is broken. I would love to see you take a crash lik Zak, and get right up to go pamper your bike, sorry my friend but it just doesnt work like that if you crash hard enough.

Yea im with die if you was to crash that hard you would have not even got up and picked up your bike.

[Blutarsky]

Zak,

I think you did great. I have been riding about 4 months myself, and I wish I could hit jumps and go for it 1/2 as well as you did. But then again I'm old and dont heal so well anymore!

One thing I can see, however, is that you have spent a lot more time working on your jumping than you have on cornering and other techniques.

So....forget about jumping. You definitely have the knack for that...so don't worry about it. It will come easy for you. People tend to want to practice what they are good at...and jumping is fun...besides being an ego thing. But just say no! Always try to do the opposite of what most people do. Everyone want to go out and do jumps...and try to learn how to do whips and wheelies. So do the opposite. Work on the mundane..the difficult...the boring.

Cornering cornering cornering. If you have not already done it...get the Semics videos. Work on your cornering. Work on the fine coordination of all controls. Using the rear brake to set the bike into the turn. Using the front brake to hold the front down in a rut. Threshold braking transitions to hard throttle. Overgrip and keeping your elbows up. It is the mundane techniques that the pros master that make them better. Read some of the posts that Gary has made about practice for the Pros...vs practice for newer riders. It is a lot different. Find a place where you can do the drills that isolate specific skills. When all the skills are mastered...then you start putting laps together.

[valval]

it looks like when he hit it he gased it .i hate when that happends

[KenO393F]

I will be called a hater and whatnot...but this question if for Zac....i saw your post a while back, http://www.zaksdesigns.com/zakspics/MX/whipwall.jpg it's all about riders taking the pain and stuff...if you wrote it then what was the part at the end of the video where you go to lift your bike up and instead drop it and throw your goggles then lay down on the ground like a kid wanting attention?

Hater? No. Just a typical negative person looking for a reason to give someone else grief. Maybe next time you should get the facts since you lack in the judgement area.

...and thanks (everyone else) for all of the positive comments and tips!

[Meshmez]

watch the vid of his outdoor riding that was posted somewhere on this thread. its like night and day from the arena cross. so he cased a jump. big deal, i dont see why a handful of you are saying he should not try again and all that. and if you are soo much better lets see some vids of you racing.. and maybe you are THAT good.. in that case lets see a video of your FIRST race. hell even the pros have bad days and crash out. i hope when i finally race for the first time i can do even half as well as he did (minus the crash hopefully ? )

[Thunderbug]

The kids out there doing a sport that he's not good at yet, and permanent injury or death could happen at almost any time.

And you're worried because somebody said "shit" on the audio track?

Whats America coming to?

[FJH]

Thanks for the replies...Like my dad said, that was my frist arenacross race, and firt real "race" with good people, ive raced a few local mx races that wasnt hard at all..

I dont know what was wrong with me saturday, I felt "off" The first time I hit the triple in our 5 lap praccy, i overshot it and endoed, at the same time... landed flat 5-8ft from the landing, bounced on the next double right off the bike... Got up, and tried it again going a little slower, cased it, but not as bad as the one in the video. Crashes dont scare me, make me nervous, or not want to try something again, they usally have the opposite effect... They make me want to go out there and do this perfect... Unfourntantly you dont get alot of time to do that in these races, so either you got it or you dont...

The video was taken from the qualifier, which had 12 or less people, so I didnt have to "race" it, it was just another practice for me to get used to the track. I could of gone alot faster everywhere on that track, sorry if you think im that slow

I screwed up in the qualifier by getting stuck horribly behind 2 people who werent tripling in... and I just wasnt thinking.. Oh well, lesson learned...

I'll try to find some place to practice real tight tracks like that, and some more arena cross races in texas to go to.

-P.S. notice the new color on the bike? pics comming soon, I didnt scratch it up, out of the 2 times I ate it...hehe!

what can i say.. ? RESPECT ?

[whoops dude]

I will be called a hater and whatnot...but this question if for Zac....i saw your post a while back, http://www.zaksdesigns.com/zakspics/MX/whipwall.jpg it's all about riders taking the pain and stuff...if you wrote it then what was the part at the end of the video where you go to lift your bike up and instead drop it and throw your goggles then lay down on the ground like a kid wanting attention?

last thing I'm thinkin of when I crash hard is picking up my bike.

[Meshmez]

The kids out there doing a sport that he's not good at yet, and permanent injury or death could happen at almost any time.

how can he get good if he doesnt keep trying? and isnt injury or death a possibility that every one of us accepts every single time we throw a leg over our bikes?

[Grieby54]

I can't believe the idiots who are saying that he shouldn't try anymore and saying he's not good. And saying he threw it down like a little kid... I'm pretty sure if I got clocked like that I wouldn't have gotten up and even tried to pick it up. I woulda laid there in a daze. So next time you crash and don't go sprinting to pick up your bike and ride off, I hope someone dogs you about it. As far as warning the mod... what is wrong with you? Do you really have nothing better to do?

Zak... dude, you've got raw talent. I'm not going to sit here and try and give you tips because you're loads better than I am, but one of the biggest things that helps me is just to relax and focus. Couldn't really tell by the video, but it almost seemed as if you were thinking about something else, or just not in it. But keep it up bro.. ?

[jjgixxer]

last thing I'm thinkin of when I crash hard is picking up my bike.

that's the 1 thing im thinking of is my bike lol, ?

[Foxybiker]

Well I saw the video (ouch!!) and I've read quite a few of the replys.....

All i Have to say Is........ If you Love It Keep doing it... Nuf Said. xx Good Luck xx

[JohnnyOfast]

If at first you don't succeed,, try, try again.

(or, as Curlie said,,, keep on suck'n till you do suck seeds!)

Hey ya gotta start somewhere, I would have liked to see you start at some smaller backyard arenacross track but maybe there's nothing available to you. That was a knarly crash, including the wiskey throttle when he faced that jump,,, ?

He'll be fine. ?

[FMX ZAK]

I'm going to check this place out a few times.... it looks like it would do the trick and is only a few hours away...

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[bernvantiem1]

He looked like he was alright.

[JohnnyOfast]

Wholy crap!!

Where is that, somewhere in texas? dam,,, that is one bad ass track.

I'm going to check this place out a few times.... it looks like it would do the trick and is only a few hours away...

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[GENE426]

I'm going to check this place out a few times.... it looks like it would do the trick and is only a few hours away...

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where is that Zak?

I know Texas but where?

That has to be a pro mxers house

[kizzle426]

That's MX Oasis in Madisonville. They just opened up another MX Oasis in Palestine too. It's supposed to be up to par with Lake Whitney. I'm gonna have to check it out.

[KenO393F]

how can he get good if he doesnt keep trying? and isnt injury or death a possibility that every one of us accepts every single time we throw a leg over our bikes?

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I think Thunderbug was making a point about how ridiculous it is to worry about a few words in a video when the true focus should be the fact of how dangerous the sport is (not that Zak should quit)...least that's how I took it.

[metalmulisha189]

man that was a tough crash there zak. i am glad you are alright and decided to finish your main. keep up the good work.