Winners don't need training!
By TMX Archives on 9th Apr 09
This week JD asks the question Can you over train?', andwas pleased with his response to last week's column, healso wishes everyone an eggscellent weekend, enjoy... THERE was an interesting story in the Mail On Sunday recently (and no, I'm not a regular Mail reader I hasten to add) which I was going to pass comment on but, to be honest, I simply forgot to follow-up. Then, Tony Ford of SMX rang to ask if I'd seen the piece – which he apparently read while on his way to Egypt or somewhere – which acted as a kindly reminder.
The article in question was by Piers Morgan, I'll pause while you all insert whatever you think of Mr Morgan, as in "That ****, but when he wears his sports columnist hat he's quite bearable in his own condescending name-dropping way. So, Morgan is having dinner in the West Indies, as you do, with cricket legend Sir Garfield Sobers and pedallo ace Andrew Flintoff when, finally coming to the point now, Sobers passed comment that in his opinion too many modern-day sportspersons ‘over-trained'. He said that you only had to look at the number of training-related ailments that affected many leading sports stars to understand the point.
I thought it a very good point and one not just confined to the obvious overpaid and underworked professionals in – well, you fill in the name of whichever sport you feel the participants are overpaid and underworked! You can even make a case for including motocross and possibly enduro in there. Not because they are overpaid (Ha Ha) but very possibly over-trained. And as an extension to this theme, many make comebacks
or ride when injured when
they would clearly be better served by waiting until they were fully fit.
Britain's Kurt Nicoll retired from racing – prematurely in many people's eyes – and then made a limited comeback several years later, and showed tremendous speed. I asked Kurt how he was going so well after two years out. He answered, "It's simple, its the first time for years that I have been fully fit. I always seemed to be carrying injuries. Looking back I can see now that I should have taken a break – but it isn't that easy when you've the pressure of a factory contract.”
On the over-training front, I listened, in awe, to the great Belgian motocross multi-world champ Joel Robert at the Telford Show as he told a large, hushed audience of how things were back in his day. Joel said, "I've often been asked why I didn't train – training like running and cycling and gym work – and I genuinely never trained like that. I found that I was more than fit enough to win races just by riding motocross.
then you didn't just ride GPs, if you wanted to earn a living you had to ride as often as possible, sometimes I rode three times in a weekend – a Thursday evening meeting in France maybe and then on Saturday and Sunday. I had no problems whatsoever with my fitness. And I still believe that riders are doing a lot of strenuous training that isn't necessary. If you ride the bike enough you should be fit enough to race.”
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GOT some great reaction to last week's column, in which I asked why riders no longer shared transport to and from events, from riders all over the country reminiscing over their travels with lots of mates piled into various cars, vans and pick-ups. Jim Jardine confirmed that ACU/ FIM bigwig Dave Willoughby was indeed central to many an east Yorkshire jolly jape in days of yore – like three bikes and three bodies in and on a little two-person French Simca pick-up.
And the only way of getting it up one icy hill one winter was by taking all the bikes off the back and using them to tow the Simca up the hill. At least that's what I think happened as Jardine was laughing so much in the telling that I only got half the story!
And young Derek Cranfield (he's only 76) told me of when he regularly shared transport with Comerfords' legendary tuner Reg May. The intrepid duo used to share the driving but according to Derek he always landed the return trip because Reg would have followed-up the riding with a couple of his famous ‘low-fliers' (Famous Grouse whisky) and would then snore all the way home. Evergreen Derek went on to say that he now resides in an ‘old peoples' flat and was having a bit of trouble with the health and safety mob with regard to getting his 200 Beta into the lift so he can fettle it in the flat. For some reason he's not allowed to do that...
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AS you read this the Easter holiday weekend is either imminent or you are in the middle of your chocolate eggs and will either be planning a ride, swinging your way to an event or maybe checking-out the ‘What's On' column to see where you can go for a spot of spectating.
So whatever you are doing or wherever you're going have a super easter – and look out for a mega Easter round-up in T+MX next week!