NEVER SAY “NO”, INSTEAD SAY “LET’S SEE WHAT WE CAN DO”.

 Words to live by, words to inspire us. If your goal is to be a top level motocross racer (or any athlete for that matter), then saying “no” or “I can’t do that” just won’t allow you to get to where you want to go. Think about the ramifications of the word “no”. A long time ago when Sir Edmund Hilary said he wanted to be the first to climb Mount Everest, there were people telling him it was impossible to climb the mountain and live. Had he believed the skeptics and said “No, I won’t try to climb the mountain”, he wouldn’t have been the first to succeed in getting to the top. He would have defeated himself before he even attempted the challenge. Remember, this was way before plastic boots and crampons, or state of the art warm clothing. There were no ropes or fixed lines to the top for protection or ladders across crevasses, or even tents like we have now, so all the odds were against him. But he had an attitude to say instead “Let’s see what we can do”, or basically get to the top or die trying.

 I am writing this rider tip one day after the most talented class of students we have ever had in our 11 year school history. There were probably over 50 amateur titles won by these students, and half of these students will go onto get factory or semi factory rides. We were at Oakhill and there were 4 demanding sets of whoops, and many of these students didn’t ride on the balls of their feet on the pegs through these sections. We practiced these techniques repetitively over and over again, and still some couldn’t get the technique down. I gave hand signals pointing to the ball of my foot, I discussed the reasons why you need this technique, I had riders who rode using the correct techniques do demonstrations for the other students to see and we rode in all 4 sections, and still some came up short on accomplishing the small goal of riding through the whoops correctly. Why am I using this example? To illustrate the difference of saying no, I can’t or won’t try to do this, or saying yes, let’s see what I can do.

 You should think like this, if Hilary can climb Everest, and David Bailey can do the Ironman triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run) paralyzed, and Lance Armstrong can win 7 Tour de France bicycle races after surviving cancer, then certainly you can move your two feet back 3 inches on the foot pegs. You have to be an “I can do person”, willing to explore and embrace challenges, to accept the process of moving forward.

 From the Bible a real man is one who rejects passivity, accepts responsibility, leads courageously, and expects the greater reward, God’s reward. So if you use this in a motocross sense, by rejecting passivity (being lazy and weak), accept responsibility (it’s up to you), lead courageously (take charge of yourself and your program), then you can expect the greater reward (winning). So let’s see what you can do.

Ride hard, ride smart,

Larry Morton

www.5mmxs.com