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Like with most anything you want to learn or do well, you must have a starting point. With motocross, you must be strong both fundamentally and technically. When I used to instruct for Gary Semics, he taught me this simple 4 part learning system.
First, you must know and understand the fundamental or technique you are working on or want to perfect. So you must get the proper knowledge from a good instructor or practice manual. Here it helps to ask questions or be detail oriented, because with the wrong advice or not fully understanding the technique, you will learn in the wrong direction.
Second, use stationary drills. Once you know the proper body movement or how to use the control, you can work with the technique with the bike on the stand, or in some cases, sitting on the bike off the stand. By repetitively using your hands, legs, feet, rowing movements, using the controls and coordinating all of these movements, so your mind and body start to work together before you do these riding the bike.
Examples would be working with the 3 attachment points, the 3 pivot points, back and forth rowing movements, 3 step braking techniques, start techniques, riding on the balls of your feet, proper jumping movements and the like. Most riders won't take the time for these stationary drills, but don't overlook their potential.
Third, learn the techniques using action drills. Now that you have given the proper time to the stationary drill, it's time to try them on the bike riding. In our schools, most of the cornering drills are in a flat field or on the starting area. The whoops, jumps, starts, certain corners and other obstacles can be learned on the actual track sections. Two real key items here are, start out doing the technique SLOWLY, then as you start to feel the coordination between your mind, body and the bike, you can gradually start to add speed. The other key is repetition, some of these techniques take hours, days, months and even years to perfect. You can't be in a hurry! More riders fail because they are looking for a QUICK FIX. Good things take a long time. I recommend working more on your weaknesses, but still allowing ample time for the things you are good at too. Having an instructor watch you, or watching a video of yourself will help make sure you are doing the technique correctly.
Forth, take the technique to the track. OK, now that you have learned the technique, spent time with the stationary and action drills, it's time to try them out on the track. The important things here again are to start out slowly, concentrate on the technique you are working with, and try to feel them working. If you just go out and go wide open, and don't really think about what you are trying to achieve, then you will most likely fall back to your former bad habit. Remember, there is only the right way and the wrong way to do these techniques. If you continue to practice the wrong way, you will get better doing them wrong, and they will be harder to learn correctly. If you feel it's not happening out on the track, go back to steps one, two and three, with the right attitude, and the proper amount of time, you will get these down.
Finally, drills are one of the key's to success, all you have to do is look at other sports to see that. You know Tiger Woods didn't become the golfer he is by just playing 18 holes, or Michael Jordan by just playing in basketball games, imagine the time they have spent on drills. If you are willing to put in the time, you will find that control, and that's what it's all about.
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