BUILD ANEW OR
‘FRESHEN UP?’
Depending on year-to-year changes with new modelstofrom OEMs dictates where or adhered eachthe other it makes them inefficient. teams begin when developing a race Another advantage to frequent use ofbike. the foam roller is thatyears, it increases the effectiveness of normal, Most manufacturers don’t completely deep tissue massage. The reason forthree this is that the overhaul a model; it’s typically every practitioner won’t wasteantime releasing knots and years that they release ‘all-new’ branded tension, but instead can work on deeper, structural model. If that’s the case, it takes work to issues. Areas to emphasize are the IT bands, quads, getting units into their hands right away, hamstrings, glutes and calves. Get in touch with a learning what needs toshow be stronger, trainer and have them you how to use the foam softer, lighter or greasier, and then begin roller because like anything else, there is a right way and a wrong the way,best so make you are researching partssure to install. It’sdoing it the rightstarting way!! from square one. like These next two techniques are aCanada little harder to One example would be the KTM perform as they can be uncomfortable, however I Royal Distributing Fox Racing Team. In 2013, KTM believe the benefits, both physically and mentally, released many new updates to their KTM 250 SX-F make them essential to your everyday routine. The and SX-F. There a lot of work to do, but first450 technique or toolwas is the Recovery Shower or fortunately, the new model came out swinging contrast shower. To perform a recovery shower, first,gave cookthe fortech 3-5 minutes under a hotstart shower, relax, and department a head of the and massageSuspension the muscles.always This will cause the the most blood competition. requires vessels to but dilate blood to rush out was to your attention, thecausing new fuel injected motor more skin and extremities. Then slowly turn off he hot easily tunable and featured a hearty, usable power water until it’s unbearably cold. Deal with it, suck curve. With some love and attention by Andrew it up and remain under the cold water for a full five McLean, behind ofthe theblood infamous Blackfoot minutes.the Thebrains cold will cause vessels to Honda and Yamaha factory equipment, KTM’s
engines were made even better. Going into 2014, the KTM team continues to learn how to give their riders every advantage, but since the SX-F models haven’t undergone any major changes, it’s more of fine-tuning the gains they made last year. There is a trick to testing; you don’t just start throwing parts at your rider unless they talk back to you. For the Gopher Dunes Team Manager, with the help of Joe Skid, he focuses on one part at a time. “That way the guys aren’t trying to think about too much stuŽ ,” says Schuster. “It takes a while to go through one part, so we try to just go step by step and get it right before trying something new.” Don’t fool yourself into thinking that bike testing is a joy ride. Yes, riding dirt bikes is fun but it can be a frustrating and lengthy endeavor, more so for the mechanics. Not every rider relays information the same way or is good at it. Some riders, like GDR Honda’s Colton Facciotti, have a lot of experience testing and developing diŽ erent brands of bikes. In fact, the 3-time Champion has been riding in the majors since he turned pro in 2002 when he was riding for Richmond Racing Kawasaki. Since that time, he’s ridden for Blackfoot Honda and Yamaha, Troy Lee Designs Honda in the US and KTM Canada. “Colton’s pretty good. He knows what he
likes and wants,” notes Schuster. “He’s really hard on brakes, he drags the back brake, but he says that’s how he rides and he’s not going to change [laughs]. It’s good though, he can notice really small changes so it saves time when testing.” Young riders like Westen Wrozyna, who is entering his first year Pro on a GDR Honda CRF250R, have zero experience developing a high-level race bike so they’re just happy with whatever is given to them. “Westen’s diŽ erent; he hasn’t really tested before so he always comes oŽ the track saying how fast the bike is and how good it’s working. It’s okay though, we have a lot of experience with the Hondas and he’ll get better as he gains more experience.”
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