- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
- Messages
- 10,513
- Reaction score
- 4,155
- Location
- Cape Town, deep in the lentils
- Bike
- KTM 990 Adventure
Topic split off from this rally build thread https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=154066.msg2956774#msg2956774 Definitley worth its own thread. Thanks for the heads up guys, please carry on. :thumleft:
I’ve never won a rally. So this is my thinking.
Skills
A very big factor. Racers who have enduro backgrounds I think are in the good seats. Any one section of the track is not too difficult but strung together over multiple days has a multiplying effect.
Having said that, riding sand easy on heavier than plastic bikes is a must. A 100 meters on sand is not the same as 80k’s of it. Can you comfortably ride 3 hours of deep sand track without overheating the bike or yourself in midday sun? The trick is to be able to ride at speed so that you and the bike are cooled enough.
Can you ride riverbed? Picking lines and riding comfortably over and through bowling ball sized rocks whilst in river sand? If you’ve never done it before on a rally bike or aren’t that comfortable, guess where you need to go practice.
Can you ride up long, intimidating, slippery, shale, tractionless tracks with must make corners and steep drop-offs? Momentum, line choice and great throttle control are a must.
Can you emergency brake into a corner. There are going to be many occasions where maximum braking skills will be needed. Target fixation and locking up are not an option. Because I have a 200kg bike, this is for me a big one. I’ve purposely spent hours doing braking skills into corners on loose gravel to sharpen this up. I practice approaching a corner and increasing speeds and try make it through.
The actual riding;
If you ride like it's a race from the word go, you drastically decrease your chances of finishing. The race is all about pacing. The pro guys don't race, they have their pace. Sometimes they have to turn it up and you'll hear them say, "maximum attack" that is riding at 100%. But this is seriously risky and not sustainable without large doses of luck. The guys that win just happen to have the best pace… and some luck. There are guys who could ride sections of the race far faster than the winners, but that is not rallying, that’s enduro.
Critically the mind-set to racing and rallying is slightly different. The discipline to the thinking is not the same. In racing, it’s the discipline of not letting up, in rallying it’s the discipline of rhythm and restraint.
So, to me, the trick is to know what 100% feels like in most terrains on the bike you will ride. For me that is where I am in my flow, the edge of the envelope is very close and I scare myself regularly and am taking quite a few calculated risks. I am working hard and breathing a bit heavier. The bike is being pushed very hard and I feel a bit sorry for it. It is taking some big hits and the engine is on the boil. I am aggressive and highly competitive about anyone in front of me.
To rally with the aim of finishing, the limit for almost the whole timed section should be around 65-70% of what you could do if you are fresh and don't have to worry about multi-day riding. If you want to be competitive, then it’s not riding at your 100%, it’s getting a feel for what pace would likely make you competitive. Ride with the fast guys for a bit, check your times at the end of the day. The mind-set is controlled aggression and letting the race come to you.
In one section last year, stage 4 I was within 10 minutes of the 2nd place guy. I had made the choice to ride within 90% for 200k’s. I had stopped twice, once for a fall and piss, the other to sort out my helmet cam. If I hadn’t of stopped, who knows. Still the point is that not once in the whole race, let alone stage 4, did I ride at 100%.
The bike
Being disciplined about taking care. In racing small things like changing your line to miss that smallish rock don’t matter, it’s all about the fastest way through. In rally, the mind-set is taking enough care – what does 70% vs 100% care mean? 100% means the engine, tires and suspension MUST take it. 70% means they get 30% of a break in the action. Roll on slower, avoid the big hits where possible, help the suspension and give the tires an easier time.
Some guys are just mechanically unsympathetic, they seem to get less luck than those who aren’t. It’s not a coincidence.
Almost all the guys fell out with mechanical issues
Navigation
If you want to finish, navigation doesn’t play as big a role. You just follow the tracks. However, it can cause follow-on stuff like taking a wrong turn, spending hours trying to find your way back and then getting to camp late where maintenance, sleep and food become an issue.
If you want to be competitive, navigation is vital.
I would have come second last year if not for my penalties incurred because of navigation issues. That’s not to say I was faster than the guy who came second, he and the guys ahead of me where very quick. I just would have made less errors than them. Rally is not speed only. It’s speed, brains and discipline.
The liaison is a whole other level of racing, and it is racing. Just the mind-set and objectives are very different. On the stage the mind-set is what I stated above. On the liaison the mind-set is about not making mistakes and staying focused on this but relaxing as much as possible. You cannot beat anyone on the liaison in the traditional sense, but you can certainly lose places and a lot of time. The organisers are a bit anal about rules of the road. Any infraction costs time. They have some software that compares your track to theirs. If you didn’t stop at a stop street for at least 3 seconds or were over the speed limit, they will know about it. But you also have a maximum time to get to the start of the stage. So fucking about and missing your start time costs time. Make no mistake, some of the liaisons are very fast for dual sport riding standards - a gravel road with a 100kph speed limit is plenty fast! There are some liaison sections that 100kph would easily have surpassed my internal 100% governor. It was hard for me to see a dust cloud up ahead and not chase it. I found this part of rallying a big challenge.
Mechanical
Can you fix most issues that crop up on your bike. Can you make a plan. Can you ride around an issue, e’g no rear brake?
If you are not good at this, then you need to trust your bike. Over and above the normal service. Make sure that all wear items are replaced – bearings, chains etc. Any new part has been thoroughly tested – like at least 500k’s of offroad. Carry a few spares and duct tape, putty steel and cable ties.
Body
Looking after your body. Hands, bum, eyes are the big ones. Make sure your gear looks after these along with the rest of you. Sleep and good nutrition are vital.
By far, the single biggest predictor of how well your rally will go is your fitness. It trumps almost any other degree of skill or expereince.
Dwerg said:
I’ve never won a rally. So this is my thinking.
Skills
A very big factor. Racers who have enduro backgrounds I think are in the good seats. Any one section of the track is not too difficult but strung together over multiple days has a multiplying effect.
Having said that, riding sand easy on heavier than plastic bikes is a must. A 100 meters on sand is not the same as 80k’s of it. Can you comfortably ride 3 hours of deep sand track without overheating the bike or yourself in midday sun? The trick is to be able to ride at speed so that you and the bike are cooled enough.
Can you ride riverbed? Picking lines and riding comfortably over and through bowling ball sized rocks whilst in river sand? If you’ve never done it before on a rally bike or aren’t that comfortable, guess where you need to go practice.
Can you ride up long, intimidating, slippery, shale, tractionless tracks with must make corners and steep drop-offs? Momentum, line choice and great throttle control are a must.
Can you emergency brake into a corner. There are going to be many occasions where maximum braking skills will be needed. Target fixation and locking up are not an option. Because I have a 200kg bike, this is for me a big one. I’ve purposely spent hours doing braking skills into corners on loose gravel to sharpen this up. I practice approaching a corner and increasing speeds and try make it through.
The actual riding;
If you ride like it's a race from the word go, you drastically decrease your chances of finishing. The race is all about pacing. The pro guys don't race, they have their pace. Sometimes they have to turn it up and you'll hear them say, "maximum attack" that is riding at 100%. But this is seriously risky and not sustainable without large doses of luck. The guys that win just happen to have the best pace… and some luck. There are guys who could ride sections of the race far faster than the winners, but that is not rallying, that’s enduro.
Critically the mind-set to racing and rallying is slightly different. The discipline to the thinking is not the same. In racing, it’s the discipline of not letting up, in rallying it’s the discipline of rhythm and restraint.
So, to me, the trick is to know what 100% feels like in most terrains on the bike you will ride. For me that is where I am in my flow, the edge of the envelope is very close and I scare myself regularly and am taking quite a few calculated risks. I am working hard and breathing a bit heavier. The bike is being pushed very hard and I feel a bit sorry for it. It is taking some big hits and the engine is on the boil. I am aggressive and highly competitive about anyone in front of me.
To rally with the aim of finishing, the limit for almost the whole timed section should be around 65-70% of what you could do if you are fresh and don't have to worry about multi-day riding. If you want to be competitive, then it’s not riding at your 100%, it’s getting a feel for what pace would likely make you competitive. Ride with the fast guys for a bit, check your times at the end of the day. The mind-set is controlled aggression and letting the race come to you.
In one section last year, stage 4 I was within 10 minutes of the 2nd place guy. I had made the choice to ride within 90% for 200k’s. I had stopped twice, once for a fall and piss, the other to sort out my helmet cam. If I hadn’t of stopped, who knows. Still the point is that not once in the whole race, let alone stage 4, did I ride at 100%.
The bike
Being disciplined about taking care. In racing small things like changing your line to miss that smallish rock don’t matter, it’s all about the fastest way through. In rally, the mind-set is taking enough care – what does 70% vs 100% care mean? 100% means the engine, tires and suspension MUST take it. 70% means they get 30% of a break in the action. Roll on slower, avoid the big hits where possible, help the suspension and give the tires an easier time.
Some guys are just mechanically unsympathetic, they seem to get less luck than those who aren’t. It’s not a coincidence.
Almost all the guys fell out with mechanical issues
Navigation
If you want to finish, navigation doesn’t play as big a role. You just follow the tracks. However, it can cause follow-on stuff like taking a wrong turn, spending hours trying to find your way back and then getting to camp late where maintenance, sleep and food become an issue.
If you want to be competitive, navigation is vital.
I would have come second last year if not for my penalties incurred because of navigation issues. That’s not to say I was faster than the guy who came second, he and the guys ahead of me where very quick. I just would have made less errors than them. Rally is not speed only. It’s speed, brains and discipline.
The liaison is a whole other level of racing, and it is racing. Just the mind-set and objectives are very different. On the stage the mind-set is what I stated above. On the liaison the mind-set is about not making mistakes and staying focused on this but relaxing as much as possible. You cannot beat anyone on the liaison in the traditional sense, but you can certainly lose places and a lot of time. The organisers are a bit anal about rules of the road. Any infraction costs time. They have some software that compares your track to theirs. If you didn’t stop at a stop street for at least 3 seconds or were over the speed limit, they will know about it. But you also have a maximum time to get to the start of the stage. So fucking about and missing your start time costs time. Make no mistake, some of the liaisons are very fast for dual sport riding standards - a gravel road with a 100kph speed limit is plenty fast! There are some liaison sections that 100kph would easily have surpassed my internal 100% governor. It was hard for me to see a dust cloud up ahead and not chase it. I found this part of rallying a big challenge.
Mechanical
Can you fix most issues that crop up on your bike. Can you make a plan. Can you ride around an issue, e’g no rear brake?
If you are not good at this, then you need to trust your bike. Over and above the normal service. Make sure that all wear items are replaced – bearings, chains etc. Any new part has been thoroughly tested – like at least 500k’s of offroad. Carry a few spares and duct tape, putty steel and cable ties.
Body
Looking after your body. Hands, bum, eyes are the big ones. Make sure your gear looks after these along with the rest of you. Sleep and good nutrition are vital.
By far, the single biggest predictor of how well your rally will go is your fitness. It trumps almost any other degree of skill or expereince.
