NOTE: this article is from TransWorld Motocross on 10/22/03
Tuesday Tip: The Big Setup—Preparing For Corners in the Air
Tuesday October 21, 2003 By
Kevin Windham Photos And Intro By Garth Milan
Simple things like changing direction off the face of a jump or turning in the air can shave precious time off your laps by giving you a more direct route, and at the same time help keep all of your precious momentum going in the direction you want it to go—away from your competition.
We recently cornered new Team Honda rider Kevin Windham at Glen Helen while he was preparing for the upcoming Nationals and asked him his advice for making the most of air time. Windham is a multi-time National and Supercross race winner, but perhaps his most qualifying credential is the fact that he is the last man to beat Ricky Carmichael in a National moto. So without further ado, here’s K-Dub…
OFF THE LIP
"Changing your bike’s direction in the air is something you need to be able to do to go fast. Oftentimes there will be jumps with corners directly past their landings, so if you turn the bike while in the air and land with your wheels in the direction of the upcoming corner, you’ll have one less movement to make on the ground. This will keep your lines smooth and fluid and also keep your bike traveling in a direct and straight path with the shortest route.
"On a jump like the tabletop I’m doing in the photos, I leave the lip with my bike leaning over to the side that the upcoming corner direction goes. It’s important to familiarize yourself with the track and know exactly what follows every jump; many times, the jump face will block your view. If you know the track well, though, you’ll know ahead of time which way to turn in the air.
"As I leave the ground, I actually counter steer off the face. This causes my bike to gyroscopically turn in the direction I want it to go. Once in the air, by having the bike leaned over off the face and steering away from the turn, my bike whips around and sets me up perfectly for the next corner. It‘s kind of hard to see in the photos, but I actually hit the landing at close to forty degrees, to the right. This means that I am already beginning the turn the second my wheels hit dirt."
KICKED OUT
"Another more advanced way to help shave a little time off your laps is to stick your leg out in the air. If you think about it, a corner as tight as the one I’m about to hit will require me to take a foot off the pegs for balance and stability. Though it seems like a minimal task, removing my foot from the peg takes a second of my time and a sliver of my concentration. I scrub speed by using my "down time" in the air, where I can’t accelerate anyway, and take my foot off the peg before I even hit the corner.
"Like I said, it doesn’t sound like much, but it all adds up. Not only will you save some time and energy, you’ll also make your and your bike’s motion that much smoother and more fluid. This is a fairly advanced technique and a bit tougher than simply turning your bike in the air, so be careful. It’s easy to catch your foot on the ground and twist your ankle or knee when landing.
"With all of these little tricks, the most important thing to do is to look as far forward as you can. My best advice is to look towards the corner in the air, pick your line, and then look forward to the next obstacle. Always look ahead and don’t waste time debating your line choice. Once you pick your path, stick to it and don’t second-guess yourself."
End of 2003 TransWorld Motocross Article
By Kevin Windham
Photos And Intro By Garth Milan
That's a question we received in the TWMX inbox from Ryan, yet another faithful TWMX.com reader. To help out Ryan -- and anyone else reading this Tuesday Tip -- we've turned to one of the best whip artists out there, Kevin Windham. A few months ago Garth sat down with K-Dub at his palatial estate in Mississippi to discuss a number of things, including how to whip it like a pro.
So without further ado, Kevin Windham explains why the whip is much more than just a stylish trick...
WHIPPING IS FASTER
“Back in the day, riders used to whip it just to showboat at the end of a
good race, but these days, we scrub the jumps more for speed than anything. I
think freestylers and racers alike have an incredible level of respect for a
good, solid whip, though, because it’s a beautiful thing to look at.
“In racing, when you whip your bike, you stay a lot lower and you get back down on the ground faster, and the quicker you get to the ground, the quicker you can get back on the gas. You definitely have to hit jumps faster than normal when whipping, because you lose a lot of kick off of the lip, so to make up for having less air, you have to go faster in order to clear the jump.”
REPOSITION YOURSELF
“Not only do you stay lower in the air, but whipping is also a great way
to reposition yourself on the track. Most of the time when we’re whipping or
scrubbing, our line points completely off the track. If you know how to throw
your bike sideways once airborne, you can control both where you leave the
ground and where you land.”
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE LEAN
“As I leave the face, I’d say that it’s definitely more of a lean than a
turn. I prefer to be standing up on my whips, but you can do them sitting
down. I lean way back, and the direction of the bike is pointed towards the
side of the jump rather than the landing. The front wheel is angling away,
towards the side of the bike that will be most upward in the whip.”
IN THE AIR
“The turn I make on the face of the jump is not so much from handlebar
input as it is a lower body movement that happens as my bike is leaning up the
face, sideways. If I’ve done the lean correctly and have left the lip as I
should, everything just kind of falls into place. It’s here where the gyro
effect kicks in, and when it does, it is very important to be able to feel
that breaking point in the whip and know when to bring it back. Through both a
little bit of upper body strength and the gyroscopic effect of the wheels
spinning, the bike has a tendency to get back to straight on its own.”
LET IT FLOW
“I never actually feel my upper body pulling the bike over; it’s more of a
fluid, clean motion that’s done by moving the handlebars, leaning, and getting
that gyro effect. Whipping is not a technique that requires much muscle mass,
because when you’re weightless like that, it’s pretty easy to get the bike
back where you want it.”
BRINGING IT BACK
“Twisting the throttle and getting back on the gas hard while you begin to
straighten out is a great way to bring your bike back to straight. At the end
of a whip, the bike has a tendency to land nose-first, so you definitely want
to get your body as close to the attack position as possible to soak up and
brace for the landing. It’s just something that takes a lot of practice to get
right. After a while, you just start to feel the correct motion of doing it,
and it will all make sense.
WHAT TO WHIP IT ON
“Whips are possible on just about every kind of jump, but learning them on
tabletops are best, because there is nothing you have to worry about clearing.
Jump faces with long transitions are also helpful when learning; smaller,
quicker transitions are harder.”
NOT JUST FOR FUN
“Don’t let anyone tell you that learning how to whip your bike sideways is
a waste of time. I think that anything you can do to learn your machine better
and how it reacts in the air, what body positions make it do what, and so on,
is all beneficial to racing. To this day, I think I’ve learned more about how
my bike handles and reacts to things through play riding than I have at a
racetrack.”
End of 2008 TransWorld Motocross Article