Trainer Talk: Loretta Lynn’s

Posted by Tim Crytser on Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Comment (1)

Visit Racer X Virtual Trainer for all your training and nutrition needs!

What’s up everyone? It’s Daniel Corbin...

As I’m writing this, I’ve just gotten back from the best motocross vacation of the year, Loretta Lynn’s. It was, as always, a tough week that had it’s up’s and downs. That’s just the way it is. But overall it was a great experience and I learned a lot. I’ll take you through the week as you read on through this blog.

The vacation began August 1st as we finished packing and headed out on the road. My family and I were lucky enough to have secured a camper for the stay on the Dude ranch, and the trip down. It’s much more comfortable driving in a camper than cramming our big family into an SUV (eight people in our family, plus we brought two friends). They don’t make any SUV’s that I know of that accommodate that many people. (Comfortably)!

Our trip down was nice and smooth, we watched movies and could grab something to eat when we were hungry, it was great. Partway through we did have a little incident though. We had to stop for gas, and I was buying. Now, we had a camper before, but it was a fifth wheel, so of course we never had to put gas in it. But this was a driving camper, and I knew that it would take a little more gas than an ordinary vehicle to fill up. I went inside the gas station, pre-paid, and started to fill up the camper. As it was filling I started wondering just how many gallons this tank holds. I looked under the camper, but I couldn’t see any gas tank. I started to follow the fuel line but it just went to this huge box...

Suddenly my eyes opened wide as I realized that that huge box was the gas tank. I couldn’t believe it! My heart sank as I realized that the one-hundred dollars I had put on the pump just wasn’t going to cut it. That sucker took about seventy gallons, and it wasn’t even empty when we stopped. That dampened my spirits a bit, but I recovered soon enough.

We got to the ranch a little after 10 p.m., but we had to wait until the next day to be parked because it had rained and it was too muddy for the campers. No surprise there, Loretta’s and rain are like two peas in a pod, it happens every year. Rain wasn’t too much of a problem the rest of the week, fortunately. We only got rain one evening, but when we did, boy did we ever! It poured, and we even were narrowly missed by a tornado! Only at Loretta’s, baby!

Practice on Monday was terrible for me. In my first practice I took the handlebars to the gut really hard, and then I proceeded to crash in the ten commandments and tear a hole through my riding pants and my boxers. I would go further than that, but I’m not comfortable with posting anything other than that on the internet! In my second practice, my stomach was still upset and made it hard for me to breathe, so I had a hard time pushing really hard. By Tuesday though, my stomach was back to normal.

Tuesday I had my first moto of 250A Pro-Sport, which was at 4:30 p.m., so we were getting right into the tough motos right away. I started out in the top ten, and proceeded to crash my way back to 19th. I wasn’t a happy camper when I got back to our pit. I put the moto behind me and focused on staying off of the ground for my next moto on Wednesday. That moto was 250A Pro-Sport, and I was determined to do much better. I got off to a mediocre start and had to fight my way up to my final standing of 10th. Much better. Still not what I was looking for, but much better.

Thursday I had two motos, one at 11:30, and the second at 4:30. The first was the second moto of 250A Pro-Sport, and I did much better than my first moto and finished 9th. I was still improving, and I was happy with that. I expected even more out of myself for my second moto of 250A, and I went into the moto with high hopes. I got a good start, but then I just seemed to get shuffled back, and I finished 11th. Those highs and lows I was talking about, this was one of the lows. I was so disappointed with myself that I almost cried. I just couldn’t understand why my riding was so bad after the way I rode at the regional. Worse still was that I didn’t know what to do to fix the problem.

After racking my brain for hours I finally decided that I was just over-thinking things. Worrying about crashing, or if I would last till the end of the moto, or who was behind me and could I keep ahead. None of these are things that should ever cross your mind while you are riding. I absolved to quit thinking all together while I was racing. Thinking is for practicing, reflexes are for racing. Friday was a new day with a new moto, and I had nothing to lose.

I started off somewhere in the mid-teens in my last moto of 250A Pro-Sport, and just didn’t think at all. In four laps I was up to 8th and was riding really strong. Then, as I was exiting the woods section after the mechanics area, my chain came off of the rear sprocket. Quickly I hopped off my bike and got it back on to try to finish the race, but it fell off again shortly after. Not wanting to trash my only bike, I pushed it off of the track and put the chain back on so I could putt over to the finish line and wait for the checkers. Once the leader got the checkered flag, I rode across the finish line to avoid getting a DNF.

When I got back to my campground, I realized what it took to make my family happy with my riding. I didn’t have to win, I just had to ride to my potential and do my best. They were all congratulating my on my ride, and telling me I rode well. This was definitely one of the high points of the week. The 250A moto on Saturday was going to be fun...

Or was it? I got off to a sixth place start, and started a backwards slide. The ruts were killing me, and there were lots of them. On the last lap I was in tenth, but in the corner after the ten commandments I went down. I finished the moto in 12th, and went 10, 11, 12 for 10th overall. Thinking back I know that the ruts were killing me because my posture was way too defensive. You just can’t ride those deep bumpy ruts without a much more aggressive posture. This is one of the biggest things I learned at Loretta’s. Another is that you have to shut your mind up and ride. No scenarios, no analysis, no position guarding. Just ride as fast as you can.

So the award ceremony was bitter-sweet for me. On one hand I finally had a reason to attend it, but on the other I know that it wasn’t the finish that either me or my sponsors were looking for. I always try to keep everything I say and write positive, lest it make any of my sponsors look bad, but this was a tough one. I do want to say though, that Tim and Seiji’s training is phenomenal, and there wasn’t one moto that I didn’t have more than enough strength and stamina to ride strong the whole way through. In fact, I feel that I didn’t ride nearly to the potential of my training, and less than a year ago it was always the other way around. These guys are the best. Period.

Chris and Jeff from PR2 also deserve more credit that I can possibly give them. Chris went the extra mile making sure that my suspension worked like a works bike, and Jeff has made that thing so fast that I was pulling factory bikes left and right. No lie. I also want to thank everyone at Twigg’s Cycle and NineoneNine Designs. Thanks to Fly for hooking me up with sweet gear, and Scott USA for my favorite goggles. Thanks to the SPFC (SportsPlex Fitness Center), and Jordan’s Flooring. Oh yeah, and my newest sponsor, FMF, thanks for all of your help Kyle.

I want to thank Kevin Klink and his friend for flying down to watch me, and most of all my family for their hard work and sacrifice. And thanks for reading this blog. I hope to write another one soon that is thoroughly positive...

Posted by Tim Crytser on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 3:02 pm

Comment (1)

Trainer Talk: Steel City Pro-Am

Posted by Tim Crytser on Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Comment (1)

Visit Racer X Virtual Trainer for all your training and nutrition needs!

What’s up everyone? It’s Daniel Corbin...

I went to a Pro-Am at Steel City recently, and I thought I’d share how it went with you guys.

Lately I’ve been wanting to race somewhere other than at the local races, and to see where I’m at against the fastest riders around here. I got online, found the Pro-Am schedule, and went straight to the first Pro-Am I could. In addition to all of the fast riders at those races, it’s also good practice because they run twenty minute moto’s, the same as Loretta’s. Plus there’s a minimum of a three-thousand dollar purse, so it’s possible to make at least a little bit of money.

I went to the Saturday practice, and I was kind of scratching my head, wondering where all of the fast guys were. Petty soon they showed up though, and I was surprised at who showed up. Darryn Durham. I was like, why is he here? Isn’t he running the Pro National series? It turns out that there was a break in the National series, and he wanted to ride somewhere close to home. There were also a few other fast riders, like Brain Shuckhart, Steve Roman, Shane Durham, and quite a few others.

Darryn was riding really well, and it didn’t even look like he was trying hard. I was really looking forward to racing with him, but when I got there on Sunday, he wasn’t there! He decided to just go and practice at another track. He probably would have beat me, but I wanted to see how close I could stay. You usually don’t get to ride with a top ten pro rider unless you race the National series. There were still plenty of fast riders left though, and I had some great battles with several of them.

My first moto was 450A, and I found myself behind the eight ball and I had to work my way up through the pack. Steve Roman got the holeshot and was way out in front, and I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough time to catch up. It turned out that I didn’t have to though, because he crashed and couldn’t get up in time to stay in first. Even with that help I still only got up to second, which just goes to show how important the start is.

My next moto was the first moto of 250A, and I was second out of the first corner. But in the fifth corner I got on the throttle a little too hard on a slick spot and both ends of the bike started to swap. I though I could ride out of it, but all of the sudden I swerved off the track. My handlebars hit me square in the chest and then I got thrown down. When I stood up my first thought was that I had broken some ribs. I started trying to breathe, but it took a while just to take short breaths.

The EMT’s and the track crew came over and pulled my bike out of the ditch that it fell in and asked me if I was all right. I thought I was just going to be like ‘yeah, I’m fine’, but instead it came out as a horse whisper that sounded like I was dying. I told them, again in a barely audible whisper, that I just needed to ride it off. They let me go and I started to putt around the track, trying my best to breathe.

It took me two or three laps to breathe normally, and I started to ride a little faster. When I saw that the leaders were getting really close to lapping me I picked up the pace and tried to see if I could keep the gap I had, or pull on them a little. For the next two or three laps they kept catching me a little each lap, but then the finish line flagger decided to give me the blue cross flag. That was it! I looked back and saw that I was still ten seconds ahead and thought ‘I’m nobody’s lapper’! They didn’t gain any time on me after that, and the finish line flagger didn’t give me the blue cross flag again!

Finishing that moto was good enough for me though, people kept telling me how gnarly my crash was. I didn’t see it so I’ll have to take their word for it! In my second 450 moto I got a fourth place start, passed for third quickly, and then started a battle for second with Shuckhart that lasted at least half of the moto. In the end he edged me out, I made a couple of passes on him but just couldn’t make anything stick. He rode very well and it was a really fun battle.

Now we finally get to the last moto of the day, the second moto of 250A. I got a really good start, but slowed up a little too much in the first corner and came out second. Roman got the holeshot and right away we had a battle on our hands! We went back and forth for half of the race, I would pass him, but then he would get me back. I would try to close the door on the inside, but he would just squeeze though! I finally passed him and managed to get a little breathing room, but he kept me honest the whole moto. It felt so good to leave with a moto win, especially after my crash. I know that if I wasn’t doing the training that I am, I would have broken something in that crash!

So that pretty much wraps up another weekend! I stayed in one piece, and so did my bike, so it must have been a good weekend! I couldn’t have done it without all of my awesome sponsors, sponsors; Coach Seiji, Racer X Virtual Trainer, Twigg Cycles, NineoneNine Designs, PR2, Fly, Scott USA, SPFC, Jordan’s Flooring, and my newest sponsor, FMF! (Welcome to the Project!) I would also like to thank my friends, Kevin Klink, and Scott Miller.

My next blog will be after Loretta’s, that should be an interesting one!

Posted by Tim Crytser on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 3:04 pm

Comment (1)

Trainer Talk: No Seat? No Problem!

Posted by Tim Crytser on Monday, June 29, 2009

Comment (1)

Visit Racer X Virtual Trainer for all your training and nutrition needs!

What’s up everyone? It’s Daniel Corbin...

Well, the dust has settled and all of the regional qualifiers are in the history books. We now know who made it to Loretta’s, and who to look out for. I didn’t really pay much attention to the other regionals, but I sure do know how mine went! I’ll try to give you a quick, thorough run down of what happened (from my point of view!).

We packed up Thursday night and left early Friday morning, while we were all still zombies, and got to the track around 9:15. We thought that we were late, but practice didn’t start until about ten, probably because the track was drenched. It must have rained from as soon as the national ended, until that morning. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, because the first practice was actually all right until things started to get mixed up. The worst part of it all was that at sign up they tried to give me a sticker to go out in the first practice, but I gave it back to them and got one for the sixth practice instead. Big mistake. I should have never even gone out there.

The track was so slippery that I was just trying to stay up the whole time. At the end of the first set, the sun started peeping from behind the clouds. It seemed like as soon as it touched the track things started to tack up. The second round of practice was decent, and the third round was pretty good considering the mire it had been earlier. After everything was said and done my bike was a mess. We went to the car wash and cleaned it up really well, and then we went to my grandparents where we were staying Friday and Saturday nights. It’s so nice to have a shower and bed to sleep in.

Friday night I put on some graphics that I had gotten from Kipp at NineoneNine Designs for the regional. They are some sick stickers! All weekend I was getting comments from people saying how good they looked. After I was done putting them on I sprayed my bike down with a silicone spray Liquid Performance makes called Topkote to make my bike look even better, and to give it a lovely melon scent! I have no idea why they decided to give it a melon scent, that’s kind of weird. But it does smell good! Just don’t get too much of it or you’ll be passed out on the floor!

Saturday the track was so much nicer than it had been on Friday, and it ended up getting really rough and rutted. I started off on a bad note, getting bad starts in both of my first two motos. In the first start, which was 250A Pro-sport, I was paying attention to everyone else but myself, and the second start I just had a terrible gate pick. In the 250 class I came from around fifteenth to fourth, and in the 450A moto I came from all the way back in the mid twenties back to seventh, which was my worst finish of the weekend. The third class I entered was 250A, and I was sick of bad starts at that point. I got a third place start and stayed there until the checkers flew.

After that I finally got some rest, because all of my motos were almost back to back. I had the 11th, 13th, and 16th motos, and they were rolling on through the races. I ended up getting two motos in each class done on Saturday. The second round went even better, as I got a third place start in 250A Pro-sport and passed for second, where I finished. Then in the 450A class I got a top ten start, and got up to fourth and settled in. Things got a bit interesting in the second moto of 250A when one and a half laps into the race my seat fell off! I was in third when it happened, and I was really tempted to pull off. I’m not one to quit though, and I kept fighting on, standing up as much as I could. Sitting on a bare sub frame isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world! Talk about a cut-out seat! Add to that that it was the last moto of a long day, and it made for a pretty tough moto.

Daniel Corbin

For all that I still managed to hold on to a fourth place finish! The only person who got me was my good friend Brock Schmelyun. He got me pretty easily, as I didn’t have much for him. Of course when I got back I had to have a little talk with my mechanic, which was my brother since he wasn’t racing at that weekend, and because he insisted that I let him. We were all happy to get back to my grandparents so we could relax after a long day of racing.

The whole day I never had a problem with fading or getting tired, I was a little worn out at the end of the day, but I still felt good. My training is really working, all the working out on the TRX, and going to the gym and all the cardio are really paying off now. So is the stretching I’ve started doing. When I woke up Sunday morning I was so stiff that it hurt to bend my back. I started stretching everything out and in no time I felt 100% better.

Something else that is really working is my bike. PR2 has got that thing working great, and the suspension took everything the track could throw at it. The engine is so strong as well, and I was the only person on a 250 to jump the famous uphill triple. I’m a shameless representer, and I’m not afraid to give credit where credit is due, and Chris and Jeff from PR2 definitely deserve some credit for how well that bike works.

Sunday was definitely my best day, every moto was a good moto. In my last 250A Pro-sport moto I got a second place start, but I let Shuckhart by my in the second corner. I don’t know why, I just thought that he was going to get me anyway. Because I let him get me, Spangler was able to get me as well, but I got by Shuckhart and Moore two laps in. I finished that moto in second and ended up with a 4-2-2 for a third overall.

In my last moto of 450A I got a top ten start, but in the third corner someone came across the track and took me out. I got up way behind and in dead last, and rode as hard as I could. I don’t remember passing most of the people I passed, but I came across the line in sixth, almost dead even with fifth. I had no idea were I finished, and the person who tells you to go to the impound area was pointing in a direction that could have been the impound area or telling me to go back to my pit. I looked at the impound area and realized that there were only five people sitting in it. I just started shaking my head, I couldn’t believe that I had managed to get all the way back to sixth. I finished 7-4-6 for 5th overall.

Well, it couldn’t get much better than that, but my next moto was a good one none the less. I started out in fourth, and I was right behind Shuckhart. I went all out coming into a corner and blew right by him, the only problem was that I was going way to fast to make the corner! I rode right off the track, and ended up in sixth by the time I got back on the track. I rode my butt off and came back to third by the third lap. The leaders had a lot of time on us, and I was catching second but there just wasn’t enough time for me to get him. I went 3-4-3 for a third overall.

So that wrapped up one of the best regionals I have ridden, big props to the Coombs' for running a great race and getting the track into great shape. I also would like to extend my appreciation to Vurb for the article they ran of me on their website. Thanks to all of my great sponsors; Coach Seiji, Racer X Virtual Trainer, Twigg Cycles, PR2, NineoneNine Designs, Fly, Scott USA, SPFC, and Jordan’s Flooring.

Posted in Racing

Posted by Tim Crytser on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 4:36 pm

Comment (1)

Trainer Talk: Back on My 2-Stroke

Posted by Tim Crytser on Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Comment (6)

Visit Racer X Virtual Trainer for all your training and nutrition needs!

What’s up everyone? It’s Daniel Corbin...

Check out the VT Website!

I’ve been having a blast riding my two-stroke these last couple of weeks. I’ve been getting it all set up and riding lots of lap on it. I recently rode at a track that I haven’t been to in a while called Rocket Raceway. It’s been way to long. That track is one of my favorites, and now I remember why. Wide open corners, off cambers, big singles, and an awesome whoop section. Definitely a true motocross style track.

One of my favorite obstacles is this hill in the middle of the track. You come out of a nice wide corner, and all you can see is a huge takeoff and the sky. I hit it third gear wide open and launch into the sky. You’re so high up that you kind of pull yourself a little closer to the bike to make sure you don’t float away! It seems like you’re in the air for about half an hour before you finally come back down to earth.

Other than that the track is just generally awesome, and Mark, the owner, keeps the track in great shape all day. He kept plenty of moisture in the track, and by the end of the day it had allowed big ruts to form that reminded me of something you would see at Glen Helen. By the time I was done riding I was worn out and sore. I think I ran about three tanks of gas though my bike. Needless to say, I got a great day of riding in, and I’m going to have to go back there soon.

My next riding experience was not nearly as good. I think every time I’ve ridden since, except for races, has been in the mud. The rain has been coming down around here lately, and our track hasn’t had enough time to dry out in between each dousing. The last time I rode, our track was literally a swimming pool. Every corner was a huge puddle. I think riding in that crap tore my fork seals up, because they were leaking the next day at a race.

As soon as I got back from the race I took the suspension off of my bike and sent it out to PR2 to get it re-serviced, re-valved, and maybe re-sprung too. I can't wait to see what it's like when I get it back. While I’m waiting for it, I’ve been working on getting a sick set of graphics from NineoneNine Designs, and I think they're going to be awesome. Actually, I know that they’re going to be awesome, and I can’t wait to put them on my bike and see how they look.

My training has been going well, especially on my bike. I’ve been making a lot of progress and have been getting a lot faster. We’ll see exactly where I’m at come the regional. Other than that the only interesting thing I’ve done recently is gone camping with my best friend. This isn’t a normal camping trip, mind you. We leave the house with a little bit of food and water, and the clothes on our backs. Once we get out in the woods, we make our own tent out of the things we find out there, cook our food over the campfire, and try to make all of the tools we need out of sticks and rocks. Try is the keyword!

Our families tell us that we’re morons, and laugh at us every time we talk about planning another outing! We have a really good time though, and the last two times in a row we’ve actually been able to spend the whole night outside! That’s progress! Like I said though, we build our own tent, and you just try to build one that keeps you warm, it’s not as easy as you might think. Well, you judge for yourself, stupid or smart, but we’re going to keep trying till we get it right. Until next time...

Thanks to all of my great sponsors; Coach Seiji, Racer X Virtual Trainer, Twigg Cycles, PR2, NineoneNine Designs, Fly, Scott USA, SPFC, Jordan’s Flooring, and also to Kevin Klink, Scott Miller, Jayme Jordan, and Chris Jansen.

Posted by Tim Crytser on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 3:19 pm

Comment (6)