This month I want to talk to you ladies a little bit about advice. Here’s a brief example. I was wrenching for Melissa Paris-Hayes at Summit Point inWest Virginia a few years back when another racer approached her pit area. In an attempt to show off, he began to school her about how she could be faster on the track, basically glorifying himself as the track guru. She listened patiently, but he later found out the hard way that Melissa’s lap times were already about ten seconds faster than his, rendering virtually everything he said as debatable.
As a woman rider or maybe just a fairly new rider, you’ll receive plenty of tips from all kinds of sources. These friendly yet moot offerings could be about anything from what kind of gear to wear to what kind of bike to get or how to ride. This is the part where I warn you. Take all pieces of advice with a grain of salt, as mere suggestions, not truths. Don’t buy a bike because it’s the bike someone else said you should get. Buy it because it’s the bike that you want, the bike you feel comfortable on. Don’t consider any opinion the end-all be-all of experience just because that person insists they’re an expert. Sometimes, they could just be tooting their own horn.
So how do I tell what is worth listening to and what is just plain ridiculous?
Well, until you’ve learned a few things for yourself and have been riding a long time, you really can’t. Until then, you believe guys when they say there are such things as advanced canyons and second gear pinned in turn 8 at Willow Springs. First of all, there are no advanced canyons, just roads on a G.P.S. map. Where you decide to ride is purely up to you and your grasp of the fundamentals. Additionally, if you’re second gear pinned in turn 8 at Willow Springs, you’re probably a beginner who is getting passed by virtually everyone else on the track. And these are just a few small examples of would-be mentors offering testosterone-driven pep talks. They mean well, but to take these guys seriously is like believing that the weather guy is 100 percent accurate when we all know he’s going off the same finger and spit barometer as everyone else.
If you ask for my advice, I’ll offer it, but I want you to consider my suggestions as options. The only way you learn is by trying different things until you find a method or a bike or gear that works for you. Try on different jackets, ride different roads and experiment with different riding styles until something clicks. Its okay if the light bulb turns on because of something you heard an instructor say at a track school, but you shouldn’t be attempting wheelies on the freeway because Friday night Joe says all the cool peeps do it.
If you feel that you need coaching or advice or you have questions about riding, please save your questions for certified instructors, coaches and professionals qualified in that particular field. They’re the ones who can offer the best assistance that will ultimately help steer you toward your goals as a rider. Generally, you can consider your buddies and their bench racing good entertainment, but not serious words of wisdom. Get formal training, read the books, get some seat time. Then you can spot the b.s. before you become a victim of it.
