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 Dustin Miller has to rely on his mental
game to overcome injuries |
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 Twitch doesn't let fear effect his determination |
The Zone
by Todd Seligman
How do top FMX riders prepare week after week to risk life and limb? How do they deal with riding injured? How do they know how fast to go to hit a 100ft jump? Keep reading because these questions and more are answered by the top riders in FMX as we explore the mental game.
What goes on in a FMX rider’s head can be just as, if not more important than what’s happening to their body.
Cameron Steele has been announcing FMX competitions since day one and has a unique vantage point in which to watch how the riders deal with different situations. According to Cameron, “It’s a mental game for these guys. They can practice all they want, but when they get to a new place with different jumps, there is always the first time to hit a jump. They rely on each other a lot.”
Dustin Miller explains how you gauge hitting a new jump, “You just know. You listen to the other guys as they hit the jump but mostly it is just by gut instinct.”
Cameron laughs and says, “These guys will be on the course telling each other how to hit a jump like this: ‘BBBBRRRRAAAPPPPP, BBBBBRRRRAAAPPPPP, BRRRRRRRAAAAAAA!”
“Pure instinct. You just have to be confident in your ability to gauge and reference a similar jump, watch the other guys and adjust,” says Nate Adams. “Some courses are easier than others. [The 2006 FMX Championships course] is a big course; it’s always the hardest course of the year, so you have to adjust mentally as well as physically.”
Cameron Steele mentions “Dustin Miller is fresh back from a broken elbow so that might affect him on the tight steep jumps in the middle.” To which Dustin says “If I think too much, I get distracted, so I just trust my instincts and pay attention to the variables that affect me at that moment. Right now my elbow is one of those things, but when I’m riding, I don’t even feel it.”
“That’s the difference between the top ten and the top five,” says Jeremy Stenberg. “You gotta have it set in your head that you’re right and not second guess nothin’ cause it’ll be your own hesitation that smokes you.”
“We joke around a lot just to keep us from being distracted by thinking too much,” says Dustin Miller. “You can make some adjustments in the air by using your brakes to bring your front end down or gassing it to keep from endoing but, that only goes so far. Sometimes it almost feels like mind over matter.”
Nate Adams says, “Focus is key. This sport is not forgiving so you have to focus on your riding and trust your gut.”
Dustin Miller sums it up well when he says, “Everyone has a different technique, but that is just what they do to get in the zone. When you’re in the zone, everything flows and you don’t even have to think about it. It’s just natural.”
