Riding motorcycles has always been inherently dangerous. Although safety has improved with better tires, suspension, traction control, and riding gear, the laws of physics still apply when things go wrong. Be it on the track, street, or dirt, fellow riders are often are the first ones to arrive on scene when somebody crashes. And since emergency medical professional may not always be nearby, there are steps rider can take to improve the situation, or at least attempt to prevent further injury until paramedics arrive.

As a career firefighter/paramedic, an AFM racer, and an instructor with a track-day provider, my fellow instructors and recognized the need to develop simple approaches to being more than just bystanders–and actually assist in a emergency medical response.

Even though we developed our approaches for track-day situations, they can also apply to your street or trail riding. The goal is to get the injured rider stabilized, initiate basic life support, and have them ready for transport as soon as possible in order to maximize their overall outcome. In the emergency medicine world, we have a goal called The Golden Hour–getting a trauma victim to definitive care within one hour of the injury. Following these steps before paramedics arrive can shorten the on-scene time for the injured rider, increasing their chance of survival. Keep in mind the physician’s Hippocratic Oath of “first, do no harm,” which is important because many injuries to crash victims actually occur after the initial incident; we want to minimize the chance of further injury. 

The first step is to understand and assess the initial scene and plan an approach. There are three priorities when dealing with a downed rider, with the first priority being you. You need to make sure you are safe and that your bike is located in an area where the both of you do not end up becoming bowling pins should another rider come through, grab a handful of brakes, and crash into you. Target-fixation is a real thing, and it is not uncommon for riders to be distracted and crash themselves when approaching an incident. Walk backwards towards the incident if you must, or have a fellow rider watch for traffic, but make sure your safety comes first.

The second priority is making sure your fellow riders and bystanders do not become part of the incident. And the third priority is the downed rider; this may sound callous, but it is there for good reason–to make sure you do not expand the incident, creating more injuries and diverting medical resources from the initial accident.

As you approach the downed rider, you can gain perspective of the potential injuries by looking at their position, the damage to the motorcycle, and the damage to any trackside objects that may have been hit (“furniture,” as some Irish road racers would call it). The rider’s position combined with the collateral damage of the incident will tell you the “Mechanism of Injury,” a medical term to indicate what probable injuries may have occurred. For example, if a rider low-sides and takes a header into the tire wall, the Mechanism of Injury would tell us we could expect head and neck injuries.

As we approach the rider, we want to look at their movements, which can give you an indication of injuries. Are they favoring an arm or a leg, are they moaning, are they moving in a rational manor, or are they disoriented and asking repetitive questions?  Most riders, especially newer ones, will lie on the ground for a moment to collect themselves; experienced riders and racers will often jump up and look at their bike to see how damaged it is, even when they have sustained injuries. Many racers have experience with injuries, so the shock factor is not so high following a crash.

If you are an instructor at a track-day event, make eye contact with a cornerworker and let them know what resources you need. This is where it is important to know what hand signals are used at each track so you can communicate the need for a red flag and/or an ambulance, or if there is oil on the track. Having a good relationship with track staff is essential during an unexpected event. 

Once we make contact with the injured rider, we typically will not move them. The rare occasions when we will move a rider is if their airway is compromised or if further injury will occur from their current position; but most of the time, we do not move a downed rider.

Next, we follow the basics of Airway, Breathing, and Circulation, or “ABCs.”  For our purposes we are just assessing to see how well the rider is managing their airway and how effective their breathing is. There are really only two occasions where we will immediately remove a rider’s helmet–if their airway is blocked in some manner, or if they are vomiting. This is a very delicate procedure, as you can cause further neck injury when removing a helmet if it is not done correctly.  That being said, a neck injury is irrelevant if the person dies from not being able to breath. This is one of those exercises you want to practice beforehand. With a quick internet search, you can find a number of online tutorials on how to properly remove an injured rider’s helmet.

The circulation piece for our purposes is basically looking at their skin signs; the big red flag is if they are pale and sweaty. When you are in full leathers lying in the dirt at Buttonwillow Raceway in the middle of August, even a healthy person will be sweaty, but a combination of someone looking pale with profuse sweating can be in indication that the person is going into shock.

The next step is to assess their mental status or “Level of Consciousness;” this is done by asking four basic questions, “What’s your name? What happened? Where are you? What is the date?” If they answer all four questions correctly, we have determined that they are “alert and oriented times four.” This is important to relay to paramedics when they arrive. This line of questioning is used universally among emergency medical personnel, so they will immediately understand what you are telling them.

If you are dealing with a disoriented rider, this can be one of the more challenging scenarios. First, this is an indication of a head injury, which is bad. Secondly, they are rarely cooperative, so you can expect erratic and even combative behavior, repetitive questioning, strange requests, denial of any injury, and most of the time they are going to insist on taking their gear off regardless of what you tell them. We do not want to restrain people in this situation, we want to do our best to calm them down and keep them from injuring themselves further.

Dealing with non-head-injury situations can be easier; our goal with these riders is to simply stabilize their injuries. This is typically done by holding the injured appendage in the position you found it. If you can feel a pulse at the wrist or ankle, great, this tells you that whatever fracture they may have has not severed or blocked an artery. Stabilizing an injury goes the same for head, neck, and back injuries. With this situation we want to hold the person’s helmet in the position we found them, assuming their chin is not pressed against their chest and blocking their airway. Let the injured rider know what you are doing; our goal is to prevent movement of the head that can further injure their spine. Imagine a bowling bowl attached to the end of a broomstick; moving that bowling ball is going to have an immediate effect on that stick, and we want to keep them both from moving. This can be done by kneeling down by the rider’s head and placing your hands on each side of their helmet; this is referred to as “holding c-spine.”  Make sure you are comfortable because you are going to be there for a while.  Once you hold an injury in place whether it is an arm, leg, or head, you do not let go until you can hand it off to a paramedic.

Bleeding injuries are another challenge. In these situations we want to apply direct pressure to the area to stop the bleeding. If the wound continues to bleed, you can attempt to elevate the appendage above the level of the heart, but this must be done with care to ensure you are not moving the arm or leg in a manner that will injure the rider.

Should it occur, the worst-case scenario is when a rider is in cardiac arrest. We often assume this is from a traumatic injury from a crash, but of the few I have encountered at the racetrack the majority were the result of medical conditions such as a stroke or heart attack. Regardless, if you are trained in CPR, which you really should be for a lot of reasons, you can begin resuscitation efforts. And whether you are trained in CPR or not, it is critical that you get help on the way immediately. 

Now that we have done what we can for our fellow rider, we are going to hand them off to the arriving paramedics. The paramedics do not need a long story as to what happened, and they will likely blow you off if they feel you are distracting them from the rider, so your simple goal is to tell them who the rider is, their age, their level of consciousness, extent of their injuries and what you have done.  For example, “This is John, he is 36 years old, alert and oriented times three, complaining of left leg pain, it appears his leg is broken at the ankle, we have held his leg in place and kept his head from moving by holding c-spine since he isn’t able to answer all of our questions and we’re worried about a head injury.”  The paramedic will thank you and let you know if they want you to keep holding the leg and the head. With this information, the paramedics have a head start on their patient assessment, reducing their on-scene time and you have prevented further injury by stabilizing John.  Great job!

Ultimately, a rider critically injured in a motorcycle crash needs definitive care from a surgeon. Your goals are to maximize the rider’s chance of both survival and to minimize injury. Utilizing basic life support skills, you can give riders that chance. I hope this has been helpful. Be safe and always ride with the best gear available!

About the author: Clive Savacool has been an AFM racer and a riding instructor with Carters@theTrack since 2008 on the west coast; he won an AFM Expert-class championship in 2019. Savacool has competed in several professional races including the 2014 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Savacool’s experience in the fire service began in 1996 in the San Francisco Bay Area and he recently left the position of Fire Chief for the City of South Lake Tahoe to be CEO of the software company LogRx. For more information on rider first aid, Clive can be contacted at savacool71@gmail.com

The post Rider First Aid: When A Rider Crashes appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

August 2024 – Yamaha Champions Riding School is proud to announce Champ U: Track Day, the newest curriculum in the highly successful Champ U Online Motorcycle Education Series by ChampSchool. Champ U: Track Day is the complete guide to riding a motorcycle on a racetrack. This eight-plus-hour curriculum contains more than 120 videos broken up into four major sections: Before the Track, At the Track, On the Track, and a special Technical Section featuring curriculums on suspension, data, bike prep, and tire technology. 

Modern motorcycles are incredible vehicles. It is impossible to safely explore what these amazing machines are capable of on public roads. Track days are safe, structured environments free of road hazards, traffic, and the police.  Track days are broken up into multiple groups based on rider experience, pace, and riding goals. Riders are free to go as fast or slow as they wish without worrying about what is around the next corner. A motorcycle track day is a place to improve as a rider, safely explore the potential of the motorcycle, and participate in one of the most enjoyable experiences imaginable, riding a motorcycle on a racetrack.

Going to the track can be intimidating for new track day participants and not everybody has a mentor to help them along. How do I sign up? How do I get there? What do I bring? What do I do when I get there? Am I good enough? What about my bike? What about my gear? Champ U: Track Day provides answers to all these questions plus pro tips by some of the most experienced riders, companies, and organizations in the US. 

Maybe you have been doing track days for years but want to get better. Champ U: Track Day takes you on a deep dive into how to ride a motorcycle safely, consistently, and quickly on a racetrack taught by national road racing champions like Nick Ienatsch, Chris Peris, Cody Wyman, Stefano Mesa, Eziah Davis, and more.  

There is a lot of advice out there about the technical aspects of doing track days. Champ U partnered with successful industry experts who cut through the advice with proven information: suspension with Ohlins USA, data with AimSports, bike prep with KWS Motorsports, and tire technology with Bridgestone.   

If you are interested in trying a track day for the first time or if you have been doing track days for years, this complete guide to track days will save you time and money while making you a safer, faster and more consistent rider. 

Champ U: Track Day retails for $99.95 and is yours for life to review as many times as you wish. Take 25% OFF with this special introductory offer with code TDLaunch325 and get Champ U: Track Day now for only $74.96 

Learn more about Champ U: Track Day here: https://ridelikeachampion.com/track-day/  

About Yamaha Champions Riding School: 

Yamaha Champions Riding School (ChampSchool) is the nation’s premier motorcycle training program. ChampSchool is the evolution of the Freddie Spencer High-Performance Riding School and was founded by racer, author, and former right-hand man of Spencer, Nick Ienatsch, partnered with national endurance champion Chris Peris.  ChampSchool uses “Champions Habits” to teach all riders the skills and techniques used by the top riders in the world to go faster safer, while concentrating on the way in which modern motorcycles are designed to be ridden. ChampSchool is dedicated to making all motorcycle riders safer and more in control of their riding, no matter what type of riding they do. For more information visit www.champschool.com 

Yamaha Champions Riding School is proudly sponsored by: 

Yamaha Motor Corporation USA, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tires, Dainese, Arai Helmets, YamaLube, GYTR, Chatterbox, GB Racing, ModOp, Chickenhawk Tire Warmers, Techspec, Payless Rental Cars, and N2 Track Days.  

The post Yamaha Champions Riding School Launches “Champ U: Track Day” appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

The Yamaha R-Series motorcycles were born on the track and the track is the only place to explore the limits of these amazing machines.

Everyone is interested in trying their motorcycles on the track, but getting on track can be intimidating and expensive. Yamaha would like to give you an amazing motorcycle track experience with world-class instruction from Yamaha Champions Riding School at an affordable price, regardless of your riding experience.

Join us Thursday, April 11, at Motorsport Ranch in Cresson, TX, just outside of Fort Worth, for the Yamaha R-World Track Experience featuring Yamaha Champions Riding School.

This is a Bring Your Own Bike Event!

The R-World Track Experience will run all day between 8am and 5pm, with three groups and 20-minute rotations between track, paddock, and classroom. You are welcome to bring any type or brand of street bike. Cruisers, baggers, ADV, standards, and sportbikes are all welcome. Full safety gear is required for the Novice and Intermediate groups, but more relaxed street gear is acceptable in the Street Group with a minimum of a full-face helmet, riding boots, long pants, riding jacket, and gloves required. 

Street Group: This half-day group is for riders who have never been on a track, don’t have full safety gear and would like to explore the track without the chaos of a normal track day. This group will be limited to highway speeds with instructors in a lead / follow formation and no pressure to go fast. Any street-legal motorcycle is welcome, with no requirements for safety wires, taped lights, or other modifications. The only technical requirement is that the motorcycle must be in perfect working condition with nothing leaking, nothing falling off, good tires, and good brakes. Riders must have a DOT-legal full-face helmet, jacket, over-the-ankle boots, gloves, and long pants. The Street Group will run 20-minute sessions every hour with 20 minutes of instruction from professional instructors at Yamaha Champions Riding School. Thanks to Yamaha, the cost for this group is only $49 with a discount code from your participating Yamaha dealer. Do not miss this unique opportunity to get on track with world-class instruction. The Street Group is limited to 16 people per session. The morning session will be from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm, and the afternoon session from 1 pm to 4:30 pm. 

Novice Group: The Novice Group will be all day from 8:00 am until 5 pm and is for new track riders with full safety gear, or track riders with less than five track days’ worth of experience. Any street-legal motorcycle is welcome with no requirements for safety wire, taped lights, or other modifications. The only technical requirement is that the motorcycle must be in perfect working condition with nothing leaking, nothing falling off, good tires and good brakes. Full, track safety gear (leathers) is required, and the sessions will not be speed-limited. The Novice Group will run 20-minute sessions every hour with 20 minutes of instruction from the professional instructors at Yamaha Champions Riding School. Thanks to Yamaha, the cost for this group is only $149 with a code from your participating Yamaha dealer. The Novice Group is limited to (25) people. 

Intermediate Group: The Intermediate Group is also run all day and is for experienced track day riders with full safety gear and traditionally prepared track day motorcycles. Although The Intermediate Group will not be speed-limited in any way, it is not for racers or A-Group track day riders. The Intermediate Group will feature 20-minute on-track sessions with some of the fastest instructors in the country, followed by 20-minute classroom sessions from Yamaha Champions Riding School. Thanks to Yamaha, the cost for this group is only $149 with a code from your participating Yamaha dealer. The Intermediate Group is limited to (25) people.

CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL PARTICIPATING YAMAHA DEALER FOR A DISCOUNT CODE!

(Lone Star Yamaha, Maxim Motorsports, and Classic Powersports)

Learn More about Yamaha R-World Track Event at Cresson

The post YCRS Hosting Yamaha R-World Track Experience At MotorSport Ranch appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

All schedule submissions should include: the name of your school or trackday organization, your schedule (including exact dates, correct track names and locations, and the track layout being used that day, if applicable), and full contact information for consumers.

Schedules submitted will be published in the Calendar section of Roadracing World magazine and the Events calendar section of Roadracingworld.com as soon as possible after they are received.

For trackday and school organizations and schedules to be listed in Roadracing World’s 2024 Trackday Directory annual edition, however, we need your schedule and the following information by February 2, 2024:

School or Trackday Organization Name:

Physical or Mailing Address (Street address, city, state abbreviation, zip code):

Phone Number:

Website Address:

Email Address:

Participant Information (Select one answer for each question):

1. Events Run Rain or Shine: Yes or No

2. Coolant: Antifreeze OK or No Antifreeze Allowed

3. Headlight & Taillight: OK or Tape or Disconnect or Tape and Disconnect

4. Mirrors & Signals: OK or Tape or Remove

5. License Plate: OK or Remove

6. Safety Wire: Some Required or None Required

7. Sidestand: OK or Remove

8. The minimum age to participate is: ?

Please e-mail schedule/calendar and Trackday Directory listing information and/or updates to dswarts@roadracingworld.com.

Even if your 2024 schedule is not finalized, please respond to us and send whatever information you can so that you will not be left out of the Trackday Directory annual. Provisional schedules or dates listed as provisional are allowed.

There is no cost to be listed in Roadracing World’s Trackday Directory annual edition, but we can’t post your information if we don’t receive it in time. As a result, late submissions or incomplete submissions may not be published.

Again, the deadline to submit is February 2, 2024.

If you’ve already submitted your schedule for inclusion in the Calendar section of Roadracing World & Motorcycle Technology, great! But this is not enough information for an entry in the Trackday Directory. Please submit the participant information requested above to be included in the once-per-year Roadracing World Trackday Directory or call us to do minor updates to the information we published in our last Trackday Directory.

If you have any doubt about what you have or have not sent in or if it was received, please contact us.

Send Photos

As always, we are also requesting trackday organizers and school operators to submit digital photos of their events and groups in action – on and off the track — for possible publication in the 2024 Trackday Directory. This is a great way to publicize your events and spotlight some of your members at no cost to you, but we need you to help us help you.

Digital photos must be in-focus, free from any watermarks or graphics, and high-resolution, which means a minimum of 300 dpi/ppi or 3000 pixels wide at 3 inches. The best way to submit these photos is with a file transfer program like Google Drive, Hightail, or Dropbox, which are free to download and use on a limited basis. Emailing the photos in small batches also works.

Photos must be accompanied by information to be used to write a caption. This includes the name of the track and information in order to credit the photographer, etc. By submitting a photo or photos, you certify that you own the submitted material and that you give us (Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.) permission to publish it in Roadracing World magazine and/or post it on Roadracingworld.com, without paying you (or anybody else) any money.

And racing organizations, if your contact information has changed since last year or you just want to be sure we have your correct information please e-mail it in.

For additional information, e-mail dswarts@roadracingworld.com or call (909) 654-4779.

The post Final Call! 2024 Trackday Directory: Submit Schedules And Photos By February 2 appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

Check out http://www.cvmaracing.com for more information about racing in southern California.

Check out http://www.roadracingworld.com to find out more about motorcycle road racing in your area.

The post Video: Stuman Rides: “How To Get Started In Motorcycle Road Racing” appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

To read more articles like this one originally published in the December 2015 print issue of Roadracing World, subscribe to Roadracing World. (The article has been updated with additional photos and information from later MotoAmerica racing seasons.)

By Dr. Laura Ellis

Racers and team owners place great emphasis on building and tuning fast, lightweight, reliable bikes, but building and fueling the rider is just as important. Motorcycle racers are extreme athletes frequently performing in difficult conditions. I get a lot of questions from racers on how to optimize their performance. This article addresses some of the most common concerns I see in the sport.

A critical part of fueling the racer is optimal hydration. Consider it part of race preparation. The two goals of optimal hydration are to improve athletic performance and prevent dangerous complications of dehydration, some of which can be severe.

In this article, we will define hydration and its relevance to racing; provide scientific facts to dispel some myths about hydration; and give the reader excellent hydration options.

In medicine, we define hydration as “the status of the fluid-electrolyte balance in a patient.” Fluid in this case is water. The electrolytes we’re concerned with are sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium.

The human body is 60-75% water. Some parts of the body have more water than others. For example, the brain contains 95% water, the lungs 85% and blood 82%.

Body water is stored in two major ways; 2/3 is intra-cellular (inside the cells) and 1/3 is extra-cellular (outside the cells), in the blood stream and in between the cells.

Water is replenished by ingestion of food and water and is lost in a variety of ways called “insensible losses,” via exhaled air, urine, feces and sweat. Insensible water losses vary substantially with small changes in ambient temperature, humidity and physical exertion.

For optimal health and daily function I recommend drinking half your body weight in ounces of water. This assumes you are at or near your ideal body weight. For example, I weigh 132 pounds, which is ideal for me, so I drink around 66 ounces of water every day. That’s about 2.0 liters a day for me. Don’t count what you drink during exercise-that’s in addition to your baseline volume. Nearly everyone is under-hydrated so if you follow my daily rule you may find that you urinate quite frequently for a day or two. You’ll adjust. And you’ll notice you feel better, sleep better, are less hungry and lose unwanted weight easier. The feeling of thirst is a signal from the brain indicating we need more fluid. This thirst mechanism diminishes as we age so don’t rely on feeling thirsty before you drink. In fact, by the time you feel thirsty you’re already behind and will be functioning sub-par. Catching up can take hours or even days depending on how under-hydrated you are.

Current evidence suggests that many athletes start a training session or competitive game or race under-hydrated and do not consume enough fluids to replace sweat loss. This puts them at a distinct disadvantage, mentally and physically. Under-hydration can lead to dangerous outcomes due to poor decision-making, slower reaction times, muscle cramping and even seizures and occasionally death. Think about the times you’ve crashed. Can you attribute any of them to fatigue or slowed reaction time? Many racers tell me “yes.”

It’s important to know that sweat loss is mainly water, but it also contains minerals, which we refer to as electrolytes. Electrolytes are essential for conduction of electrical energy between and within cells, for maintaining cognitive function (decision-making), communication between nerves and muscles (reaction time) and for muscle contraction itself.

Sweat contains large amounts of sodium with much lower concentrations of potassium, magnesium and calcium.

Of the four key electrolytes contained in lost sweat only sodium can typically be depleted through sweat loss alone.

Sweating 2.0 liters per hour (which is not uncommon) in a hot race would mean that within two hours your daily intake of sodium has been depleted. Considering that there are no usable reserves of sodium in the body, you need to replace sodium as you exercise. The other three electrolytes can typically be replenished by tapping into stores within the body.

Why is sodium so important?

Sodium is not only the most likely to be lost, it is also the electrolyte most required during training and racing.

Blood sodium loss and gains are tightly regulated by the kidneys with drives from the brain to increase salt intake or drink more water as necessary.

Normal blood levels are maintained between 135-145 mmol/l (mili moles/liter) concentration. Given sodium losses, small reserves and narrow band of operation, it is relatively easy for athletes to become sodium depleted.

Low blood sodium in sports is mostly due to the dilutional effects of drinking water or low-concentration sports drinks in excess of sweat and urine sodium losses.

This condition is known as Exercise Associated Hyponatremia (EAH).

With EAH, the athlete experiences weakness, nausea, muscle fatigue and cramping. As sodium levels drop even further, resultant fluid shifts occur in an effort to equalize and water moves into the brain. This can lead to agitation, seizures and occasionally death.

Risk factors for EAH include long (4-hour+) races, slow running pace, female gender, low body weight, pre-race excessive water intake, over-drinking (more than 1.5 liter/hour) during racing and abundance of drinks during the event weekend.

What about the other electrolytes?

Potassium

Along with sodium, potassium regulates the electrical integrity of the cell membrane and is therefore important in nerve conduction.

Potassium also helps transport glucose into the cell so it is crucial for energy generation.

Low blood potassium is usually due to diarrhea, fasting and taking certain drugs such as diuretics long-term–not from sweating.

In sports, low potassium is rare. Certain ultra-endurance athletes who generally have a poor solid-food diet may be prone to low potassium, leading to nausea, muscle fatigue and weakness.

Potassium supplements should always be taken with caution and on the advice of a doctor. Contrary to what your mother may have told you, eating bananas has no significant effect on blood potassium levels.

Calcium

Calcium is intimately involved in muscle contraction and relaxation and nerve conduction.

Your body has vast supplies of calcium stored in the bones which are tapped into when needed.

Generally, in a well-nourished athlete eating a normal diet with dark-green vegetables, calcium deficiency during racing is rare.

Dietary sources are generally better than supplements. Equally important are weight-bearing exercises. Swimmers and cyclists suffer the same bone calcium loss as sedentary individuals so remember to fit weight-bearing exercises into your regimen.

Magnesium

Magnesium is necessary in every cell for enzyme reactions as well as muscle contraction and energy production.

Prolonged exercise and training with poor diet can lead to depletion although this is rare to surface in an acute setting.

Magnesium deficiency can lead to dizziness, fatigue and depression.

There is no evidence that taking magnesium supplements by people with normal blood levels offers any benefit in sports performance.

To sum it up so far, inadequate replacement of water and sodium will lead to early fatigue, weakness, nausea, muscle fatigue and cramping.

So, HOW MUCH should you drink while training and racing?

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Position Stand on Exercise and Fluid Replacement:

Before Exercise: Preload by drinking “500 mls (milliliters) fluid two hours before exercise to allow adequate hydration and allow excessive water to be excreted by the kidneys.”

During Exercise: “…individuals should be encouraged to consume the maximal amount of fluids during exercise that can be tolerated without gastrointestinal discomfort up to a rate equal to that lost from sweating…” In other words, figure out your sweat rate and simply replace what you lose. Example: A 1.2 kg loss would be replaced with 1200 mls of fluid. Measure this once or twice in various conditions (temperature and humidity) to get an idea of volume needed, then use it as a guideline for future activity in similar conditions. Sound complicated? It’s not. Professional athletes do it for a reason–it gives them an advantage. Here’s how you do it. Weigh yourself before and after a training or race event. Convert the difference in weight from pounds to kilograms, (1.0 pound x 0.4536 = kg; 1 kg x 2.2046 = lbs.). Your sweat/water loss in mls is 1000 x the kg difference. Most water bottles have ml and oz gradations so just look at the bottle for the conversion to ounces.

Now, WHAT should you drink while training and racing?

What’s the difference between all the drinks on the market? It’s confusing!

Rather unhelpfully the sports drink industry has confused hydration with fuel with recovery.

We classify sports drinks into the following groups:

Protein drinks (no carbohydrates).

Energy drinks.

Carbohydrate drinks (with or without electrolytes).

Electrolyte-only drinks.

Let’s look at each one.

Protein drinks are popular among bodybuilders. They are primarily designed for muscular recovery post-exercise or to act as a dietary protein supplement. Protein drinks will not aid in training/race hydration needs and are typically too light in electrolyte content to help significantly with fluid balance post-event. Certainly not useful as part of your race hydration. Examples are Muscle Milk, Maximuscle, Promax, Impact, Whey Protein.

Energy drinks usually contain a lot of sugar (8%-12%) and caffeine (or natural sources of it such as guarana). They are “lifestyle drinks,” not really “sports drinks,” but are marketed at sporting events and the companies behind them sponsor many top athletes and events, even though athletes are unlikely to be drinking them. (It’s sort of like the M&M’s sponsorship in NASCAR.) Energy drinks are too sugary to work as effective rehydration drinks (above 6%-8% carbohydrate fluids are hypertonic and absorption through the gut slows down) and they are unlikely to contain electrolyte volumes found in sweat loss. Examples are RedBull, Relentless, Monster, AMP. Again, these should not be part of your race hydration.

Carbohydrate drinks are the original sports drinks, typically with 6%-8% isotonic carbohydrate solution. They often contain modest amounts of electrolytes (approximately 200-350 mg/l sodium) to assist with electrolyte replenishment and to increase palatability. They have been proven effective in boosting endurance performance for activities lasting longer than one hour at a suitably high intensity. One major issue with carbohydrate drinks is that if they are used at times when fluid requirements are very high (e.g., in the heat or during very long events) and an athlete is drinking a lot of them they are consuming an unnecessarily large amount of calories which could lead to gastric upset. They serve a purpose but have some of the issues of energy drinks and typically do not sufficiently meet the electrolyte needs of most athletes. Mixing energy and hydration needs in one drink can create imbalances since often energy and hydration needs are at different ends of the scale. Examples are Powerade, Gatorade and Vitamin Water (which actually contains calories but no sodium!).

Electrolyte-only drinks contain no or negligible amounts of carbohydrate/sugars and no protein so are designed simply to maximize hydration. They are hypotonic so are absorbed more rapidly in the gut than carbohydrate drinks. While electrolyte-only drinks do not provide carbohydrate or protein sources to meet the energy demands of exercise, products such as energy gels and bars can be consumed as energy is needed. This allows an athlete to fine tune/balance their intake of fluids, electrolytes and calories separately depending on the ambient conditions, length and intensity of the activity they are taking part in. Electrolyte-only drinks can be used before, during or after exercise to replace fluids and electrolytes without the addition of carbohydrates or other calories if they are not required. Examples are H2ProHydrate, Hi5, Zero, nuun and Elete Water.

Some riders say they have had good results using Pedialyte (or generic equivalents) for rehydration. It’s important to note that electrolytes need to be replaced only when they are lost such as in sweating or with vomiting and diarrhea. In the case of athletes we’re concerned with losses due to sweating and this is nearly exclusively sodium loss. Calcium, magnesium and potassium are stored in certain body compartments and are mobilized as needed so rarely need to be replaced. Pedialyte is perfectly fine for athletes to use for replacement but has more potassium and phosphorus than is needed–but no harm done, you just pee it out. My favorite electrolyte replacement for hydration when sweating is H2ProHydrate simply because it has what you need and nothing you don’t need, plus it comes in tablet form which is easy to transport and use. It comes in 250, 500, 1000 and 1500 concentration tablets which allows you to use a prescribed strength for pre-loading the night before sweating and using a different strength for competition and training days and adjusting to conditions (temperature, intensity, humidity) as needed. A “sweat test” can determine your sodium loss, which is unique to each athlete; this is what the true pros do–prescription hydration.

Since 2014 my team has used H2ProHydrate by Precision Hydration for fluid and sodium management. It comes in an effervescent tablet that you simply drop in your water bottle. H2ProHydrate is widely used in Europe and is produced in the UK. Over the last year it has been added to the programs of many American pro soccer and football teams. You can obtain it in this country by ordering it from various distributors. Much of the information in this article was provided by Precision Hydration.

Another good product is nuun, also an easy to use and transport tablet, which is available in the U.S. at sporting goods stores and outfitters.

For maintaining energy for long days at the track and especially for endurance competition, I encourage a diet with quality protein and complex carbohydrates. Vegetables are a critical part of this. Avoid processed food and simple carbs. If you are exhausted and need quick energy for that last race of the day, then you can add a quick fuel such as fruit juice or sports gels but expect to experience a “sugar crash” when you get back to the pit. It’s always best to maintain steady fuel, which results in a steady, reliable output of energy. That’s what gives you the winning edge over the guy who’s gulping sugary drinks and eating honey buns.

Here’s to your optimal health and on-track performance!

Dr. Laura Ellis is a wellness physician and vein surgeon with practices in Asheville, North Carolina, and in Laguna Beach and West Hollywood in Southern California. She has authored numerous articles in medical journals, and has written two books, The Hormone Handbook and Inside Out. She is host of The Dr. Laura Ellis Show at Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood. Her medAge® Comprehensive Health Program focuses on the prevention, apprehension, and reversal of degenerative illness in all patients and on optimization of cognitive and physical function for competitive athletes. Prior to establishing her current practices, Dr. Ellis worked as a trauma surgeon and as a general surgeon. And she is a former racer as well as a current street and track rider.

Dr. Ellis ran her own team, AXcess Racing, in the 2016 MotoAmerica KTM RC Cup Series, with riders Brandon Paasch and Jackson Blackmon. Paasch won the championship with seven race wins and a total of 16 podium finishes in 17 races.

For more information contact Dr. Laura Ellis via the medAge® website at www.medAge.com.

Racing Doctor: Who Is Laura Ellis, MD?

“A Minute Reduction In Your Reaction Time Can Be Devastating…”

By Michael Gougis

The journey from non-rider to racer for Dr. Laura Ellis was short. She started riding four years ago; last year, she won a rookie title with CCS. As a medical professional specializing in nutrition and exercise, she also quickly noted that lots of racers spend far more time on their machines than they do on their bodies.

Ellis applied her experience racing and working with athletes to the sport of motorcycle road racing, and has been working with racing organization staffers and racers across the nation to help them optimize their physical and mental performances. Racing provides a particular need for proper hydration, as few sports that drain the athlete’s fluids require said athlete to wear a full-face helmet, body armor and leather suit at the moment of maximum exertion.

And in few other sports are the stakes as high. “Even a slightly slower reaction time can be devastating on the track,” she says.

Ellis is a surgeon with a practice in Asheville, North Carolina, and others in Laguna Beach and West Hollywood, California. She also is an author and the founder of medAge, a medical program designed to develop lifestyle changes to improve her clients’ health as they age, and she advises athletes on training and nutrition.

That was the background against which, four years ago, Ellis visited motorcycle-mad Italy and got hooked on two-wheelers.

“I started riding only four years ago–I was 48 when I started riding. Kinda strange, huh? Prior to that, I had never ridden a motorcycle,” she says. “I traveled to Italy four years ago and I noticed that lots of people ride two wheels, whether they are on scooters, motorcycles or bicycles. Men and women, younger and older. I thought it looked pretty cool! So I decided to learn how to do it myself.

“When I came back to the States, I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course at the local community college. I enjoyed riding so much that I hired a coach to help me to learn how to ride more acceptably and safely. I wanted to learn how to do it right.” The private coach she hired suggested training at the track.

“I met quite a few folks at the track who race and I got an invitation to race with a couple of guys the following year,” Ellis says. “I of course said yes, because I was turning 50, and I thought, ‘When else am I going to have an opportunity to do this?'”

Ellis quickly moved from a Suzuki Gladius to a Yamaha YZF-R6, and her first race was with CCS at Carolina Motorsports Park in April of 2014. “I wasn’t fast but I had pretty good technique. I had to be careful that I held my line well, that I didn’t deviate, because there were (other riders) passing me. I had to be predictable. My focus was on being predictable and holding my line,” Ellis says.

“It was great. It was a lot of fun. It was thrilling but not scary. As long as you’re prepared and you understand what is happening on the track-you have to be very cognizant of the other riders out there expecting you to behave like they do, which is to be predictable.

“A couple of guys got really, really close when they were passing me,” Ellis continued. “After the race, they came over and said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get that close.’ It really didn’t frighten me, but I could feel them and hear them very, very close to me! It was very polite and kind of them to come over and make sure I was OK with what had happened. And that’s typical of what I’ve seen from most racers.”

What she observed while racing and spending time at the track was that many racers focused on machine prep to the exclusion of preparing themselves.

“I noticed that many of the riders spent so much energy on the bike and not nearly enough on themselves as an athlete. The equipment was, generally, well thought-out. They prepared that well. But they didn’t always prepare themselves well,” Ellis says.

One area many riders can make an immediate improvement in is hydration, she says. “Many racers don’t realize that how they consume food and drink is very important during training and recovery as well as on the day before a race and on competition day itself,” she says. “Hydration is not just water. The communication between the brain and the muscle, between the nerve and the muscle, really relies on proper electrolyte concentration and the fluid shifts between the compartments of the body once you start sweating to keep sodium levels proper. If your sodium becomes very low, those fluid shifts can lead to either high or low concentrations of sodium in certain body compartments.

“What you see most of the time on the track is that the communication between the muscle and the nerve can be compromised. We call that reaction time. You begin to slow down. You might not be able to do as well–you might not win–but you can also make mistakes.”

Dr. Ellis ran her own team, AXcess Racing, in the 2016 MotoAmerica KTM Cup Series, with riders Brandon Paasch and Jackson Blackmon. Paasch won the championship with seven race wins and a total of 16 podium finishes in 17 races.

For more information about medAge and Dr. Laura Ellis, visit www.medage.com.

To read more articles like this one originally published in the December 2015 print issue of Roadracing World, subscribe to Roadracing World. (The article has been updated with additional photos and information from later MotoAmerica racing seasons.)

More, from a Competition Bulletin issued by MotoAmerica:

High Temperatures expected at COTA

We are expecting temperatures at this weekend’s COTA round to reach or exceed 100 degrees on most days.

Please see the document attached HERE regarding healthy hydration tips for all in attendance.

The post How Do You Deal With Riding In Extreme Heat? Hydrate Right! appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

Riding How To’s

This video covers two techniques that any rider can use to improve both your traction and confidence on corner entry. @gasonbikeup-motorcycles produces videos to show how the same techniques that are used by MotoGP and World Superbike riders can translate to all riders, track or street. If you’re interested in road racing, track days, or simply how to get the most out of your sport bike this video is for you! You’ll learn from Eric Wood, the head coach for the oldest motorcycle track training school in the United States. In this video, we discuss a common problem that affects both top racers and street riders when they need to stop the bike as quickly as they can. The solutions to better braking may surprise you!

Timecodes

0:00 Introduction

1:10 Foundations to getting a motorcycle deep into a corner

1:35 The most common mistake motorcycle riders make on the brakes

2:19 The first 5% of braking – your key to better entrances

2:38 How different corner entrances affect your brake application

5:14 Your weight is transferred, now ramp braking to full pressure

5:44 Balancing time to full pressure with stability – brakes zones are often short

6:43 The transition from throttle to brakes – a front fork’s view

8:36 Understanding how suspension action matters in braking

9:04 How physics comes into play with motorcycle braking

11:15 Secret #1 to mastering the brakes on a motorcycle

11:45 Secret #2 to mastering brakes and corner entry on a motorcycle

12:59 Demonstrating the technique for rolling off the throttle

13:30 Two places to apply GasonBikeUp techniques on the racetrack

14:51 Wrap up

Please subscribe and leave us comments – we’d love to hear what you like about this video and what else you’d like to see!

Have feedback or suggestions? We’d love to hear from you! Check out our website at https://gasonbikeup.com or email us at info@gasonbikeup.com.

Our partner companies:

https://woodcraft-cfm.com/

https://penguinracing.com/

@PenguinRacingSchool1 @woodcrafttechnologies8836

#motorcycleriding #motorcycleracing #motorcycletraining

The post Video: Gas On Bike Up With Eric Wood: Less Crashing, Better Braking appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

Riding How To’s

This is the first of a 3.5 part series on line selection and track strategy for @gasonbikeup-motorcycles. If you’re interested in road racing or track days, this video is for you! You’ll learn from Eric Wood, the head coach for the oldest motorcycle track training school in the United States. In this video, we discuss the origin of the GasOnBikeUp name, which is one the the foundations of our teaching and training at the Penguin Racing School.

The proper line choice is a challenge that all motorcycle riders face. Every choice is a balance of give and take, and many factors including corner speed, radius, duration, camber, bumps and what leads to an follows any particular corner all come into play. This video sets a foundation for looking at every corner and introduces an important concept that you can use to help evaluate every corner. Plus, at the end we’ve got a bonus tip that you won’t want to miss!

Timecodes

0:00 Introduction

1:12 Motorcycle line selection intro

2:05 Breaking down corner types

3:14 Our baseline corner for track days and racing

5:55 Roll speed corner fundamentals

6:38 Differentiating big bikes and little bikes

8:12 Two common mistakes track riders make

10:28 Threshold of Traction Speed

13:47 Other types of corners that are roll speed focused

15:29 Braking and Turning in s roll speed corner

18:19 Cornering force

19:36 Bonus content – how far to lean off your motorcycle

24:33 Summary and wrap up

Please subscribe and leave us comments – we’d love to hear what you like about this video and what else you’d like to see!

Have feedback or suggestions? We’d love to hear from you! Check out our website at https://gasonbikeup.com or email us at info@gasonbikeup.com.

Our partner companies:

https://woodcraft-cfm.com/

https://penguinracing.com/

@PenguinRacingSchool1 @woodcrafttechnologies8836

#motorcycleriding #motorcycleracing #motorcycletraining

The post Video: Gas On Bike Up With Eric Wood: Line Selection, Part One appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

The post Video: Stuman Rides: Do Pro Racers Use The Rear Brake? appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

What is the Roadracing World Trackday Directory? Check it out HERE.

All schedule submissions should include: the name of your school or trackday organization, your schedule (including exact dates, correct track names and locations, and the track layout being used that day, if applicable), and full contact information for consumers.

Schedules submitted will be published in the Calendar section of Roadracing World magazine and the Events calendar section of Roadracingworld.com as soon as possible after they are received.

For trackday and school organizations and schedules to be listed in Roadracing World’s 2022 Trackday Directory annual edition, however, we need your schedule and the following information by February 1, 2022:

School or Trackday Organization Name:

Physical or Mailing Address, (Street address, city, state abbreviation, zip code):

Phone Number:

FAX Number (optional):

Website Address:

Email Address:

(Select one answer for each question)

1.      Events Run Rain or Shine: Yes or No

2.      Coolant: Antifreeze OK or No Antifreeze Allowed

3.      Headlight & Taillight: Tape or Disconnect or Tape and Disconnect

4.      Mirrors & Signals: Tape or Remove

5.      License Plate: OK or Remove

6.      Safety Wire: Some Required or None Required

7.      Sidestand: OK or Remove

8.      The minimum age to participate is: ?

Please e-mail schedule/calendar and Trackday Directory listing information and/or updates to dswarts@roadracingworld.com.

Even if your 2022 schedule is not finalized, please respond to us and send whatever information you can so that you will not be left out of the Trackday Directory annual. Provisional schedules or dates listed as provisional are allowed.

There is no cost to be listed in Roadracing World’s Trackday Directory annual edition, but we can’t post your information if we don’t receive it in time. As a result, late submissions or incomplete submissions may not be published.

Again, the deadline to submit is February 1, 2022.

If you’ve already submitted your schedule for inclusion in the Calendar section of Roadracing World & Motorcycle Technology, great! But this is not enough information for an entry in the Trackday Directory. Please submit the information requested above to be included in the once-per-year Roadracing World Trackday Directory or call us to do minor updates to the information we published in the 2021 Trackday Directory.

If you have any doubt about what you have or have not sent in or if it was received, please contact us.

As always, we are also requesting trackday organizers and school operators to submit digital photos of their events and groups in action – on and off the track — for possible publication in the 2022 Trackday Directory. This is a great way to publicize your events and spotlight some of your members at no cost to you, but we need you to help us help you.

Digital photos must be in-focus, free from any watermarks or graphics, and high-resolution, which means a minimum of 300 dpi/ppi or 3000 pixels wide at 3 inches. The best way to submit these photos is with a file transfer program like Google Drive, Hightail, or Dropbox, which are free to download and use on a limited basis. Emailing the photos in small batches also works.

Photos must be accompanied by information to be used to write a caption. This includes the name of the track and information in order to credit the photographer, etc. By submitting a photo or photos, you certify that you own the submitted material and that you give us (Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.) permission to publish it in Roadracing World magazine and/or post it on Roadracingworld.com, without paying you (or anybody else) any money.

For additional information, e-mail dswarts@roadracingworld.com or call (909) 654-4779.

The post 2022 Trackday Directory: Submit Schedules And Photos By February 1 appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.