Tuesday Tip - Deep Ruts
Brendan Lutes
- November 03 2009
- 8,906 views
- 18 comments
Diggin’ Deep
How to claw through deep ruts with Mike Alessi
Intro and photos by Brendan Lutes
One thing that always develops on the rough challenging tracks of the great outdoors are deep technical ruts. On many outdoor style tracks like Daytona pictured here or your local MX facility, getting through deep ruts fast and consistently every lap can mean the difference between winning and losing.
We captured this photo of Mike Alessi up to the cases on his factory RM-Z450 in one of the many ruts littered around the Daytona track this past Supercross season. And being that Mike is know as an outdoor specialist, we cornered him to find out the quickest way through arguably one of the most intimidating obstacles found on any MX track. Take it away Mike!
1 WEIGHT THE OUTSIDE PEG: When I’m coming into a turn and it’s rutted up, I make sure that I’m weighting my bike on the outside footpeg and looking ahead so I come into it nice and straight. This will make it a lot easier for you to stay in the rut.
2 KEEP YOUR ELBOWS UP: You should keep your elbows up both when you’re entering the rut, and when you’re going through it. This will allow you to have better control over your bike.
3 LOOK AHEAD: When I’m setting up coming into the turn, I look towards the outside of the rut, so I can come straight into it and look to where I’m going next. This will help you to see the next obstacle better so you can be prepared. It will also help to keep you planted in the rut. In a sense, you go where you look. Keeping your leg up and keeping it planted right against the shroud also helps, but sometimes it can get caught and kicked backwards like it did in this photo.
4 STAY ON THE GAS: When you’re going through the turn, you want to be on the gas so that the bike is driving through the turn, allowing you to keep your momentum up. Also by doing so, you will be ready to hit the gas down the next straight.
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November 4th, 2009 at 12:02 am
first…..so how about this new dean wilson kid
November 4th, 2009 at 12:19 am
he will smoke you
November 4th, 2009 at 1:21 am
he owned the canadians thats for sure
November 4th, 2009 at 1:43 am
Fastest 17 year old you know!!
November 4th, 2009 at 1:44 am
other than barcia
November 4th, 2009 at 1:55 am
haha agreed… other than barcia
November 4th, 2009 at 2:18 am
you too
November 4th, 2009 at 2:39 am
black baggett is gonna be the new rising badass
November 4th, 2009 at 2:39 am
blake*
November 4th, 2009 at 2:49 am
yea blake
November 4th, 2009 at 4:33 am
well thats not where i would want my inside foot in a rut that deep
November 4th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
WILLSON WILL TURN A CRAP LOAD OF HEADS NEXT YEAR
November 4th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Agreed
November 4th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
that stupid game Reflex has a terrain deformation system where the lines you ride leave ruts in the ground, frickin mud with a memory. i like my video games simple, green means grass, brown means dirt and grey means cement. check out my website yall, http://www.JohnnyHatesReflex.com and help support me makin a comeback to motocross
November 5th, 2009 at 3:19 am
wilson rules. Calgary Alberta Canada! put us the map for real Dean!!
November 5th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
U r retarted
November 5th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Alessi sucks…. doesnt he have someones bike to be standing on.
November 5th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
we all make mistakes growing up