Riding Camp

Well,  we just finished up another successful 3 day camp. This time we had twelve kids, and what a great bunch of kids they were. Being in July the temperatures were definately up, we went through plenty of water and it was great that with help from our freind and Bicycle Therapy owner, Lee Rogers helped by donating some squeeze water bottles and some HEED from Hammer Nutrition. This definately helped the kids stay enthused and energetic. Also we have to send a big "Thank You" out to Chris Galt at Enduro Engineering, Gloria Wood with NAPA, and Evan Yarnell with Solid performance for all there contributions.

We started off day one with some balance drills which require great clutch, brake and throttle control.  We split up into two groups of six and one group would work at the drill while the other six would complete laps around a two and a half minute lap woods track standing the whole time using only their front brake and throttle........thats right NO CLUTCH AND NO REAR BRAKE.  This proved pretty tough for a few just due to not being used to standing so much.  Our goal for day one was to be on their way to carrying more momentum by proper use of their legs. 1) By standing we learn that with the use of our legs our knees work as shock absorbers over bumps therefore increasing our momentum because we can keep the throttle on more consistantly. 2) We also learn that some turns can be dealt with easier while standing up, because while standing through a turn you can carry more momentum by using your knees to turn the bike rather what most do and use the rear brake pedal.

Day two was some of the same stuff from day before but now we moved on to gear selection. Most riders ride in too low of a gear and work the throttle to far and to often. We learned that just by shifting to a taller gear at the same rpm you can increase your momentum rather than overworking the throttle and by holding the throttle a little less open you can hold on longer into a corner therefore increasing momentum After some much needed lunch we then we broke into some front brake practice.............first by doing a front brake drag, then a front brake skid, and thirdly a nose wheelie. We explained the the front brake should be 65-75% of your braking power (more than half haha) and how this was also very important in keeping better momentum through a corner. Because even under proper hard braking the front wheel still keeps rollin carrying more momentum then a skidding locked up rear wheel .Boy, we had some dirty filters this night, so I took advantage and showed 8 youngins how to properly wash their air filter, while the other four just swapped dirty ones out for clean ones..

Day three was some quick laps through some more balance drills such as slow man race, and one armed laps around a short open track. Then Paddy took the boys to do some turn practice on one of our traingle drills, while I tended to a broken bike. After we fixed the broken zuki and had some lunch we finished up on some open practice at our pistol range track, where I witnesssed a different type of rider in all twelve students then three days prior. Before we headed back to the house to greet the parents to pick them up, I gathered them all around and told them all how proud I was of them and how I appreciated their awesome behavior over the passed three days. I meant it, this is one of the best camps ever, due to their outstanding behavior and the help of Paddy and his extremely positive attitude.

 Next camp is scheduled for August 8,9,10. You can find out more info
by emailing me at my website at www.richlaffertyracing.com. Camp is for ages 10-16. We supply food. Cost is $400 per child. Hurry interest, is high.

                                                                              Keep it smoothe, Rich

Camps, Schools and Racing and more...........

           We are about ready to say goodbye to June and hello to July my friends and this usaully means two things to me. Hot weather which I love and youth summer riding camps wich are alot of fun. The camps are three days packed with riding and fundemental drills, and also swimming, bmx, and good food to keep the boys bellys full and there minds occupied with better riding. I have recently hired National Enduro Pro rider Paddy Halloway to help keep the kids learning and also having fun. Anyone who has met Paddy knows that he is a great youngster with a great personality and a nack for keeping things light, fun and positive. So I am pretty pumped on his addition to the RLR Schools team. We usually welcome campers here for the kids to stay in but it isnt mandatory, so once everyone is parked and signed up and ready to roll, we get our gear on and start with a brief intro to let them know what is planned and what is also expected from them. I will briefly talk about some riding techniques and such, but keep it fun so they stay interested. Then we will line up and start a small brief trailride to warm up then into some drills. Alot usually depends on the individual student but I will spend alot of time the first day pointing out the importance of balance and balance while standing to achieve better bike control and untimely a better sense of momentum, especially if they are a sit down rider. Actually alot can be told about a rider in the way he holds onto the bars. Such as a low, straight hand position usually means, a poor low arm position wich also hurts the riders stance not only sitting but standing especially. Check out the video here on arm position and you will understand what I mean. We will then break for lunch after some drills to practice this. The afternoon will be spent  with a brief course set-up combining all drills then on to some trail riding. But slowly to reinforce what we have practiced. Repetition is the mother of skill. Then at end of day we get some food for dinner and usaully swimming in the river adjacent to the property and maybe even some bmx riding. This pretty much sums up the next two days. We have been doing camaps for over five years and been having the same kids and some new ones come back every year. We definately have a good time make some new friends and did I mention FUN at all...........Upcoming camps are July 11-12-13, and August 8-9-10. Contact us at rich@richlaffertyracing.com

              Speaking of Paddy Halloway helping us out at our camps/schools. We used to have a young man come help us that has done pretty well for himself racing as of lately. He also has a really fun upbeat personality as well. He is factory Husky GNCC/National Enduro Rider Andrew Delong. How about his recent results. He has had some very head turning results in the GNCC  and has had some decent rides wich he wants to improve on in National Enduro, and I know he can. We are proud of you Andrew, keep  it up.


                That being said I have to mention my brother Mike "Doogie" Lafferty for winning his 70th National Overall Victory. I believe he started riding for KTM team in 1995 and won his first race in 1997, so thats winning National Enduros in a fifteen year span. To have a carreer like that is amazing and I am definately not just saying this because he is my brother. I think that the most coolest thing is he still has the fire after all these years, he is not just trying to hang on to it and collect a paycheck. It is his job, but he still wants to win, not just ride his bike around and he finds ways to increase the fun factor and motivate himself year after year. Doogie has always been talented at alot of things and god blessed him with the ability to ride a dirt bike for sure, but to me its deeper than that. He cant stand to lose at anything, and you can be sure he will bust his ass to win and I think that is what motivates him. He is driven at anything he does. Hell just being around him drives and motivates me. I am not going to mention the other record he may possibly break this year in hopes that I dont jinx it (shhhh). But whatever happens was the way God meant it to happen, and yes God meant for my brother to be a off-road dirt bike racer. Furthermore, do you know anyone that actually accomplished what their future ambition was in their eigth grade yearbook..............well Doogies was "To be National Enduro Champion"!

5 Free Riding Tips

Hello all,

As promised here is a link to my 5 free riding tips, just click here. Be sure to visit the site at the bottom for more tips and useful stuff but the address has changed it is laffertyracing.net or richlaffertyracing.com. Also you can find some loads of free video riding tips here.

If all this information has left you thirsty for more than simply goto richlaffertyracing.com and subscribe to my video library wich contains over 46 instruction video clips to help make you ride safer, faster and in better control. If you have any questions about anything feel free to ask. I enjoy helping out riders and look forward to talking to you. Thanks, Rich

Camps,School,Tips, and more...........

Hello all,

How is everyones summer so far? I love the summer weather, I would rather have it hot than cold and snowing. Plus the hot weather is great for training and pushing students to their best potential. As of today we have been conducting private 4 hr lessons once a week, with a little bit of racing in the locals hare scramble series here and there. I just switched things up a bit and picked up a 2011 KTM 250 XC from my dealer Canyon Motorsports. It is an amazing bike an obviously so much lighter than my Husaberg 450fe. I will continue to ride both depending on which one I want to ride that day. Thank you KTM Rep, Brooks Hamilton and John McCarthy of Canyon Motorsports for all your help and support in my racing and with my schools, it is very appreciate it.

We also are getting everyone signed up and everything ready for our 3 day kids camp coming up at the end of the month (June 29-30,July 1). We are all full and have 20 kids signed up. We are especially excited to have help from GNCC/Natinal Enduro competitor, Brad Bakken for the camp. Brads a great competitor on the bike and great person off the bike. We have the obvious riding school drills and such ligned up and try and keep it even more fun with some free trail riding and track practice daily. We also have access here to a river for swimming, a bmx track up the street, and a great pond for bass fishing. This year should be another great time of learning and fun activities that will make another memorable experience for the kids attending. Due to the overwhelming response, we were forced to add another camp date this summer. As of now we have another one scheduled for August 10,11,12. It should be just as great as the first one. Its a great experience to give back to the sport by helping the future of our sport.

We have two 2day schools planned as well with some openings still left in both. They are both scheduled in conjunction with the Michigan National Enduro and the Pennsylvania National Enduro. The Michigan School will take place at the Jack Pine Enduro Clubgrounds on July 18,19 (monday and Tuesday following the Natinal enduro). While the other school will take place at the Pennsylvania National Enduro start location (Quiet oaks campground in Cross Forks, Pa) on August 1,2 (Monday and Tuesday following the National Enduro). Leave either school with a better understanding of how to practice, proper body position, better bike control and how to carry better momentum. You will leave your competition in the dust. You can see more info or enroll online in the school here.

Snow riding video tips and more

Hello,


Or should I say, "Happy Winter"! Its late January as I write this latest RLR School blog and here in the north east (NJ), we have been getting our share of snow and cold weather. I guess we are making up for all the mild winters we had prior to last winter. Oh well needless to say we have been keeping busy riding and preparing for the up coming racing season and attending local ECEA series banquet. I have been enjoying doing some private schools in between snow storms and setting up and getting aquainted with my new Husaberg 450 FE. We also are excited about some new relationships with new sponsors like VEE RUBBER TIRES, STS MOTORSPORTS, SMITH GOGGLES, and RENTHAL. Also SDR Support has hooked us up with Frank Stacy from FTD (flat tire defender) to do some testing of their new product. This product in my opinion combines tire balls and foam inserts. It is little hockey puck sized foam that you stack closley in your tire like Tire Balls. We will let you know how our testing goes. You can learn more about the product here.

We also just had our friends from Trail Rider Magazine here to do a shootout test between the GASGAS 250 Sstroke and the KTM 250 2stroke. We had some snow to deal with, which it a rather unique test but still a good time on two worthy woods bikes. You can read all about it in the March issue of Trail Rider. Or you can get a sneak peak at what went down by checking out this short video of the test. We mentioned in our latest update of Trail Rider also covering a story of an Advanced School we did with NETRA AA rider Jim Senecal. Well it made it to the February edition and it is a great story with some awesome photos. Thanks Jim and Kevin. You can read the full story here.

As I mentioned earlier, we here are dealing with quite alot of snow. We have been taking advantage of the snow conditions and trying to ride as much as possible and work on fundamentals. I like to attribute riding in snow to riding in mudd. So it is great practice, and good seat time for the upcoming season. But before we go out in the snow conditions, it is good idea to take some precautions to help with your experience a little better. Here is a quick video with some set up tips for snow conditions here.

The more snow riding you do this winter the more prepared you will be. To me riding in nasty weather such as snow or even rain is all about attitude. When bad weather comes most individuals dwell on the toughness in a negative way, rather than focusing on the fact that it will make them a better rider. Try and keep it positive and keep in mind these snow riding tips as far as what to do on the bike to make things a little easier. Check out my snow riding tips video here.

We hope that we here at RLR schools have kept you informed and helped you with your riding. We are always here working to make things easier for you all. If you enjoyed the instructional videos here in this blog, here is a link to the teaser page of my over 46 instructional video tips on my website. These are a much higher quality video and are filled with alot of information.
Keep it pinned, Rich Lafferty

Hey,



Hows your winter going so far? We had an awesome holiday, with a Snow storm Christmas night laying some eight plus inches on south jersey and had to postpone some schools because of. But then once New Years day rolled around temps were in the low 50 degree range and allowed for some trail riding with a few good friends. Surprisingly because of the high temps it was a great day of trail riding. The warmth made the snow part very easily and wasnt really that deep in spots. If you have never rode in the snow, it is definately good practice for bike and throttle control. Since then we had some rain and unseasonably warm temps that have melted mostly all the snow and left some really good moist dirt. Great for schools and getting back to riding. As mentioned we just last month did a school with Trail Rider Magazine editor Kevin Novello. It turned out to be an awesome school and you can read about it here just as it appeared in Trail Rider.







Adjusting controls on a students bike in my garage. Below is a shot of my pride and joy, my 12 year old son Ryder playing on the figure eight drill, and Novello caught a great pic of him.
Up next we have a Trail Rider Magazine school with passed NETRA Champion Jim Senecal. We will let you know how it went down and some pics and link to the full story. It should be fun. According to Senecal, he has never done any schooling in the passed and is eager to get some help with his corner speed. I am eager to help and looking forward to it.
Below,Ryder caught a video of me going down the sluice at Deleware Enduro in 2010. Check it out.

Happy New Year! What we been up to!

Hello all,






How is everyone? Its been awhile. WE have been extremely busy here at RLR schools conducting private one on one lessons. We have been helping some local guys from the ECEA, and even other series, that do Hare Scrambles, Enduro, and even some guys that just want to learn some stuff so they can stay with their buddies while Trail Riding. Here are just a few pictures of guys and gals we have done schools with recently. Can you name the guy in the first one here above?Yes sir, thats Speeds Dave Despain. Dave contacted me after having knee replacement surgery and has found a new youth and enthusiasm for trail riding. He was into improving his bike control and staying off the ground less. We spent two days together and Dave has a good base of fundamentals skills and was extremely happy as was I, in our progress. Next is Thad Gilder from Elmer, NJ. Thad bought a KTM 400 off me about a month prior and wanted to do a class. We had fun and now have him on the right track and I am confident he will be at top of B SENIOR class very soon. Under Thads picture we have a picture of Sarah Gaffney from Pine Grove, Pa. who is totally new to off-road racing and is hooked on Hare Scramble racing. Sarah says she watched a supercross on T.V. and after that she went out and purchased a motorcycle and had competed in 4 races prior to coming and doing a private school all in about a 4 month time frame. She is very determined to be a leader in the womans class at any Hare Scramble she attends.








Thats all we have for now, we are lining up some schools with Trail Rider Magazines Kevin Novello, who is the new editor of the mag and a local NETRA AA rider as well.
Keep it twisted, Rich Lafferty



PS. Here is a brief video of the sluice from Deleware Enduro 2010