Why Fast Riders Don’t Get Tired in Endurance Race?

8hours1999-Wakayama-680x489.jpg Columns

▲Editor's Note: Toshihiro Wakayama (1999 Suzuka 8 Hours)


The hardship in Suzuka 8 Hours is like living in hell.

The rider in the photo is me riding on the YZF-R1 at 1999 Suzuka 8 Hours 20 years ago. In my opinion who had participated in Suzuka 8 Hours for 8 times, the hardship of Suzuka 8 Hours is beyond description. My body did not move as expected due to physical fatigue, and it was difficult to maintain a mental concentration. In the corner after the straight, I had an anxiety that I was likely to go straight unconsciously. Even I arrived at our pit safely and got off from the machine, I was likely to fall out into the ground.

However, I am impressed that the faster the riders, the more they overtake other machines by keeping their pace and concentration during the race. After the pit stop, they usually talk with the crew about any conditions, and go to the resting room. It's clear from my own experience and from the TV.

What does all this add up to? It is natural to think that physical strength is required to ride fast, but... Anyway, it is certain that fast riders are not using unnecessary power.

That said, I wasn't going to run with any unnecessary power. However, by rethinking riding with an index of how relaxed both physically and mentally, I feel that the substance of “unnecessary power” has come to be understood. I would like to think about it.

Active and passive muscular strength

There are 2 ways how to use muscular strength and how to use power. One is the active muscular strength that tries to move things with force, and another is passive muscular strength that tries to endure the force.

Even both are essentially the same to use force, there is a significant physiological difference between the two. Active movement is dominated by sympathetic nerves with tension and excitement among the autonomic nerves, muscles and blood vessels repeatedly contract and relax, and tend to be mentally and physically fatigued. However, in passive movement, relaxing parasympathetic nerves dominate and blood vessels spread, making it difficult to accumulate fatigue.

In other words, riding style that appears the body is dynamically moving by inputting force to the motorcycle is easy to get tired easily because it depends on active muscular strength. As a matter of fact, that style is not so fast.

The essence of riding is passive physical manipulation

So, it is important that physical manipulation in riding is passive. Let's consider the countersteering when entering a corner. Making the machine bank by countersteering is an active manipulation.

On the other hand, if leaving a body weight on the outside with the movement of the trunk when entering a corner, and countersteering to keep the machine upright that will bank outside, it is a passive manipulation (that can increase the amount of actual weight movement).

As when I've written a column before, there is such a reason for denying countersteering as a technique theory. The same goes for stepping and kicking footpegs because they tend to be active manipulation.

After all, the basics of physical manipulation in sports, “the muscles of the trunk (that is, deep muscles) take the lead, and the muscular strength of the extremities works in response to it” is reasonable. That's why as the top riders are not easily tired.

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