August 2020 -- Vol 4 -- Issue 8 August 2020 | Page 202

On The Pegs 202
never even ridden a dirt bike in my life. I rode with Scott Summers. He had the
BMW deal for a year or two.
The very first time I ever rode was Brad Baumbert of RYP, he had an ’05 Suzuki
250F and Scott set it up for me. I like to think that Scott was impressed. It just
makes everything so much easier. I just feel more efficient. You don’t have the
aggression, but all your basics, your clutch control, brakes, throttle control…
You always know where the rear tire and when to give it gas or when to not.
I think one of the most important things you guys learn from trials is
traction, how to get traction.
I honestly feel like I have a direct link to the rear tire. Even today we went out
pre-riding a little bit with Thorn Devlin and Max Gersten was there. I did something
that was super tricky, a bunch of rocks in a row, kind of getting slicker and
slicker as we rode it. I was kind of just trying to help coach Max through it. He’s
a really good rider, but he lives in Arizona where there’s endless traction. Here I
was like, you have to know where the rear tire is. You can’t just give it gas in the
wrong spot. When it gets to that point you have to be so precise. That’s what
trials is. It’s just precision. n