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Red Dirt TrackcraftNotes from the fence line

Series 04 · Gear and the Weekend

Gear, safety and the race weekend at a private track

What the rulebook actually requires, what a helmet label means, the stand and the between-motos routine, camping at a track and a first practice day.

The back of a pickup at dawn with a motocross toolkit laid out on the tailgate, helmet and boots beside it, a tent pitched under trees in the background

The weekend is the part of motocross that people describe the least and get wrong the most. What is actually required, as opposed to what everybody assumes is required. What a certification label on a helmet does and does not promise. What to do with the twenty minutes between two motos. Where to put a tent so that you sleep. This series answers those.

What this series covers

Four notes. A gear checklist built from the current sanctioning rulebook rather than from habit, separating what is mandatory from what is recommended, with the helmet standards listed by name. A note on the maintenance stand and a between-motos routine that fits in the time available. A note on camping at a track, which is mostly a question of ground, water and where the wind carries dust at six in the morning. And a note on a first practice day, from sign-in to the sound test.

Rules, and whose rules

The rules quoted in this series are those of the American Motorcyclist Association racing rulebook, because it is public, dated and the one most amateur events in the United States follow. A private track is not obliged to follow any of it. Many owners follow the equipment part anyway, because it is the cheapest available answer to a question nobody wants to answer badly.

One warning

Nothing on this site is medical or legal advice, and a certification label is a test result, not a promise. The gear note explains what the DOT label on a helmet actually certifies, which test numbers sit behind it, and why a label that passed a bench test says nothing about any particular fall.

Stories in this series

  1. A printed programme sheet taped to a table at the edge of a sprung parquet floor, late morning light from a high window falling across the heat numbers, shot from just above the paper with the empty

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Age groups and classes at a club event

    Age groups and classes are two separate filters applied to the same programme. The age group is set by calendar year of birth, so everyone in it turns the same age in the same year. The class is set by skill and results, from the entry levels up to the top letters, and it decides which dances and figures you are allowed to use. A first competition day then runs as preliminary rounds that cut the field, followed by a final that produces the ranking.

  2. A used dirt bike on a metal stand in a gravel driveway at midday, front wheel lifted, a tape measure hooked on the rear axle and a flashlight resting on the seat, shot from a low three-quarter angle.

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Used Dirt Bike on a Budget: Frame and Safety Checks

    A used dirt bike is worth buying only when the frame is straight, the safety parts are serviceable, and the price sits at or below what similar machines actually sold for. Check those three things before you talk money. If any one of them fails, walk away, because a bent frame or a dead brake system costs more to fix than most budget buyers expect.

  3. A workbench in a home garage at midday, a split engine case resting on clean shop towel beside a dial caliper and a labeled parts tray, window light from the left, tight overhead framing.

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Rebuild or replace a tired track engine

    A tired track engine gets rebuilt when the cases, crank and head are still sound and the wear sits in the top end, the bearings and the seals. It gets replaced when the cases are cracked, the cylinder is beyond its last oversize, or the cost of machining passes the cost of a known good unit. The decision comes down to three numbers: compression, oil consumption and metal in the filter.

  4. A row of clear water bottles and a jug of electrolyte mix on a folding table under a white pop-up canopy at a dusty motocross track, late morning sun raking across the table, shot from a low

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Heat, Hydration and Sleep at a Summer Track Weekend

    Water, salt and sleep, in that order. A rider who starts Saturday already behind on fluids and short on sleep will fade in the second moto no matter how good the bike is. Fix those three things before you touch jetting or gearing.

  5. An open single axle motocross trailer parked on a gravel driveway at golden hour, one wheel removed and resting against the fender, a torque wrench and a grease gun on a folded shop towel beside the

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Truck and trailer service for a dirt bike season

    A truck and trailer that haul a bike need one service a year each, plus a brake and tyre check before every season. Put the truck service in late winter, the trailer bearing and brake check in early spring, and a light and coupling inspection the week before your first race weekend. Everything below is the calendar I run on my own rig, with the numbers I actually write on the shop wall.

  6. A black and white Border Collie standing on a six-foot leather leash at the spectator fence of a red dirt motocross track, body turned toward a single bike rolling past in late afternoon sun, shot

    · Gear and the Weekend

    A dog at the track: noise, machines, first visit

    A dog at a motocross track is dealing with three things at once: engines at close range, ground that moves underfoot, and people moving fast in gear it cannot read. Most dogs can handle a track weekend if you keep the first visit short, keep the dog behind a barrier, and watch the body language instead of the stopwatch. If your dog also works livestock at home, the same skill of reading pressure and flight zones is what you are using here, just pointed at machines instead of sheep.

  7. A gravel farm road at 7 a.m. in late September, low sun raking across the stones, a pair of worn running shoes and a motocross boot sitting side by side on the tailgate of a pickup, shot from waist

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Aerobic Base Off the Bike for Moto

    You build your aerobic base off the bike, not on it. Walking, easy running and two or three short sessions a week raise the engine that a moto cannot train on its own, because a dirt bike rewards bursts and never asks for a steady thirty minutes of work. Riders over fifty keep the same plan, only the volume drops and the recovery days get longer.

  8. A folding table at the edge of a starting gate at midday, a printed rulebook and a clipboard with the moto schedule on it, shot from waist height with the gate posts soft in the background.

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Why One Move Is Legal Here and Banned There

    A move is legal in one discipline and banned in the next because the rulebook is not a list of moves, it is a list of consequences. The same elbow that scores in muaythai is a foul in kickboxing and K-1, and the same body lock that wins a fight in Bangkok is broken after five seconds. Read the rulebook the way you read a track: find the limits first, then ride inside them.

  9. A pair of mud-caked motocross boots standing open-buckled on a wooden pallet beside a low bench, with a clean pair of grey paddock shoes on the ground below, shot in flat overcast morning light from

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Boots, Paddock Shoes and Wet Ground

    A track weekend asks your feet to do two different jobs, and one pair of shoes cannot do both. Riding boots are stiff, heavy and built to protect a foot that is braced against a peg at speed. Paddock shoes are soft, light and built for walking, driving and standing around. If you wear boots all weekend your feet swell and your ankles get lazy. If you wear paddock shoes on the bike you lose protection and feel. Bring both, and treat them as separate pieces of gear with separate fit rules.

  10. A white pickup truck with a flatbed trailer parked on a gravel lot at a motocross track, late afternoon sun casting long shadows, side view showing the hitch and trailer connection.

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Choosing a Tow Vehicle: Payload, Fuel, and Used Checks

    You need a vehicle with a payload and towing capacity that exceed the weight of your trailer and its contents, and you should verify those limits on the door jamb sticker, not in a brochure. Petrol engines cost less to buy and maintain but burn more fuel under load, while diesel engines deliver better torque and fuel economy when towing. Before you hand over money for a used tow vehicle, inspect the hitch, suspension, brakes, and transmission cooler, and check for rust or abuse.

  11. A half-ton pickup with a 6x12 enclosed trailer parked on red dirt at a motocross track gate, late afternoon sun raking across the trailer's side, shot from a low three-quarter angle with the tow

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Fuel, load and the real cost of a track trip

    A loaded trailer adds 20 to 40 percent to your fuel burn, and the exact number depends on frontal area more than weight. E85 cuts your cost per mile only if the price gap at the pump stays wide and your engine is actually calibrated for it. A modified tow vehicle needs a current inspection, a matching registration entry and a tuner who will hand you the calibration file.

  12. A dirt bike on a dyno roller in a small workshop at midday, rear tire strapped down, laptop on a stool beside the rear wheel, side light from an open roller door.

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Dirt bike fuel mapping: what an ECU change does

    An ECU change on a dirt bike alters when and how much fuel the injector delivers and when the spark fires, nothing more. It does not add displacement, compression or airflow.

  13. A handheld OBD-II scanner resting on a shop towel next to an open engine bay, its screen showing stored fault codes, lit by a single overhead work lamp in a dim garage.

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Diagnosis before the dyno: fault codes first

    A tuner refuses a machine with an active fault because the dyno cannot separate a mechanical problem from a calibration problem. If the ECU is already correcting for a misfire, a lean bank, or a boost leak, any power number you pull is a measurement of the fault, not of the tune. Clear the codes, fix what set them, and confirm the engine runs clean at idle, cruise, and wide open throttle before anyone straps it down.

  14. A back room of a Dutch cafe at dusk, a 55 inch screen mounted at eye level on a brick wall showing a paused race frame, eight chairs in two loose rows, a small speaker on a side table, warm ceiling

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Race replays and club brackets for a group

    A replay is not a second race. It is a tool for settling what the live feed moved past too fast: a start, a block pass, a pit call, a flag. Set one screen at eye level, keep the sound low enough that people can talk over it, and run the replay only when someone in the room has a specific question about what just happened. Everything else, the bracket, the betting sheet, the food, follows from that one decision.

  15. A pair of dusty motocross gloves and a chalk bag resting on the lip of a wooden starting gate, shot low in late afternoon sun with the track's first turn soft in the background.

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Grip and balance off the bike: an 8 week block

    Eight weeks of obstacle style training off the bike will not make you faster in a straight line, but it changes three things a motocross rider feels immediately: your hands hold a bar longer before they open, your balance corrections get smaller, and your trunk stops folding the moment you stand up over chop. Run it as a block of three sessions a week, keep two of them short, and cap the hard pulling work at twice a week so your tendons get the recovery they need.

  16. A gravel farmyard at mid-morning, a black and tan working shepherd standing beside the front tire of a parked tractor, a metal feed bucket on the ground, low sun from the left, medium shot at eye

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Working breeds for machine and paddock life

    A working breed for a life around machines and paddocks has to be judged on two separate ledgers: what its written standard asks for, and what its working line actually produces. The standard tells you the shape and the temperament the breed club wants to preserve. The line tells you what the breeder has been selecting for in the last five generations. Buyers who only read the first ledger end up with a dog that looks correct and cannot hold up to a day of tractor noise, gravel, and stock. Buyers who only read the second end up with a dog that works and does not match the standard they may need for registration or breeding later.

  17. A small motorcycle on its side stand at the edge of a flat mown practice loop, a child sized helmet resting on the seat, in low early morning light

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Teaching a child the first laps at a private track

    A first session for a child is measured in minutes and in how it ends, not in laps. This note sets out the machine, the ground and the single instruction worth giving, and reads the same problem in the learn to swim writing.

  18. An adult sized motocross helmet and gloves on the tailgate of a pickup at the edge of a private track, a bike standing on its stand behind them in evening light

    · Gear and the Weekend

    An adult beginner at a private motocross track: the first season

    An adult beginner is not a child with a bigger budget. The week, the machine and the group all work differently, and the community leagues of other sports have already solved most of the same problems.

  19. A small utility quad parked on hardpack at the edge of a private track, its air cooled single cylinder and chain drive visible, in late afternoon light

    · Gear and the Weekend

    A 200 cc ATV on a private track: what the class can and cannot do

    A 200 cc quad is a working machine that can visit a track, not a track machine that can work. Here is the order to read the class in: transmission, cooling, tires, and the paperwork question that follows the ground rather than the machine.

  20. A 125 cc sport motorcycle on a paddock stand in a garage, its chain and rear sprocket clean, a work light raking across the fairing

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Small-bore skills: what a 125 teaches you before the big bike

    A 125 removes the option of buying back mistakes with power, which is exactly why it is the honest school. Here is what it teaches, the maintenance habits worth building on one, and the licence class the road versions live under.

  21. The back of a pickup at dawn with a motocross toolkit laid out on the tailgate, helmet and boots beside it, a tent pitched under trees in the background

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Getting fit for a practice day, off the bike

    The part of a practice day that runs out first is the rider, not the bike. Here is what a day of motos actually asks of the body, why running covers most of it, and a four week ramp small enough to survive a working week.

  22. Gear laid out flat on a garage floor in rows: boots, knee guards, a chest protector, gloves and goggles, a notebook with a pencil lying in the corner

    · Gear and the Weekend

    A gear checklist for a day on the track

    A private track has no rulebook, so the list is yours to write. The sanctioning body's own equipment section is the best starting draft there is, because it already separates mandatory from recommended. Here it is item by item, with what the DOT label on a helmet does and does not certify.

  23. A dirt bike on a blue stand in the shade of a canopy, a chain tool and a rag on a crate, the rear wheel off the ground and still turning

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Between motos: the maintenance stand routine

    Twenty to thirty minutes on the stand is enough to check everything and not enough to fix everything. This note gives the order, the three verbs applied to every part, a procedure in thirds that includes the rider, and a table that says where each finding gets fixed.

  24. A tent and a pickup backed up to each other on grass beside a track at dusk, a lantern on the tailgate, the track lights still on in the distance

    · Gear and the Weekend

    Camping at the track: a weekend base that works

    A camp beside a track is chosen on foot, in four checks, the evening you arrive. Here are the checks in order, what a low strip of grass across a field is telling you, where the dust goes when the first bike starts, and five spots that look right at dusk and fail by morning.

  25. A sign-in table at the edge of a track in the morning, a board with group times written in chalk, riders unloading a bike from a ramp in the background

    · Gear and the Weekend

    First time at a track: how a practice day runs

    A practice day has a fixed order, and almost everything that can send a rider home is decided before the engine starts. Here is the day step by step, the sign-in checks tied to the rulebook section that governs them, and the sound test as the rulebook describes it.

Read this series next to Reading the Track, and the desk note on the about page.