Crutcher’s Corner | Back To Basics

INSTAGRAM | @rippinruts

Jeff Crutcher is one of a kind. Although we grew up a few hundred miles apart, rode all of the same Midwest tracks, and know most of the same people, our paths didn’t cross until 2015. In the time since Crutcher has become one of my closest friends, has come up with dozens of creative ways to profit off his passion for moto, raced multiple rounds of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship aboard a KTM 250 SX two-stroke, works a full-time job as a delivery driver, and wrote a now-gone blog for TransWorld Motocross. Because the basis of Swapmoto Live is something for everyone, Jeff is a perfect person to contribute to the site from time to time. 

PHOTOS | Tina Williams

Slick new parts and aftermarket upgrades to your bike are an attractive way to improve your riding and racing. From total flops like the Roost Boost of the early ’90s to the race bike mandatory holeshot/starting device there is plenty to choose from. Some work, some don’t, some offer actual performance, some offer purely cosmetic enhancement. Oft times racers will bring home a new bike, place it on top of a $100 bike stand, $100 pit mat, spray the plastics with a $12 can of polish, pull out their phone and start skimming the parts catalog for mod upgrades.

However, every person reading this has been to a track day and witnessed a rider with $3,000 worth of accessories and bling and $0 worth of talent. If you can’t go fast, look fast. But why? I suppose the instant gratification of bolting on a new pipe and silencer is a quicker high than hard work to actually “be better.” Everyone wants to get faster, and everyone drops large dough on customizing their bikes. In the same breath, many racers will celebrate a new $200 fad-part but balk at a $200 day of training.

Martial Arts has senseis. Baseball has a coach for every position player. Football has coordinators and trainers aplenty. When you are a professional athlete, odds are you’ve spent your whole pre-pro existence with a coach telling you what to do and critiquing every flaw until you reach perfection. We can all agree a $650 aluminum bat means jack if you close your eyes while swinging. The same can be said about motocross- how well does that fancy aluminum clutch perch and quick adjust cable assembly work if you don’t speed shift and ride with your finger on the lever?

Two months ago I decided it was time to put my money where my mouth is (because admittedly I too scour the parts books looking for new hotness to install on my 125) and attend a one-day motocross school. For 14 years I have been a riding coach as my own brand, and as assistants to other trainers. In that 14-years I’ve been trained 0 times. A good buddy of mine that has contracted me to help him a few times for his larger camp classes was holding a group class in March at Bar2Bar MX in Wichita, and I asked Scott if I could come as a student to his Innovative MX class- not as a teacher.

Sure, I could have been his demonstration man and made a few hundred bucks. But I knew it was time to polish up on bad habits. I can watch any rider and point out 13 things they are doing wrong and accurately relay that information, but self-analysis while riding is another animal and I know exactly what to do on a bike. This specific class was a prep session for the Loretta qualifier to be held at B2B in a couple weeks and not so much a basic technique driller. Guess what I needed to work on the most? Basic techniques. It was excruciating for Scott to pull me aside during one of our first drills and listen to him tell me what I NEEDED to hear, and not that I was the fastest guy there and I’m doing everything right. “You’re gassing it twice in every corner. Why? You know to not do that. Fix it.” That coming in through the side of my helmet lit a fire under my ass. I jumped back into my group and immediately failed at what I was instructed to do and screamed at myself as I blew out the three corners we were working on.

But as the day went on and I hyper-focused on setting up to accelerate one time, and one time only, it clicked. My technique skyrocketed and my bars began to drag regularly. After having someone I respect tell me in five seconds, the thing that felt like it was a major roadblock is now a thing of the past. Every day I’m at the track I repeat to myself “gas once” while riding. My Lectron carb works fantastic, but does it matter if my bike is jetted perfectly when I’m not riding to top ability? Not really. The price of admission to the day of schooling has ended up paying large dividends, especially when I went riding with my buddy slash competition Ricky Draper, whom I would’ve put money on being faster than me. Ricky just scored his points for a SX license and at one time was a household name in the Arenacross series. We sessioned together at a local practice day, and my gas-once obsession had me pulling away from him for a large gap. Payoff: tenfold and priceless.

Maybe this year before you hit the aftermarket parts bin, call your local coach or pro card holder and see what he charges for lessons. The 20-year knowledge that a motocross coach can convey to you in a day of training will absolutely surpass the return of investment on a new billet clutch hub or anodized axle blocks. Invest in yourself and your riding ability through coaching, and watch your lap times drop as you become the most important performance part money can buy.