RIP Josh Lichtle. Should there be something done to shorten the motos at the hotter races?
RIP Josh Lichtle. Should there be something done to shorten the motos at the hotter races?
Should moto’s be shortened due to heat?
Swizcore-Man, I just got home from work and had a look at Facebook as I “unwound” from the day. So many of my friends went to Josh’s services today, so sad. I never met Josh but I had many friends who were friends of his and a few who were very close to him. The strange thing about cliche’s is, usually they’re true and not until you find yourself in a situation a cliche’ accurately defines, do you recognize their truth. For those who loved Josh, there are no words that could make his loss any less devastating, only time can help that. See what I mean, cliche’ but true.
Josh’s passing brings about a polarizing debate as to whether the sanctioning body of the outdoor series could have already had safety measures in place or if they should institute a shortened moto policy for dangerously hot race conditions in the future.
There are multiple sides of this debate. One says, a competitor died, obviously something needs to be done. Another says, there were 79 other competitors who made it through the conditions. There is even a side which believes, to shorten the moto’s would be a slap in the face of the roots of MX and its legendary predecessors.
I feel like I fall right in the middle of these points of view. As trivial as it sounds, to me, shortening the moto’s due to excessive heat is watering down the sports extreme preparation requirements at this, the top level of competition. Don’t get me wrong, the heat at Red Bud was incredible, even as a spectator if you had no shade and no breeze, your discomfort put the racing action in the periphery. It’s no secret that the racer’s who make it onto the 40 man gate in the National series are all super gnarly dudes. You don’t get to that level without putting in more work than any athlete in any other form of sport. On that same point, the racers know they are elite and to throw in the towel before the checkered flag is never an option(save for an injury or mechanical(or the puzzling-Pourcel)).
Anyone who has ever raced MX in hot conditions at their own personal limit knows the feeling of having your forward momentum stopped in an instant and the temperature spike which occurs as you attempt to remount and continue on. It’s scary and the only way to combat it is to be fully in-tune with your body’s intensity level at all times and attempt to regulate it accordingly. Much easier said than done as you know. MX has so many uncontrollable factors and that is exactly what makes it the most intense sport on the earth.
As the sport progresses, the duration at which a racer needs to sustain that highest level of intensity grows and the their health is put in jeopardy as a result. Higher speeds, higher intensity, for longer durations all add up to increasingly dire consequences when there is a breakdown in the formula. We saw that at Red Bud. The propensity for this catastrophe exists at every MX race, the heat just amplifies it.
I think the extent to which the sanctioning body of the Nationals should intervene on this type of debate is simply increasing awareness of a racers personal capacity in elevated heat index situations. Perhaps it’s a matter of a heat specific address at the riders meeting provided by Doc Bodnar which also includes a signature by all entered racer’s acknowledging they were present for the address and aware of the increased safety measures they can control while competing. No signature, no participation.
As I said before, the loss of Josh can not be over-stated but indeed, there were 70+ other entrants who completed the 4 moto’s of the day. A very telling fact in all of this is something I read from Josh’s brother Bill in the ESPN story on Josh. Bill said, “He just had so much heart and he wanted to be back competing at this level so bad that he wouldn’t have quit for anything.”
That indeed was Josh, and the mindset of most at this level of the sport. It could happen to any rider in any length of moto, it’s just the intensity and commitment needed to succeed at this level of the sport.
Matthes- Of course I’m not going to take the side of the motos should be shortened just because this columns theme is two sides to an argument. What you wrote Swizzle is really perfect and pretty much exactly how I feel.
There is a tendency in todays society to overreact and caution everything, warn everybody and change things up because of tragedy or (shudder) a lawsuit. Josh Litchtle was a motocross racer and he understood the risks and rewards of his sport. By all accounts Josh knew all too well the feelings of being a motocross prodigy and having everyone say you’re the greatest and then the fall where no one will return your calls. Lichtle pushed his body to the breaking point last Sunday and he lost.
It’s not something that I take lightly at all but we have to understand that our sport is gnarly and one of the worlds toughest. Sometimes tragedy strikes in this world and no one has an answer for it. There are precautions for extreme temperatures just as there are ones for storms and other “acts of God” in the rulebook and there’s a doctor on-site who can stop the race any time he feels it’s too much. I’ve been to many races that I felt were hotter than Saturday’s RedBud, not saying that it was cool by any means but to me, it wasn’t that bad. Off the top of my head, there were four or five races that were hotter.
One of the things that I do hope this tragedy invokes is thoughts about every rider out on the track. The guy in 30th that’s been lapped twice? Yeah, he’s a bad-ass. The dude who Chad Reed blows by on the outside? He’s pushing himself as hard as he can to ride as fast as he’s going, no doubt about it. Every week in the nationals there are a dozen or so riders that miss out on making the 40 man gate by tenths of seconds. That’s right, tenths. They are all gnarly guys wherever they live.
Next time you’re at a race and the guy way at the back is getting lapped or you’re tempted to make a joke about him, think about Josh Lichtle and how hard he was trying at RedBud.
That’s a lesson right there.