Training Tips from Debra Barton

The list of women to take a motorcycle around Sonoma’s Infineon Raceway in less than a minute fifty is very short, but Scuderia West‘s Debra Barton makes the cut.

In the fall of 2007 she posted a 1:48 at Infineon in Formula III race with the AFM, taking third behind Jonathan Schendel and Carlos Neves, and earlier that summer placed third in FIII with a 2:05 at Thunderhill. For 2009, she’ll be fielding a 125 in the AFM’s Formula III and may take a run at Formula 40, having only recently become qualified for the class. Look out ladies and gents, she’s in the market for a 600 and is hoping to get a hold of one soon!

So I’m completely obsessed with fitness for racing, as I suspect that fitness can go a long way in making up for my lack of skill. So, I’ve been grilling all the lady racers I know and asking them for training tips. Here’s a summary of what Deb shared with me this week:

The Five Tenets of Motorcycle Racing Fitness, by Debra Barton

• Endurance training: “You have to be strong, and you have to have stamina.”

• Strength training: “Core and upper body training is key for women because of the way you move around on the motorcycle; you generally want to keep body weight and unnecessary input off the handlebars to allow the motorcycle to perform optimally, but then you also need upper body strength to get the bike to change directions at higher speeds and precisely when you want.

  Train biceps, triceps and deltoids, and don’t worry, it’s very hard for most women to bulk up!”

• Flexibility training: “One of the things that I’ve found when it comes to crashing is that the more flexible you are, the fewer injuries you’ll sustain. Stretch every day!”

• Breathing exercises: “It helps to keep you calm, and when you’re calm, you’re smarter about how you exert your energy” (and will likely be more capable of making smart decisions on the racetrack).

• Cross training on other bikes: “Motocross, flat track or supermoto, and even mountain biking. Nothing replaces seat time, and all of these other riding disciplines activate muscles you use when roadracing to some degree. It will also help you further understand throttle control, braking, tire grip and feel, and enhance your general intuition (for lack of a better word) of how a motorcycle works and feels. It just all puts your brain in a different mode.”

Deb went on to add, “you have to be strong to ride the bigger bikes. If you want to be competitive, you have to dedicate time to training, of that there is no doubt. I don’t think it has anything to do with being competitive against the men as much as just being competitive, but it’s also about being able to get the motorcycle to do what it’s capable of doing.

“Think about coming out of T7 at Sears and heading down to 8 and 8A: it’s a big S, but it’s really fast through there, isn’t it? Since you want to go fast in the fast places, you can really pin it through there, but you have to get the bike to go from left to right while going very fast – and it takes a lot of strength to get the bike to change directions in a way that doesn’t lose any time. Any high speed situation where the bike has to change direction you’re fighting physics and it requires physcical strength and leverage to get it done…the faster it is the more it needs.”

Deb also adds, and I have to agree with her – “I also like the way a boxer trains – holy shit…that will make you strong and keep you trim!”

Adding the Rocky theme to my playlist as we speak. Thanks Debra for sharing your tips, best of luck to you this year!