Mastering the Adventure: Lana's Journey from Racing Cars to Motorcycle Excellence
Guest: Lana Tsurikova, autocross racer and GS Trophy Qualifier participant (Lana on Wheels)Episode Summary:From the roar of race car engines to the heart-pumping thrills of off-road motorcycling, Lana's story isn't one you stumble upon every day. Today, she sits down with me and shares the her tale of transitioning from a car racing champion to a motorcycle adventure rider. Lana discusses her systematic approach to conquer the off-road terrain starting on a KTM 390 Adventure. She demystifies the journey of learning to ride and the art of picking yourself and your bike up after a fall. Lana's narrative is not just about personal triumph; it's a beacon for setting achievable milestones and the relentless pursuit that follows.If you've ever wondered how to elevate your riding skills to competition level, this episode is your manual, packed with insights into the dedication needed to excel in the demanding world of adventure motorcycling.Full Transcript:0:00:15 - Bret TkacsWelcome back to Around the Wheel with Bret Tkacs and today my guest, her name is Lana. She's a rider who's actually trained with me, a fantastic, highly driven rider who went from zero experience off-road to participating in a GS Trophy Qualifier in only three years. So she's going to share with us the process it took to get from zero to "go in such a short period of time. Hey Lana, thanks for joining me and sharing your experience about getting into adventure riding, because it's something so many riders really kind of struggle with and I think now it's even - in some ways more difficult because there's so many different ideas. There's social media, there's YouTube and videos and schools. What I like about your story is that you had a very specific goal from where you came from, and your very driven personality and you had a goal to where you wanted to be. Why don't you share a little bit about that story with us?0:01:26 - LanaSure, thank you, Bret, and thank you for having me. So yeah, I came to motorcycles from cars before COVID started. I used to race cars for 20 years and I thought I knew what I was doing. I was so excited finishing 2019 season, I got my second national championship in Autocross and I was so looking looking forward to next year, but it was cancelled.0:01:54 - Bret TkacsBecause of COVID?0:01:55 - LanaBecause of COVID. Yes, we couldn't instruct. You can't sit in a car with another person, you can't be instructor, you can't invite students to see what you're doing. Literally everything was canceled.0:02:08 - Bret TkacsSo what led you to the bikes and what was your goal? How did you end up? Because I know your goal was you wanted to do ,.. like a GS challenge or a GS Trophy, and that was your objective. How did you end up, with that being your objective? What led you to motorcycles? Besides, you couldn't drive around in cars anymore.0:02:26 - LanaRight. So I was sitting at home and probably my husband is right that I'm adrenaline junkie. He just observed me bouncing from the walls - season 2020 - and he actually found this GS Trophy video online on YouTube. He turns the monitor to me and says did you know about this GS Trophy? And I looked at it like, oh, that looks good, I wanted. So that was it. Literally, he just showed me one video. I saw competition on wheels. It involved really good motor, so I wanted to do it. To say I didn't even know how to ride? That would not be fair. I rode maybe four or five times per summer on street, but that was it. I never took my wheels off the pavement. So in 2020, I went and bought 390 Adventure KTM. You know, I didn't know any better. I thought that's perfect bike to start.0:03:29 - Bret TkacsLana, how tall are you?0:03:31 - LanaI'm five seven.0:03:33 - Bret TkacsOkay.0:03:34 - LanaSo even reaching to the ground from that bike was a challenge. I knew right there I'm in trouble what I decided to do. I made a point to take that little bike. and I call it little because everything is relative right? I immediately took it off road and I will never forget my first fire road, how scary it was. You know everything is moving different places and..But it was so fun and I will never forget the sense of freedom that cars - for some reason, cars do not give you that. You escape in the forest. You just take a random path in the forest and suddenly you turn off the engine and it's silent. You can never get that sense of being one with the nature. I don't know, that's just something that I, when I close my eyes, that's where I go in my mind to just endless sense of peace and calmness. But to get there you need to be really good on two wheels, right? So I kept pushing and I started taking lessons, because I knew next trophy GS Trophy be two years. So I need to be ready.0:04:48 - Bret TkacsWell, you know they don't do GS Trophies on 390 Adventures, right?0:04:57 - LanaYes, I thought I would learn and then switch to a more appropriate bike.0:05:03 - Bret TkacsAnd Lana, I think that's something that a lot of riders struggle with is understanding and being realistic about where they need to start versus where they want to end up. I can't tell you the number of riders who have trained with me that have started off by apologizing - when I go, "o what do you ride? Well, I only have, and it's like, wait a minute, hold on. Whatever you ride is what you ride, whether it's because that's what you need to get better or because that's what makes you happy. Be proud of whatever it is that you ride.And I don't think people realize the developmental process and the advantages of starting smaller, something reasonable that you can build confidence on, that you can pick up, that you're not worried about dropping or damaging. You know, even bikes that have cheap body parts so you can really enjoy having a bike. Everybody's focused on their objective and for many people, it's what bike they want, you know, whether it's a Multistrata or a GS or an Africa Twin or whatever it is. You know they're just like that's my goal and they want to go out and buy that dream bike and then they're terrified that they're going to drop it and dent it or anything else. I think it's really important for anybody that's listening to understand that starting off small, starting off with something that allows you to put your toe in the water and figure things out and, most importantly, to not be afraid to use it, to drop it, to take it places and to sell it when you're done, is an important aspect of that process, of that development as an adventure rider.0:06:40 - LanaAbsolutely. And, Bret, you actually touched on a couple of other aspects that I didn't even realize what the stigma is around the notion of dropping a bike. To me, when you're training, you're dropping it, right? It's a nature of life, nature of progressing from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow. So you're absolutely right, I knew that bike would be down. So whatever protection I could install, I installed before my first ride and that was it. Since that moment it became a training vehicle, not something that you're afraid to see a scratch on the peg, right? Oh, to be proud of what you're riding, that's something that I'm really happyI had experience in cars because I observed exactly the same attitude in my students and cars. What are you driving today? Oh, I'm just in Miata. Oh, my God, you're in a Bullet. You just need to know how to drive it. It is a momentum vehicle, so you have to carry speed through corners and people look at you like you have two heads. But you're sitting with me in a BMW. I can't carry that much momentum. So I will show different lines, different technique, but we'll get to your car and try to squeeze as much as we can from your car. So that idea that any vehicle is amazing training vehicle is something that people probably do not fully appreciate and, as you said, is, the more you switch between bikes, between cars, the more you start feeling them and you do not drive or ride by memory of what your day-to-day vehicle can deliver.0:08:23 - Bret TkacsYou did instruction in cars, correct.0:08:26 - LanaYeah, I'm racing instructor. Yep.0:08:29 - Bret TkacsAnd I think that really sets you off on the correct path as well, and the fact that that meant you already had a mindset where you know the value of tapping into somebody else's experiences, knowledge, and then to realize you don't have to buy into everything that an instructor tells you or school tells you. You go in with an open mind, you leave the things that you believe on the shelf, you take it in and then, when you're all done, you can reflect on it, sort through it and go what works for me, what doesn't work? How do I reapply that? What was the first training you did and what did you take away from that? What was your greatest takeaway and what did you do?0:09:08 - LanaSo my first training, I was really lucky. I did a two day session with Jocelyn Snow and Jocelyn is just an amazing rider and there were multiple factors why I wanted to train with her. First of all, she's a lady. Second, she's shorter than I am. I don't want to misrepresent her numbers, but like if I am 5'7", she's 5'2" or 5'3", much, much smaller than me and no way she can reach to the ground from GS, right? We're talking about 1250 GS.So when I saw her riding and I watched multiple videos of her riding style and the way she teaches, she gives you confidence just by few words that she mentioned. You come back to her and she says, no, you can do it, just do a little tweak in what you're doing and she sends you away again and you do it. So that kind of encouragement and belief in you as a student was something, something I actually didn't see in other instructors. But everybody has their amazing and points that you always take home.So about Jocelyn, her whole training for me and I told her I'm 100% novice,
