From Beginner to GS Trophy Finalist: How a Short Rider Handles BIG Adventure Bikes (BMW GS Tips)

Love what you hear? Please FOLLOW and leave a review!

If you would like to ride the extra mile, you can help support the show by -

Buy Me a Coffee

This week we interview Lana Tsurikova, who details her transition from a twenty-year career in autocross car racing to becoming an international adventure motorcycle competitor. Tsurikova recounts her experience at the BMW GS Trophy competition in Bavaria, describing the intense, non-professional event that featured grueling off-road sections and surprising physical challenges, such as pushing heavy bikes through mud. She emphasizes that her success is rooted in the discipline and consistent practice required to overcome her initial fear of bikes and rapidly develop her skills as an adult beginner. Furthermore, Tsurikova promotes her YouTube channel, which offers riding tutorials, and discusses her volunteer work as an ambassador for Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR), helping to maintain free, public routes for adventure riders across the country.

You can find Lana on her YouTube channel HERE -

https://www.youtube.com/@LanaOnWheels

For more information on the Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR) HERE -

https://www.youtube.com/@RideBDR

Book your "Bike Bestie" buying consultation. Annick will work with you one-on-one via a 45min video call to help you figure out what your next (or first!) motorcycle should be. Buying a vehicle can be overwhelming. There are so many GREAT options on the market! How do you decide which motorcycle is right for you? This unique consultation is tailored specifically to your riding style, experience, budget, and needs.

For the month of December, sign up & get 50% off!!! - Bike Bestie Consultation

If you have any questions, email us - info@liveferoce.com

// CHECK OUT THE OFFICIAL FÉROCE WEBSITE & JOIN THE MAILING LIST
https://liveferoce.com/

Don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to receive 10% off your first order!

Transcript

Lana Tsurikova: GS Trophy Insights and Journey

Annick: Hello, my beautiful motorheads. It's Annick. Today's guest is Lana Tsurikova, who started off racing cars and then later in life decided to get into motorcycling. Well, she just came back from Bavaria after competing in the world GS Trophy competition. Lana is going to share with us what it's like to compete on a world level, and how she's put together some YouTube tutorials on how to get short riders comfortable on big bikes.

Lana has a lot to share with us, so let's get into it.

 * INTRO *

Annick: Lana! You just got back from Bavaria. Alright. What happened?

Lana Tsurikova: Uh, GS Trophy Competition happened?

international, which was really amazing event. Um, we had Can I focus 

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: riders. had, of course, more guy riders and they're amazing riders, we had 14 total riders in women's team and they split us in two halves, but they mixed international in Europe. So we practically didn't know who is who until we 

Annick: wait, so

me, let me ask one question about that. So so you said, okay, so the men's and women's were going on at the same time.

Lana Tsurikova: Uh, everybody went at the same time, but everybody belonged to a team. So, um, men were separate from women and we were just like 14 people total. We had seven and seven in each team, and um, uh, we had two marshals. It was Jocelyn and Nikki. Uh, I had Jocelyn as my marshal they just took us. Every team has its own, uh, assigned, uh, sequence of the challenges. And Marshall takes her from point to point, and once the team is done, you go to the next one. But overall, it was super exciting to see people all over the world practically flying in flying. Um, Europeans, some of them actually rode in on their competition bikes. Like, uh, I met a guy from Belgium drove a thousand miles whatever on uh, knobby tires To compete on the bike that he, that he brought, he, he just used his competition bike to deliver himself there. Most of people, they were rented and you could rent 

Annick: So what did you end up renting?

Lana Tsurikova: Well, I went for 1300 because I have it here home Okay, I so let's back up, because a lot

Annick: are watching this or listening to it won't necessarily know what the GS trophy competition is. So can you give a little bit of context as into like what make of motorcycles, like how it's set up and exactly like what they ask the riders to do.

Lana Tsurikova: Um, so Trophe, uh, is BMW absolutely genius. Uh, event, they created it, uh, I believe, um, 2008. Don't quote me on this. I believe so. I was the first one. And um, idea is that you need to qualify for the actual competition. So in year one it's qualify for qualifiers and if you make the team, then you go to the actual GS Trophy where a representatives from those countries who teams are there compete against each other.

So it becomes. international event and um, incredibly competitive, but it's designed for non-professionals. So you cannot be racing or having active racing license. You can't be. Um, instructor, BMW instructor, you can't be working for BMW as corporate or any of the branches. So they're really specific about that. And the idea is that people who actually buy those motorcycles use them as users, have a place to come and to come to understand where they, their skills are. And, uh, the best ones go to international competition. And the beauty is that, um, BMW chooses amazing countries for the actual competition. So one year it was in Canada, another year it was South Africa. Next year it was Mongolia, New Zealand. Uh, Chile, Argentina, um, you name it, like all over the place, Namibia. So it is really impressive and people go long way for a chance to go and ride there because it's so, it's incredibly exciting. Competition itself is really intense. Don't get me wrong. And then until this year, US riders could go to either, um, Carol, California or South Carolina BMW Centers where qualifiers used to be. This year, for some reason it was decided not to, and um, Germany opened it for international riders who wanted to come to, uh, Bavaria to come 

Annick: So you had already qualified though, in the US right?

Lana Tsurikova: I didn't, I, I, I participated in qualifier in 20 23, 2 years ago, but I didn't make the team this year. I 

Annick: Okay.

Lana Tsurikova: to the finals year. I, again, participated in qualifier, but I made to the finals 

Annick: was different?

Lana Tsurikova: So 

Annick: yeah. Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: step at a time. Different. Different in terms of what? 

Annick: Is it that, you feel like you were able to do it this year because you had more experience and you knew what to you were getting into, or your skill level has increased or like what made it a better year for you to go international?

Lana Tsurikova: I see so. After previous year, previous qualifiers, I came back so inspired I observed girls riding like. Some guys cannot do that. I, I apologize guys. I know you're all phenomenal riders, but sometimes girls can do that too. I saw girls trying on obstacles that I never imagined even coming close to. And um, uh, in South Carolina they have, um, police rodeo elements. And in my team we had, um, a rider who those. Like it was nothing. I, and she was in GSA, the only participant of the entire event. She had GSA, and she did it flawlessly. And I can, like, if she can do it, I shouldn't be able to do it. So literally like three days after I was in the parking lot doing those police, um, police rodeo elements like why I get on a full look like what's wrong with me. So, uh, that was just one little element, but just trophy is mostly about adventure riding, which is a off road, mud, um, gravel, sand, Uh, water crossings, and any combination of those hills down hills. I spent significant time working in my own skills and my own fears of it, off road riding. So when I came to this event, I felt like I'm a little 

Annick: So is it

Like all these obstacles are within a closed course and is it timed?

Lana Tsurikova: Um, and no. So, um, if we compare South Carolina and, um, Germany Germany is held in the, uh, specific BMW training facility that used to be quarry. So they have amazing uphills, downhills. They have amazing sections of the forest. They also, um, my understanding it was even outside of their facility, they use some of the nearby fields for some of the elements. So they have total of 14, 14 elements Carolina had like 20 of them Carolina had shorter elements where it would be just step up hill and turn you have like literally less than one yard. Top and you have to manage the turn. while in, uh, Germany it was more lengthy courses that would come by and say, sand, gravel, up hills, down hills, single track. Um, and when I say uphills, it could be uphill, turn uphill and it's all gravel and lose gravel, and you have no clue where you're coming. Once you get there, it could be turning left or right. Then if you have to navigate, oh, it's another one, and now it's like full mud and you have to get through that and then, oh, okay.

It's not there. It's over there. It's single track. So, uh, Germany had a little bit longer and really interesting combination of elements. Well, uh, South Carolina had more like designated skills, uh, sections or elements. had only two or three that were maybe three or four that had longer combination of elements. And again, they're really like technical. While Germany, you have to be strategic. You have to. You have to be really good rider and being able to think like quickly. I will never forget one of the courses come and courses so long and guys like explaining to you do this, you do this and we all, you know, we are listening, we really paying attention. And he goes and we look at him. Say it again. Like, we don't get it, like you told us like 10 different things. How, how does it flow? It's like girls, it just doesn't matter. Just flow. Go. It flows. No, tell us exactly what's there. Okay. he repeats everything. You know, they, they also under certain rules what they can 

Annick: Mm-hmm.

Lana Tsurikova: they can't say. And so he was patient with us, but obviously, you know, like just go. 

Annick: I think that's where

Lana Tsurikova: He obviously 

Annick: Whoever, they're like, I need

Lana Tsurikova: he 

Annick: need a

Lana Tsurikova: that from, from 

Annick: yeah. 

Lana Tsurikova: Like guys, just, yeah. I need to 

Annick: Wow. So how did you end up doing the end? How did it all I.

Lana Tsurikova: Oh, uh, what I didn't tell you, uh, uh, in both of the um, uh, locations, they actually had physical challenges. Something that would wear you out physically, after that you expected to

Annick: Oh.

Lana Tsurikova: and ride. so uh, in Carolina we had to roll huge, uh, uh, tractor tires through the, um, just suspension bridge.

Then do some, some other things, carry big buckets of water on the beam, and if you step of it, you do it again. But that was nothing compared to the Germany where we had to push uphill and powered motorcycles like water crossing uphill mud leaves and it's dead. And it's, most of us were on 13 hundreds and you have, then you roll them down and again, water crossing, and then you take next

Annick: so you're

Lana Tsurikova: have 40 minutes. You're pushing it the whole time. You're not riding it. You are pushing.

No, you can ride downhill. You pushing it up. Okay.

Annick: All

Lana Tsurikova: Yeah. And I, I released a short about that, uh, my team was able to move four bikes completely. Using that, um, path and they're trying to trick you from the very beginning. Like they have a nice table and five or six items, like choose whatever you need to choose to complete this task. But it needs to be back on the table in 40 minutes. And like, do you have a shovel? You have a rake, you have a huge rope like this, and uh, like a dozen of strips. You need to be really quick to decide what you're going to use. everybody agreed on that, have a strategy and start doing that. So it's a teamwork and it's timed. So as I said, seven girls, we were able to move four bikes.

I, I thought it's unbelievable. Um, I know guys moved six, seven bikes, but you're talking about totally different manpower, 

Annick: That's crazy.

so this whole thing is like, not only is it riding ability, but it's also your physical fitness and your mental aptitude to be able to do all these tasks, I guess.

Lana Tsurikova: And, and then you have to riding. Being really exhausted. where the 

Annick: Okay.

Lana Tsurikova: test starts. Because you know, when you're in the forest, you will be challenged by the nature and you need to be able to solve those problems, ideally fast and efficiently. And everybody needs to get back in one piece.

Right? So that's checking everything like your mental. Your mental skills, your capacity to help others, your capacity to hear each other. For example, when we were pushing bikes up, we were 

Annick: no.

Lana Tsurikova: down and you have to reposition yourself and to be ready again for the next push. So you have to be working.

All seven of us, were working like one single organism. Um, and then once you're really tired, still 

Annick: Was that, was everybody even

English? I mean, this is international, so was there a common language?

Okay.

Lana Tsurikova: yeah. It was actually a requirement. It was a requirement to, to be able to comprehend and to at least communicate to some degree in English, because otherwise it would be not doable in, in this environment. It could be actually 

Annick: Mm-hmm.

Lana Tsurikova: So you have, you have to make sure you, 

Annick: Wild. So how did your team do?

this is what I need 

Lana Tsurikova: uh, we did just one, one more. That was actually, it was not in part in South Carolina. They had, they gave us compasses and they hid objects all over the area and each, each girl or each participant had a card in which sequence, you're supposed to find those. So you need to be able to 

Annick: This is

Lana Tsurikova: And then you 

Annick: what I was expecting. This is

Lana Tsurikova: No, no. And then you, you walk, it's like you see, oh, okay. This is

900. I found 900. 

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: The BMW GS. Oh, okay. This is the, um, GS um... seat.. Okay. And this is the, uh, skid plate. Oh, okay. This is just the windshield. you 

Annick: Wow.

Lana Tsurikova: pieces, 

Annick: That is wild.

Lana Tsurikova: and again, you have 40 minutes and you are in the full gear. The only thing you take off your helmet. So it's, it's fun. 

Annick: So you still haven't told me. How did you guys do?

Lana Tsurikova: Oh, my team, we did fantastic and I, I think, uh, both girls teams did fantastic. Um, you know, we all come from different backgrounds, different skills, different uh, uh, paths. To this moment. it was really interesting to observe, uh, this lady who had dirt bike, bike riding skills. one of the elements was in a pure dirt field, you're supposed to do as many figure eights as you can and go around number of objects, and one you go around, it counts. So the more you do the, the more your score is. And the, the ones that had, uh, dirt bike ride, uh, dirt bike riding, they would just put the foot out like on a dirt bike and go, I, I came to adventure riding. I missed that step. So for me it was just, I'm going really wide, but they would just point and shoot, turn point and shoot turn. it was just interesting to observe that. Um, but overall, I was really amazed how supportive all of the ladies were Um, it, it just literally felt as a sisterhood, you know, we, we all understand that at the end we all compete against each other. For those spots on the team. But you know, in a crisis moment, Hmm.

Now you better cheer and support each other. just, it just, it feels right this way. So, um, and you observed amazing riding like the, some of the girls, oh my God. It's like that bike is not a bike. It feels like it's a bicycle 

Annick: Wow.

Lana Tsurikova: under her. And that gives you such enormous inspiration, like, wow, if she can do it, I should be able to do that. I just need to train. 

Annick: Mm-hmm. 

Lana Tsurikova: more. 

Annick: So

No, 

Lana Tsurikova: Right? 

Annick: always. When I see a better rider, I'm like, okay. It's like the, you know, the first

the four minute mile. Once that was done, other people

okay,

it's, it's

It.

Lana Tsurikova: yeah. It's 

Annick: Wow. So now that you're back, well, I wanna back up a little bit because still, you haven't told us how you finished.

Lana Tsurikova: Well, I, I, I made to the finals, um, and the finals, they sort of tell everybody, go and have lunch, relax, which is really nice. This is over. You have such tremendous relief once you. Like finish your last run. Like done. yeah. Um, and then they took a really long time to calculate the points and, um, this is their business.

I have no insights on how this is done. And then they came out and said, these are the names of the finalist. Uh, so it was five ladies and I believe five guys, and I was the fifth. One second. Exactly. Um, and thank you. And for that one, they build a course. Um, and everybody was out. Like all marshals are there. They're testing different uphills, downhills. And most of it was visible to the crowd. So I told you it's a quarry, so it has like opening, it's not a field, it's so gravel, but then it's like a bowl. these, so you can go up and down on all of the sides of that ball. Just differs on the height. Like this is a little bit forward and there's a bigger, there's the biggest than that one is the biggest one, they're sort of under different angles. Some of those actually I took, um, like novices training, just I wanted to see the facility because of the time change.

You know, they are six hours earlier. Uh, and I knew that they're going to start like 7:00 AM so it's literally midnight for me to start. So I flew in a little bit earlier and two days before the competition, I took training. They call it training all, I just wanted to see the facility. And I was really lucky with, uh, my instructor. He used to be, um, developer who worked on the suspension part of the BMW motorcycles, like his whole life. And after like 30 years being he said, you guys are boring. I'm going to to be instructor. Uh, so he took us all over the place and showed us the beauty of this facility, but some of those downhills you pull up and you can't see where you're going, so it feels

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: And he said, just don't look down. Just look for it. Okay. So that was eyeopening. Really, really interesting to see that. But then you see marshals preparing the final course and some of those lines that they took, I was like, if I am a finalist, and I, we didn't know, know, we didn't know who's going to be finalists.

Right. But you see them sort of testing and, and I was just standing there. If they ask me to run that specific downhill, I'm going to skip it. Like it's, they still have enough to make, uh, quite seasoned rider feel uncomfortable. So you have to watch out for 

Annick: I said I've ridden in quarries and I've seen people do the hill climbs or like the, but it can be like a rock face. It's, it's crazy.

Wow.

Lana Tsurikova: Yeah. Yeah. And And they have it all. Literally, you ask and they will 

Annick: Wow. 

Lana Tsurikova: that element. 

Annick: That's amazing. So then in the, as a finalist, did you compete? That was a co-ed competition.

Lana Tsurikova: Uh, so as a finalist, um, they finalized the course and then they demonstrated, actually, Nikki, the other, uh, lady Marshall, she rode it, uh, so that everybody on the ground could observe 

Annick: I.

Lana Tsurikova: she's going. Like, and everything was marked like the ground. Everything was marked. You cross the line, they take points from your run. So there was no interpretation. Um, so it consisted of, um, uh, baby heads, lots of uphill downhills, super tight turns, like you go downhill. You literally have no space. It's full lock uphill, practically from a full stop no space whatsoever, and they limit you. know, it's not a drop there, but here's a line. You cross it. You have points against you. Again, full lock, and it's really deep downhill and it's all timed. In this 

Annick: Okay.

Lana Tsurikova: is timed. Um, they also had, um, kicked the tire, you know, with a rear wheel. Um, and a lot of it was uphill, tight turn, downhill, super tight, so like that dancing, and then longer uphills, downhills. Um, uphill with a little bit shift and continue uphill of sort of single track. Then they had really steep downhill where you're supposed to do full stop. Uh, I think only one or two people did the full stop and they, from the entire finalists, you know, your bike just goes like, full stop and it goes just, 

Annick: Mm-hmm.

Lana Tsurikova: itself. It's like, Yeah. And then the last water crossing was actually surprising. We did tons of those during previous two days, but this one was super deep. when it, when I went down, I didn't realize how it much jerked me, like, wow, I going to survive? But I saw all of them coming through that, and it was really, really long. It was a lot of fun. You just go, it's mostly just. baby heads under just, there's no 

Annick: awesome. That sounds like fun.

Lana Tsurikova: It was a lot of fun. That course was really fun. And I said, you know, we did much worse in the previous two days. Everybody probably here could do that with no problems whatsoever. And initially they said you, we will have to run two laps and two laps. I can clean the first one and second one would be much faster. then they starts going dark really fast and they said, Nope. Wow.

One lap. So they cut it off and the last guys were running in full darkness. not just dusk, like full darkness, like Wow. a whole water

Annick: too.

Lana Tsurikova: Yeah. It Yeah,

Imagine in the full darkness you are coming to the downhill and you have no clue what's there.

Like literally, you have yeah.

So that Wow. So at the end of it, are you now ready to do another competition? Like what? What's gonna happen from here? from here?

I need to sort my brain. Um, I'm thinking that just because the way I came to the sport, I Yeah skipped dirt.

bikes and only year and a half I had the dirt bike as my training tool. So I'm thinking of parking my big one and just having fun on a little

Annick: So this

Lana Tsurikova: for just. For pure development of 

Annick: back up a little bit because you actually came to motorcycling later in life and you started off your

career 

Lana Tsurikova: Hmm 

Annick: cars.

So

can

bit about that and how you segued into motorcycles from the car racing.

Lana Tsurikova: So I started car racing since in 2002. And I stopped in 2020 when COVID happened. So in 2019, I got my second national championship in the Corvette and I got myself next car for the next season. I was so excited about it. And then winter comes, everything closes, spring comes, runways are closed, and the. You might wanna cut it off, but I am adrenaline junkie, so I need to get out everything from my system. And I know that I'm much safer doing this on the runways. Um, racing closed, circuit. Racing, or was it drag racing.

uh, neither it was autocross. I was doing okay.

20 years. Yeah, I have, I actually have some videos on my YouTube, but I. You know, it's, it's like a previous lifetime, more just a memory for me, it was a lot of fun. It was actually zero six, um, one of the best engines I ever 

Annick: classic.

Lana Tsurikova: on. Oh, yeah. Yeah. um. You know, everything was closed. I was bouncing from the walls literally. my husband found this GS trophy. He just turned, literally, he turned his laptop to me and said, did you see this girl Jocelyn Snow? Look what she does on the motorcycle. And it was one of those beautiful moments when she's going through the gravel and, you know, spins of the rear tire. She's phenomenal. If she does it, I should be able to do it. What? I didn't know that Jocelyn dropped with bikes like she started riding when she 

Annick: yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: or something. Okay. And I was, I was literally 45 and I thought if she can do it, I should be. That tells you '

Annick: cause it's like.

Lana Tsurikova: I am. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I got myself first adventure bike, which I didn't know any better.

It was three 90 Adventure, KTM. I sold it really quickly, but it was my first bike uh, I went and trained with Jocelyn. And gosh, it's incredible when you have a person like this to inspire earlier, um, in your path. It is. gives you so much confidence that you can do it, and you come back. Yeah, you understand your fraction of where you want to be, but she gives you this spark inside or in your brain that keeps your butt under the fire.

It's like, I should go and train. I should go and train. So almost every day I am. I kick myself and go and train. In the parking lot. I, I don't have a 

Annick: Mm-hmm.

Lana Tsurikova: dirt around, but you know, slow speed 

Annick: And you were doing this all during COVID where everything was shut down. So there wasn't anybody around. You were just these drills in a

Lana Tsurikova: Yeah. 

Annick: You don't need

Lana Tsurikova: Yep. 

Annick: need to hear this. Like, you don't need much, you need the will to

it. 

Lana Tsurikova: Yeah. 

Annick: to, uh, this is something we've talked about, uh, outside of interview, but also I've seen it in 

Lana Tsurikova: I. 

Annick: And also in a presentation you give, but like this idea of conquering your fears, especially on motorcycles

and like what that takes.

Lana Tsurikova: well, coming from cars was eyeopening for me because you know, you're in the car, you're in a box 

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: safe. Ask me how many times I spun in my life in cars, hundreds. Thousands. I dunno. With Zero six, I literally, there was not a single event when I didn't spin that car. how powerful and how it is actually to manage it on that high level of performance. But on the bike, oh my God, suddenly my body is part of the equation. Suddenly my body's at all the time. It's scary. It's really scary. I fully understand it, but that sense of fear actually pushed me to train more And

more so that it would move away from the picture. if you know you can handle it, you are not afraid of it. But yes, as a beginner, especially as a adult beginner, it's really

Annick: And

Lana Tsurikova: Kids probably have the same concerns. They just 

Annick: Right.

Lana Tsurikova: So it's somehow lost, or we think they are not thinking about it. I think they also have some sense of preservation, at least some, but as adults, especially as women, we are 

Annick: Well, we're not, a lot of us didn't grow up. Um, even if you grew up as a tomboy or you grew up in some of these environments, it, it's not as encouraged to throw yourself into something, throw yourself into the ground. Let let a bike get squirrely, and as an adult, there's a higher risk if you can't go to work the next day. You're not working, you're

for your family. You may not be taking care of your kids like it's a higher stake, but you make

you made a point earlier saying is that, you know, you got into this with the three 90 and you skip the whole dirt bike thing, which a lot of people who are good off-road riders start dirt bikes younger, or I would say I, I've seen more and more women start as adults into off-road riding. In their

and above anyway. Uh, you think that, obviously you made it work 'cause you're competing internationally and you trained with, you know, very talented people, but you definitely didn't do the dirt bike thing. So like, now what's your perspective on that? 'cause you're, you're saying to me that you do wanna go do some dirt bike training.

Lana Tsurikova: Yeah. Uh, because, uh, joined bike gives you freedom of not worrying about things that you worry about on a big bike, it's weight. Um. You know, we're also not as tall as guys, so height is also a consideration. And um, I knew upfront that this is going to be challenge and I need to deal with this. So I taught, I literally taught myself how to do cowboy mount, how to do long cowboy mount, just lazy way to mount. And then one of my trainers, Todd Zucker, he said. Get rid of this stuff because on the trail you will be in situation where you cannot cowboy mount. You need to be able to mount any bike in any situation. So stop it. You need to come to a bike, swing a leg go, that's your training. Oh gosh. But um, little bike. It's not that scary. It could, still could bring to some harm and how many actually been in this situation, but, uh, it removes the weight out of equation. And if you can lower it, height would, would not be challenge. You can also put recluse in it, then even clutch. Not a challenge. So you can sort of tame it down to the point where it just obedient thing that you can play with. To, to the point where you feel safe and you feel, okay, I can manage that. And with that mentality, you can go and actually try something that you, you would not go and try on 1300 because, oh gosh, the penalty on mistake is huge, but a little bike, it goes down. Who cares, right? goes down. I sort of handle it.

Go back down, turn around, try it again. So it gives you a peace of mind that is so important for riding because ultimately it's all in here. Um, and it took me a while to realize that I thought like, I wanna do big bike. I really like big bikes, don't get me wrong, because they're so capable and I am married to torque. Like vehicles all have amazing torque. But I realized that you have to go to little guys to actually play. I, I'll give you example. Uh, I told you I took the one day training. Uh, it's uh, at that quarry at the site in Germany. And Albert the, uh, instructor, he brought us to like three quite, quite good hills and they all had sort of a table top. He said, okay, so do these two on. But on the last one, I want you to turn left. Like, okay, not a problem, but now turn right. And for some reason I couldn't turn right just to save my life, but because I was on 13, that was lowered. Says, okay, I'll just try it again. Okay, I'll try it again, and again and again. And pushing off the surface was not a problem. I just took it as a game. I had so much fun just because I was not worried if I, if I go off balance, it's practically going down, it always takes the fun off. this one, I just couldn't care less. So I finally turned right, turned right. I was like, yay. I just did, and it was so fun. So I think I'm at the point where I want to go and just have fun on a little bike. I still have some skills that I need to acquire. Some of that needs to be polished. So I think that's, that's 

Annick: I love it. Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: I think it's for my own development. I think everybody has their own path and should follow their heart 

Annick: Well, there's also, it's important to make it fun. Like you can get into the

this mentality of like, all right, I'm, I'm fixated on this goal, but let's have fun.

Lana Tsurikova: I will give you two examples. One of the ladies in my team and I will skip the name, absolutely amazing Rider. She's actually from dirt bike background. just look at her riding. She's phenomenal. But in the competition environment, she starts making mistake and she says, I literally feel like I don't know where controls are on this thing, because she's so psyched about it, she rides since she was a child. being in competition could screw your mind completely. And then instead of being phenomenal in making the team, she's struggling with something that she could do 

Annick: Mm-hmm.

Lana Tsurikova: So that. Probably for her, I would say she needs to be more in the competitions so that they would become more mundane thing for her not to think too much about it. example is a local friend of mine, she just recently bought, uh, Harley and started competing in, uh, police rodeos and, you know, working super hard, like she's so hard at herself and pushing and pushing. Then police rodeo events come and she's so stressed about and she's so unhappy about like, I can't there.

Oh, I can't figure out this. Like, okay, going to go with you because this needs to be fun. If you're stressing out like this, 

Annick: Mm-hmm.

Lana Tsurikova: something is off. This should be fun. As long as you keep it at a fun activity and you really enjoy, you're look, really looking forward to being settled tomorrow. Then you will improve. If you, that is a source of stress, you will be torturing yourself forever. Why? Why? 

Annick: Mm-hmm.

Lana Tsurikova: Like what's the point? Right? a therapy machine. Literally. This is what it is. I came back from Germany. I didn't come to a bike for three weeks. I just pulled it out. He, uh, on Saturday, but I got on it. I was like, oh my God, this is how it should be. 

Annick: Oh, good. Good.

Lana Tsurikova: Yeah. 

Annick: I ask everybody. Mm-hmm. 

Lana Tsurikova: it should bring you smile. 

Annick: I, uh, I ask everybody this, so how many motorcycles do you own?

The 13, the GS 1300.

Lana Tsurikova: I, yeah, 1300 Gs and two 

Annick: Okay, so you already have a dirt bike. Okay.

Lana Tsurikova: I do, I got it like year and a half ago. Um, but I definitely need more. And now coming back from Germany, from that lowered GS, I wanna even lower dirt bike, no power whatsoever, just so that it would be sheer joy because my KTM was never lowered like it's standard. Um, on the really challenging trails, 

Annick: Mm-hmm. 

Lana Tsurikova: challenging just, just 

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: management. And I want to just take that outta equation. Just 

Annick: I love it. Does this mean you're gonna do more trainings? Are you gonna take more classes? 

Lana Tsurikova: Um, at this point think I need more sit time. is something that people who start much earlier, 

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: have it because of years they had. I didn't. So I, just need to seat time and, to be on trails, on trails that are at my level and maybe 10% more so that I would challenge myself constantly. Not easy, not too crazy, just that, you know, you, you need the right delta for your development. 

Annick: wanna make a point, make sure that everybody understands us who's either watching or listening, is that you are very disciplined in your practice. So when. When you're saying it casually like this, you know, most people are probably thinking in their mind like, oh, you know, like every, you know, weekend or other weekend, I'll go do this, but I know that you'll actually go out every weekend and do this.

So, uh, I, I wanna make a point of that because in a very short amount of time, you came from not riding to competing internationally. Only within four years basically. And that is a not a small feat and not to go unrecognized, even though you so casually mention it and you're talking. But I think the reason why you've had success for that is obviously your mindset is very clear and you're very determined.

But you're also putting in the time and the discipline to make it happen. And a lot of people don't progress riding wise 'cause they are not putting in the time they think they are, but they're actually, it actually takes a lot of time to and consistency to get into, uh, a higher level of riding.

Lana Tsurikova: Um, I think in this case coming from cars 

Annick: Mm-hmm.

Lana Tsurikova: is helpful I worked with really good instructors my whole life and even though I already had first national championship, I continued working with instructors. 'cause there is always something to improve. Like literal, always. If you don't, if you don't think that way, you stop your development because technology improves, car gets faster and better.

You have to stop on. Stay on top of that with bikes, I feel like. So lemme step back with cars. I met maybe two or three people who, who would say, I pulled everything from this car. It has to give. And it was a valid statement out of thousands of drivers I met there, one of those guys nickname was alien. He could literally jump in any car and beat anybody like he could. He could make that statement. With bikes. I don't know if I met a single person who would say that I pulled everything from that bike. I don't think maybe Valentina Ross is there. I dunno. He is a track god, right? On adventure riding. We don't have this, even this pool well known there maybe, uh, uh, Mr.

Birch is there. Who could say I pulled everything from this bike. But bike as a technology has so much to give while riders are so behind in their skills. Um, so getting at least to be decent rider needs a lot and lot of discipline. And I met a lot of people, and especially through my channel. Initially comments were, oh, I'm riding for 30 years.

I never needed to do A, B, C. Like Um-huh. How many times per year you pull the bike

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: So a number of season not necessarily translate in the development of specific skills. Guys being taller and natural is stronger, is amazing thing, but unfortunately they use that to prevent their development frequently. Yeah.

And the, this is just hu human psychology. We don't sleep, we don't sweat too much. If it's something is easy, right? It's not even interesting for that's sake. Right. If you're really good at math, it's like easy. People who struggle with it keep, keep working and keep pushing. So, yeah, it take, it takes a lot of discipline and a lot of desire

Annick: And part of your channel. Yeah, no. 

Lana Tsurikova: an easy, 

Annick: Uh, your channel's called Lana on Wheels and a lot of the videos are actually instruction on how to ride better and to translate some of these skills.

Do you? Yes.

Lana Tsurikova: yes. 

Annick: Uh, why did you wanna focus on that? To get people to be better or

Lana Tsurikova: um, when I started riding, I never thought of creating a channel. Like it was not my dream. It was not even my thinking. then once I realized I want to be as good as Jocelyn Snow is, I was, uh, desperately looking for. Some tips, some advice, uh, something that I could just watch and go and practice myself in the parking lot, literally the same day. And, uh, there is a lot of related material. It's really, really popular, obviously, but I, but I struggled to find the ones that were really helpful. I wish Jocelyn would publish more. I wish. she's amazing. Just when she starts talking about something, you can't stop listening. Like, I wanna do that.

Like, and she explains it so, so naturally, like it's easy to follow. Um, another one I found was Brett Tucks. He is actually catch, but he didn't denies it. Uh, Brett Ducks, um, he's amazing trainer and I actually took a couple of lessons with him, but I found him through his channel. He's, I could follow and that's it. Everything else was not that I could just learn from. And I realized if I'm struggling and I'm really looking like if I start digging, I dig deep and I couldn't find it, I realized maybe there is a need, maybe there is a gap in this community to actually. Share tons of little tweaks and tricks that of the instructors would teach you.

And I was just lucky to be in this place, and at this time, I could travel and take lessons from those people who I really liked. So once I learned something and I internalized it, actually it was my um, uh, riding partner. He asked me, oh, you do this, teach me now. I realized, oops. I remember there was like three points about it, and I learned most of them from, uh, Richie, from, uh, South Carolina, BMW Center. It's like, hold on. How, how do you explain that? And I realized, you know, I'm at a point where I forget about it, so I should at least record these and share it with other people. So for me it was aha moment. There is, there is a gap because frequently when you ask super, capable rider, how do you do that?

Things like, I don't know. 

Annick: Yeah, it's so true. Yeah. 

Lana Tsurikova: because for them it's hard, 

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: hard to break down. Their body knows this. It's not going through brain anymore. So, um, that's, that's why I started it. I just wanted to share what I learned. And hopefully filling this missing piece of, um, those riders who really were looking to improve to go and use it. And you will see that most of it is focused on pavement. I understand that. Which riding is like a little bit not typical still, even though it's amazing. I was the, I was there as well. I remember I, I had, um, before Adventure I. Bought F 800, just regular F 800. I was scared to death if I had to take my wheels on the gravel section just to turn around. It was so scary. So I understand. Um. So majority of people still are in a pavement, so those exercises are for them, but they're all applicable in off road situation. But off road has many, many more

Annick: I love it. Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: You have mud, you have sand, you have gravel, you have third dimension, and each one require unique technique, unique approach. You literally start working with the bike as one that's, it's a different universe, and then you turn off the engine. And it's silent and you're alone. You just listen to birds. Maybe you'll see some animals. You never know what you're going to find 

Annick: A beautiful way to live nature and bikes. 

Lana Tsurikova: it. 

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: breathtaking. Yep. I come back from those trips like, oh my God, that was amazing day. I'm So happy. 

Annick: what are you gonna do next? What's the, what's the next step?

Lana Tsurikova: Well, lots of, uh, training. Uh, I dunno if I mentioned to you, I'm also 

Annick: No, 

Lana Tsurikova: ambassador. 

Annick: great. Yeah, I.

Lana Tsurikova: am. Um, it was actually sort of started with 

Annick: excellent.

Lana Tsurikova: Uh, I met Victoria in, um, in New York in one of the BDRs. It was actually, I was there on my first adventure motorcycle with the same, uh, riding, uh, buddy with me. we, we park like 11:00 PM we come downstairs for breakfast and she comes like, uh, there these two bikes. Yours. It's like, I didn't do anything yet. I almost said no. Am I in trouble? Yeah. And she wanted to talk to us all about BDR and that she designed that section B, B section. Um, and B. So yeah, a couple of years later I was so excited about it because it's literally where I want to spend all my time. So this year, um. I'm not, I'm not sure I'm even allowed. Okay. I'm going 

Annick: Oh good. 

Lana Tsurikova: weekend. 

Annick: can't say where. I know. I was just gonna say that. Yeah. 

Lana Tsurikova: can't say where. 

Annick: But you're gonna help. Are you helping? Oh, actually, I do know where you're going. I'm not gonna, I can't, I won't say it, but the only reason why I know is because I know somebody else who's involved with that, and they mentioned that there was a female going with them, so it has to be you.

Okay.

Lana Tsurikova: Okay.

Annick: world. 

Lana Tsurikova: Okay. Yes. Small world.

Oh, my God. 

Annick: cool. 

Lana Tsurikova: uh, we are 

Annick: Okay. 

Lana Tsurikova: that. 

Annick: We should also probably tell people You can, you can't tell what what it is 'cause there's the, the back roads. Let's just back up because people may not know what we're talking about. So the it's the be, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Lana Tsurikova: k Country Discovery routes of roads, and, uh, this is, um, this is relatively new organization, but the goal of it is to make publicly available routes that are designed for people who want to take their bikes off road by design. Each BDR route is available for free. Never pay for routes.

It's all available from the website. Uh, they are constantly updated and maintained by, designated crew of people who actually maintain the routes, GPS and and hundreds of volunteers who actually ride those roads. if there is a tree down or some, some whatever issues, they immediately report those there is either cleared or they are getting resolved. you are on public road all the time. Um, BDRs have some technical sections. Some people find as heaven because they're looking for technical. Other people should stay away from, because they're above their, uh, current level of the development. you can run for a thousand miles. For example, you can run, uh, an EBR from, Tennessee to New York, almost a thousand miles.

It's like six, six days you can make it or seven days. You will see so much nature. You will be in the forest, you'll be in the fields, and the scenery will change. Like I believe section three, no, and don't quote me on that. of the sections, you literally in different type of nature on the same day. And it's all unique that you have, um, you have points where you can come up and see the world from the top of the mountain you can be in the beautiful, uh, river crossing or something. So those for people in, in case people never heard about it, just google bdr.com. Um, there are, um, many, uh, routes. Some on the east coast, a lot on the West Coast, 

Annick: That's.

Lana Tsurikova: more. Uh, and um, so next year we actually have quite a good number of them to scout. One we have to redo again. 

Annick: It is all volunteer, so No. Yeah. So nobody's getting paid for the, yeah. So that's a big, 

Lana Tsurikova: volunteer. 

Annick: effort with a lot of people to make this happen. So thank you. 'cause that's, that's great. Oh, cool. 

Lana Tsurikova: Absolutely. 

Annick: Okay. That's a lot of work. 

Lana Tsurikova: It's so 

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: because you literally don't know what you're getting to yourself.

You be, you have to be prepared physically, or your bike needs to be physically prepared. You have to carry all of the tools with you, and you 

Annick: Yeah. 

Lana Tsurikova: in trouble, but 

Annick: Right, right.

Lana Tsurikova: right there. There's a disorder that you remember and, um, you know that ultimately you work in something 

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: community. So then. People start riding those roads, bring economy to those communities, and those little towns see more, uh, prosperity because people stop and feel their bikes or stay for the night, go to restaurants. So typically it's really welcomed. The only 

Annick: Yeah, 

Lana Tsurikova: don't speed. 

Annick: especially through somebody's backyard. 

Lana Tsurikova: speeding. 

Annick: People don't like that. They get really angry.

Justified. 

Lana Tsurikova: Well, this is true. You know, 

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: be public roads, but prevents them frequently just to put a gate and then it's whole investigation to understand whether it's legal, not legal. Some gates you can open, some you can't. So it's much better just to behave and appreciate it and maybe sometimes even stop and talk to 

Annick: Yeah.

Lana Tsurikova: like it. you stop. You talk like where you came from, like you might came. 2000 miles away just to see this part of the country, and they love to share it. that builds completely different perception of, uh, adventure riders as a community versus bunch of hooligans who just, you know, the dirt, um, on your 

Annick: Exactly.

Lana Tsurikova: So this 

Annick: Well, I think that's a great, it's great. I don't really have anything else to say about it except to say thank you for doing that 'cause it's so appreciated. So Lana, I just wanna say thank you so much for joining me today and, uh, I can't wait to ride together again. We rode together by accident and that was super fun.

So, uh, next time let's make it more planned.

Lana Tsurikova: Uh, I thank you so much for having me, and I'm sorry I gave you my, um, sweep duty 

Annick: Oh, hell yeah. No, that's right. 

Lana Tsurikova: run. 

Annick: No, the only worst part about it was I had to wear that dumb vest.

Lana Tsurikova: You were my 

Annick: Yeah, I know.

Lana Tsurikova: Well, it's okay. It's okay. Uh, that's, that's another amazing event that they 

Annick: Yeah, 

Lana Tsurikova: and I hope next 

Annick: agree.

Lana Tsurikova: even more fun. Um, because New England really benefits from this 

Annick: And that was the, uh, DirtDaze 

Lana Tsurikova: and it, 

Annick: that's where we met. Yeah, I met cool people there this year, 

Lana Tsurikova: Yes. 

Annick: so. 

Lana Tsurikova: A lot of cool people. Make sure to bring 

Annick: Yeah, exactly. We'll see what I get. Next year or this, yeah, next year.

Lana Tsurikova: Just make 

Annick: True. It may be a little bit smaller, so maybe I'll be on a dirt bike too. We'll see. Small, much smaller dual sport, 

Lana Tsurikova: Yeah, that should be fun. 

Annick: so, all right, cool. Lana, I will see you out on the roads and good luck with everything

Lana Tsurikova: Thank you 

Annick: and to everybody else, Ride Smart, Ciao!

* OUTRO *