NOPE.
Unless you have an infant take its first steps, right onto a Yamaha PW50 and beat Bubba Stewart… no I dont believe in “natural talent”
Talent comes from first and foremost having the opportunity to utilize what ever medium you want to excel in. If you dont have a dirtbike to ride, you will never learn how to ride it, know its every function, know how to rail a berm, how to scrub a 80 foot triple, etc. Those actions on the dirtbike are “talent”. Plain and simple.
Better than average “talent” comes from commitment. Mental and Physical training. Spending more time on the seat of the machine or on a tread mill than sitting on your ass playing Call of Duty and eating Domino’s pizza.
Me as an example. My father bought me a BMX bike when I was 12. built me a ramp when I was 13. Broke that BMX bike when I was 13.5. Got a stronger bike, (first GT actually) when I was 14. Started racing at TriCity when i was 15. I sucked at it from the start. couldn’t jump a damn thing. Kept at it and learned it on my own, because my friends I met there were way faster than me. I could t make an entire lap before I was winded. Pushed and pushed and got faster and faster.
Switched to riding quads. Never rode one until I was 16 when i first bought my own. Stalled it all over the place. Flipped it over a bunch of time. Hit trees. couldnt jump. Kept at it. One hill climb at my buddys camp put me upside down in the creek at the bottom. infact everyone who tried it that I know of has crashed on it, and some havnt even gotten up it yet. I couldnt make it up on my first quad, the machine sucked and so did I. Sold that machine and got a YFZ450. Scared the shit out of me for a few months until I got used to it and got better. Started jumping little shit, figured out how to lean right on it and sweep turns, the machine itself was a night and day difference in performance. Entered my first race and got fucking SMOKED and made it 2 laps and couldnt hold on anymore. Worked hard at it and ended up getting much better. Finally could clear some of the jumps the year prior I watched people hit and said holy shit I wish I could do that. Started finishing races without being winded, started passing people that crashed out. I crashed here and there. Then started racing people, and beating them. Upgraded the machine with full suspension and I started hitting big shit and going much faster.
then I jumped on a dirtbike for the first time about 5 years ago, rode it for 5 minutes and put it in the weeds because I could use the twist throttle. I kept at it and put it down a bunch of times. Told myself no way could I ever race this thing! Then committed to the challenge and sold my racing quad for a CRF250R. It took me less than 3 months to get to the same comfort level I had on the quad on the track. Kept pushing, kept crashing, kept getting hurt, never looked back. I found myself riding better and beating others that have been on a dirtbike for years. Skip ahead to now. I dont ride every day, dont train, dont really take racing serious, but when I am on the track I can smoke 90% of the people I race with in my class (because I dont do it enough to move up) and on practice days I ride with expert riders and hang right on their fender or play cat/mouse. Guys with more than 3 times the seat time on a bike than I have.
Natural talent is bullshit to me. I committed to something and didnt puss out… that what got me my talent. And again, nobody in my family ever swung a leg over a bike on the track so its not like I was born to ride.
There are lots of young kids racing MX at a pro level @ the age of 16. They got there becasue when I started out on a huffy they started out on a GT. When I got the GT they were on a Harro race bike. When I had the yamaha warrior, they had the yfz. When I had the FYZ they had the FYZ with a built motor and full suspension. When I had the build quad they had an enclosed trailer with a spare bike and lots of money/family support when i had my bike stuffed on a sled trailer pulled by a buddys truck… and to get my family to the races was a struggle. infact I honestly think my mother/father watched me race twice and went to 2 practice days in the last 5 years. Actually kind of bums me out now that I think of it.
I guess maybe we all have “Natural talent” but some have to just work much harder to try to achieve it… so its masked.