It's All Mental

Ask anyone outside BMX what makes the sport difficult, and they’ll point to the speed, the crashes, or the sheer physical demand. But anyone who’s ever rolled onto a gate knows the truth: the hardest part of BMX racing happens in your head.

Recently, Kam Larsen touched on this in a TikTok that hit home: why practice and racing feel completely different, and why pressure changes everything. You can feel unstoppable during training, hitting lines cleanly and smoothly. Then race day comes, the gate drops, and suddenly nothing feels the same.

That difference isn’t about fitness. It’s mental.

In practice, there’s freedom. You know there’s another lap coming. A mistake doesn’t end your day. There’s no consequence attached to missing a manual or blowing a turn. Your nervous system stays calm because the stakes are low.

Racing flips that switch instantly.

One lap. One shot. Eight riders. A finish line that decides everything.

Your body tightens, your breathing changes, and even the simplest movements can feel rushed or forced. That pressure is what separates practice speed from race speed and ignoring it in training is one of the biggest reasons riders struggle to perform when it counts.

Kam’s point was simple but powerful: you can’t expect to handle race pressure if you never train under pressure.

You don’t magically become better at stress just because you line up on race day. Pressure is a skill, and like gate starts or manuals, it needs reps.

One of the best ways to do that is to create self-imposed pressure in practice.

Timers are a perfect example. Instead of just doing laps, put a clock on it. Give yourself a time to beat. Miss it? There’s a consequence: extra sprints, push-ups, and another lap. Now the lap matters.

Must-do lines work the same way. Pick a section of the track and decide that you have to hit that line clean. No excuses. No “good enough.” If you miss it, you reset and go again.

Suddenly, your heart rate goes up before you even drop in. Your mind starts racing. That’s pressure, and that’s exactly what you want.

Races don’t give you warm-up laps mid-moto. You don’t get a redo after a bad first straight. Training should reflect that reality.

Do single-lap efforts. One shot only. Treat it like a main event. Visualize a full gate next to you. Make that lap count.

When riders only train with endless repetitions, they build comfort, not confidence. Confidence comes from knowing you can execute when there’s no room for error.

The strongest riders aren’t always the ones with the biggest sprint or the cleanest bike skills. They’re the ones who stay calm when everything is on the line. The ones who can breathe, focus, and trust their preparation under pressure.

That doesn’t happen by accident.

If you want race-day results to match your practice speed, you have to bring race-day pressure into your training. Make yourself uncomfortable. Make it count. Make mistakes costly.

Because when the gate drops and the pressure is real, your mind won’t rise to the occasion; it will fall back to the level you trained it to handle.

And in BMX, that mental edge can be the difference between another lap… and standing on the podium.