2024 SEASON REVIEW WITH KING OF THE BAGGERS PROGRESSIVE RIDERS TYLER OHARA AND TROY HERFOSS

With two races yet to go in the Mission King of the Baggers season, MAVTV sat down with two-time series champion Tyler O’Hara and Australian rookie Troy Herfoss to glean an inside perspective on what it’s like to compete in the fast-growing class.

Factory Indiana teammates O’Hara and Herfoss are currently ranked inside the top five in the point standings in the popular MotoAmerica support division.

Question: How long do you feel it took you to acclimate to the class and truly get a handle on this style of racing, considering your respective racing backgrounds? How do you prepare for something like that?

Tyler O’Hara: It’s the worst, best idea there could have been, right? Putting a bagger on the race track and going racing. And for me, it's my specialty. It's my niche. I'm a heavy bike specialist and I found my niche and I think that's just part of growing up on subpar equipment and figuring out how to ride it and always being adaptable. This class has extended my career and given me a path to dominate my niche. It is like nothing else.

It's kind of a mix of all the disciplines, riding one of these motorcycles. The amount of torque is just incredible, even the power that you have compared to any other motorcycles. You know, they compare it to riding a superbike in the rain. But it's got twice as much torque and no traction control. So, it’s gnarly.

Troy Herfoss: These bikes are so big and so foreign to most people, really. There's a couple of guys in the series that have got a lot of experience, but for me, coming from superbike background, it's just knowing the limits of the bike. And as an athlete or a rider, you practice a lot and things become second nature to you. And I've got 15 years of experience racing a superbike, which is a lot lighter and it stops faster and accelerates faster. So, that's become my second nature.

And then you get on a bagger and you rush into a corner and you go to the braking mark that your brain is used to, but this bike weighs double the weight and doesn't stop as fast. And then the power, it doesn't accelerate as fast, but it has a lot of torque and the bike spins up a lot and it gets really angry really easily. And that's sort of becoming second nature to me now as the year goes on, but at the start of the year that was the hardest thing, just to be basically be patient and not override the bike too much.

Question: How would you rank yourself in relation to how competitive you are?

Tyler O’Hara: Well, I have a competitive problem, I guess you could say. I love to compete. I've had it in me since I was very little. My desire to win is everything. I’d give up eating to win. It’s got me to this point obviously in my career to where I can race for Indian Motorcycle, backed by Progressive. All these great partners are behind me and my job is to win.

It's a win-win. I think pressure's a privilege.

I mean, I'm highly competitive. I think I'd rather be feared than liked when it came to racing with my competitors. Obviously, we all have respect for each other, but I want to go out and win races and win championships.

Troy Herfoss: I'm 10 out of 10 competitive for sure. Everything’s a competition and I get enjoyment out of competition. It’s funny, like even with motorcycle racing — I’m 37 years old now and I definitely love racing motorbikes, but I definitely question sometimes whether I love the competition more so than actually riding a motorbike.

I'm lucky enough that I ride at a high level, so the competition is at a high level, which is what gives me the most enjoyment. I definitely love riding motorbikes. There's no question about that, but I just know that every year the competition is what gets me out of bed in the morning to go training and pushes me to ride the bike at a higher level.

Question: What is your race day routine?

Tyler O’Hara: I think it's evolved over the years. Ideally, I try to stay relaxed. We wake up at sunrise and we're at the track really early. But for me, I wake up and first thing I do is try to get my eyes in the sun and get some dopamine in my eyes. Then I jump in the pool, usually about 5:30 a.m., do my aerobics, and then get a nice stretch and workout in before I even head to the track. I also take a cold shower — that's a big part of the race day routine. I don't really take cold showers any other time. It's just kind of the mental switch as far as just race day. It really wakes you up and gets the blood flowing. It’s more of a discipline thing.

I eat oatmeal with my coffee and head to the track and just create waves. I say hello to everybody on the team and smile and bring the energy and it's contagious. Depending on how many races we have, at that point, it's all about enjoying it.

We've already done all the hard work, so it’s about just showing up and enjoying the opportunity, really.

Troy Herfoss: I start the morning with a coffee. Coffee and a short run. Just a little bit of exercise to sort of get outside and relax a little bit. Then, once we get to the pit box, I've got the same sort of stretch — I guess I would call it like a yoga-style warmup. It happens to be the only yoga I ever do, but I always do it on race weekends.

Little bit of music in the ears. I don't really have a song preference, but it’s always the same warmup. It takes me about 20 minutes. Directly before I get on the bike, I do the same little dance routine. I don't know why. Over the years, you realize you're doing this stuff and then it becomes routine and then it's not until someone makes fun of you for doing it, you realize, “Oh yeah, I do that every time.”

Question: What activity do you enjoy doing most outside of racing?

Tyler O’Hara: Racing is life, so everything kind of revolves around it. Outside of that, I would say spending time with my family. That's a big part of it, is kind of recharging and disconnecting after the race weekend and then just getting back to the process. I mean, I love racing so much and it's such a lifestyle, but having a balance away from the track is a big part of my mental health. I definitely like being outdoors so I would say bass fishing would probably be my go-to.

Troy Herfoss: I love endurance sports, whether its cycling, racing or running. I'm training for a marathon at the moment. I love testing your own body and nutrition and seeing how far you can push your body in endurance sports. It’s a weird hobby, but that’s the reality now. It must be a hobby because I keep doing it year round.

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