Well I’m driving back in our truck from a racetrack, which seems to be the time when I write these things. It’s the moment I have time to reflect. One of the things I’ve been asked, which kind of keeps coming up is how have I come back from injury or a bad crash? So I’m going to give it a shot here.
First of all, crashing sucks, it hurts the ego and the wallet. No matter what, something always gets damaged. If I’m being honest it’s scary. For the average track day guy, it’s a very big deal. For a professional motorcycle racer it’s a day that ends in Y.
After being around the racetrack for ten years I’ve seen a lot of things happen. Lots of things have occurred, from my own bad injuries to some very serious life changing moments for riders to the worst possible outcome in only my second year of racing. This past weekend since I couldn’t make it to Grand Bend, I decided to head up to the regional EMRA round at Stratotech to spectate and see my EMRA family. Brad did some novice coaching and commentating as well.
The question about crashing came up again during this visit to Edmonton. I guess there is no easy way, but I can only tell you what has worked for me. The number one thing is, and I say it all the time, racing is about wanting it. From the beginning Brad has tried to cultivate and help foster a professional attitude and approach to my racing. He has always told me to ride professional. To be honest, for a long time I didn’t know what that looked like or what that was. I’ve worked at it every time I’ve been at the track for the last ten years. I feel that I’ve gotten to the most professional point in my riding career thus far. So, what does that have to do with coming back from crashing and injury? Everything as it turns out. Like I said earlier this is a very personal thing. What worked for me might not work for you.
Let’s start with a crash that you’re able to get back up and dust yourself off pretty quickly and apologize to Little Steve for bending the bike. Let’s use my crash at Shannonville from earlier this year. What did I do wrong? Well first off, I got away from my style of riding, which is very smooth and calculated. Second thing was I entered the last corner carrying more momentum than any lap prior. I was trying to get on the podium in one corner, which doesn’t normally work out. In this corner, line placement is crucial. Brad told me later that it was a dumb move and that he didn’t think that it was going to work, yet he was proud of me at the same time because I was going for a national podium, which is what you’re supposed to do. How did I recover the next morning in practice? I looked back on my notes for the track about reference points and I’m lucky enough to have data, which Steve and I went over. Sometimes I like to just sit in the truck, put my headphones on and it’s quiet and I visualize the entire lap where I’m braking, visual markers, shifting points etc.. It doesn’t take long to move past a crash like this. It used to bother me when I had any type of crash and I would doubt myself and question my ability. Now a professional rider I shrug it off and look at my notes and talk with my team. If that doesn’t work, I take my fluffy little white dog for a walk, which works great!
The next type of crash is one that comes from a mistake in setup. Sometimes you can’t ride around problems or someone takes you out, which is not ultimately your fault but you should have paid attention. I’ll use my crash in qualifying on the S1000RR from three years ago at Stratotech Park. I high sided out of turn 3 in Super Pole qualifying at a track I go very well at (up to today I had a couple of lap records at Stratotech, damn you Hofmeister!). I loved the bike, but I never got it exactly to where I wanted it to be until the very end. I struggled to do the lap times that I did previously on the GSXR-1000. So, you can classify this type of crash as trying extra hard when something isn’t working. What went wrong? Little Steve wasn’t there that day and Brad had put on a tire that was well past its best. He didn’t realize how hard I was using the rear tire to make the lap time because the bike didn’t steer how I needed it to and that I was over riding the equipment. I just thought that the problem was me, so I tried harder on exits. “I was faster last year, this bike is better,” I thought. “It has more power, electronics, I should be going faster, why am I slower? What am I doing wrong?:” After watching the video from my GoPro we figured this all out.
How did we recover from this crash, which wasn’t really my fault, but sort of was? I realized after watching the video that the tire was spinning too much. I was focused too much on the lap time because the year prior I did a 59 second lap which was a lap record in Sportsman at that point, so I was fixated on that and not what I was supposed to do with my riding. I only saw the outcome instead of the process. This crash taught me that it’s not always about the outcome. You have to love the process in order to get the outcome you’re looking for. I heard it today, “I was faster last year”. Go back to the basics. Bikes change, tires change, tracks change. You will get there eventually but only if you’re following your process that helped get you to that point in the first place. This comes back to being professional. Professionals create speed through consistent application of the fundamentals. The faster you go it’s about being more honest with yourself. The bike was bent and I was banged up a bit. Steve came to fix it that night so I had an entire month to wait before I could ride it again. How did it go at the next race round? One of the fastest laps I ever did was on that bike a month later. I worked at it, leaned on my team and I wanted it.
The third type of crash is when you get hurt. In 2018 I had a big concussion, I crashed in turn 1 at Castrol Raceway. Missed a ton of time from racing and from work, which was the first time that had happened. The shine and the lure of racing had not rubbed off yet. I didn’t realize how hard racing could be. I had not started to put it all together yet, it was only my second year and I was still new. I had not figured out the reason why I was racing yet. Then 2019’s crash in the bus stop at Castrol, where I smashed my hand to bits, was a bit of a turning point as well for many reasons. My pace was starting to pick up and I was getting to the limit of my setup on the bike. I was still riding on emotions, which to be honest I sometimes still do. But I’m always aware now of where I’m operating from and I’m quick to put it behind me and work on my race weekend plan.
So how did I recover from 2019’s busted hand? If I’m being honest, I didn’t really recover until 2020. It was a drive home in the truck at the end of the last round when I realized I had to make changes to how I was doing things or quit. The discussion with Brad exposed that it was lack or loss of focus and riding on emotions that was causing these issues. Up to this point I had not physically trained for racing. What can you control after an injury? How you prepare your body after the injury. But I didn’t get there until Brad had one of the all-time talks and told me that I couldn’t be upset with my results if I wasn’t willing to put in the effort. He said we couldn’t keep going racing if I was going to ride around afraid of crashing and being afraid of failing. He said we could do track days, but investing all this time, energy, money etc. just wasn’t worth it if, if I was going to continue to approach racing the way I was.
I threw myself into being prepared physically, adapted a training regime, got a strength coach and changed my diet, which all helped change my mindset. I felt prepared and focused. I started playing ball hockey in the winter. So what did 2020 look like? Ladies Open Champ, Intermediate Open Sport Bike Champion and 1 point away from winning Intermediate Super Bike Championship, with a bunch of race wins in both categories. I was starting down the road to riding like a professional.
If you get hurt, you have to come back stronger than you were before. Little did I know, it was preparing me for the biggest challenge I have ever faced.
The next one is, the big one. It’s where you could easily and justifiably call it a day and not race anymore. I’ve described this event before in other blogs so I don’t need to rehash it again. The simple answer is for the big one, you have to want it. You have to want to come back. You have to want to risk it all. Most racers who do this long enough will have this discussion with the people who matter the most to them and then have this discussion with themselves. Some unlucky ones, the choice is made for them. I made the choice to come back because I wanted it more than anything else and because quitting wasn’t an option.
So did I answer the questions what it’s like to come back from a crash? Did I make it sound to simple or to hard? Have a plan, trust the process, go to your notes, lean on your team, be prepared, don’t be afraid to ask for help and you have to want to be better, smarter and faster than you were before. That’s the number one thing in my experience that has driven me through all of this is the desire to compete and push through adversity.
Things to remember
Have a plan: What am I going to do while riding today.
Process: Kind of like having a plan, but it’s more about embracing the grind.
Go to your notes: Over the last three years I lean on my notes a lot. Track layouts, braking points, gearing etc., it’s all written down so I can refer to it at a quick glance
Lean on your team: This is different for everyone. I’m lucky enough to have Brad and Steve at the track supporting me. For some of you your team could be a riding coach, family member, friend etc.. Someone you trust to give it to you straight.
Be prepared: Show up and be prepared physically and mentally to ride motorcycles.
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