You Say You Want It...

But Do Your Actions Agree?

Almost every rider I’ve ever worked with has told me they want to succeed. They want to win races and championships, get a factory ride, race Grands Prix or eventually make a living from the sport. And when they tell me that, I believe them. I don’t think they’re lying about what they want.

But there’s something I’ve noticed over many years of coaching that I think riders need to hear. Wanting the result and being willing to do everything required to achieve that result are two very different things.

There are riders surrounded by people trying to help them. Parents are investing huge amounts of time and money, coaches are identifying weaknesses and giving them answers, trainers are building programmes, teams are providing bikes and opportunities, yet sometimes the rider is the person doing the least with all of that information.

And I think part of the problem is the way we think about development in motocross. For a lot of riders, if they’re not riding, they’re not developing. They get injured and everything gets put on hold until they’re back on the bike.

I’ve never really understood that.

Imagine breaking your arm and being given rehabilitation exercises by a physio, then saying, “I’ll start those when I’m back riding.” It wouldn’t make any sense. The rehabilitation is part of the process of getting you ready to ride again.

Why should the rest of your development be any different?

There is so much more to developing as a rider than simply riding a motorcycle.

If you’re serious about becoming one of the best at what you do, you have to become a student of your sport. You have to study it. You have to understand performance, not just experience it.

Study your own riding. Study other riders. Understand why things work and why they don’t. Learn about technique, race craft, decision-making, physical preparation, recovery, nutrition and the mental side of performance. Watch races differently. Look for patterns. Ask questions. Understand your strengths and become curious about your weaknesses.

Become a master of your craft.

Getting more laps in matters, of course it does. But simply accumulating hours on a motorcycle isn’t the same thing as developing. If it were, the riders who rode the most would automatically become the best.

They don’t.

Some riders can spend years riding without ever really understanding why they’re good at certain things, why they struggle with others, or why the same problems keep appearing.

That’s the difference between simply participating in your sport and studying your craft.

And that’s why time away from the motorcycle doesn’t have to be wasted time.

If an injury means you can’t ride for a few weeks, of course you need to recover. Sometimes you need a few days to switch off completely, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But once you’ve done that, you’ve also been given something that’s incredibly difficult to find during a busy racing season: time.

Use it.

Look back through your races and understand why certain mistakes keep happening. Work on the mental side of your performance. Improve your nutrition. Understand your training. Learn how to plan properly. Visualise. Reflect. Study the people who are already doing what you’re trying to do.

The bike might have stopped, but your development doesn’t have to.

And this is where I think riders need to ask themselves a difficult question. Do you actually want to become successful, or do you just want what being successful gives you?

Because everybody wants the podium. Everybody wants the factory bike, the recognition, the opportunity to race at the highest level and eventually get paid to do it. Far fewer people want all of the boring, repetitive and sometimes uncomfortable work that comes before any of that.

I’ve seen riders ask for help, be given answers and then not apply them. I’ve seen people identify exactly what is holding a rider back, explain what needs to change, and months later the same problem is still there. At some point you have to realise that having the right people around you isn’t enough.

A coach can guide you. A trainer can give you a programme. Your parents can create opportunities. A team can provide you with equipment. People can open doors for you.

But nobody can walk through them for you.

Eventually, you have to take ownership of your own career.

And maybe that’s one of the biggest differences between wanting something and genuinely pursuing it. Desire isn’t what you say when somebody asks you how badly you want to succeed. It’s what you repeatedly do when nobody is asking.

It’s doing the work without your dad reminding you. It’s addressing weaknesses without your coach chasing you. It’s using an injury or setback to improve something else rather than simply waiting until you can ride again. It’s taking the information people have given you and actually doing something with it.

As riders progress through the sport, I actually think they should need less chasing, not more. There comes a point where you can’t continue waiting for your parents, your coach, your trainer or your team to create the athlete for you.

You have to become the athlete your ambitions require.

So if you have big ambitions, it’s worth occasionally looking beyond what you say you want and asking a much harder question:

Do my actions actually match it?

Because wanting success is easy.

Taking responsibility for becoming the person capable of achieving it is something else entirely.