Motocross Riders Simply Cannot Quit (Even When It Would Be Sensible)

There are hobbies, there are passions.

And then there’s motocross, the only activity where you can be physically written off, financially unstable, emotionally drained, and still think:

“Yeah… I’ll ride this weekend.”

Because motocross riders don’t give up.

They can’t.

Financially?

You could have next to no money in your bank account on a Thursday, fuel light on in the van, rear tyre hanging on for dear life.

brake pads thinner than your patience.

And yet somehow, by Friday evening, you’ve convinced yourself, “It’ll be fine.”

You’ll reshuffle money that was probably meant for something responsible. You’ll tell yourself the tyre has “one more ride in it.” You’ll ignore the fact that you still haven’t recovered from the last time you did all this.

Because riding is happening.

Priorities? Debatable.

Commitment? Unmatched.

Physically? 

Work has battered you all week. You haven’t slept. Your lower back feels like it’s 63 years old. You’ve got a cold brewing and your hands still ache from last weekend.

Normal people would think “probably should have a chilled one this weekend.”

Motocross riders?

They wake up at 6am, eat something that barely qualifies as breakfast, and drive three hours to ride in a field.

Why?

Because “it’ll blow the cobwebs off.”

It never does. But that’s not the point.

Mentally? 

Life can be chaos. Bills, stress, responsibilities, relationships, all piling up.

But for some reason, loading the bike into a van and standing in a muddy paddock fixes at least part of it.

You could be completely run down, questioning your life choices, wondering if you should be more sensible…

Then you lay it over in the most perfect tacky rut, foot up by the rad scoop, elbows up.

And that’s all it takes, everything makes sense again.

But, this is the bit that doesn’t make sense to outsiders.

You’re already tired, you’re already skint.

You’ve already got too much going on.

And your solution is to spend more money and more energy going somewhere that will physically batter you and require hours of cleaning and effort afterwards.

Make it make sense…It doesn’t.

But it also doesn’t need to, because it isn’t just the riding.

It’s the chats at the van with your mates, it’s the smell of fuel, the nerves before you head down for practice, the one scrub (felt like a scrub) you’ll replay in your head all week, the way you end up completely present in the moment for a few hours. Something you can’t achieve during the week. 

Motocross isn’t logical, it’s addictive, it’s irrational, it’s slightly destructive in the best possible way.

And once it’s got you, you’re not quitting. Motocross riders don’t give up because riding isn’t just something we do. It’s the reset button. It’s the thing that keeps us sane, even if it makes us broke.

So yes, we might be tired.

Yes, we might be financially questionable.

Yes, we probably should be more sensible.

But we’ll see you at the track on Sunday.

Because quitting was never really an option.