What life lessons have you learnt from MX/SX

Just racing teaches you a lot about the ups and downs, how to handle pain and push past your limits and being proud of yourself for not quitting and pushing through set backs. Also toughens you up and makes everyday things seem like a walk in the park. Also how to handle disappointments with your bike breaking when you're in a good position helps you handle uncontrollable set backs in your life.

Humility

what hobbies/sports NOT to get involved in

Aim low and overachieve. Always feel good about yourself.

I "learnt" to spell.

Seriously, I learned that to succeed you had to always be in it to win it. Quitters lose.

I've learned a lot of lessons in this sport and in the 35yrs I've been doing it. I'm extremely high strung and if it wasn't for this sport I would probably be in jail or dead. If I don't have something where I can just cut loose , go a little crazy , take my aggressions out.......I'm not sure where I would be without this sport.

I know that between the ages of about 18-23yrs old......I stepped away from the sport.....and got in more trouble than I have the rest of my entire life. I've seen some crazy shit , high speed cop chases , drug busts , had a gun pulled on me , crazy fucking stripper chicks and the crowd they hung out with. A lot of fights at bars and so forth. I've been chased through town by the police on foot with dogs chasing me and even forcefully took things from people when i was all messed up.

All I can say is.....Moto may break some bones every once in a while.....but at least nobody has shot me , and I'm not in jail. And I know it sounds a little crazy.....but it's made me appreciate everything else in life. Because when I was younger.....I was on a strait path to total destruction.

Awesome idea for a thread! When I was younger, I really looked up to RC and he was my role model. I was pretty short going through middle school and had a pretty rough time throught those years.. He gave me a lot of inspiration and helped me get throughout it all. I honestly didn't realize how awesome moto was at the time, but watching him race and riding moto as well as bmx and skateboarding gave me a lot more confidence. Lately, as I've taken riding a lot more seriously, I think I have learned a lot about pushing yourself and seeing hard work pay off. Over the last year I have really made a point to try and improve my fitness and riding, and it has shown in my race results and even my outlook on things overall. I think we all need something to focus on and push ourselves for, be that riding or something else.

I think the best decision I ever made was to quit baseball and just do what I wanted to do. I left the people in the baseball world who were just dragging me down, and realized that the people of bmx and moto were much more mellow and positive. I like that I can focus on myself and not worry about the politics and ego crap, it's just me and my bike, with me setting my own goals and pushing myself to improve. I learned that its important to be around the right people, the ones who like to enjoy what they're doing and won't drag you down just to build themselves up. I think we all probably owe a lot to moto, whether we realize it all or not.

Confidence

Priorities in life. People, experiences and knowledge. Money is required, so you have to play the game....

someone is always faster or better.

Motocross is a family sport. It is the one thing that hasn't changed (horribly) in the past 40 years of the sport. I think BMX has stood the test of a time a bit more in terms of purpose and fundamental values, but MX isn't far behind. It is awesome to go to a track and see 2nd generations of racers and their parents out there having the times of their lives together.

One other lesson I learned, when you are a bad-ass late teen or early 20's racer and folks tell you that all of your injuries and years of racing you would feel later in life, those bastards weren't lying! Enjoy the aching knees and shoulders. I wouldn't change a thing, but throwing footballs and wakeboarding at 40 years old would be a hell of a lot more comfortable without years of BMX and MX. Every time you do something you enjoy, it WILL hurt the next day (or 60).

Anyway, when I think of what I have gotten from the sport, I think of good fitness and great times with my family and friends. It sucks the sport has gotten so expensive I am not passing this on to my kids outside of spectating.

Fun thread!

Gravity is a bitch... It's going to get you sooner or later!

I learned taking out income protection before crashing and having nine months off work is a wise idea. Unfortunately I learned the lesson the hard way

Quite a few things I do not think I would have learnt in other sports:
everything is possible so dream big to get big goals (I.e. jmb story), all the pieces of the puzzle to put together, risk management (i.e. big jumps, sometimes to have to go for it), own technics/skills to differentiate, nutrition, the importance of technology/innovation, tenacity/never give up, etc

It's all about the people. There was this old chubby guy who showed up on his ancient CR-500 and got smoked. He beat me one moto when I was injured.

To me, he epitomized moto and did it for the fun.

Awesome thread:

- how to win
- how to lose
- how to pick myself up
- how to get better at all aspects of life
- how to compete
- how to trust my self
- how to overcome fear

Awesome sport, awesome thread.

Moto is life.....

that existing can be enjoyable on occasion.

Driving is a big one for me. Not the ability to drive but just the ability to be aware and relax. I drive a lot and with people in the van/truck/car that I really care about. I find that mx teaches you to always be aware of everything around you while driving and to sit back, relax and evaluate when an accident situation arises.

I'm sure we all have memories of near misses when you weaved through cars, animals, ice, etc while not missing a beat -- while the passengers wondered why you didn't lock up the brakes and go off the bridge. It's confidence, experience and awareness I think.

I have three young daughters. I'm not in a position at the moment to get them out riding and I feel terrible about it. I better get my shit together because if they end up in a stupid accident one day, I'll feel some responsibility. Dirt bikes (hopefully) teach you to race on the track, and relax and act when you need to the most.

The better you get at riding, the farther you look down the track. That perspective helps in real life. How many of you see brake lights in front of you but look two or three cars ahead to see if there really is a reason for you to touch the brakes? Lol. Most ppl don't.

I learned how easy it is to split ass.

That dying isn't so bad. Actually the dying part was pretty bad, but the thought of being dead, when it was rapidly approaching, was okay.

Definitely calm under pressure. After a good handful of big jumps gone wrong, almost nothing will get you to seize up. Hurtling through the air while deciding the best way to try to land, with impending calamity at stake, is about as high pressure as a situation gets.

I learnt that there is always one Fuckwit that ruins a good thing...

‘LEARNT’ OR ‘LEARNED’?

These are alternative forms of the past tense and past participle of the verb learn. ‘Learnt’ is more common in British English, and ‘learned’ in American English. There are a number of verbs of this type (burn, dream, kneel, lean, leap, spell, spill, spoil etc.). They are all irregular verbs, and this is a part of their irregularity.

It taught me lots for sure... Just messing with ya Davisbro

Work hard play hard, riding a dirtbike but also in daily life

I've learned that even though we are all spread around the world, may come from different social backgrounds, politics etc............there is one common love that hold's us all together........................the love of motocross!

If motocross is a drug! then we are all guilty of sustained PED abuse!

Sand bagger!

When in doubt, GAS IT!

Moto gave me a career. I had to fix my own bikes. Didn't necessarily have to buy parts when dad was supporting us, but I had to put in the time. Now working on bikes is how I keep a roof over my head.

that I should follow/race mx/sx ....and be a huge fan cause I learned all other sports suck....and mx/sx is like year round unlike all other sport's that are just half the year...I also learned that if mx/sx had a tv/radio channel goin 24/7 like the retarted golf channel I would watch it....hahaha

I kept me out of trouble. When a lot of kids my age were out drinking and partying I was in the garage getting my bike ready for racing. I've also meant some really good friends over the years.

I learned that going to college was a better career path.

Saved my life.