Zacho - "They don't have a clue"

I think he was more just referencing the feeling and pressure that's on you all the time so not necessarily just the black and white of the money they have at stake.  

Average Joe who has a job if they put forth their max effort they will do a great job that day at work, racing you could put forth max effort every day and you still might just not be fast enough to keep that job. 

yeah, we're just fans, by some posts I read you would think fans life's are affected by a rider or race....it's not.

But for the rider it is their life, results, injuries are real life changing etc....I doubt my C class last place Vet race means crap to my real life.

we bash Alessi for crying about a heat race win, but that's how much racing and results meant to him, I'll be honest I'm not gonna cry if I'm the best in my job, because I really don't "love" my job, hell Im 60 and still waiting for the Yankees to call, for a lefty who throws a solid 70mph, and wicked slider, lol!

respect to all the riders living their dream or trying to get there, and anyone else who has achieved their professional goals regardless of career field.

Pro racers have about 30-32 chances a year to justify there existence a year. To perform at maximum, they train like olympic athletes, risking life altering injury daily. Most have little education, no social life outside racing circles, and perform thousands of miles from home to tens of thousands of strangers in billion dollar stadiums live, and broadcast performances internationally to millions. Most represent multi-billion dollar international corporations, yet how they perform can be and is critiqued publicly by anyone who bought the brand they ride who got a lemon. They must travel weekly, exposed to lord knows what sickness in airports/hotels and maintain an elite athlete's diet and rest regimen throughout. All the while most of their careers is in the hands of people who never raced professionally. And most are not even 30.

Just the logistics alone.....

Most Americans never travel far from their hometown or travel more than once or twice a year.  Most never travel consistently for their job.  Almost all have no idea what it would be like to travel to a different city every single weekend, dealing with airports and all the other BS.   Just the travel alone that these guys do is a grind most cannot comprehend.  It would wear you the hell out.   Now add on top of that all it takes to be a professional motocross rider and be expected to perform at the highest levels each weekend.

Where's professional when you need him 

Bit of a redundant statement. Of course we don’t have a clue . Did he actually think he needed to point that out ? 

Besides all of the airport hassles , I was wondering how the time zone changes affects these guys. Before the new west coast start times this year , the guys who lived in the east were starting the nights event when their body clocks were telling it was 10:00 PM , and the mains were well after midnight. I was curious whether they adjust their schedules at all to match where they will be racing ? 

I’ve wondered this as well. I’ve always assumed they try to get little to no sleep on Saturday night/Sunday and restart their clocks so they can maintain a regular schedule during the week. It must be strange to work out and train during regular hours then do one night of exercise every week. I’d imagine this is one of the hardest things to adapt to as a rookie going into SX. 

Life's hard, no shit. 

I'm sure this will be downvoted to the moon and back, but this cuts right to the bone of the problem the sport has. There's far too much time and money being spent designing bikes and tracks that will suit someone with pro-level abilities, and far too little time and money spent designing bikes and tracks for the 99.999 percent of us who just want to enjoy a pleasant day of easy-going lighthearted motocross racing. Racing for money would totally suck for me. It would take something I do for love and turn it into an obligation, to say nothing of the constant danger and unrelenting pressure. No thank you.

Golf would be the example I'd use regarding a sport that uses a more intelligent approach than what we have. Nearly every course is forgiving and relatively easy, because they know there's no sense in designing something so difficult it's going to kill the buzz of their average customer. If you want to be a pro golfer, it's actually going to be difficult to find a course that challenges you, because the course designers know you're not their target market. The average duffer is. And if you've ever been on a track with an actual pro, you know damn well what you are: another in a long line of motocross' version of a weekend duffer. I'm not trying to insult anyone by writing that, I'm just saying we have convinced ourselves that we need to take the sport deadly seriously, that our bikes need to have every advantage regardless of cost and we MUST clear that triple - and the vast majority of us shouldn't be thinking any of that. There's much more joy to be found in a much less serious approach. Is all.

Man, I miss Zach.

Sure we do. Anyone that has a performance based bonus and/or promotional structure understands. However, ours may be a little more difficult as our ratings are based on ours customers impression of our services and not something as cut and dry as race results. In our world if you routinely get poor scores you are put on a Performance Improvement Plan and if performance doesn’t improve you could be subject to termination. So yeah, some of us have somewhat of a clue. 

What Zach isn't saying is if this is his personal perspective on trying to earn a living as an AMA pro motocross racer or if all the AMA pro riders share the same POV?

Zach got married and started a family at a relatively young age and having to keep a roof over their head can be stressful. I suspect the statement we are debating is rooted in this

We need to thank him for giving us the best 250 race i've ever seen. ha.

this is the best-written comment I have seen on this site. bravo- that encapsulates the absurdity of what these guys go through for a comparatively niche sport, all things considered 

Yeah. Have you seen the comments people make? For a sport so small you’d think the fans would be intelligent. Man they are dumb as rocks 

I think the real OG's are the guys who work their ass of all week, work on bikes all week, then load up the camper and take the family racing. They do it because they love it, and a lot of us won't get paid if we can't work due to injury.

Maybe if Zacho worked in the real world for a bit he would understand there are a shit ton a jobs were people deal with all kinds of pressure daily. 

Most professional motocross racers don’t have a clue about having to get an actual job, being at work for 10-12 hours per day, sometimes for 6-7 days a week.  Where you have to deliver every day you’re at work.  Where no-one cheers you when you win.

Most pro racers are more afraid of a 9 to 5 than us regular guys are afraid of SX whoops

My job is entirely performance based sure, but I can do other things. My mom, dad, friends will do just fine if I do. Most pro motocrossers have lived a very sheltered life from a very young age. Not just lack of a proper education. From elementary school their worth is based upon how they perform from interacting with a machine. Most people they interact with relate to them in that way as well. Some of their Mom's and Dad's base their own incomes and futures on the performance of these children, a complete role reversal. If you read between the lines in some of their interviews, some of these riders are really fucked up by it all. Listen to their interviews and their hangers on, and parents, often times their performances are "we" not "I". Because these riders become pros so young, often in amateurs, you can sense stockholm syndrom in them almost, child abuse borderline.

And I roll my eyes when people talk about the money pros make. The contracts, and salaries are not the rider's money. His salary and contract pay his business to be a rider, from which he gets the leftovers. Out of his riding business comes fees for agents, lawyers, trainers, training facilities, a place to live on both coasts, health insurance, any retirement, I would believe they have to pay into their own SSI - 14.5%, any rehab from injury, if they own anything - a house, car, dog, pool, the travel alone makes it so they have to pay someone to maintain it, on and on. It is not all swimming pools and movie stars.

He is a 1099 guy like a lot of us. It's a job.

Your parents didn't mortgage their lives away for your career likely. You can not have life altering injuries daily most likely either. Every year you do not have a half dozen teenagers better than you asking for your job for less money than either. And you don't perform for millions.

Everyone's career has pressure, but pro mx is different.

Any job has pressure when you have to provide for your family.  And alot of people arent making millions like the top guys.  Some privateers have 100k trucks,motorhomes.  Yea the struggle lol 

Pro Racers: do you have any idea what is at stake if I make a mistake at my job?

Everyone else: uhhh ya?

Exactly

I mean this thread basically solidifies his point, the guy makes a 15 second statement about it and here we all are analyzing it 😂

Dude, no offence but you are way too intelligent for this place. LOL 

Great post!!!! Really makes a lot of sense.