CR22 2019.....

He hasn’t been getting better as the season goes on. He’s stayed the same while others ahead of him have crashed out. His results are better, yes, but he’s not riding astronomically better.

TDeath21 wrote:

He hasn’t been getting better as the season goes on. He’s stayed the same while others ahead of him have crashed out. His results are better, yes, but he’s not riding astronomically better.

Yes he is. He's still got a lot of work to do, particularly in the corners, but he looks night-and-day better from A1. He's much closer to the speed of the front runners than he was early in the year.

TDeath21 wrote:

He hasn’t been getting better as the season goes on. He’s stayed the same while others ahead of him have crashed out. His results are better, yes, but he’s not riding astronomically better.

kevin204 wrote:

Yes he is. He's still got a lot of work to do, particularly in the corners, but he looks night-and-day better from A1. He's much closer to the speed of the front runners than he was early in the year.

I agree! He’s definitely charging better and his lap times are more consistent throughout the race than they were early in the season.

Racer111 wrote:

I’ve been doing a lot of placebo effect research for companies as of late. It got me to thinking about CR22 for next year.

His broken ankle at RBSR might have been a blessing in disguise. We all know that MX/SX is as much mental as it is physical. We all know that Chad Reed can ride the hell out of a dirt bike.

Chad Reed showed up at A1 in shit condition and no time on the bike whatsoever and his season has been a lot better than what I thought it would be. No, it’s not to CR22 standards, but he’s made every main and been getting better and fitter as the season has gone on. It’s extremely hard to get in shape during the season. Everyone else came in to the season in shape and build off of it. When you come in out of shape you’re behind the 8 ball the entire series. Yes, you get stronger, but so does everyone else.

My point is that Chad probably feels like this season could have been a lot worse than what it has been. Even if he trains like he usually does in the off season, he will come in to A1 with a different confidence than what he had this year. If he believes he got a good off season and comes in feeling like he can podium, that may be all he needs. We all know what CR22 is like when he’s confident. If he stays healthy and gets a good healthy off season, he could come out swinging at A1 in 2019. I honestly think it will be his best season since the beginning of 2014. At least I hope he does. It would be great for him and the sport itself. I think it’s awesone to see 30+ year old men out there tearing it up every weekend with young bucks.

Hope everyone is having a great hump day. I got Reed for a top 7 this weekend.

I don't think Reed's mindset fluctuates much, especially now that he has done this so many years. Reed has only one major issue facing him in 2019, He is going to be one year older than he is this year and will be eleven years older than the was the last time he won a SX title and ten since an MX one. That's his only issue, He's a tough cookie and great competitor but at the end of the day Father Time is undefeated.