As a youngster, I was disciplined, punished and spoken harshly too by my parents.
They took things very seriously and made me well aware of their expectations.
For them, there was no compromise over my schoolwork, my respect for others and my self -reliance.
But they NEVER, NEVER made any fuss over something as trivial as MX.
Oh, wait…..there was one time ……
I must have been about 12 or 13 and for my birthday I had asked for, and gotten the opportunity to hit up a Russ Darnell Motocross School at Honda Hills (young folks, need to look him up, he was a bad-ass). It was a 3 day camp that started on Thursday and wrapped up on Saturday so that the school pupils would have the Sunday race to show off their newly learned skills.
It was summer, my dad had taken off work and we were all setup to ride, camp and enjoy 4 days of MX. I was stoked!
Well, there was a kid that was faster, more skilled and much more “cool” than I was.
He was learning the new skills while riding at 70-80 percent but it took everything I had to just keep up.
I would hook onto this kid’s back fender and try my hardest to show him a wheel or get around him at every opportunity.
That kid was in my radar and I wanted to be as cool as him.
I became fixated on chasing that kid rather than listening to Russ and practicing what he was trying to teach.
Oblivious to me at the time, my dad been watching this all playing out over the course of the first day.
He was patient though and didn’t let on while we were still in public.
That night, after riders meeting, rider stretching and group dinner, dad and I went back to our camp…..that’s when he let me have it…..
In no uncertain terms, he explained that he had plenty of other things to do rather than watch me waste everyone’s time.
If I wasn’t going to do what the teacher was asking, were going home....period.
He didn’t care that the other kid was faster, or cooler, or that I wanted to beat him.
He wanted me to do the drills and even if that meant being the slowest…..we were here to learn, not show off!
……believe me when I say he was more than just a little pissed by my actions……
…and I got the message Loud-and- Clear!