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JASON THOMAS - 'THE HARD WAY' - PART 6.

2nd Jun 2013

Hello everyone, or at this point more so I should say, Hello fans and haters, ha!

I hope everyone's season has started well and the results are coming in the way you had all hoped. As most, if not all of you know by now my year is coming together but not without the usual ups and downs. My last blog was a little on the boring side due to many things but mostly the crap result at Round 2. Since then I have gone to work out in the woods at my practice track, riding everyday in the ice, snow, rain and anything else Mother Nature wanted to throw at me. Throw into there an excellent AWRCS round and an Easter Saturday race and you could say I have been "GETTING R DONE"!!! Seeing as I'm back in my Ohio residence I have been able to not only get the riding I need done but also get back working with my trainer Joel Younkins. Joel who has raced in the past, and is the son of a former ISDE competitor, is a huge part of my program and past success. he is always positive and focused on what we need to do to improve - pushing when we must but also having adequate rest periods which is very important for staying in tip top shape ALL year long. Joel, who has been to school and studied all aspects of physical conditioning, as well as having hands on experience with racing, is one of the biggest keys to my program.

Bouncing back after a tough race is always hard and really takes a huge amount of effort that only the rider can put in. Since starting my blog and letting everyone into my life many people have embraced it, and judging by all the emails are loving what I talk about, yet there are some others who just read what I write and seem to misunderstand my point, so therefore I'd like to help you out, because let's face it... I know your reading this. Okay, so I do something for a job and income that almost everyone reading this dreams about, but in order to do it I have to live a certain way and be a certain person. I love every aspect of what I do, so if you have read my past blogs understand I'm not bitching about how hard it is - that my friend, is your assumption based off of what you read and how you process the thoughts. My life is not always easy, and living in vans, struggling to pay bills, taking abuse from small minded people is awesome. It's what actually drives me to be the best! I'd like to write about all the money I make for risking my life but it would be a lie so you can read other blogs if that's what you're into.

Some people say "If it's so hard get a real job", well, yes getting a real job would be easy but I'd be giving up on my dreams and be just another rat on the wheel so to speak. Some others say there are plenty of guys who do what you do, working on their bikes, sleeping in vans etc etc..... Yes I'm sure loads of the amateur riders do but out of the two PRO classes at GNCC only 6 people get on the podium. How many of those Pro riders do what I do? Take a moment to think on that and then check the results.

My point is when you show up at a GNCC you may think that top pros are making a killing from the sport. You see the big flash rigs, everyone wearing team attire, shiny bikes, and all together $$$ signs. All of that does cost big money, but basically none of it is the riders. The fact is that the paint or wrap job alone on some of them rigs cost more than the rider under it makes. Do big shiney rigs go out everyday and pound laps in every condition you can think of? Do rigs push their body beyond it's limits to stand on top of the podium? Your argument may be that big rigs bring big sponsors - naaaaa, I have been under big rigs, and for most riders it's no better than what I have now.

When I left a "big rig" team last year I went to some long time friends to do my own thing. I was asked what do you need - now looking in from the outside and reading some other crap out there you may think I had a lot but realistically my answer was to have a good bike and the best products. I built my bikes with that product that companies supplied and won myself a Pro championship. I talked to my sponsors, I worked on the bike, I rode the bike and I ultimately ended up achieving something that some factory teams spend heaps of cash trying to do. One other thing that I needed was money to pay my bills so I could focus on doing a job which pretty much didn't pay me anything - some people stepped in to provide me with the things I needed, but at the end of it all I was the monkey twisting the grip.

When the word team is used for off road it is often mistaken. You see a football team train together and they win games together - when 15 players walk onto the field they are faced with 15 players from the other team. One player can not play against and beat 15 so they have to play as a team.
Off road has teams, but lets break it down. There's the bike and a mechanic to work on it, the rider, and a manager to organize product and logistics. The rider needs sponsor support in the form of product and money. All of those things get the rider to the line, however though, out of those things it is only the rider that can do all of those things himself. Obviously it is easier if the rider doesn't have to. Once at the start line only ONE person can ride the bike, only ONE person can select gears, take the big risks, and only ONE can win. If there wasn't that one person at the end of the chain to start the race, then it would all finish at the start line. With no riders to win races all you'd have at the races is a truck show. The most fun I have is showing up at races in my little van, parking where I want, and then riding my bike that I had quickly put some bullshit spray on and checked the chain tension! That is what it's about, getting on ya bike, starting with a bunch of guys and ripping through the woods trying to beat the others so you can bag on them about sucking until the following weekend, ha, ha!

So back to business. The Steel Creek GNCC was next and by now I hope you have seen my video race report for the round up on all of the action. What isn't on there is the 3 hour battle which commenced and the elbows I had to throw out the get there to the podium. What you also didn't see is the 32 riders entered in the XC2 Pro class - yeah, that's right 32!!! Now, I'm all about everyone wanting to be someone but the XC2 class is for Pro level riders which means if you're getting waxed by an A class rider, well, you're in the WRONG class. Out of the 32 guys on the line only 15 broke the top 50 overall, can you believe that! With me being on a 250 four stroke and most of them being on 250 2strokes means that many of them are almost always going to make turn one before me. Like I said before, riding the XC2 class and trying to go for wins is one thing (I'm all about that) but riding it and not even being able to break a top 50 is just stupid and asking for trouble. Look at the first corner at Round 2 in Georgia - they all came nailing into turn one and a bunch of them went down taking a front runner with them. Due to my bad start at that race I spent a lap dodging riders and bikes that were cartwheeling everywhere (one of them actually cleaned me out!) because many of those guys were just riding over their heads and a danger to themselves and the rest of us. Not any old wanna be can line up at a Pro Supercross race, so why is this being allowed at the GNCC? It's dangerous and the current eligibility rules need refining. I think there needs to be a much more definitive enforcement of who can race this class, and there has to be a higher standard than what is currently being used.

That said, I didn't get a great jump off the line at Steel Creek but the wannabes did the norm and plowed into each other at the first turn thus leaving the inside open for me and Delong to sneak around and come out near the front. I knew what I had to do and went straight in for the pass (the first of many) not only on Delong but also Baylor. Steel Creek is a tight track and the speed we're going at it is inevitable that bar banging is going to happen. This is a man's class and men have bills to pay. Not that it needs to be a take-out fest but if you're in front of me you represent whatever my bonus is for that position and therefore I have to try my best to take that position without endangering us to pay my bills. It's racing and ultimately there are no friends on the track, especially when you have the financial committments that I have! Hate to say it but that's one thing a few guys need to realize....

Other than a few passes in "must do" moments my race was pretty smooth, controlling the pace all the way until 50 feet from the finish, then with my old worn out bib mousse tube that was totally disintegrated, I overcooked a corner allowing Plessinger past for a narrow win. Some say I should have stuffed him hard in the next turn but that probably would have made either or both of us crash, and that's not my style. He won because I fluffed it and that's racing. Each race though I'm getting stronger and now I can really start to show why my bike has a fat #1 on it.

Until next time, trust no one and believe in yourself.