Inside a racers mind

Bike Racers...

what makes them tick? what exactly is it that drives them on? how do they think?

  

As a non-racer myself but privileged enough to be able to be on "the inside", i'll tell you about my experiences in the paddock.

If you are a regular visitor to this blog, you will know that i am part of the "Team" that makes up Awesome Racing. If you're not then i'll explain. it isn't a big budget top race team but a New Era MCC Ducati one make series 'budget' Club racing team. My involvement is one of helping out when I can in bike preperation between rounds (rebuilds if the rider has had a trip into the scenery, which has been twice this season!) and when work and family allow it, I travel to the circuits for race weekends with the rider, as his spanner man and pit board operator. but i draw the line at being his brolly dolly! 

So, what does a racer have, that us road riders do not? 

Drive? ambition? big balls? No brains? Deep pockets? lack of self preservation? understanding wives/girlfriends/partners/bank managers?

During the course of the season I was hoping to find out.

I'll set the scene. Snetterton, Norfolk mid June. Round 4. wet, windy and pretty chilly. The club racers paddock is made up of the haves and the have nots, 100k motorhomes with satelliteTV, marble floors and central heating to white transit vans converted into makeshift sleeping areas once the bike is removed and even some guys turning up in their cars and pitching a 2 man tent on a small patch of grass. The huge divide is obvious even to the newest members of the paddock.

But, they all have one thing in common that binds them together. Racing.

Racing is in the blood, it pumps through the veins of every single one of them. It is the driving force behind the ambition. what's the ambition?

TO WIN.

even at the lowest end of the scale in budget (I hate that expression, as no racing is cheap) club racing, the will to win is astonishing, and something I found very surprising. The paddock is a fantastic place to spend 48 hours, the people are great, the camararderie is unbeleivable and the craic before, between and after the racing is second to none. With beers and food flowing between motorhomes and vans and the racing stories coming thick and fast as if the story tellers were teenagers eagerly telling of their latest conquests. The truth is, is that these are not teenagers, they are in the most part, family men in their 30's or 40's and there is one guy who races with Awesome Lawson who actually celebrated his 60th birthday that weekend!

So why race at this stage of life? Like i said, it's to win. plain and simple. 

Now, if i were to race at this stage in my life it would be purely a step up from track days and for some friendly competiton with like minded guys, not to go all out, at all costs to win; knowing that i am too old to take the racing a step further. Having said that, club racers all say "they do it for the craic". 

 I can honestly say, that this is bullshit and a definite lie.

Evidence? During my time in the paddock at Snetterton I took the opportunity to listen and observe and get myself involved with the racers who race with and against Awesome Lawson. Body language is a big part of a racers psyche and talking the talk is almost as important as walking the walk, if you get my drift?

The weekend was incredibly wet and the main topic of conversation was about who would be quickest or who would be competitive and who wouldn't. Racers who race one another month in month out know each others strengths and weaknesses, so a few names were banded around that could fight for the victory in a monsoon swept race. 2 racers in particular (shall remain nameless) whose body language and moods reflected their attitude towards the weather and before qualifying they had completely opposite views. Racer one was bouyant and upbeat and confident, Race two was downbeat and to be honest lacking in anything positive and insisting that if it rained for the race he was just going to play it safe and ride round for points and not risk it all and fall off in the process.

Qualifying was completed in the dry and we returned to the paddock and awaited results, these come in the form of a sheet supplied by the timing guys and handed round the paddock to each team. In the meantime the banter continued between racer one and racer two, with no visible change in the moods or body language in either rider. the results sheet arrived and the changes in the riders personas were astonishing.

The transformation was like a switch being flicked, Racer 2 had out qualified Racer 1 (the race favourite), not only had he out qualified him, racer 2 had qualified on pole. The immediate self belief was amazing and it was as if a light had gone and brightened up a dark room. Whereas racer 1 had suddenly gone withdrawn and was no longer bouyant and happy. Seeing this I couldnt believe the effect a piece of paper had had on these two guys.

Walking around the paddock after qualifying and listening to other racers discussing the session most were jovial and having a good time or fettling their bikes ready for race 1 that afternoon.

I wanted to know why certain guys, when in the paddock during a race weekend; didn't seem to be enjoying it as much as the majority were. 

So, I asked.

This was the response and it was so obvious to a racer, but to a non-racer like myself not so.

"Because we have won a race."

A racer can only be a contender if he or she has won a race. If that racer has won a race in the past, then nothing else is good enough. To coin a phrase and quote Racer two.......

"Second is the first Loser" 

When you lookat that phrase or hear it from a racer, it makes total sense and it could be said that it is a racers motto the world over; regardless of budget or class of racing. They are there to win, nothing else is good enough for those who have tasted victory and been on the top step of the podium.

When Race 1 got under way it was in the middle of a summer storm and the qualifying result and grid order meant absolutley nothing. The race 1 result showed a turn around in fortune for racer one and he grabbed the race win. So when all the riders returned to the paddock the state of minds of these two guys completely switched again, back to how it was at the beginning of the weekend. Now, i thought racing was supposed to be fun? but it seems if you are good enough to win and have previously won it obviously isn't, as the pressure that the individual puts on themselves is immense and for me that takes away the whole reason of going racing with your mates in the first place.

But, having said all this, i have never been in the postition that these two guys are in and am only an outsider looking in, so i cannot say for sure that if was in the position of being able to race; that the male competitiveness wouldn't get the better of me and soon take the fun away from the reason i would have done it in the first place.

On reflection, does that mean if you have never won a race, or not fast enough to win a race, that you are not a racer? does that mean that hundreds if not thousands of men and women around the country every weekend racing for fun are not racers either? 

I am sure of one thing though, i wouldn't want to be the one to tell them!

Oh and in answer to my original question, what does a racer have that us road riders don't have?
Answer: All of the above!