The Learning Curve! By Joel Rayner

Joel Rayner has been a respected Freestyler for years for all the right reasons, he can throw down on the bike, off the bike he is down to earth and generally a no bullshit type of guy. Recently Joel got back from an overseas ride he was on full time. The rumour mill was running strong on the forums and in the paddock as to what went down OS….read on and get the full story, its an honest no bullshit read and straight from Joel to you guys!

Hey Slur fans, welcome to my little rant of my life over the last 7 months. It’s been one hell of a wild ride and defiantly one of the biggest learning experiences of my life. So I guess I’ll start at the beginning.
Motocross and especially Freestyle motocross have been my life for almost 15 years. Growing up on a cattle property in central Qld motorcycles where a part of growing up and of course I started riding at an early age. But it wasn’t until the Crusty, Terrafirma and Motoxxx vids kicked off that I found myself hooked on the sport of Motocross and soon after that I started racing. I loved racing it was fun, exciting and I met a lot of really cool people but I’d always be trying to do tricks like heel clickers and cancans off all the jumps. It wasn’t long after this that freestyle motocross officially became a sport and I knew straight away that FMX was for me. I started jumping ramps and learning tricks and met a lot of people I know will be friends for life. I got the opportunity to enter my first FMX comps and ride in my first demo’s and from there on out there was no looking back. This is what I wanted to do and there was nothing that was going to stop me. Freestyle motocross had become my life.

After riding every demo and comp I could get my hands on in Australia for 6 years the opportunity finally came knocking in 2009 to turn “Pro” move overseas and ride full time. It seemed like finally after all the hard work and injuries my dream of riding for a living had came true. I dropped everything, my girlfriend of four years, my job, my house, my whole life pretty much. This was my dream coming true and I was going to grab hold of it with two hands and not let go.
So I moved to Europe. Everything was taken care of. We were riding brand spanking 2010 KTM’s, had a full parts budget and where making some pretty sweet coin. It was everything I’d always wanted. Well it was everything I thought I wanted.
I soon learned that once riding becomes a job, that’s exactly what it is, a job. The love I had for riding was gone in the space of a couple of weeks. I was left scratching my head thinking what the hell have I done! I’d dropped my whole life to be here and this is it? Soon after that I had a crash that resulted in a broken wrist. They say that everything happens for a reason and having that crash was the final straw for me. It made me ask the question “is this really worth it?” Once you start asking your self that question you really have to sit back and think to yourself is this really what you want to be doing and the only answer I could come up with was, no. Riding had lost everything I enjoyed about it, I’d burned the bridges with loved ones and I’d lost sight of the bigger picture. So I handed in my letter of resignation; I wanted to be home again.

After returning to Australia I had a bit of time to chill and I guess search my soul for where I wanted to be. I was really lucky to have friends, family and sponsors who stuck by me and helped me get back on my feet again. Just hanging with the boys and watching them ride, having fun and just generally being dicks has made me remember the little things I loved about riding and I can safely say that once the wrist has healed I’ll be back in the saddle. But for all the right reasons. Things in my personal life are getting back on track too, I’m working full time and my girl and I are talking again so that’s a good start. It feels good to be getting everything back on track again.

So what can you, A Slur fan and rider take away from this? Well firstly know that you can do it. You don’t need all the craziest tricks in the book, if you work hard enough at something for long enough you can achieve anything. I certainly don’t regret going to Europe and achieving the goal of riding for a living, what I do regret is the way I went about it, but hey you can only learn from your mistakes. The other thing I’d like you guys to take away from what I’ve learnt is to never loose sight of why you started riding in the first place. Riding a motorcycle is one of the most enjoyable and exciting things you can do on this earth. So no matter how far you go with it never loose sight of what it’s supposed to all about, fun. Trust me the trade off of money for your love of riding really is not worth it. But I guess the most important thing I could pass on is at the end of the day riding is just that, it’s just riding. There are so many things that are so much more important in life. By all means chase your goals, ride your arse off, but don’t loose sight of the bigger picture by letting it consume you. It is after all only a motorcycle.
I’d like to say a personal thanks to all my friends, family and sponsors who have stuck with me over the last few months. Mum and Jeff, Sharna, Joe, Appsie, Troy, all the RFDmx boys, the lads from HQ, Sue from Wurths Yamaha, Link and Benno at Slur Destructive, Lance and Lachy from Russell Bro’s films and everyone else who’s be there backing me the whole way, Thanks guys.