Many may have heard the term “motocross dad” a stereotype of a dad who pushes their son or daughter into motocross but this isn't the case for Raifes dad. “My dad didn’t force me into it, but got me involved because that was his thing and I loved it straight away. He helped me into it and has helped me throughout”. Raife is supported primarily by his dad with help from small sponsors such as Dep Pipes but his race career has predominately been a privateer effort. With being a privateered team there can be unnecessary pressure but this isn't the case for Raife, “There is pressure there, somewhat, obviously he wants me to do well and I want to do well because there is a lot of money being put into this but there is no unnecessary pressure because he still wants me to have fun and not to get hurt and when there isn't that pressure, you can relax and there is a smaller chance you will injure yourself.”
Not only does Raife not have excess amounts of pressure due to being a privateer it also gives him extra motivation when competing, “Obviously it's hard because those rich boys are out riding most days but when you beat them from only riding on the weekends it feels great, it gives me more motivation because you're proving yourself against bigger names”.
Throughout this interview, Raife expressed to me the importance of enjoying himself when he is racing. He told me about his first national round; “I remember the first nationals I went to on a 50, I was like “oh my god they’re gonna beat me” then I went out there and ended up beating them because I just went out and enjoyed it”.
Raife has always been driven and determined to succeed and this is especially clear when speaking about the thought pro following a crash, “I was just thinking “when can I get back on the bike” I wanted to know when I could ride again. It was just over a year ago and after that, I messaged the team I was with, and told them how much I wanted to succeed the following year so they got me a personal trainer who gave me plans for every day to improve, which helped me a lot”.
Over the past few years, mental health has been spoken about more, especially in the BSB paddock but when I asked Raife about mental health within the motocross paddock, this is what he had to say about it; “No one talks about it. Mental health isn't a big thing that is spoken about, which is weird because if someone finds it difficult, why not speak about it because then you can speak to someone who has the same problem.”However, Raife believes that everyone should be more open, especially after the tragic loss of Jude Morris, “I was racing that weekend and that did affect a lot of riders. Some people didn't go out because of it because they were thinking about what had just happened and realising how dangerous it is”.
I asked Raife if the loss of riders in the community has ever made him question what he does. Like many riders, the answer is the same “Not really because I enjoy it so much and if riding wasn't in my life I'm not sure what I’d do. I'm always quite safe, I’ve never been an out-of-control rider and I have always gone within my limits. I just love it so I wouldn’t give it up. This won’t come as a shock to any as riders are addicted to adrenaline and they cannot imagine that being gone. Raife told me that if he couldn't race he would take up mountain biking to fulfil that need for adrenaline.
Raife has always channelled his energy into self-improvement in both his mental and physical health, “Being mentally unfit is worse than being physically unfit because you can control being physically unfit. If you've always got that little voice in your head overriding what you're thinking constantly you cannot focus at all, whereas if you've got none of that and your just focusing on things like your breathing rather than that repetitive voice that keeps coming in and saying “this happened to him, what if it happened to you”, you will succeed. Looking back on mental health, it shows that it does need to be spoken about”. This just amplifies the importance of a strong mentality as “the boys that do well, have a good strong mentality.
Finally, like I ask all my guests on On Track Mind, I asked Raife, what advice he would give a young person trying to succeed in motocross. Here’s what he had to say; “You've got to have consistency, you can train as hard as you like, have two weeks off and then you're still gonna be in the same place. You need consistency to succeed. Training consistently means your gonna be ahead of so many people. There's not really much more you can do than, training and riding. Take each opportunity to practice you have and make sure you have fun with it, instead of putting pressure on yourself, keep calm, don't worry about what everyone else is doing just think about yourself. If you're on the gate and thinking about other things, your gonna miss that split second of when that gate drops”.
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