Go out and get hammered tonight
Published: 10th May 2007
Author: Sean Lawless
"Go out and get hammered tonight - all your best comments are written with a hangover!" Every now and again Sutty raises his head above monitor level and utters words of wisdom that are so, er, wise that only a fool would ignore him! And even though I have my moments of utter stupidity I'm no fool so yesterday evening after leaving the office I swung by the offie for a bottle or two of inspiration...
Funny thing is, Sutty's words - not just the results of his advice - actually did help with inspiration. It may sound soft to all you lot out there but there's a certain pressure to come up with a comment every month. Okay, so it's nothing like the pressure involved in, say, going for a title but every month this little red panel has to be filled - whether with nonsense or sage advice is open to debate - and filling it ain't always easy.
Pressure can work both ways - it can spur people on to bigger and better things or the sheer weight of expectation can cause things to go in the opposite direction. Of course, to be a champion you have to be able to use pressure to your advantage as Ben Townley demonstrated by over-turning a three-point deficit going into Detroit to lift the AMA Lites Eastern SX crown. Slightly more debatable is James Stewart's ability to soak up stress - remember how many mistakes he made last year trying to deal with Ricky Carmichael? This year, without RC on his back for a full series, Stewart's had more breathing space and wrapped up the SX title with a round to go but you can't help wondering if he'd have managed it so easily - if at all - if the Makita Suzuki rider hadn't gone into semi-retirement.
When I was talking to Mark Eastwood a few weeks ago he explained that when he was a fully-fledged HRC factory rider he put too much pressure on himself and always felt more relaxed when he was able to do his own thing. And there's a lesson to be learned here - especially by parents of aspiring schoolies in all disciplines of off-road riding. If you earn your living from riding then, fair enough, results are all-important and if you ride like a nodder then you have to be prepared to deal with the flak that's coming your way. For everyone else it should be fun.
So if you're going to the line worried about having a bad ride you really need to stop, have a hard think and remind yourself why you started riding in the first place. And it's far, far worse if your son or daughter's going to the line worried about letting you down. After all, childhood is priceless and parents have already had their own - they've got no claim on their kids'...