Like last year, Chad Reed came into 2015 as a bit of an unknown commodity. Everyone knew he’d be fast at times and even show signs that he could win, however with all of the more youthful talent lined up beside him on the starting gate this year, few predicted that he could reach the top spot on the podium. However, unlike last year where in the first five rounds of the 2014 Monster Energy Supercross Series he won twice, so far this season he hasn’t been able to find that same magic.
Before we take a look at his 2015 races up to this point, let’s go back to the off-season. As we saw at the 2014 Monster Energy Cup, Reed showed up after a three week Australian vacation only because he had to and basically rode around for two main events before calling it a night. At that point who could blame his thought process? After all, he was coming off a terrible outdoor season and an even worse MXON weekend. All he wanted to do was retreat back to his bunker in Florida and begin his real training for the 2015 supercross season.
Although we didn’t hear much from the 22 camp during the months of November and December, it must be assumed that all of the testing and training went very well and the team was ready for A1. As the calendar turned to 2015 and all of the riders and teams gathered at Angel Stadium for the start of the SX season, Reed fans were very excited and optimistic that he would be able to pick up where he left off last year on that cool night in San Diego when he crashed while chasing Ken Roczen on the final lap of the main event. So far, we haven’t seen the same Chad Reed as we did a year ago. Is it him, is it the bike or is it just his age and his competition stepping up their games? Let’s take a look at why Reed has been way off the pace of the leaders in 2015.
Bike Set Up
Throughout his entire career Chad Reed has been notorious for needing and wanting a well set up motorcycle in order to feel completely comfortable. While it’s the same right across the board for all riders at that level, some are a little pickier than others. The modern day 450 machines certainly cater to some riding styles more than others. Chad has gone on record saying that in order to run at his top speed, he needs the front end to really stick and be very predictable in corners. Much like the way the world used to ride two-strokes, Reed goes into a corner, looks for a spot on the track to put his front wheel and then begins to accelerate through the remainder of the corner. This is how he does it, and if something is off, even just slightly, then he quickly loses his feel, his confidence, and his lap times suffer.
Since Reed is racing a Kawasaki that must be very close to the bike he raced a year ago, it’s hard to imagine that he and the team would be having set up issues. The only big item that looks different on Reed’s KX450 is that in 2015 he’s running Pirelli Tires instead of Dunlops. However, because he’s been using Pirellis since late last summer I’m sure it’s not a tire issue. When I spoke to the Pirelli guys back in October at the Monster Energy Cup they raved about how much Reed loved the new tires he was able to run.
I will say that the one thing that appeared absent during Reed’s off-season preparation was a lot of testing in California. I’m just going by his Social Media posts but it looked as though he spent almost all of his time riding at his home track in Florida. This may explain why Reed has been a little slow out of blocks, especially in Phoenix where the hard and slick track surface is a universe away from what he rides at home. This also may prove why Reed was having his best race of the season thus far on Saturday night as the Anaheim 2 track appeared to be a little tacky and rutted. He may have felt a lot more comfortable with those conditions. If this is the case then it bodes well for the rest of series once they leave California. The dirt (other than maybe Dallas) has always suited Reed and his riding style better.
His Age and Recent Injuries
On March 15th Reed will turn 33-years-old. Obviously, in the grand scheme of life that is still young, I’d personally love to be 33 again. However, in the sport of supercross, even with the advances in training and nutrition, 33 is borderline elderly. This isn’t to say for a moment that Reed still can’t compete at the highest level, but as Kevin Windham once said, “There’s a reason why there aren’t a lot of 30-year-old pro motocross racers.” The sport is just too tough and too hard on the body and mind to maintain a high level long into a person’s thirties. Remember, almost every rider on the starting line began riding at a very young age, so by the time they reach 30-years-old they’ve been riding for roughly 25 years. That is a lot of abuse on the body, regardless of whether their injury list is long or short.
For Reed, we all know what he’s been through the last three years. In 2011 while leading the outdoors, he took a trip at Millville through the stratosphere. That one for sure hurt, heck it hurt me and I was just watching. Then in 2012 while dicing it out with Ryan Villopoto in Dallas, Reed made a huge error and crashed very hard. For most, that would’ve been a career ender, but not for Chad Reed. He came back once again. Although he made it through 2013 virtually unscathed, he hated his bike and the year was pretty much a write off. Then just 365 days ago, Reed found something within himself and started winning SX races again. But that was short lived after he made a small error once again, crashed and destroyed his shoulder.
With a growing family at home, Reed certainly has a lot on his plate as he battles his much younger competitors.
Still running on the feeling he got from winning races last year, Reed dusted himself off and is now trying to find that magic again. While I can’t speak intelligently about what it’s like to be Chad Reed, I can speak from experience about what it’s like to try and be a competitive 30-year-old motocross rider. In the final stages of my racing career I was nearing thirty, and while I felt physically strong and filled with decades of experience, my mental state was deteriorating quickly. My mind was tired and like almost every older person I know, I began to worry about way too many things.
When you reach that age, all of that experience is both your best friend and your worst enemy. Oh sure, you know where the lines on track are going to form before the day even starts, but you also begin to chase the ‘good’ feeling that you need to be successful. Your bad days on the bike start to greatly outnumber your good ones, and for the most part you find it a lot easier to blame your bike and your set up because you aren’t able to find that ‘good’ feeling on a daily basis.
Maybe this is where Reed is right now. He knows what he wants and how he wants it, however he just can’t find it for more than a few laps on Saturday night. When you’re young you don’t care about the little things; if you’re bike isn’t set up properly, you compensate and never lose time. If you blow a corner, you don’t dwell on it, you simply turn the throttle more in the next section and make up that time you just lost. When your mechanic asked you if you want to change anything on the bike, when you’re young you shrug your shoulders and tell him “not to worry about it, the bike is good enough.” I will guarantee that Chad Reed rarely ever tells his mechanic not to worry about it. If he’s like that now it’s because he’s chasing that feeling, and that’s not to say it’s a bad thing. To be that meticulous is what drives him to keep going at 33-years-old. So it’s kind of like a double edged sword.
Maybe Nothing Is Wrong
Another way to look at Reed’s 2015 season is to come to the conclusion that nothing is wrong at all, this is just where he fits in. At the first round at Anaheim, he suffered a mechanical issue during the main event so that stopped his forward progress. I heard it was a broken clutch cable but no one has confirmed that. Imagine trying to race a SX with no clutch. If that was the case then a tenth in the main event was actually pretty good.
In Phoenix he was on the gas after a bad start but ran into Justin Brayton who wouldn’t let him by. After a few laps of trying to get by Brayton, the riders behind them caught up and Reed’s main event was pretty much done. I think if he could’ve passed Brayton quickly he might’ve been able to move up to fifth or sixth. That would’ve been a great finish from where he started.
Then last weekend we all know what happened to him. A good start probably resulted in an ultra-high heart rate in those early laps and then a little fade as the race reached the halfway point. At the point Reed had his run in with Trey Canard, his main event was over. Everyone knows that when you get a good start and you’re not quite used to it, things seem very busy and fast, and you forget to breathe properly. If Reed can keep getting good starts in the next few weeks then he will acclimatize himself with running near the front and it will get easier.
So we’ll see where he goes from here. As he enters this weekend, he ironically has just 22 points and is way off the series lead. Although he’s maintained that he feels no regret for his actions on Saturday night, he has to feel a little embarrassed that he lost his cool for that moment. He needs to forget about everything and focus on getting the 22 train back on track, even though it might be out of reach to catch Ken Roczen. If Reed can get things sorted out as the 2015 Monster Energy Supercross prepares to head east in the coming weeks then I believe he has a shot at winning a few more races. Since all of the riders know that this series really doesn’t begin until Daytona, Reed still has plenty of time to make the most out of what could be his final season of SX. I hope, for one, that he goes out on top as he’s been such an enjoyable rider to watch over the last twelve seasons.
