Chad Reed rides Phillip Island
A person’s first ride day on the magnificent Phillip Island track is something special, no matter who you are.
And it was the venue that Aussie MX/SX legend Chad Reed recently tried his hand at this road bike caper for the first time.
No fanfare. No airs or graces, Chad was along to just hang out and have a ride on one of the Triumph 675s in the Monza Imports garage as he joined John Chiodo and his staff taking part in their annual ride day.
What made it more special for Reed was he’s still recovering from a broken wrist suffered in the lead-up to the WSX season so it was his first time back in the saddle for a few months.
The smile didn’t leave his face all day!
Mark Bracks chats with CR22 about the experience.
MB: Well Chad, first day on a road bike…
CR: “A big day. Better late than never, I guess! I am 40 and I’ve been waiting to do this since I was 16. Back when I was 15, 16 it seemed like your ticket out of Australia to be a world champion you had to be on a streetbike and for whatever reason I never had the opportunity. Mum and Dad always said it was too dangerous (howls of laughter), which is hilarious to think. Life has gone by and I didn’t run into the opportunity until today. It’s been awesome.”
How did it come about after so long?
CR: “I’ve been with Alpinestars since I was nine years old. Alpinestars were my first sponsor and for the most part I’ve maintained a relationship. Even when I wasn’t with Alpinestars, Monza [Imports] was Fox at the time so I’ve maintained a Monza relationship since I was nine years old. I’ve never worn a product that they didn’t actually import. Basically, this was the result of some small-talk with Johnny [Chiodo] and Scotty (Runciman). At the time I was still in a sling, and I wasn’t sure whether I was going to be able to do it. I did the math and it was about 10 weeks away and I thought ‘hopefully by that point I am ok and healthy enough’. I had an x-ray on Monday morning and got the green light so I jumped on a ‘plane on Tuesday and here we are on Wednesday.
“If you are going to do it you do it at one of the best racks in the world. Beautiful track for me personally to ride. I – like everyone else – has listened to Valentino, Marquez, Casey, they all love this place so I feel quite honoured to come here and this be my first experience.”
MB: So, what’s your first impressions?
CR: “First impressions are… at the end of the day it’s just a motorcycle, right? There’s a throttle, an engine, some gears, brakes, that part is easy. The braking point and all that. I don’t necessarily feel that is difficult. It’s more just… how do you take a position, a feeling and completely change it. An almost opposite scenario. Moto you give the bike a bunch of lean angle and you weight it from the outside whereas this you kind of go with it. It’s given me a new appreciation of the feeling, the grip.”
MB: What about tipping it in when you are following Wayne [Maxwell] and you see how far he can lean over…
CR: “Yeah, let’s call it that extra 10 per cent or whatever it is. You get to a point and honestly speaking, this is my first time doing anything in the last 10 weeks since I’ve been hurt, so I feel that I am riding pretty cautiously as well. You know, I think that in the event that you are fully fit and healthy, maybe if it was my motorcycle and you’d be a little bit more understanding or willing to push the limit or find the limit, and I am not at all.
“I see it. Visually when I am watching Wayne or anyone else that I am behind that are getting their knee down so I just get there get to my comfort zone and pull back but one day I’d like to come back and really give it a good day of working on the fundamentals more than anything.
“The speed isn’t necessarily the box that I want ticked. I think the speed comes with the fundamentals so I think riding a motorcycle is second nature, so I don’t necessarily think you have to work on anything in particular with that. It’s more getting the road racing fundamentals down and everything will start to fall into place.”
MB: What’s the standout for the day?
CR: “Umm, the standout would be the seating position and how different it is. The speed, the braking didn’t … I get it; I am not on a MotoGP bike but it wasn’t… It didn’t surprise me or anything. I am on a decent bike. It wasn’t like when I was going fast ‘oh my gosh, I am going fast.’ I felt like mid speed, not that I was going fast at all. I was just rolling around the speed felt pretty normal.
“It didn’t feel like I was oh my god I am on the limit all the time. I wasn’t trying to find it. You get to a certain point like going into Turn One at Phillip Island your wide open and its pretty fast and I was like maybe in my mind I had a certain feeling, and that feeling wasn’t as crazy as I thought. It felt more normal than maybe I anticipated, which is probably a good thing because I feel at that point you can start to pick it up and have fun.
“I am probably the biggest MotoGP fan and geek ever, so for me it would be an addicting thing.
“I’ve had opportunities to jump in race cars, don’t get me wrong, it would be really fun to drive a GT3 car around here but there is just something about riding a motorcycle. The wind on you, sitting up and feeling the brakes and everything moving around and that potential of ‘if I lose the front here, I am going to go through the gravel pit’ whereas when you are in a racecar you feel pretty hero-like but there is something about riding a motorcycle. It doesn’t matter if it’s a dirt bike or street. You just acknowledge that it’s bad arse and its cool, you know.”
MB: and all you can focus on is what’s in front of you…
CR: “Exactly. here is no two way radio, you have got ear-plugs in not a head set, I just love that. It’s your thoughts and your thoughts only telling you to do it or not do it. One side says go the other side says don’t. You know that feeling. It doesn’t go away
“It’s probably just realising acknowledging life at 40 and just loving it really. It doesn’t matter what it is its just the thrill of riding a motorcycle.”
MB: I think getting on a track is the best thing for mental health because on the track all you can think of is what is in front of you.
CR: “Exactly, I hear ya.”
MB: First time down here, a perfect day here with a view of the ocean.
CR: “You know everyone was like “did you catch yourself looking at the ocean?” You know, I haven’t seen the ocean yet! You see the crest and once you crest, it’s more on focussing o the braking point and getting the thing to go into turn one. I can honestly say I haven’t seen the ocean.
“To comment on what you just said about mental stuff, honestly speaking I would say it’s been a rough 10 weeks. I’ve had ups and downs. I was two years retired and coming back to World Supercross was more for fun than anything. It was my support of a series I really truly believe in, and then to get hurt from something that wasn’t my fault (Chad was injured when a fuel pump failed on his bike in mid-air), it’s really been a tough one
“Everyone’s like ‘you don’t heal like you once upon a time did’, but I don’t know that I give that too much credit. I think a broken bone feels the same at nine years old as far as it does at 40. It’s been… it has its been a tough physical and mental battle the last 10 weeks, so I would say this is the most real and normal I have felt in a long time.”
MB: Did it give you something to aim for when Scotty and John worked it all out?
CR: “Yeah for sure. Even just with Wayne. He is just real smooth and helped me with some comments, but it’s weird the braking point didn’t scare me. I think sometimes I almost out-broke Wayne! You almost need a back-up. For whatever reason the speed… Again, I am not doing over 300 km/h and everything like that, so I don’t want to sound like a hero or anything like that. The first time going that fast with the wind on you, it didn’t freak me out like I thought it would. It felt normal and I guess that’s a scary thing in its own self!”
MB: So what was it like putting on a road helmet for the first time? That lid you have is very special. No GP riders have that new lid yet. They’d be jealous!
CR: “I’ve been about a year in the new Alpinestars moto helmet and I heard rumblings about them bringing out a street helmet.’ Dovi wore it. Just randomly I was talking to Gabriel (Alpinestars Principal) more contract, business talk, when I mentioned that I was coming here to have a ride with John and the boys and so he said ‘I want you to try the helmet’. It’s very impressive to work with a company that does two different things.
“Obviously, I wear the moto version helmet and the thing that feels different I understand is having it tighter here [around the neck] because of the lift, because on a moto helmet you don’t have to worry about the lift.
“They’ve done a very great job. I am excited because I am one of the very very few people that have one of these new helmets.
“I get a kick out of all the Monza boys wanting to look at the helmet because I have it, so it makes me feel pretty proud. And I acknowledge how close I am in my relationship with 20+ years of working with Gabriel and the fact he trusts me enough to send me a special helmet all the way from Italy. It’s a good feeling but the best feeling all day was just hanging out with everyone here. No pressure, Just hanging with good mates and have laughs and riding bikes. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
MB: So you’ll be back?
CR: “Oh definitely. I would love to do it again. The second time around you know what you getting yourself into and I’d feel more comfortable.”
MB: You’ll be thinking about it on the way home.
CR. “Always!”
MB: What was the best part of the track for you? What made you think ahh this is really cool?
CR: “I’d say tipping ointo one and then into Casey’s turn (turn three) I would say. Casey’s turn, how it feels on this bike, I can only imagine how bad arse it must feel to get in there and as soon as you crack it open and just grab a handful to light the rear up and turn with the rear; Because you see it as a racer, I can visually see what they’re doing. To have that feeling of speed and grip at a racetrack. As soon as you get around the turn to get the thing stopped to make a tight right. I just think it’s an appreciation that I have for Marc and Casey and all the boys. That was probably I would say was my favourite.”
MB You’ll have to come back, thanks for your time.
CR. “Oh, yeah I will. For sure. No worries. It’s always good to chat with you.”
We also had a quick chat with Aussie road race champ Wayne Maxwell to get this thoughts on how CR22 went on his first day at the track.
Wayne Maxwell: “Obvioulsy Chad is a hugely skillful motorcycle rider, so to see him being able to experience a road bike for the first time and the way he went about it.. just his feel and grasping the concept to get the lines and things like that, it was interesting to watch and great to be a part of.
“Someone of his high skill level was a pleasure to work with and he got clearly better each session and was really starting to get a taste of it.
“Hopefully for him it was a great experience, and I think it was as he has been quizzing me on the different models of road bikes and things so I think he might have a bit of the bug now.
“He’s obviously been wanting to do it for a long time but he’s been so heavily involved in his own racing career, and it takes a massive focus to do that, so for him to be able to come here, tick that box, and to be here with the guys from Monza, for what is essentially their work break up with all their boys, it’s been a great day.
“Monza Imports have been fantastic over the years so it’s been great for both of us to hang out with them and do something a bit special with Chad.”
