KHC 178 - Cameron McAdoo

Cameron McAdoo - American professional motocross and supercross racer for Kawasaki. He’s competed in major U. S. off-road motorcycle racing series such as the AMA Supercross and AMA Motocross Championships since turning pro in 2017. In this episode, McAdoo dives into the mindset and resilience that fuel his success in Supercross. He reflects on his favorite races, tough track conditions, and lessons learned from moments like whiskey throttle mishaps and battling through injuries. McAdoo shares what it truly takes to win at the highest level. This episode offers a powerful look at the grit, discipline, and mental toughness required to compete at the top of Supercross. Follow Cameron: https://www.instagram.com/cameronmcadoo Follow along: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/ Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com Timestamps: 00:00:00 – McAdoo’s Favorite Races, Track Conditions, and Whiskey Throttle 00:11:26 – Seattle Results and Cameron’s Mindset During Riding 00:17:22 – Race Placement and What it Takes to Win 00:21:49 – Use of Time Between Races & the Importance of Visualization 00:27:00 – Being Present While Racing: Mental Engagement 00:33:12 – Elite Athletes and McAdoo’s Role Models 00:35:36 – McAdoo’s Dislocated Shoulder 00:37:15 – Appreciation for a Tough Childhood and Cam’s Sister 00:42:43 – Loretta Lynn Championships 00:48:07 – Going Pro as a Teenager 00:56:36 – Proving Ground: Signing a First Time Contract with Pro Circuit 01:01:52 – The “Ricky Carmichael Experience” 01:03:03 – What Makes a Good Race Start, Reaction Time, & Diet 01:09:37 – Pushing Past the Pain & Suffering in a Race 01:13:18 – Quitting is Never an Option, Patience, and Ownership During Racing 01:22:12 – Respect for the Other Riders Drive 01:25:29 – Personalities in Supercross 01:29:07 – The Rise of Supercross 01:31:05 – Cameron’s Pisgah & Bow Rack Experience 01:34:58 – F**k, Marry, Kill: Cycling, Running, and Fishing 01:36:32 – Developing a Mindset of Determination 01:38:01 – Preparing for Fatherhood 01:41:29 – Flow State During Races 01:42:48 – Final Thoughts Good Ranchers: https://www.goodranchers.com/ use code CAMERON for $25 off your first order Thank you to our sponsors: Sig Sauer: https://www.sigsauer.com/ use code CAM10 for 10% off optics Ketone IQ: https://www.ketone.com/Cam use code CAM for 30% off your first subscription Black Rifle Coffee: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 10% your order Montana Knife Company: https://www.montanaknifecompany.com/ Use code CAM for 10% off LMNT: Visit https://drinklmnt.com/cam for a free sample pack with any purchase

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:15Cameron Hanes?

  This is the Keep Hammer Collective. I'm with Cameron McAdoo. How are you doing?

• 0:18Speaker 01

  I'm doing great. How are you?

• 0:20Cameron Hanes?

  Can you believe we're doing a podcast?

• 0:22Speaker 01

  I can't. I really can't. I was telling you this morning, we were going up the mountain. I looked on my Instagram and I think it was like eight years ago or something. I had replied to one of your stories because that's how long I've been following along with you and I would have been 19 at the time. And yeah, not in my wildest dreams where I've thought I'd get to come here and share this experience with you. And the last couple of days have been super cool.

• 0:44Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 0:45Speaker 01

  So yeah, I can't thank you guys enough for welcoming me here and letting me enjoy some time together.

• 0:51Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, no, this is, um, this has been great. I got to see you in action up at Seattle Supercross, which that's my second, I think it's my second Supercross. I know I did Seattle last year and then did Washougal, the outdoor, but what a show and what a venue. I know you guys go every week to a different place like that, but it's such a special event for people in this area. People travel and it's like, that's what they look forward to. And you guys just do, I mean, it's, it's epic what you guys do.

• 1:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's, it's awesome. It's, uh, it's another thing that's beyond my wildest dreams that I'd ever be able to be one of the guys out there doing it, you know? Um, it is really cool that we get to have the platform we have and to have the fans that we have. Like you said, it's, it's really special for Seattle. I feel it in every city we go to. You know, I was in, we were in Glendale last weekend and they're just so passionate about it. And it's, it's really cool to be around a lot of like-minded people who, who love dirt bikes like we do.

• 1:54Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, it's, is there a city that stands out?

• 1:59Speaker 01

  Gosh, it's it's hard saying Anaheim one is is kind of is Anaheim one, you know, it's

• 2:05Cameron Hanes?

  Is it one because you do multiple stops there?

• 2:08Speaker 01

  I think it's because it's been the first race for

• 2:10Cameron Hanes?

  Oh, I gotcha.

• 2:11Speaker 01

  So many years that it's just got that nostalgia to it.

• 2:15Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 2:15Speaker 01

  But, um, yeah, uh, Texas. Texas is like when they say everything's bigger in Texas, we raced in Houston this year already and

• 2:26Speaker 01

  the the fans are just they're so good there. That's that's one. If I thought to stand out, it'd be Texas, whether it be Houston or Dallas, it's

• 2:36Cameron Hanes?

  Is it bigger crowds there?

• 2:37Speaker 01

  Huge crowds. Um, they're so passionate. It's Texas, Arizona was good, too.

• 2:44Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 2:45Speaker 01

  It's it's super hard, you know, but um, I think if I were to have to pinpoint one down, Texas is usually pretty, pretty big.

• 2:52Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, well, I can't, I mean, I love watching it now, just being, I can't believe all that goes into putting on those shows. I mean, so much props to the guys moving the dirt and building the track. It's just like those guys, I think they had thirty hours because Seattle won the Super Bowl.

• 3:09Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 3:10Cameron Hanes?

  So they had their parade and then it was pouring also on top of it and they had to put together that track, which

• 3:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:16Cameron Hanes?

  Those guys worked their asses off.

• 3:18Speaker 01

  I was I was talking to the dirt works guys and they were like, man, we were watching the Super Bowl on the plane. Uh, we were praying for Seattle not to win because they knew that that was gonna put them in such a crazy time crunch because of the parade and they pulled it off. It was it was a it was a great night of racing, very challenging track, but it was it was a good night.

• 3:37Cameron Hanes?

  Is it, do you think that the they had less time? Did it make the track harder or is Seattle always hard? I know I've heard it's always hard.

• 3:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's always a very challenging track because the dirt breaks down a lot, so it's always a really soft base. Um, obviously in the spring in Seattle anyway, the dirt sits outside all year, so depending on how much rain there's been, um, you're gonna have softer or harder dirt. Now with it being put in later, it didn't get to sit very long, so the track got built. Literally Thursday morning was when it kinda got finished and then it rained all Thursday or Friday.

• 4:14Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 4:14Speaker 01

  Um, so it was softer than a normal Seattle anyway. And yeah, it broke down and they were prepping it every single time on track. I've never seen in my career them prep the whoops in between qualifying one and qualifying two. And they had to, which that says a lot. Um, and I was first heat of the two fifties, so I was in the most brand new track there was all night. And by the end of our heat, which is only six minutes plus one lap, it was already getting really beat down. So I was like, this is gonna be an insane track. And yeah, by the end of the four fifties, when you see the very best guys in the world making the mistakes that some of the guys were, it shows you how, how challenging that track was.

• 5:00Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, it's a, what makes it tough is when the ruts get deep? Is that the worst part of it?

• 5:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, so when the ruts get super deep, um, in a soft base like Seattle was, it's not so much just the ruts, but in the rhythm lanes and the transitions, we, we call it like, they get curbs in them. So it's a rut, but within the rut, the actual face of the jump doesn't have the same angle as normal cause it has like almost a hole in the bottom of it.

• 5:32Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 5:32Speaker 01

  Which your bike will hit and it will take a ton of the momentum out and it kicks your rear end up a lot of times.

• 5:38Cameron Hanes?

  Mm hmm.

• 5:39Speaker 01

  So it's all about coming over and picking a rut and you'll, you can see, um, the ones that have big curbs in them or holes, there'll be black spots in the ruts because of the shadow. Uh, so it's being specific there and knowing how it's gonna lunge your bike. And you're landing in ruts, taking off in ruts, turning in them, it's, it was. Yeah, there's a few venues, Seattle, Indianapolis, that are just, man, or they always break down like that. And it's makes for a lot more challenging track. And some guys love it. Like, some guys are like, this is my track. Like, you know, they rub their hands together. And some guys like a harder base. And so it's all, it's all part of the

• 6:24Speaker 01

  sport, which is pretty awesome.

• 6:26Cameron Hanes?

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• 7:07Cameron Hanes?

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• 7:51Cameron Hanes?

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• 8:05Cameron Hanes?

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• 8:50Cameron Hanes?

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• 9:25Speaker 01

  I think Cooper Webb's a good guy in the 450 class. A good example of someone who loves those tracks that break down and they get slower. Like, so the racing was so much slower than what you would see in Arizona, where the dirt stays pretty standardly hard. The whoops get slick and they don't really get super rutted. But the speeds are so high and they stay high all night. Where when the tracks break down, we start turning in the very bottoms of the corners because the ruts just keep getting deeper and deeper and we just get lower and lower. And there's some guys like Cooper. He can, he turns really well in the bottoms and does certain things well. And, and so those tracks, I think, serve him more. And then you've got guys who like a super fast, wide open track with big lanes and...

• 10:11Speaker 01

  But I think that's what's cool about our sport. We go to seventeen different venues and at the end of it, the Supercross Champions, the Supercross Champion, because they were the best. Like, it's undeniable.

• 10:24Cameron Hanes?

  That's a pretty interesting and I mean, they hold up the signs on the side. What are the signs telling you? Like, are they telling you track conditions at all or where to go or anything?

• 10:34Speaker 01

  Um, no, sometimes like in practice, they'll say like, um, three, three, which means like, on the one rhythm lane, I'll, I'll talk to my mechanic before and say, hey, on that back rhythm lane, if someone's doing this, tell me, you know, so I know what lane, but that'll just be in practice. Uh, during the race, usually it's just our lap time. Um, sometimes our position depends on what the rider likes. I like, I like to race, race the clock, so I like to race a lap time, uh, because that's what we do during the week. Usually you know about what position you're in and whether you're in first or fifteenth, doesn't matter what position you're in, you want to be in the better position, right?

• 11:12Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 11:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, race the lap time and then they'll tell us, you know, for me personally, I go halfway. I like to know halfway and then I like to know five laps down. Um, so, once I see halfway, a lot of times, depending on where the mechanics area is, I might never see my pit board one time the whole race. So, um, but yeah, it'll say, you know, or just different reminders if they see that we're doing something and they have headsets on and they're communicating with our whole team. So if Mitch is up in the stands and he says, hey, you know, tell them this or tell them that, whether it be, you know, focus, you know, work on your legs, just different little things.

• 11:51Cameron Hanes?

  Cues.

• 11:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. So, because we don't have any communications with anyone when we race.

• 11:57Cameron Hanes?

  Right, right. Yeah, I was surprised. I was just kind of noticing, like I said, I haven't been, or I've been to a few, but like, I was kind of surprised at the lap times on the two fifties were. Sometimes faster than the four fifties. Is that just because the bike's more easier to move around nimble?

• 12:16Speaker 01

  Um, it can like

• 12:18Cameron Hanes?

  Or do you track? You couldn't take advantage of the four fifty power or what?

• 12:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, so there is definitely, especially within Supercross tighter tracks where there's places on the track where two fifty can be beneficial because you can turn them tighter. They're a little bit lighter. Um, the way the power works, but a lot of it has to do with the four fifties always race and practice just after us. So we're, we're the, they're, we're the first ones on track. They go in second. So our track's a little bit less beat up. And um, the two fifty class also, you know, the top of it is, is fast too, you know, so it's, it's like right there. But yeah, a lot of it has to do with track condition mainly. They, their track is

• 13:04Speaker 01

  pretty mangled by the time we get done with it. You know, they don't get near as much of a track prep either before their main event as we did before ours. So that's usually has to do with why, but um, yeah, it's, it's close at the top.

• 13:18Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah. I mean, I saw a couple. Now I can't remember who it was, but it seems like that bike, I mean, it starts bouncing like you're out of your, I mean, shit can go crazy. And that's that one. I can't remember who it was like bounce, kind of landed back on the bike, then hit the board and took out the camera guy.

• 13:37Speaker 01

  His name was, it's a kid that I, I ride with here and there. He trained in California, uh, Revan Gordon. Yeah. Coming out of the sand.

• 13:44Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 13:44Speaker 01

  It was kind of similar to like what happened to me in my heat race crash because I, I clipped the top of that little double coming out and I lost my hand in my, in my foot and crashed. But yeah, he, I don't know how he saved that. That's that. There's a video going around everywhere. It's like viral. It was wild. And then he ended up going off the side of the track and the cameraman looked and jumped over his bike.

• 14:05Cameron Hanes?

  I know. Nobody got hurt really.

• 14:07Speaker 01

  No.

• 14:07Cameron Hanes?

  I don't know how.

• 14:08Speaker 01

  Yeah. It was, it was crazy.

• 14:10Cameron Hanes?

  It reminded me of one time I was like on a little fifty over here in Springfield and I like slid off the back of it and then my hand did the throttle and I was A million miles an hour through this ditch, no control. That's kind of what it reminded me of.

• 14:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:25Cameron Hanes?

  And that was, I was super scared and I was on a little 50 cc.

• 14:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, we always like, obviously, anyone that rides motorcycles knows what whiskey throttle is. And Kawasaki sent my wife a little KLX 110. And I'm always like, you, you have to wear a helmet and, you know, boots when you ride. And she's like, come on, I'm not wearing a helmet. Like, I'm just riding in the grass patch across the street. And I'm like, babe, once you experience whiskey throttle for the first time, doesn't matter what you're on, whether it's a 110 or a 450, it's real. Like, as soon as your weight gets back and you can't, you can't let go. Like, it just won't let you. It goes bad fast. You're wearing a helmet. It's not optional.

• 15:08Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, there's no scarier feeling than that, it feels like. I still remember it. But, uh, yeah, I mean, so tell me about, how did Seattle go in your opinion for you?

• 15:19Speaker 01

  Uh, Seattle was tough for me. I, I felt pretty good in practice and throughout the day. And then in the heat race, I made a pretty costly mistake towards the midpoint of the heat race and, and had a crash that I kind of banged up the whole left side of my body with. Um, and so my shoulder was really, really sore, uh, between the heat race and the main. I was able to keep it moving and keep from everything getting too swollen to where I could manage it and, and, um, race the best I could, right, for the night. But we were just talking about how gnarly the track was. That was a, probably the worst track to have something where I was like, not feeling my best physically. So, uh, but, I mean,

• 16:01Speaker 01

  all excuses aside, I was able to salvage everything I could and I ended up fifth. So, um, how I was feeling after the heat race, I was very unsure. So I was happy to be able to just manage what I could, right? And be fifth. I mean, I'm never happy with fifth, that's for sure. But, um, after the last few weeks have been trending upwards and I've been getting closer to the front. So.

• 16:29Speaker 01

  It was frustrating. I was disappointed in myself and that was a mistake that was completely on me, but I was happy to get out of there, you know, healthy. And when I say healthy, I just talked about being beat up. But as, as supercross racers, as long as we're, there's a difference in getting really beat up and injured. And I'm not injured. So that was, that's a, you know, a big thing. And, and now we have a few weeks off because the west coast is, or the east coast is starting up racing. So I'll be back, backed out for the east west shootout here in four or five weeks.

• 17:02Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, what, what, how does your mindset change? I mean, obviously, you want to be healthy, confident. But when you are, when you are kind of nursing something, you said you tweaked your something, your left side. How's your mindset change on the line? Because, and just like, is your goal, I know there's a big race to the corner, right? To the first turn. Is that, did that change with your condition?

• 17:32Speaker 01

  Um, not at all.

• 17:33Cameron Hanes?

  Or is that every, is that your goal too, to get, be the first one there?

• 17:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, no matter what. Yeah. Like, so that's one of the, a huge important thing is the start. Like, and that was something that I knew I needed to do maybe even more while being, you know, not maybe perfectly physically a hundred percent, because if you can be up in the front and riding more by yourself, rather than being in the middle of the pack where it's, it's just like a hornet's nest in there. You can just work on your process, each lap, each, each obstacle, each turn, and be more mindful of exactly how you're doing stuff. And I was luckily, and I, I did get a good start. I started second. So I was able to just stay

• 18:19Speaker 01

  within myself. And that's something that was really important when I was feeling, you know, pretty vulnerable physically, just to not go to that, like, where I had something yank on me or, or get a stinger, you know, when you're already pretty beat up. I, I landed on my shoulder really hard. That was what it was. And, and. So yeah, I just needed to stay really square on the bike and and I had to be mindful of that the whole race and that was something that it's tough because I I really wanted to be able to I felt like I had a good chance on that track because it was something that

• 19:00Speaker 01

  the way the track worked was you have to kind of execute each obstacle and whoever could do that the most times was going to do it well and it's one of those tracks where when you get past that halfway point, a lot of people kind of start thinking of how bad it sucks and that's when you can really make some good improvement and make some good time. So I was really frustrated with myself. Like I said, that I kind of put myself in a position to not be able to ride to my full capabilities that night. But again, like I said, it's especially with how my last few years have gone. I was really glad that

• 19:43Speaker 01

  I was just able to salvage everything that I could and I'm going to be dialed going moving forward. Yeah.

• 19:51Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, I mean, there probably was a time not long ago where fifth would have been amazing, right? So it's like it's you you know, you but our goal was to ascend, to get better, to improve. So I I totally get that mindset. Yeah, I mean, and how do racers look at it? It's like, are you top 10 is feels good, top 5 feels but obviously podium probably pays?

• 20:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, it it depends on really what level you're at too, right? Like so for me, I want to win. Like that's that's what I'm expected to do. That's what I expect myself to do. And that's what I get paid to do. So I want to win, but being on the podium each weekend is super important, just especially with within the championship, the way it works. Like, it's really bad when you have a really bad night, like it's points wise, you know, so being on the podium each time and and contending and fighting to win, that's. My expectation and like you had said not long ago, which you know, a few years ago, they thought of getting top five in a Supercross was crazy awesome, you know, at the beginning of my career.

• 21:02Cameron Hanes?

  Right.

• 21:02Speaker 01

  And then, once you achieve that goal, then it's like, okay, well, what next? And then you get a podium and then all of a sudden you get multiple podiums and you win a race. And then, so now you want to win a championship. And then the next thing is to win multiple championships. So like, that's, that's why us competitors are goal driven and you're never satisfied.

• 21:24Cameron Hanes?

  How did, so you won Indy, right?

• 21:26Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 21:27Cameron Hanes?

  And so how, like what, why did you win that race? What, what do you have to do to win?

• 21:38Speaker 01

  Ah, there's a lot of things that have to go right to win, you know? Indy was my third win, but that was my most recent one and it was a triple crown race. So I had a good first race. I won the first race and the triple crown format is Olympic scoring. So I won the first race and then I think I got second. I think I either got second or third in the second main. And I went into the third race with a three-way tie with Deegan and

• 22:09Speaker 01

  I think I went into it with a three-way tie with Deegan and Viall, something like that. So it was basically winner take all between the three of us. So whichever one of us, you know, beat the other one.

• 22:22Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 22:23Speaker 01

  And so that was, those races are fun because the triple crown, it's like, if you get the hole shot in the first one and you're leading at, you know, 10 minutes, it's like, it's almost that thought, man, I wish this could just go five minutes longer. And this was the result of the night, but to have to lock back in three times in a row, just with an hour in between and, you know, be that consistency, those, those are really rewarding. So yeah, going into that third main, it was kind of an all or nothing deal. And I got a good start and, and was able to, was able to pull it off, which was really cool. And that was, that was my third win. My second win in Texas was also a triple crown. Same kind of deal. I was tied with Jet Lawrence going into the third round or the third race.

• 23:07Speaker 01

  And it's just kind of fun being, enjoying that, like.

• 23:12Speaker 01

  That hour in between where you're like, you know, there's just so much pressure like you. I've learned to enjoy the pressure and and really like. Cause when you look back on it, you're like, man, during the time, it's like almost, you know, stressful and whatnot, but that's what we live for, like that that feeling in between and and just to to rise to the occasion. And it's it's really rewarding when you can ri- rise to the occasion, feeling that pressure for that long.

• 23:38Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, I mean, and you you know, the guys you mentioned you beat are, you know. You're a big name, they're a big name, but you're like one of the best in the world. It's like when when everything goes. And you're racing to your full potential, you win. You know, I mean, those races prove that.

• 23:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's it's still like even hearing you say that's it's like hard for me to think just because I come from such humble beginnings, but

• 24:04Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 24:04Speaker 01

  Yeah, like I I have raced the best dudes and um. I don't have multiple championships like these guys I've talked to or talked on, but um. I've had my own struggles in which I've, you know, inflicted on myself and I've not reached what I felt like is my full potential yet. And that's what keeps me coming back. And that's why I'm that's why I'm here to here to stay and and I'm really excited to continue working towards reaching my full potential.

• 24:31Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, no, it's it's so exciting to watch and to just hear more about the mindset. I you mentioned something like a triple crown with the hour in between. What do you do during that hour? I mean, are you? How do you take advantage to make sure you're staying locked in? Are you visualizing the track, the race? What are you doing?

• 24:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, so for me, I watch the four fifties, just so we can see kind of what the track's doing.

• 24:55Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, it's changing.

• 24:55Speaker 01

  How it's breaking down, yeah, um, fuel a little bit, uh, get some quick carbs in sugar as much as you can.

• 25:02Cameron Hanes?

  In and out burgers.

• 25:05Speaker 01

  And then, yeah, I do, I do a lot of visualizing because I think that visualizing in anything is super important. Um, cause it can, you can visualize things go badly and good and it's

• 25:18Cameron Hanes?

  It's reinforced.

• 25:18Speaker 01

  It's real.

• 25:19Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, whatever you're thinking about, when you see like a little hint of it, you're like, here it goes. So if that was negative, then that's the way you're going.

• 25:27Speaker 01

  Exactly. And then, um, I'll talk with my team, uh, with Mitch, with my trainer Nick and about just things that we could have been better last time or, uh, gate position. There's just different strategies, you know, um, and a lot of it's watching, watching the track, watching how it breaks down, watching what's working for the best guys in the four fifties, right? So like, okay, he's hitting this line and he's doing this here. This is better. Um, and just keep analyzing how it changes. Cause like we had talked about earlier, the track is so ever changing with racing, uh, with racing Supercross. So that's a huge part of it.

• 26:03Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, I, I bet like, so is that hour? Is it, is there a schedule? Do you have it in your head? Or do you just like, kind of relax and go through this stuff?

• 26:13Speaker 01

  It's kind of chaos, honestly, because it's, we get back, the mechanics take the bikes, they're doing, you know, clutches different, getting it ready. Where I eat some stuff, um, my wife Maddie kind of has a, a thing, exactly what I need to eat and how much I need to have in. And she's like, you need to drink this. And I'm like, I got a stomach ache. I don't want to drink that kind of deal, you know? But that's that. And then we go over some film and, and by the, by then it's basically, we got to get back down there for first call. So there's not really much time at all to really sit down, relax and think, which I think is good. I, I like that because the more time you kind of unwind and you need too much time to think. Yeah. It's just kind of.

• 26:55Speaker 01

  It's it's chaos for a few hours and then you're like, you get back to the hotel at night, you're like, what happened?

• 27:00Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, it's a lot.

• 27:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:02Cameron Hanes?

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• 27:46Cameron Hanes?

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• 28:30Cameron Hanes?

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• 29:13Cameron Hanes?

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• 29:58Cameron Hanes?

  like going through, now I can't remember what it was, but I just remember watching Eli make the pass. And then, like, he came up short on a couple. There's that, what was that one section where?

• 30:12Speaker 01

  Was it after the whoops?

• 30:13Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, I think so, yeah.

• 30:14Speaker 01

  So after the whoops, there was a 180 and then a triple onto a tabletop.

• 30:18Cameron Hanes?

  Yes, that's what it was.

• 30:19Speaker 01

  And?

• 30:20Cameron Hanes?

  He came up short on two of them.

• 30:22Speaker 01

  Exactly, yeah. And so that's what I was referring to when, is who can hit the rhythm lanes the most amount of times and execute it? Because when the track's that rutted, like, we'll struggle to make the jumps, you know? And that's very not normal for, like, you know, we don't ever struggle to make jumps unless it's conditional. So, yeah.

• 30:44Cameron Hanes?

  I think he said his pigs were dragging.

• 30:46Speaker 01

  Dragging off the face, yeah. That's how deep the ruts were. And that was a really tough jump all day, all the way from practice. I cased that triple onto the table twice in practice, like, really hard.

• 30:56Cameron Hanes?

  What does that mean, cased?

• 30:58Speaker 01

  Came up short.

• 30:59Cameron Hanes?

  Oh, yeah.

• 31:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, so, and then, yeah, exactly, like, in the 250 race.

• 31:06Speaker 01

  Hayden and Levi were going back and forth because one of them would make the make the jump, you know, that that lap and then the next lap, the other one would make the mistake or it's just kind of was a cat and mouse thing because you just had to execute each lane each time. And that's, that's what makes those tracks so hard.

• 31:25Cameron Hanes?

  Is, uh, are they in that hour in between, are they looking at, you know, that I can't, I don't know what it is, but you know, with the track and your segments and your time, are they saying like this, you're losing time here, are they showing you where you need to be better?

• 31:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, for sure. Yeah, we, because we have all the broken down segment times of where we were at in each segment and we'll be like, hey, you know, he was fastest in that segment. And then we'll have film from his, his laps in that segment of whoever it might've been, or even if it's you, okay, that line is what he was taking in. It's usually line based. There's different lines in the track. Um, and some of them will be worth one, two, even up to three, four tenths of a second, which is a lot.

• 32:10Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 32:11Speaker 01

  You know, two tenths every lap.

• 32:13Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 32:13Speaker 01

  On an 18 lap race is that being a lot. So yeah, just, it's all those little trying to split hairs to be the best.

• 32:22Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah. And it's like during the race, are you, you can't really think ahead, right? So are you, do you have to be so tunnel visioned on where you're at at that time, not get distracted, not lose focus? And is that the hardest part of it? Do people lose their train of thought sometimes?

• 32:40Speaker 01

  For sure. And that's, it's funny you say that because the hardest thing to do is not to think ahead or, or think towards the end of the race or think towards the end of the, the main result, right? And that's one of the most important things too, is just to be present each lap. And that's, um, it's tough, you know? So it's a lap by lap, section by section thing to where if you can execute each one of those things, there's, that leads you to the end result.

• 33:09Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 33:10Speaker 01

  And as a, as a competitor, it's really hard to not get your mind into the end result before you're doing all these things to get there. So it is a. Ever everlasting battle with yourself to be like, stay locked in there right here, stay locked in there right now, you know? And especially in my experience, like towards the end of a race when you're leading. Uh, and you have a little bit of a gap to the next guy and it's like that edge of pushing. But then when you pull back from pushing, it's almost more dangerous because you're not at your, what you're used to just doing as hard as you can, you know, so that's.

• 33:50Speaker 01

  Um, something even Mitch is always like, we race to the finish line, no matter what, no matter where you're at, how far ahead you are. Race to the finish line because that's that you're in the best position when you're racing.

• 34:01Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah. And your mentality changes. Like it reminds me like, you know, you've seen plenty NFL games where they go into prevent, prevent defense and all of a sudden they're just losing the game because momentum switches. Once momentum switches, which I don't even know what that is, but it's just like an energy, like, hey, we believe. But when you back off, you're almost telling yourself, I don't really believe in myself to keep pushing.

• 34:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. And it's like, um, my trainer, Nick refers to it a lot, like, let's have an offensive mindset, not a defensive mindset. All day, all night, no matter what, like always race with an offensive mindset.

• 34:37Cameron Hanes?

  I like that boot on the neck type is what I always think about, but yeah, it's probably hard to do though. It's like, cause you, you work so hard, you're getting towards the end of the race, you're in first, all they can, if you just don't screw up. You should, and but it's not a time machine. You can't get to the finish without racing the rest.

• 34:57Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 34:58Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah. It's, I mean, even in running, you know, it's so much slower, but like in the mountains, you have to focus on every step. And when you lose, that's when you fall, get hurt and but it can, it's such a tax on your nervous system to think that hard for that long.

• 35:16Speaker 01

  Absolutely. And that's, it's funny, like when I talk to people who don't know a whole lot about our sport. Like when I talk about at the end of a race day, when being worn out, it's not so much physically, like we, we do more laps. Daily during the week training than a whole race day's laps. Uh, we race probably harder than we train, you know, but a race day is so mentally taxing. You get home and you're just like, holy crap, that was a lot because you're from the first laps on the track when you're qualifying. It's a different pressure, a different feeling, a different mind, mental engagement that you have because there's a different expectation than there is when you're at the test track and

• 36:01Speaker 01

  and there's so much analytics going into it and so many decisions to be made in one day. It's cool, like it's what I live for.

• 36:10Cameron Hanes?

  It's a lot. I wonder like, what, I mean, what makes somebody elite in, in what you do? I mean, what is the difference maker? Do you think?

• 36:22Speaker 01

  Uh, mental strength.

• 36:23Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 36:24Speaker 01

  It really is. Yeah. I think that once we've all gotten to the high level, the professional level of racing, or I think any sport, when I say that,

• 36:37Speaker 01

  the difference, everyone's a high level athlete, everyone's strong, everyone's fit. Uh, I really think it's mostly mental. I really do. I think that the best dudes, the best racers that I've been around, um, the guys who've won so many championships, multiple championships, uh, they have a mental edge.

• 36:59Cameron Hanes?

  Hmm. Yeah, it's a, and there's so much that goes into what is mental strength, you know, it's just like, uh, that's a whole nother podcast, but like, when you were growing up, coming up, who did you look up to? Who were your heroes, basically?

• 37:15Speaker 01

  Um, when I was growing up, Ricky Carmichael, that was who I watched win everything race. It was, you know, Ricky, James and Chad Reed were the three who were pretty much dominating everything. Uh, and I was a huge Ricky Carmichael fan. Uh, he, he was just, I went to Millville in two thousand and five, I think, or six, uh, outdoor pro national and he was just the best dude and that was who I looked up to.

• 37:42Cameron Hanes?

  But how, because he won? Or was it a style or what would you love about him?

• 37:46Speaker 01

  He won and um not it wasn't necessarily a style. It was just my dad liked him and I think my dad liked him cause uh he had such a good work ethic and that was talked about and known and my dad's you know just a a blue collar dude who works hard. So we just we were Ricky Carmichael fans as as a family, you know?

• 38:08Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, just get your lunch pail ready. We're going to work.

• 38:12Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 38:12Cameron Hanes?

  That's kinda yeah, cause he I talked to him this weekend and he was just saying that and maybe you said this too, but that maybe talent wise or could be people with more talent, but he would outwork them and just train harder, want it more.

• 38:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, and that was what he was known for and that was that's something that um yeah, the way I was kind of brought up in my family. We respect that and that's yeah, we were Carmichael fans.

• 38:36Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, I I love that too. Talk about your left shoulder or your left side.

• 38:41Speaker 01

  Here's my.

• 38:43Cameron Hanes?

  Oh.

• 38:44Speaker 01

  Look at my arrow. I was like, hold on, if I go like this, I think it might be.

• 38:50Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, that's.

• 38:51Speaker 01

  I separated my AC joint in two thousand twenty two.

• 38:55Cameron Hanes?

  Can you see it, James?

• 38:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 38:56Cameron Hanes?

  Oh.

• 38:58Speaker 01

  So, yeah, and then like kind of floats. So it's it's actually separated down here at my sternum too and then on my AC joint. So yeah, I broke my collarbone when I was like sixteen and it plated the whole thing. So and they told me then when they did that plate that it should never break again, the collarbone, because it's got a plate. The next thing that will happen will your AC joint will go. Well, sure enough, my AC joint went.

• 39:26Cameron Hanes?

  What does AC stand for? I don't even know what that is.

• 39:32Cameron Hanes?

  Oh, it's okay.

• 39:33Speaker 01

  No, because this one's your SC joint, which is sick. No, I don't know, something, some medical term.

• 39:40Cameron Hanes?

  Whatever. The Adam C and Sorella joint.

• 39:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, there you go. Um, so yeah, I got both of them separated on that one.

• 39:46Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 39:50Cameron Hanes?

  That's exactly what you were gonna say, wasn't it?

• 39:52Speaker 01

  Exactly, yeah. And sure enough, that was the shoulder I landed on this weekend and bummed out a bit, so.

• 39:59Cameron Hanes?

  God dang, well, yeah, you guys are fricking tough for sure. Um, but also, yeah, I mean, you mentioned your dad, we got to run the mountain with him today. He is a fricking beast. Uh, I know you said he used to weigh two fifty, now he's just kinda shredded, kinda got big quads. So, yeah, was your dad tough on you growing up?

• 40:19Speaker 01

  Um, gosh, it's, both of my parents were tough on me growing up and in a sense, um, nothing was given to us, my sister and I, uh, we had to earn everything growing up.

• 40:31Cameron Hanes?

  Perfect.

• 40:32Speaker 01

  I, when I think back on my childhood, I was, I don't think, oh man, my parents were so mean, you know, but we just, I was raised in a way where, um, we worked for every dollar we got, we had to earn all the stuff we got and we got to do fun stuff. I mean, I got to ride dirt bikes and my parents bought us dirt bikes and stuff.

• 40:51Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 40:51Speaker 01

  Um, but, yeah, they, they showed us the value of a dollar, made us earn the value of a dollar. Um, showed us how to respect people and I think also by leading by example was a big thing that my parents did.

• 41:07Cameron Hanes?

  Mm-hmm.

• 41:07Speaker 01

  Uh, my dad worked really hard growing up, my mom worked really hard and they didn't take any crap from us. So, that's, uh, I mean, I respect and look up to my parents both

• 41:21Speaker 01

  more than anyone, you know, in the world still as an adult, so, um, yeah, he's always, he's always been a bad dude.

• 41:28Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 41:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:29Cameron Hanes?

  Well, I mean, I know when my boys like probably during high school, they hated me, right? Now, we get along great. Was that like, was it hard when you were a kid and now it's good? Now you can appreciate it more or what?

• 41:42Speaker 01

  There was times for sure where I was like, gosh, you know, my dad traveled for work a lot, so, he was, he was nicer than my mom in a sense, cause he, he wasn't home as much.

• 41:54Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 41:55Speaker 01

  But, um,

• 41:57Speaker 01

  You didn't, you didn't cross him, that's for sure.

• 42:00Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 42:01Speaker 01

  Another thing I think also was, there was never, uh, my parents were always on the same page. And so it was never like, ask dad for this and if he says no, go to mom or it, it never worked like that. You could never play my parents against each other. And that was something I felt like that I, I look back and think that they did really good on.

• 42:20Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 42:20Speaker 01

  That was a huge thing and even, um, my parents got divorced when I was, I think nine or 10. And they went through some rough years then, but all during those times, no matter what, they stayed on the same page with us. It would never be a, if I'm mad at mom, I'm going to go to dad's house. That didn't work that way. It was, it was.

• 42:40Cameron Hanes?

  That's rare.

• 42:40Speaker 01

  Yeah. And it was, it's something I'm forever grateful for because, um, yeah, I'm just, I'm grateful for the way I was raised. And yeah, it was tough sometimes. Sometimes I hated working on rental properties. I didn't like mowing lawns. I didn't like, you know, trashing out rentals or, um, whatever it might be at the time. But looking back on it now, it's one of the most valuable things I've ever, ever given.

• 43:05Cameron Hanes?

  Well, that, I mean, that, you know, a lot of people have divorced parents. I know I do. And, uh, it is really hard to get divorced parents to stay on the same page. Because everybody, it's always like, there's always bitterness because the marriage didn't go well. So for whatever reason, and then kind of the kids are kind of used as a weapon a little bit against each other. And it's like, it's, it's hard anyway. Like that's a hard situation. Anyway, then on top of, then you get this other stuff. Uh, that's so, I mean, props to your mom and dad for, you know, doing, doing the best they could in that situation.

• 43:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, for sure. And that's, I mean, I have friends who've got divorced parents and similar deal, like you're saying. Um, the, the kids are used as a weapon. That's a great example. And yeah, I mean, there was multiple years right after my parents got divorced where, you know, I was around some knock down, drag out, whether, you know, phone conversations or whatever. They, they weren't friends, that's for sure.

• 44:05Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 44:05Speaker 01

  But they both. Agreed on one thing and they had one thing in common and they were going to raise their kids the right way, right? And looking back on it now, I mean, my dad comes out to California where I live and my mom lives in California now too. They're friends now, you know, they they bicker, they talk crap to each other. And yeah, I'm I am very like forever grateful for them staying on that same page because I was, you know, pretty young. I was in my a lot of forming years, you know, when you're nine to 15. Yeah, it was it's I'm grateful for the way I was raised.

• 44:38Cameron Hanes?

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• 45:23Cameron Hanes?

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• 46:04Cameron Hanes?

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• 46:50Cameron Hanes?

  And you have a sister, is it, is that just you guys?

• 46:53Speaker 01

  Yep, me and my older sister. My sister is four and a half years older than me.

• 46:57Cameron Hanes?

  And she's a badass too.

• 46:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I kind of just said that my two parents are the people I look up to the most in my life. But I always refer to her as she's kind of like my goal for being as good as a person. Whether it be strength, mindset, the way you treat other people. She's, she's insane. She's awesome. I look up to her for so many things in life and we actually live together, but yeah, she's in the Navy. She, yeah, I just strive to be like her. Yeah.

• 47:32Cameron Hanes?

  Well, I, I don't, your attitude for being such a young man is like, I don't know. I feel like I need to learn from you.

• 47:41Speaker 01

  I don't know. I definitely don't have it all figured out. That's not even close and.

• 47:45Cameron Hanes?

  Well, just saying that actually is a good sign.

• 47:48Speaker 01

  No, I, I, yeah, I'm, I just do my best, right? Like we all are, like we all are.

• 47:53Cameron Hanes?

  I understand. Um, I did hear, I listened to Gypsy Tales and yeah, Jace, he's such a good guy. And that's a long podcast. That was like three hours, wasn't it?

• 48:04Speaker 01

  It was, it was a long one.

• 48:05Cameron Hanes?

  But it was so good and he's, I think I'm gonna, I think I'm gonna do his podcast at some point. I think he's, you know, we were coordinating something recently. But I learned a lot about you and during that and, you know, talking about, I heard about Loretta's before. Like when AC was on here, cause he was like a Loretta legend, wasn't he as a kid?

• 48:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think he has the most or close to the most ever Loretta Lenz championships. Uh, growing up, he was, I mean, I remember going to Loretta's and going by the team green pit and like looking at his bike and it was just like, he seemed like a movie character to me, you know, and this is when he was, he's only a couple of years older than me, so he might've been 13 on a super mini. And I was just like, holy crap.

• 48:51Cameron Hanes?

  But he's already celebrated.

• 48:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 48:52Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah. That's, well, what stood out to me was the time, um, you were like looking forward to playing in the creek and not having a race. Your dad came over and he had a, a number for you or whatever. You're like, hey, you get a race and you're just like, ah, that's, you know, kind of like, that sucks.

• 49:09Speaker 01

  No, yeah. So my sister qualified, like no matter what, every year my sister would be able to qualify. She was fast enough to qualify for Loretta's. Um, so that year I was an alternate. So they basically 42 people can qualify for Loretta's.

• 49:24Cameron Hanes?

  So to say what Loretta's is just for people who don't know.

• 49:26Speaker 01

  So Loretta Lenz is the biggest amateur national motocross race in the world. Uh, and there's a qualifying process that you have to go through to do it. So, um, you go through an area qualifier and there's multiple area qualifiers in each region. And then you go from your area qualifier top, in my region, it was top eight, go from the area qualifier to the regional. So that goes, I think maybe 60 people from all the areas go to a regional and then only seven out of that regional make it to Loretta Lenz.

• 49:57Cameron Hanes?

  Okay.

• 49:58Speaker 01

  So it all boils down to the 42 best people in each class, uh, for that year. So for us, it was a huge goal to qualify for Loretta's. That was, you know, a huge goal.

• 50:11Cameron Hanes?

  You made nationals, basically.

• 50:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

• 50:13Cameron Hanes?

  It's a big deal.

• 50:14Speaker 01

  And, um, my sister would always be able to qualify and there was a few years where I was an alternate. So out of the 42 that make it, the next in line that didn't quite make it, if someone doesn't sign up out of those 42, they'll take an alternate. Well, we were, we went to Loretta's because my sister had qualified and it was, you know, it was kind of like our family vacation each summer if we could go to Loretta's.

• 50:35Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 50:36Speaker 01

  So we were there, we had my bikes and whatnot and I wasn't in yet and they went up to sign up. And I was like, I was young. I was like, man, this is the first time going to Loretta's and not racing like, and that was where I was thinking, right? And uh, my parents came back from sign up and my dad had a bib, which you, we wear a bib at Loretta's. It was, it's just kind of the thing there at that specific race. And he threw it to me and they were all excited and I was like, well, I, I was like, yeah, I was excited, but inside I was like, dang it, man. Cause I, I felt like I had to, you know, I was under the pressure that week. And then,

• 51:11Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 51:11Speaker 01

  what's funny looking back is there was no pressure, like my parents didn't put pressure on us as long as we tried our hardest.

• 51:18Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 51:18Speaker 01

  I mean, I think I probably got thirty fifth that week or, or thirty second out of forty two, you know? But you still, I was a little competitor, man. I, I, I wanted to do good. So then, there it was. I was racing that week. So that was a, that's kind of a funny story looking back on it.

• 51:36Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah. Yeah. It uh, the reason I say that, like one time when Tru was a freshman, he made state and cross country. And there's like a couple hundred runners here, you know, entire state. He ended up getting last. Very last, he was the very last runner at state. So he was the littlest guy of freshmen. I always like trying to focus on, hey, it's cool that you made it to state. You know what I mean? It's just like, kind of like making it to Loretta's is a big deal. But like, instead of the fact that you got dead last, let's just focus on you made it to state as a freshman. But it's really hard to convince, well, I had a hard time convincing him that was a win.

• 52:18Cameron Hanes?

  When, you know, everybody else is coming and here comes the last kid.

• 52:22Speaker 01

  But it shows because it shows what kind of person he is. We were just talking about it today where he's, his goal is to go make Olympic merit.

• 52:29Cameron Hanes?

  Trials, yeah.

• 52:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, trials. So like, That mindset is what's gotten him to where he's at in life.

• 52:35Cameron Hanes?

  No, he didn't have it then. It was developing.

• 52:38Speaker 01

  That was, that was part of giving him that mindset, right? It had to be, so.

• 52:42Cameron Hanes?

  Well, all our experiences, you know, lead us down a path and hopefully, you know, you're on the right path. As we, I've talked about this with Jelly Rolls, like a lot of people kinda are off, they're off the path. They're never going to get anywhere because you're going the wrong way. But once you're on the path, which, you know, maybe he was at that time, the mindset wasn't there. But once you guys get on it, then it's just a matter of time. Then it's just like, okay, I'm on the path. I know what it takes. Now I just gotta put in the work.

• 53:10Speaker 01

  Keep trying.

• 53:11Cameron Hanes?

  Keep, yeah, keep hammering, keep showing up. And, uh, yeah, so it's, but that, that story is funny because it's not like, um, I think what, you know, people see you guys at this level and they think, oh, they've just always been elite. They've always, this has been their whole life and you're just like any other kid, you know? Got a big sister who is older, a little tougher, a little better. You're a little kid that, you know, wants to play in the creek and now here you are, the Supercross like superstar.

• 53:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, my, my path in particular is pretty unique to this level of racing. Um, like we said, we were talking to Adam earlier or talking, referring to Adam earlier.

• 53:54Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 53:54Speaker 01

  About, you know, when he was 12, he was a superstar. That's usually the top of the class, the top of the guys they all had, you know, were very good at a young age and they were expected to be there. And all growing up, when I raced dirt bikes, it was never with the goal of turning professional. We never had even thoughts of turning professional. It was an awesome hobby for us. I was good locally, you know, and then I could, I was good enough to make it to some of the nationals, you know? But it was, um, I went all the way into high school and, and finally when I was 16.

• 54:35Speaker 01

  I did some, a lot of local contingency racing in which that, that got me invited to, because I would race for Suzuki contingency.

• 54:45Cameron Hanes?

  Hmm.

• 54:45Speaker 01

  And I made enough contingency where the top contingency earners would get invited to a camp at Ricky Carmichael's house in Florida.

• 54:54Cameron Hanes?

  Tell me about what, what is a contingency?

• 54:56Speaker 01

  So the contingency would be like local racing. Uh, they offered a program where they would pay you contingency based on your results at those local races. So you would get money from that company to go, you could spend it at, um, a dealership that uses those motorcycles, right?

• 55:14Cameron Hanes?

  Okay, I see.

• 55:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, all the manufacturers. Like credit kinda? Yeah Kawasaki has Kawasaki contingency where you can go to the dealership, you could buy Kawasaki parts with it. So I would just go earn as much money as I could.

• 55:24Cameron Hanes?

  Like what, how much could you win?

• 55:26Speaker 01

  I think, um, like to win, I could get $400 contingency.

• 55:29Cameron Hanes?

  Okay, I got you.

• 55:30Speaker 01

  Win one of the races, you know? So I would go to local races all around and I was just making contingency. I was racing with my buddies for fun.

• 55:37Cameron Hanes?

  Hmm.

• 55:37Speaker 01

  And then I got a letter in the mail that I was one of the top earners and I could, uh, I got to go to Camp Carmichael.

• 55:43Cameron Hanes?

  Oh, nice.

• 55:43Speaker 01

  And my mom called my dad and was like, you gotta take him down there to Florida. He's like, I'm not taking four days off to, five, five days off to drive down to Florida for a one day camp.

• 55:53Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 55:54Speaker 01

  If we do anything, we're gonna go down to Florida and then we'll race Mini O's afterwards, which is a big national. But we had never gone all the way to Florida. So, uh, we, my dad and I loaded up in my, uh, van that I had at the time, because I was, I was 16. And we drove down to Florida, went to Carmichael camp, and then we went to Mini O's. And I had a couple of good results. Like I got a couple of good starts and was battling with some of the guys who I probably shouldn't have been battling with, right? And that kind of lit a fire with my, I think my dad for sure. And he talked to my mom and was like, hey, I think we should give him one year at a training facility. Is where you, you kinda go and you can train year round. Um, and homeschool him his last year of high school if, if he really wants to, just to see.

• 56:39Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 56:39Speaker 01

  And give him that one year opportunity. And, um, that winter I was. I lived in Iowa, you know, went to high school. I was down in my basement and I had a, a road bike on, on rollers. And I was road biking in the basement and just training. I felt like I was training for something. I didn't know what, right? And my mom was like, hey, um, pick where you want to go. Your dad and I are going to send you somewhere. Pick which facility you want to go to. We're going to send you somewhere for a year. And I was like, what? Like that was, growing up, I always wanted to be homeschooled and race. That was like what you thought you were gonna.

• 57:13Cameron Hanes?

  That was like the dream for a dirt bike kid?

• 57:15Speaker 01

  So far fit. So far fetched for me.

• 57:17Cameron Hanes?

  Did you used to tell kids at school that what you were gonna do?

• 57:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's what, was I, what I wanted to do. And, and I was always the kid at school that raced dirt bikes, right? Like, I didn't play football. They're like, yeah, he's the kid that races dirt bikes. So I was like, what? Like, that's crazy. And then, yeah, one thing led to the next.

• 57:34Cameron Hanes?

  Were you pumped?

• 57:34Speaker 01

  Oh, I was, couldn't be more ecstatic.

• 57:36Cameron Hanes?

  Really?

• 57:37Speaker 01

  Yeah. And it was definitely not like a, oh, we're sending you there. It was like a, we're gonna let you do that. Like what you've always wanted to do.

• 57:43Cameron Hanes?

  Okay.

• 57:44Speaker 01

  And yeah, so we're gonna, we're gonna do it for a year.

• 57:46Cameron Hanes?

  Cost? Like, what is the investment in that? Maybe I should ask your dad.

• 57:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. You'd have a better answer. It was, um, I don't know the exact, I think it's like thirty thousand for the year or something for that. But then you got bike parts. We didn't get bikes for free. We didn't get anything for free. So you go through a lot of bike parts, a lot of oil, like just all the maintenance. It was a huge, huge financial investment for my parents, you know, like I, I said, I've come from a middle-class family. My dad worked hard and he made great money, but uh, we weren't rich by any means, you know? So that was why it was kind of like a, we'll give you one year. And then if you can, you know, if it's trending like, you can do something with this, then you can keep going, right?

• 58:35Speaker 01

  So uh, I, I moved to South Carolina that year to a training facility called Club MX. And worked my butt off, started doing some more racing, getting better and better and better.

• 58:48Cameron Hanes?

  Who is, who ran that?

• 58:50Speaker 01

  A guy named Brandon Haas. Yep. And they actually have a race team right now. Yep. And so, yeah, I stayed there for.

• 59:00Speaker 01

  Up until I was 18 was, once I was there for over a year, it was trending in a good direction. I was racing races and making enough money to help my parents, support me to keep going, you know? And then, kind of the deal was that my parents were gonna support me until I was 18, the year I went to Loretta's. And if I couldn't make it on my own by then, and make enough money racing to keep living, it was go back home. Yeah, dad said he always had a job for me. So.

• 59:29Cameron Hanes?

  And you knew what that was. That wasn't a great, that was, that was working your ass off every day.

• 59:34Speaker 01

  That's right. In a different way.

• 59:36Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, different type of work.

• 59:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, so.

• 59:38Cameron Hanes?

  Not for glory.

• 59:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, correct. And so, yeah, that year, I signed my first contract, and it was an amateur contract with a team called Moto Concepts. And they took me through the rest of that year. That would have been 2016. And it was Mike Alessi rode for the team, and he was training at club. And his dad was the team manager, Tony Alessi. And he called his dad and was like, man, there's this kid here who, he's got, you know, they're doing it all on their own. He's pretty good. And he tries really hard. And the team owner,

• 1:00:19Speaker 01

  Mike Genova, at the time, was like, oh, we'll, we'll leave the semi at Daytona, which was a Supercross race, which they do an amateur race the next day. And we'll give him some tires and give him a mechanic and, and I could pit out of their semi at Daytona.

• 1:00:36Cameron Hanes?

  That's a big deal, isn't it?

• 1:00:37Speaker 01

  That's a huge deal. Huge deal. So we drove my van over there, did that. He came, I met Mike Genova, and he, he was like, man, I like this. This is cool. He never really had anything to do with amateur racing. So, he helped me out through the rest of that year. And then, the end of that year, I won the amateur race at Monster Energy Cup. And they offered me a lights Supercross deal for 2017.

• 1:01:05Cameron Hanes?

  What's, what's a light Supercross?

• 1:01:07Speaker 01

  250, 250 class.

• 1:01:08Cameron Hanes?

  Oh, got you.

• 1:01:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, so I got a Supercross only deal for, because they were a Supercross only team. And that was my, my rookie year was 2017. I signed with Moto Concepts, and that was my first year professional. And that was. Yeah, I was able to make enough to keep going.

• 1:01:26Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:27Speaker 01

  That was where it all started and went from there to Geico Honda. And then I had two years at Geico Honda and they, I actually, I didn't perform well enough and lost my ride there and I went off season, I didn't have anything, did some overseas off season races, just keeping going.

• 1:01:48Cameron Hanes?

  So how was, how was that stretch? Cause you had some momentum.

• 1:01:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:01:52Cameron Hanes?

  And then you had hit a rough spot, it sounds like.

• 1:01:55Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:01:55Cameron Hanes?

  And what, what was it? How come you weren't performing? Do you think? Was it a bike thing? Was it you?

• 1:02:02Speaker 01

  I was so early on in my career, I think.

• 1:02:04Cameron Hanes?

  Experience?

• 1:02:05Speaker 01

  Experience. I didn't believe in myself. Like I was, I was still kind of starstruck at the fact that I was on a factory team.

• 1:02:12Cameron Hanes?

  Just happy to be there.

• 1:02:13Speaker 01

  How could I even be here? How is this even real? You know? And then they actually, these two brothers from Australia,

• 1:02:23Speaker 01

  that they found that they were going to bring over to the United States. It was these two kids that raced in the MXGP's and they were the Lawrence brothers.

• 1:02:30Cameron Hanes?

  Hmm.

• 1:02:31Speaker 01

  And they came over.

• 1:02:33Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:33Speaker 01

  Yeah. And then I, I lost, I, I, I did, I lost my ride, you know? So I didn't have a ride throughout that whole off season. And then I was actually flying home for Christmas and I was at the airport and the owner of Geico called me Jeff Myshak and said, you know, last conversation we had, you remember how I said things change quick? And he's like, we had to ride or break their collarbone and we need a fill in guy for the entire west coast season.

• 1:03:00Cameron Hanes?

  Hmm.

• 1:03:01Speaker 01

  So back to Geico I was and I had my, my shot again, you know?

• 1:03:04Cameron Hanes?

  Nice.

• 1:03:05Speaker 01

  And so, yeah, I raced that whole supercross season, got fifth in the points, got my first podium in the east west shoot out in Vegas and that kept my trajectory, kept me going, you know? So then I got another fill in ride that outdoor season with Troy the Designs KTM. I missed the first three races and then got a fill in there and raced that outdoor season for them. And that was when I earned um my ride at Pro Circuit. Got my, yeah, at the end of that year. And I had that whole year when I didn't really have anything and I was looking for a fill in ride. I would go down to Pro Circuit uh week to week and I'd go up to the front desk and I'd say, hey, can I speak with Mitch? And I'd go back there and he'd be like, what's up?

• 1:03:49Speaker 01

  I'd be like, any, anything you got, like, you know, if you've, if you have any opportunities, like, I'll do anything for it. I would love to, you know, get an opportunity with you with a fill in because he had a few riders injured at the time. And he never had anything available, but I just kept going down there.

• 1:04:06Cameron Hanes?

  Well, did you, did you do that on your own?

• 1:04:09Speaker 01

  Yep. Yep. I would drive down there and sometimes I'd go to the front desk and the lady would be like, oh, let me go back. Oh, he's in a meeting, you know, because he knew who was there. And he's like, I don't have anything for the kid, you know. But um I just wanted to show him that I wanted to ride for his team. And then towards the end of that outdoor season with three races to go, I got a call from Mitch and he said, hey, have you signed a deal for 2020 yet? And I hadn't. And he said, come down to my office tomorrow morning. And I had a one year deal opportunity. Yep.

• 1:04:40Cameron Hanes?

  Was that, that's, that's big, huh?

• 1:04:43Speaker 01

  It was huge. It was, I mean, it was my dream. Like, it was, you know, it was, it was so crazy. You know, that Mitch was calling me and I was like, this is crazy, you know. So I had a one year opportunity and um here we are, year seven with Pro Circuit. It's, I'm living my dream.

• 1:05:01Cameron Hanes?

  That's quite a run.

• 1:05:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:03Cameron Hanes?

  How'd that feel in that, signing that contract that first time?

• 1:05:06Speaker 01

  I, I kind of have chills, like, right now, still thinking about it because sometimes as we go through life, we just keep going, right? And we're just talking about how now I want to win championships, you know. So, but um it was crazy. I'll, I'll never forget going out into my truck and calling my mom and dad and being like, I got a deal. Like, I just signed with Pro Circuit, you know.

• 1:05:30Cameron Hanes?

  What'd they say? Did they say they always knew you could? Or what'd they say?

• 1:05:34Speaker 01

  They always knew I could. That, that's my, my, my, they're, they've always believed in me, right? And they were, um, they've believed in me more than I've believed in me all the time. And I think that's just what parents do. But um they were so happy for me. Like, I've, you know, once I turned pro, my parents weren't.

• 1:05:53Speaker 01

  Negotiating my contracts, I was raised by the way of, once you turn 18, you're a grown man. You know, you, you work on your own, you, you, and um, yeah, it was super cool. It was just super cool for all of us. Cause you know, I had already had factory opportunities and just kind of was right on that edge, on that edge. And then to be able to get a full, you know, where I wanted to be like this was, it was, it's the dream team to ride for and, and yeah, it was so cool. It was so cool. But then you gotta perform to keep that, right?

• 1:06:28Cameron Hanes?

  Oh, definitely.

• 1:06:29Speaker 01

  I was like, man, it's time. Like, let's go. And, and ever since then Mitch has really had my back in, in these last seven years, which has been cool. And we've had a really great partnership and we've had a lot of struggles together, you know, but we've also had some good, good times. And I think our best times are ahead of us still, which is cool.

• 1:06:51Cameron Hanes?

  Well, I mean, you're easy to stick with. It's, it's hard not to believe in you for sure. I mean, just such a good person and just your attitude. Um, so yeah, I mean, I, I understand why it's worked out so well. Um, as part of your journey, I was curious, so you went, what'd you learn at the, at Ricky Carmichael's camp? Because that seemed like you said he was a hero. And this is before you went, you know, to wherever. So this was, or like you quit school basically and trained full time. So what, what happened at that camp?

• 1:07:22Speaker 01

  Um, the camp was a one day camp and the biggest thing that I felt like I learned was,

• 1:07:31Speaker 01

  that day starts, he helped me on starts and that helped me that following week. Cause it, when I say it was a camp, it was more, um, you know, there was 15 of us there. And it was a, it was a very short, it was, it was just cool to be at Ricky Carmichael. It was more of an experience. I would call it more of a, the Ricky Carmichael VIP experience.

• 1:07:52Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, that makes sense.

• 1:07:53Speaker 01

  Yeah. So it wasn't like a super one-on-one training, but I remember doing starts at the end of the day. I'll never forget. I have pictures doing starts together. And then for some reason I felt like that's why I got good starts at Minio's that year. So that was, that's like one core memory of that.

• 1:08:07Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, yeah. And just, just being at Ricky Carmichael's camp.

• 1:08:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was crazy. Like I couldn't even believe it.

• 1:08:13Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, that's, that's pretty sick. So what it is about starts? What what makes a good start? Who's? Why are people good at starts?

• 1:08:22Speaker 01

  Oh, gosh. If I had the exact answer for that, I think I'd pull out a whole shot.

• 1:08:29Speaker 01

  There's so much to it now with we're starting on metal grates now. So body position,

• 1:08:37Speaker 01

  RPM, rev point of the bike, clutch release, getting getting the bike not to wheelie, but to just go forward to get momentum. Because if it wheelies, then you have to pull the clutch in again. And we call that a double clutch. And then you lose all your momentum and the guys around you go by you. So to get

• 1:08:55Speaker 01

  the your clutch release just right and not to completely let go of your clutch to where it wheelies, but not drag it too much to where you're not going fast enough, keeping your body position forward. And then, once you get past the gate in the dirt, different dirt conditions have different tractions. So getting the right traction to get your bike to drive forward. All those things within the first 20 feet, catching your shift point properly, getting your whole shot device, which is

• 1:09:21Cameron Hanes?

  How many times do you shift in that?

• 1:09:25Speaker 01

  Depending on the length of the start straight, usually two times. On a longer start straight, two times. We'll shift from we start in second gear and we shift to fourth gear.

• 1:09:32Cameron Hanes?

  Okay.

• 1:09:33Speaker 01

  And then we shift back down to second gear in the first turn.

• 1:09:35Cameron Hanes?

  Oh.

• 1:09:35Speaker 01

  Yeah. So all those things coming together just right makes a good start.

• 1:09:41Cameron Hanes?

  And that's in seconds?

• 1:09:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:43Cameron Hanes?

  I mean, that's and I I don't know, maybe you do it too. But I remember they showed Deegan start. But seems like he was forward and then like slid back.

• 1:09:52Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:09:53Cameron Hanes?

  Is that the technique?

• 1:09:55Speaker 01

  Yeah. So you keep your weight forward until it's almost like a boat planning out. Once you get out of the gate and you get enough momentum to where your bike's not wanting to wheelie anymore, then you get back to get as much traction as you can on the rear tire to move forward.

• 1:10:09Cameron Hanes?

  I see.

• 1:10:10Speaker 01

  So it goes from trying to hold the front down to leaning off the back to try to get as much traction as you can and get all the power to the ground to go forward.

• 1:10:19Cameron Hanes?

  How do you work on reaction time? Like, do you know how, you know, they got the red light, like you're doing? Is that? Can that help?

• 1:10:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, for sure. I practice different stuff like that, um, different, um, stuff with tennis balls and uh, stuff with some of our gym strength training and whatnot with throwing balls and catching stuff. But a lot of it is just doing the reps at the track.

• 1:10:45Cameron Hanes?

  Hmm.

• 1:10:45Speaker 01

  Um, knowing where to look at the gate, what works for you. Some guys like to look like out in front of the gate and then use their peripherals to see the gate drop. I look right at the gate personally.

• 1:10:57Cameron Hanes?

  Just watch the, kind of like in football, you watch the ball.

• 1:11:00Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:11:00Cameron Hanes?

  Don't move before the ball moves, you're good to go.

• 1:11:02Speaker 01

  And, um, not looking at the gate for too long. So when the thirty second card goes sideways, that means there's five to seven seconds till the gate drops.

• 1:11:11Cameron Hanes?

  Hmm.

• 1:11:11Speaker 01

  But if you look directly at the gate, from my personal experience, if I look directly at the gate right then, if I'm hyper focused on the gate for seven seconds, my reaction time goes down.

• 1:11:21Cameron Hanes?

  Hmm.

• 1:11:21Speaker 01

  So I kind of like wait, wait, I have a certain routine and then I lock into the gate. And it's usually right within about three seconds till the gate's gonna drop.

• 1:11:32Cameron Hanes?

  Okay.

• 1:11:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, so, and so many of us do it so different, right? So it's, that's what's kind of cool about, it's, we're all unique in our own way.

• 1:11:41Cameron Hanes?

  Does it matter? Where do you like to start?

• 1:11:44Speaker 01

  Depends on the way the first turn is and the way the angle goes in the first turn. I like to start next to the, what we call the doghouse, which is the, in the middle of the twenty-two gates, there's a big box that's probably two feet wide, and that's where the guy stands that actually drops the gate. And the reason I like to start next to there is because you have that two foot of space to the next guy over.

• 1:12:06Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:07Speaker 01

  So you have space when you get out to get your shift and you won't get closed off. Sometimes the way the first turn is doesn't serve the box because you need to be a little bit further inside to have better track position coming into the first turn.

• 1:12:20Cameron Hanes?

  Hmm.

• 1:12:21Speaker 01

  So it all depends on if the first turn's a left, a right, a double apex, which is kind of a ninety, and then it goes straight a little bit longer, then another ninety. Um, so it's, it's very track dependent.

• 1:12:33Cameron Hanes?

  Do they make it to where no matter where you are on the gate, it's the same distance? Or is the shortest line that closest to the, that corner?

• 1:12:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's pretty much the same distance always, but the gate, uh, the starting gate is, call it this wide, and then it funnels into the first turn.

• 1:12:50Cameron Hanes?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:12:51Speaker 01

  So if you look at the gate, um, we always look at whatever the, the closest inside tough block is that comes to the like, so if you look at the gate, you want to be able to have a straight line down. It's not going into the tough blocks.

• 1:13:04Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:04Speaker 01

  So if you're on the far inside gate, if you look directly down the start straight, you're going to go into tough blocks.

• 1:13:10Cameron Hanes?

  Right.

• 1:13:10Speaker 01

  So you've got to come this way.

• 1:13:11Cameron Hanes?

  Oh, so you're losing a little.

• 1:13:13Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's not the best spot to go because the guys to the, call it right of you.

• 1:13:17Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:18Speaker 01

  If it's a left hand turn are going to close you off.

• 1:13:20Cameron Hanes?

  More direct shot.

• 1:13:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, so you want to get the most direct line kind of to right outside of the furthest funneled in tough block.

• 1:13:28Cameron Hanes?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:13:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:13:30Cameron Hanes?

  How do you make sure your reaction, like, do you do anything? Like, we talked about the training, but like that day to be dialed and you walk the gate, that watch the gate not too long. But is there anything like caffeine or diet? Or how do you make sure you're locked in to be able to react to your best?

• 1:13:49Speaker 01

  I mean, I'm really strategic and specific with my diet day to day in general, just being an athlete. Um, I think I, I take it really serious and I think it's a big part of what most of us are. We're all pretty specific with it. Um, the day of, I think before the race, the biggest thing is being warmed up. Uh, I'm a big believer in having, going through all my heart rate zones before I go out on the track.

• 1:14:16Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:16Speaker 01

  Before I go down to the start line, because I think that that has you the most alert. So a proper warm up, staying warmed up when you're down in the tunnel. Um, cause I think with your body being warmed up, your, your brain's warmed up. So doing some fast twitch stuff and just being, being really ready.

• 1:14:32Cameron Hanes?

  Hmm.

• 1:14:33Speaker 01

  That's, that's one of the most important things with reaction time, I think is being warmed up.

• 1:14:39Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:14:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:14:40Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, in the zone.

• 1:14:42Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 1:14:42Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, how do you get in the zone? That's, that's a million dollar question.

• 1:14:45Speaker 01

  Right? That's, that's what we're all searching for. The exact.

• 1:14:49Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, I got a couple. I, speaking of questions, I got a couple here. I'm going to get you to get with you on, um. So this pain and suffering, when you're 20 minutes deep in a moto and your forearms are blown, what separates the guys who fade from the guys who charge? And I don't know if it's 20 minutes, because you, I don't, are they all 20? There's some shorter ones, so. There's like 10 sometimes and...

• 1:15:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, so Supercross is for the 250s, it's 15 minutes plus one lap. 450s is 20 minutes plus one lap. And then motocross is 30, 30 minutes plus two laps for both classes.

• 1:15:22Cameron Hanes?

  We'll just go in the middle. I'll just say 20 minutes. Forearms are blown. What separates the guys who fade from the guys who change?

• 1:15:29Speaker 01

  I think the biggest thing that separates those two are the guys who are, if you're thinking about how tough it is, or if you're thinking about how tough you are. Those are two different things. So I think...

• 1:15:42Cameron Hanes?

  So you're, either you're being inflicted on, or you're doing the damage.

• 1:15:46Speaker 01

  Yep. And, and there's different times, like, there's different races where it's not going your way, right? And it can be almost negative for you, but, I just had a race just last weekend in Phoenix where, towards the end, I looked up and I could, I could tell that I had more in me than who was in front of me. And so to be able to just take that suffering and be like, I know he's suffering worse than I am. So I'm gonna dig deeper.

• 1:16:17Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, what's the suffering? Like, what, what does it feel like?

• 1:16:23Speaker 01

  My trainer and I joke about it, because we talk about like F1 simulators. How could you make a dirt bike simulator? And he's like, man, I think a lap pull down machine while you're doing a squat, while you're doing a box jump, while you're doing a push up, while you're doing, and like basically put every gym machine together, every gym machine together, and then sprint up a hill on a treadmill. That's, that's like what it feels like.

• 1:16:45Cameron Hanes?

  So you're just ga, like full body gas? Like if you're sprinting up Piscata today, like what that'd feel like, that's what it's like?

• 1:16:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I, I don't, I guess, maybe while doing, holding something super heavy and, and then also being so locked in and hitting whoops, you know, and not, and being specific with, it's not just, um, just the physical aspect, it's being so precise while doing that.

• 1:17:09Cameron Hanes?

  Does it trap, like, did it, was hard, is it harder on the forearm pump? Like on a technical track like Seattle, was it the arms more, or is it still just all hard?

• 1:17:20Speaker 01

  On a technical track, I think it's more... Technique.

• 1:17:25Cameron Hanes?

  Hmm.

• 1:17:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, on a technical track. Uh, and it's, it's also physical. It's depends if you, if you get arm pump, it's, that's basically all you got is arm pump. That's, that's all you can even, once you get arm pump, that's a really unique thing. And it's so hard to ride with it. It's not like, it's not a feeling of like lactic acid burning feeling. It's, it's like weakness in your hands where you can't really hold on. But I would say legs is the biggest thing. If I were to say anything, when you're, when you're really at the, your max capacity and threshold, it's a lot of legs.

• 1:18:02Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, you just, just.

• 1:18:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:18:04Cameron Hanes?

  The whole time engaged.

• 1:18:05Speaker 01

  The whole time.

• 1:18:05Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:18:06Speaker 01

  But it's, it's really just a, it's a total body thing. It's, it's so unique.

• 1:18:11Cameron Hanes?

  Well.

• 1:18:11Speaker 01

  You gotta try it. If, if you're watching, you gotta try it.

• 1:18:15Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, it looks amazing. I, I'm just curious what it feels like, cause it's like to be in that moment that, you know, obviously it's very intense. Um, so yeah, I'm hoping these questions kinda, I mean, that, that helps a lot right there. You explaining that. Um, have, have you ever wanted to quit mid race? We talked about guys who they, you know, they know, you can tell they're like, and I don't know if the, I'm, I'm, I don't even, I know there's lappers out there. So it's like, I'm not, it's not trying to be offensive, but for the guys in the front, you know, there's guys who probably are just happy to be there, right? So, but do you ever get so have, do guys get so tired they wanna quit? And why do they or don't they?

• 1:18:56Speaker 01

  I think some do. I've never ever wanted to quit. No.

• 1:19:00Cameron Hanes?

  I would guess that.

• 1:19:01Speaker 01

  Um, that's something that just, no, I've never wanted to quit. No, I, I won't quit. I'm not, not a quitter. I've never, that doesn't ever really, that's not something that really processes to me. Even if I've had a big crash, like my first thing is to get back to the bike as fast as I can. I, I, that's just, I think, kinda going back to the way I was raised maybe, but it's definitely not in my DNA to think of, man, I wanna quit right now.

• 1:19:29Cameron Hanes?

  I want out somehow.

• 1:19:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know, like.

• 1:19:32Cameron Hanes?

  Cause I've talked to even fighters about this where they're getting their ass kicked so bad like maybe do they ever feel like the other fighter kind of lets them get that that arm under the neck, you know, cause they're gonna get their way out. It does. It's not super obvious. You can act like you're kind of fighting it. So I didn't, I know, like when you're in extreme situations, that I've, I've had seen people even on the hill say, I'll never quit. And then they quit. So it's like, I know people, you know, I believe you when you say that for sure, but I just know like when people get so fatigued, like everything's out the window.

• 1:20:12Speaker 01

  Yeah. And I think it's at times in my career, it's um, been something that maybe held me back. It's been reason why I've maybe had a few injuries or crashes. Cause I, I feel like if I don't,

• 1:20:32Speaker 01

  sometimes I've given too much because I'm just too, too determined to get that guy or not let the guy get me. And, and I feel like I'm being a quitter if, if that happens or if I can't, you know, do, doing more than I'm capable of at the moment at times. So that's something that I walk that fine line of what, what I am capable of. Yeah.

• 1:20:54Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, I get that. It's a, yeah. And I mean, cause I could see like if you're behind a guy and you feel like you're losing contact a little bit, what to stop you from just hammering it and just getting out there and then maybe wrecking, right?

• 1:21:14Speaker 01

  Exactly. That's, that's um, something I'm working on huge, you know, that's something that's been big for me in my careers. I've kind of always been so, so determined to give it my all every time. And sometimes what I think my all is, is more than my all has been. Um, and that's something I'm working really hard on. And that was similar to like last weekend where um, I was got a little excited in the heat race and had the crash that I had happen and.

• 1:21:49Speaker 01

  Getting fifth, you know, I rode in fifth and fourth was right in front of me the whole time and I was trying to get him, you know, but in the past I would, um,

• 1:22:01Speaker 01

  it's funny, my, um,

• 1:22:05Speaker 01

  the county guys say like, sometimes I would see red and like, we don't want you to see red.

• 1:22:10Cameron Hanes?

  Right.

• 1:22:10Speaker 01

  Um, and not seeing red is hard for me because I, when I say see red, just do whatever I can to get him and get that guy and just, I gotta win, you know? Um, and just staying within what I'm able to do at the moment, that time, um, and finding that fine line, but the very top of it. Hmm. That's what, I want to have the top of it. You know, I want everything out of myself that I can get that night to be, to be able to leave and say that I gave it my all.

• 1:22:39Cameron Hanes?

  What did you say, like in the heat race, you said you got, what'd you say? I can't remember what the word you said, but why'd you wreck? Were you too aggressive or, or what were you, you trying to get too fast of a time? Or what do you think?

• 1:22:51Speaker 01

  I think I got too excited when I, I, yeah, yeah. I, I had a couple of bad laps where I missed a rhythm lane and then I got passed by a couple of guys and I wanted to make up too much ground at once, maybe, or I, I'm just thinking that those are reasons, right? Why I made this mistake, these have to be, um, so, and I just, I made just the slightest little mistake. I caught the top of a jump out of the sand section and I was catching that every time. That time I clipped it a little bit more than I did and I was a little bit sideways and I lost my hand off the bike.

• 1:23:25Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:25Speaker 01

  My, my hand and my leg kind of slipped off and I had a crash, like it wasn't anything, any crazy crash, but just that one little slip up where I was like, I always try to do my very best to take full responsibility for each thing that happens.

• 1:23:41Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:23:41Speaker 01

  You know, it's, it wasn't like, I'm not, I'm not going to say, oh, well, it was just the way the track was and it was slippery there and it was the track's fault. Like that's, you know, that's no way to be so. Um, yeah, I felt like I was maybe just a little too aggressive at the time for what was available.

• 1:23:57Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, I like that. I like the full ownership part. I was talking to this bow hunter the other day and he was saying like one time, you know, he had a um something like he shot at a bull. He didn't think the broadhead performed. And I'm always like, yeah, I get that, but you put the broadhead on your arrow. So you made the decision to use that one. You accept whether it worked or didn't is that was your choice to use that, right? So it's like you could always find a reason to blame something or you can say that was on me. That's on me. I gotta get better. And it sounds like your attitude is that, you know, Jaco will kind of extreme ownership. Like, no, this, I'm in control of this.

• 1:24:41Cameron Hanes?

  All these other factors, everybody else is dealing with too. We gotta do our best. With the patience part, it, it, you know, again, I'm talking a lot about this last race just because that was the one I was at. But I know Eli was behind and we talked about when he passed, but it seemed like he was pretty patient in that race. And he, he wasn't like me, and I don't know what his mindset is, but you said like sometimes you want to make it all the way up. It seemed like he was like, he knows his, it feels like his conditioning is elite. I think, I can't remember who told me, maybe he told me, but his, oh no, it was Neil, I think told me this, but his lap time doesn't change. Like it's within a second, like the whole time.

• 1:25:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:25:25Cameron Hanes?

  So I think he just knows he's gonna, I don't need to pass him right now.

• 1:25:29Speaker 01

  For sure. And he's, he knew, like, we talked about the track, like, he knew that if he just stayed doing the same thing every lap and was able to be consistent, that a mistake was most likely from anyone gonna probably present itself because of the, how technical the track was. And, you know, Cooper was feeling the same way because he's like, he knows that he can be that consistent. And so does Ken and so does Hunter and so does everyone. So everyone has that same confidence.

• 1:26:03Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:26:04Speaker 01

  That's what makes. The top of the class. So awesome.

• 1:26:08Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:26:09Speaker 01

  Cause they all, there was probably eight guys who went to that starting gate on the four fifty class and probably five or seven in the two fifty class too, that go to the line knowing that they're going to be that guy who's not going to make the mistakes.

• 1:26:23Cameron Hanes?

  Mm hmm.

• 1:26:23Speaker 01

  And with that mindset, you get the show you got Saturday night.

• 1:26:28Cameron Hanes?

  Hell of a race.

• 1:26:28Speaker 01

  You know, it's, it's really cool.

• 1:26:31Cameron Hanes?

  It, it seemed like when he finally did make that pass, then it was like, God, then he was up by like seven seconds, you know, which it in that this weekend, that seemed like a lot, you know, I don't know if.

• 1:26:42Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:26:43Cameron Hanes?

  But that seemed like a lot. It, and yeah, he's just like in a groove. That must feel great.

• 1:26:49Speaker 01

  Totally. And that's, it feels great when you're the one who's like, everything's going the right way, you know, and it's, it, it feels like nothing can go wrong, you know? And when you have momentum going for you, it's awesome. And it's, it's like any sport, right? Even football, when the momentum switches and when if a guy's leading and the other guy's catching him, the guy that's catching him can smell blood in the water and the guy that's leading can feel him catching him. And it's just like, it compounds so quick.

• 1:27:20Cameron Hanes?

  It does. I love that. Um, so who, we talked about like who you looked up to coming up and you know, your heroes. So who do you, I mean, who do you respect now? Who do you like think you learned the most from now as your, now you're, you know, your coworkers, your constituents, you do the same thing. You're competitive, but you're still doing the same job.

• 1:27:42Speaker 01

  Yeah. I mean, gosh, I respect all of them. I respect even the guys who I battled with last night or two nights ago in, in Seattle. Like, um, just because I know what it takes for me to be at this level. I know it takes the same amount of, you know, commitment, work ethic and all the things for them to be at this level. So I respect everyone. Eli and Cooper, they they both have different ways of. Cooper's just, I always say Cooper's a dog, like you can't count him out. He can qualify 12th. He doesn't care. Um, people say he's doesn't have the speed or the the this, that, and the other thing. He doesn't care. His mindset is pretty awesome.

• 1:28:25Speaker 01

  And um, Eli, because he's just gonna be there and he's pretty quiet, not very outgoing with. You know, I work so hard and he just, he just does it and he's been there for a while and he stays there and he's super good. So. Those two are pretty elite, you know, and then, but how do I count out? The whole list of guys, right? So it's hard to.

• 1:28:53Cameron Hanes?

  They're all so good.

• 1:28:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, those two are, they've got pretty strong minds and that's what's. I search for all the time.

• 1:29:01Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, it's a, you know, it's weird that sport is, you know, your guys' sport is so competitive. There's only a certain amount of. Seats at the table and you know, Eli, a legend forever and then still switched, you know, still like. It's still business, but to see him switch bikes and to be, I I think he's doing great, crushing it. He won this last weekend. I kind of like that. It's like, it's amazing because I could see if I was him, I'd have a chip on my shoulder and I'd be like. Okay, watch this.

• 1:29:40Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:29:40Cameron Hanes?

  And if, he never says that because he's, you know, but I just like that.

• 1:29:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, he does for sure. He and and um, I think Cooper has a, he he races with a massive chip on his shoulder and that's why.

• 1:29:55Cameron Hanes?

  What's that from? There's people doubting him?

• 1:29:58Speaker 01

  I think it came early on when I actually, he's even said it so early on when he raced with Adam since really growing up and Adam was always so much better, you know? And Adam's even talked about it and Coop just gained a chip on his shoulder from that.

• 1:30:16Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:30:16Speaker 01

  And he, he's just, he has that, that fighter mentality. He does some stuff and he does subtle little things that are just like, I'm like, wow, he's a dog, you know? And, and he just has his little quirky ways of, of being mentally strong.

• 1:30:33Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, no, I, I like, I like all the different personalities. Um, so I, I mean, the sport needs everybody, but you get like a you so respectful and Eli kind of quiet. Then you get a Hayden, right?

• 1:30:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:30:49Cameron Hanes?

  These characters, it's like, um, how does that, how does that environment work for the racers?

• 1:30:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, we kind of talked about it on the mountain this morning, like, uh, I think it's, I think it's great. Uh, um, I think our sport needs all the different personalities and I think sport in general does. Like you said, I race against Hayden, you know, and I respect Hayden. He and I aren't so not the same as a person, right? And, but if he's that, you know, super flashy out loud, you know, and, and that guy. And then I'm more just kind of like the normal dude that, you know, walks day to day. So I think that us having all the different personalities is super cool.

• 1:31:37Speaker 01

  And, um, it gives the fans the opportunity to be a fan of whatever kind of person or whatever racer they want to be. And it's really cool. Yeah, it's, it's fun to even race against the guys and just to be around different, um, mindset people. But we all have a s- the same mindset in a sense too.

• 1:31:57Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah. Yeah, it's, uh, some people would say like, you know, Hayden talking shit and doing all that. It's like you make it harder on yourself because if you make people hate you, you're making your job harder, right? Or you make your guys you work with hate you, you're making your job harder. But I almost think, I said this on one of these interviews.

• 1:32:21Cameron Hanes?

  I feel, I don't know Hayden, I know Brian, I don't know Hayden, but he might have to do that to get in the zone he needs to be in. Like if he was, do you remember when Conor McGregor turned into like, then he was nice and like whatever, and then he got his ass kicked? I think like some people are just better at playing the bad guy.

• 1:32:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, I, I a hundred percent agree with that. I would say that um, he feeds off of it. That's what works for him to give himself the very best. That wouldn't work for me.

• 1:32:51Cameron Hanes?

  Right.

• 1:32:51Speaker 01

  You know, so

• 1:32:52Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:32:52Speaker 01

  Different things work for different people. Um, and yeah, like he, he loves that type of stuff. And that's, um, that's what's cool. Like I said about, you know, all the different ways of doing it. Um, that's, we referred to Cooper Webb earlier, how I think he loves feeling like he's backed up against the wall and doubted.

• 1:33:14Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:14Speaker 01

  Um, and I, I kind of enjoy feeling doubted. Like when I say I enjoy it, like I'm excited to kind of be like, oh yeah, I remember me.

• 1:33:23Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:24Speaker 01

  You know, when, um, if I've, I was injured last year and, um, the second race I got, I was on the podium in second and you know, some of the media's like, oh man, like McAdoo's back. And I'm like, yeah, like you guys have act surprised every year when I podium the first time again, like right away.

• 1:33:41Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:42Speaker 01

  I'm not surprised. Like this is what I work for.

• 1:33:44Cameron Hanes?

  Well, you needed to do the Nate Diaz thing. I'm not surprised, mother.

• 1:33:47Speaker 01

  Right? Exactly. My post after the race, like have that soundbite on there. Yeah.

• 1:33:55Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, it's a, I love, well, all the personalities elevate the sport, you know, because you said different people are going to appeal to different segments of the population. Some people are going to like the brash, the loud guy, and some are going to like the midwestern, you know, just respectful. And that's, that's good. It, it takes everybody, you know?

• 1:34:14Speaker 01

  Exactly right.

• 1:34:15Cameron Hanes?

  And it's like, I think it's cool. Um, yeah, one thing, uh, one thing I like, like maybe even with these podcasts, I know you've done others, but like just putting different eyes on the sport. And because I haven't been around Supercross motocross at all, you know, really at all. I had bikes growing up, but never even just like I said, a little 50 cc and then a street bike. But like I'm learning so much about it and it's so interesting and the training and the mindset, it's just like that elite level performance is so cool. And so many people are seeing it like if you go on YouTube and like you put in the CL Supercross, there's tons of content, right? And you guys are all featured, um, your personality is shown and it's just like they're doing a

• 1:35:00Cameron Hanes?

  great job building the brand, it feels like. So I, I love seeing it. I, I just want to keep getting bigger.

• 1:35:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, for sure. I, I agree. It's, I, I said earlier, um, in the last five or 10 years, I think it's been cool how it's become more mainstream. That's been our goal as a sport, is to be more mainstream. And a lot more people know about it. I think that the sport's doing well with branding it and like we're saying, different personalities. Um, Hayden has a huge following and that's so helpful for our sport.

• 1:35:35Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:35:35Speaker 01

  Um, you know, Ken Roxton has a huge following, Eli Tomac, like the stars of the sport are getting huge followings, bringing, um, big, people with big followings like yourself into the sport. It's like, it's so cool that you've gained the liking to our sport and, and brought your following here and, um, yeah, it's, it's what we need.

• 1:35:54Cameron Hanes?

  Oh, yeah. I, I just like shooting a bow on Lumen Field.

• 1:35:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, see? And, and I think it's so cool that I'm here and got to, got to run up the mountain with you and shoot a bow with you today. Like, like I said, 10 years ago, I've been, I was like a huge fan. So this is, I'm still like, this is rad for me.

• 1:36:13Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah. That's, uh, that's great. Um, so speaking of shooting a bow, I heard one comment, your dad does talk shit too, which is cool, but I heard one comment in the bow rack that you have a bigger buck than he'd has. Is that true?

• 1:36:28Speaker 01

  That's true. Yeah, I do. Uh, my first buck I shot is bigger than, I think, yeah, for sure. Any buck, he's, he's back here behind me, uh, than any buck that he has. And this, this actually kind of goes back to a funny story. We were, uh, shooting 3D targets with this group when I was younger. My older friend who I shot bows with a lot, he would go up into this archery barn and shoot 3D targets and, um, I'd go with him sometimes on a Wednesday and my dad came with us one time and it's a big group of guys and whatnot. And, um, the year prior, my dad had shot a, a deer for, he'd shoot a deer every year for some meat, you know? And. There was all these 3D targets and we were shooting them and I walked up to this one

• 1:37:09Speaker 01

  and it was this little tiny spike buck 3D target and I said, Dad, I was maybe eight at the time. So Dad, that looks like the deer you shot last year, right in front of all the guys. And he was like, you little, you know, and that, that story is pretty funny.

• 1:37:25Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, that's a good one.

• 1:37:28Cameron Hanes?

  Well, it's, uh, shooting a bow today. So we had a great day. I mean, we shot bows, went to good breakfast. We did, you know, hit the mountain in the snow. It's like, so tell me about your day. What did you think of it?

• 1:37:39Speaker 01

  I honestly, I couldn't have asked for more. I was, I was really bummed that I, I banged up my shoulder so much on, on Saturday because all day yesterday, I was like, man, I really hope I can shoot the bow with him like, cause you know, I've shot. And, um, cause my shoulder, like, I, like I was saying, I kept it warmed up for the main event and stuff. And then once it was all over, everything swells and tightens up and it, it just hurts. So, uh, yeah. Getting up, getting to go run up the mountain and then snow at the top, raining. That was so fun. Uh, got to bring my dad with us, which is such a cool experience for myself and him. And then, yeah, going to eat a good breakfast, going down to the bow rack, shooting, um, being back here, like,

• 1:38:22Speaker 01

  I couldn't have asked for a better day. This was so cool. All I wished I would have been able to do was lift together. I wanted to do the lift, run, shoot, and I, I can't, I can't lift right now. So.

• 1:38:30Cameron Hanes?

  We got to.

• 1:38:31Speaker 01

  Next time.

• 1:38:32Cameron Hanes?

  But you're coming back. So today, today we just set you up with like a low poundage Torix. And I said, we're going to get you the top of the line thing, but you shot so well today. I mean, we had to have it turned down because your arm is like 40 pounds, but it's like you're, you, I mean, you take your time. Technique wise, you're so dialed in, but very accurate. It was, I mean, yeah, you're a great shot.

• 1:38:55Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 1:38:56Cameron Hanes?

  And also your cardio. Holy shit, dude. You can run up a hill. You did great.

• 1:38:59Speaker 01

  I wish. I think we could have pushed a little harder. I know you could have pushed a little harder. Yeah, but.

• 1:39:05Cameron Hanes?

  But no, it was good pace. I mean, you're good.

• 1:39:07Speaker 01

  It was fun. Yeah, I enjoyed it. I was telling my dad last night in the hotel, man, I hope we can suffer pretty good together tomorrow.

• 1:39:13Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:39:14Speaker 01

  It's gonna be fun, so.

• 1:39:15Cameron Hanes?

  Well, I was not expecting you to do as well as you. I don't know why. I mean, I should. I've had a AC did it. You know, he's not racing.

• 1:39:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:39:23Cameron Hanes?

  So whatever. And Brian, of course, he's not racing. They both did it, but I haven't had, I don't think I've had an actual moto guy. No, no. So I'm like, well, no wonder you guys, people say how good a shape you guys are in, because you, you did great today.

• 1:39:38Speaker 01

  That was fun. That was fun.

• 1:39:40Cameron Hanes?

  It was, it was great.

• 1:39:41Speaker 01

  I liked, uh, towards the end of the climb, it just kind of kicks up just a little bit more.

• 1:39:46Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:39:46Speaker 01

  And you can kind of just dig a little more. And I, I didn't really know how much farther there was. I was like, man, is this gonna be like a false top? Which are we gonna keep climbing, which I'd have kept going. Like, I'll, I'll keep trying.

• 1:39:59Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, that was, it was so epic up there in the snow. I mean, people are really liking that, that reel we put up, but, uh, what, yeah, what an amazing day so far. Um, so what we do is James usually has some, you have stupid questions?

• 1:40:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:40:14Cameron Hanes?

  Oh, God. We'll cut this part out because it's usually terrible, but.

• 1:40:19Speaker 02

  We call this the peanut gallery.

• 1:40:21Speaker 01

  I love it.

• 1:40:21Cameron Hanes?

  We're not even recording, so it doesn't matter what you say.

• 1:40:24Speaker 02

  That's not true.

• 1:40:25Cameron Hanes?

  Oh.

• 1:40:27Speaker 02

  All right. So we always do the same question to everybody to start. And it's, uh, have you played [BLEEP] kill?

• 1:40:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I have.

• 1:40:36Speaker 02

  All right. So your [BLEEP] kill is cycling, running, and fishing.

• 1:40:44Speaker 01

  All right, I'm gonna.

• 1:40:49Speaker 01

  Can I think pretty hard on this one? So.

• 1:40:54Speaker 01

  I'm gonna.

• 1:40:58Cameron Hanes?

  Never do it again if you kill it.

• 1:40:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:41:04Speaker 01

  I'm gonna marry cycling.

• 1:41:08Speaker 01

  I'm gonna fishing. I guess I'm gonna kill running.

• 1:41:12Cameron Hanes?

  Ooh, you're a good runner.

• 1:41:15Speaker 01

  I'm better at cycling.

• 1:41:16Cameron Hanes?

  Really?

• 1:41:16Speaker 01

  And I do it more and dang it, I don't know.

• 1:41:21Cameron Hanes?

  Because what are you gonna do after racing?

• 1:41:23Speaker 01

  That's what I was thinking about.

• 1:41:24Cameron Hanes?

  You might do ultras. You might be good.

• 1:41:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, running too.

• 1:41:29Speaker 01

  That was a really good one. That was.

• 1:41:31Cameron Hanes?

  I know. I didn't expect that. I didn't expect the fishing in there for sure.

• 1:41:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I did some digging. My sister and I love fishing. That's like our thing.

• 1:41:41Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:41:42Speaker 01

  That was a good one.

• 1:41:43Speaker 02

  Okay, um, next one, just kind of talking to you at breakfast, I noticed how like a lot of things in your life, it seems that you take them all the way. It's like black and white. You either gotta go all the way or not at all. Um, I just kind of wanted to know, have you always been that way? Is it always been, you know, you walk through the world and that's how you kind of see things? Or did you develop that mindset at a certain point?

• 1:42:07Speaker 01

  I, from the stories growing up, it's always been that way. Um, and I think I've always just been so determined to get whatever that was that I, whether it be, I want to buy a new bow when I was younger. Well, picking up cans and doing whatever, working for, I'm gonna get that bow.

• 1:42:26Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:42:26Speaker 01

  Like, I want that really nice bow too. I want the best one and, and I'll get it. I'll figure out how to get it, you know, and I had to work for it, but I'll get it. And, um, yeah, that's just kind of how I go through life and, um, I think a lot of it has to do with how I was raised. And my sister's that way and both of my parents are that way. It's, I'm all or nothing. I'm all in or I'm all out on something. Whether that become, that's my friendships, my marriage. Um, I have a daughter on her way, like, you know, so now I'm gonna be a father here in a few weeks and, um,

• 1:43:02Cameron Hanes?

  That's amazing.

• 1:43:03Speaker 01

  That's the most all or nothing thing you can do in life, right? So, yeah, I've always been that way and, um, I like to lead my life that way.

• 1:43:11Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah, that's good.

• 1:43:13Speaker 02

  Well, that was a perfect lead in because my next question is about fatherhood. You know, I think there's kind of a stigma, at least in professional sports. When people have kids, you know, they lose their edge. So are there things that you're doing to prepare for that? Or do you think your mindset will change or has it? You know, Supercross and motocross being something that's inherently dangerous. You know, how has that changed for you?

• 1:43:38Speaker 01

  I really believe that it's going to help me and I think it's going to be

• 1:43:45Speaker 01

  because I think it's going to give me something else to focus on when I'm not focused on racing. And that was actually when I met my wife, I had never had a girlfriend leading up to when I met my wife. Cause ever since, like I said, when I was 16, when my parents, I mean, they, they sacrificed so much for me to do what I was doing. I was not going to chase girls. I was going to do everything I could to respect what they've done for me. So I thought girls were a distraction all the way. I mean, I met my wife when I was 22. So

• 1:44:21Speaker 01

  and then when I met her, I knew she was the one, like she was, she was the one that was gonna be my partner through life, through racing, through everything. And she was a partner, not just another girl. And

• 1:44:35Speaker 01

  that being said, going back to, you know, that was

• 1:44:40Speaker 01

  my career and my racing honestly really improved after that, oddly enough, because before that, I'm such a, like we say, all or nothing guy where I hyper fixate on racing only. That's all I could think about. I would leave the track, go back to, I was renting a room at a friend's house in California, or when I lived at Club MX or wherever, all I thought about was racing. And then all of a sudden I had time where I could get away from that for the time when it doesn't matter to just be overthinking about nothing. You know, you're thinking about problems that don't exist, like let's, let's work on it tomorrow when we're testing. And then I think having a kid's going to be a whole nother.

• 1:45:23Speaker 01

  Unwind that way when I'm at the track, I'm only burning track candles there.

• 1:45:28Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:45:28Speaker 01

  And then I go home and I'm burning dad candles and husband candles. So I really think that that's going to be helpful for me. And yeah, I'm a race for my family now, you know, not just not just myself or not just for myself and my wife and

• 1:45:44Speaker 01

  my parents, like now I got a baby girl at home. So it's cool. I can't wait for all the challenges of it. I can't wait for the frustrations that I know it's going to be. I really hope I don't get payback from how I was growing up because I can't even imagine raising myself. So

• 1:46:02Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah.

• 1:46:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm really excited for it.

• 1:46:04Cameron Hanes?

  Oh, that's good. Well, I know it changed me for the better when I had kids because I was a screw up and that was like, okay, what am I doing? So it is like, uh, it's a turning point and you can, what's going, how it's going to impact you is whatever you tell yourself. You know, I mean, if you tell yourself this is good, this is going to make me whole, a better person, a more well-rounded person to, uh, to have something else, as you said, to focus on, then that's what it's going to do. If you tell yourself it's going to be a distraction and you're going to, then that's what it'll be. So it's, uh, yeah. Good question.

• 1:46:41Speaker 02

  Okay, last question. Uh, this one might be dumb, but, um, you know, like listening to interviews with F1 drivers or other drivers at high-speed sports, you know, they talk about like certain times they've entered kind of like a flow state where it was almost an out of body experience. They couldn't do anything wrong. Is there something similar or is it so rough that you're usually always, you know, pretty, uh, I don't know, conscious of what's going on?

• 1:47:07Speaker 01

  No, there are those days where, um, you do enter a flow state. I've had certain races where it's felt that way. And certain days where, like you said, you can't feel like you can't do anything wrong. Everything's clicking off just right. The laps feel good. And those are the days that we, that's what brings you back and that's what keeps, it's not the only thing that brings you back, you know, but that's what keeps it so fun because you can seriously have that day and it might be a Monday at the test track. And then you can go back to the same track the next day. You're the same guy as you were 24 hours ago and struggle so bad. And it's so weird. And that's what.

• 1:47:46Speaker 01

  The search for greatness is so fun to be, search for your best and to never be able to always get it.

• 1:47:54Cameron Hanes?

  Right.

• 1:47:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:47:55Cameron Hanes?

  Yeah. No, I like that. It's a, quite a journey, huh?

• 1:47:59Speaker 01

  Yeah. Love it.

• 1:48:00Cameron Hanes?

  Well, Cameron, it's been, I mean, it, it's awesome for me to be able to sit down and spend time with you, uh, learn more about your mindset, learn more about you as a person and meet your dad and spend time with you guys together. It's, uh, this has been a great day. I want nothing but success for you. I can't wait to see your baby girl and hope that everything goes well there, uh, met your wife and yeah, I mean, you're a credit to society. You're, you're a great young man. Um, and it's, uh, I'm really happy to have met you. So, thank you. Thank you for this.

• 1:48:31Speaker 01

  Thank you. Same to you, cause this has been a dream of mine for a while and, and yeah, to be able to just share some conversation in, into your mindset and, um, the way you guys operate and the way you, you know, I've followed your journey, you know, through social media, read your books and watched the documentaries and stuff. And now to hang out, it's, um, I, I love, we were talking about it, like people wanna hate on people that work hard or whatever. And, um, it's real, you just do it. This is just you doing it and it's, it's really fun. It's been, it's been a dream day. So, thank you.

• 1:49:05Cameron Hanes?

  Well, good. All right. Well, thank you. Um, all right, guys, keep hammering.