Hey everyone, it’s Tanner Ward here! This is my first column for MXP and since I now have a little extra time on my hands, I felt like this was a good time to begin writing. As you may have heard, I recently suffered a knee injury while competing in the Future West Arenacross Championships in Chilliwack BC. While things happen fast in racing, they tend to happen a lot faster indoors and before I knew it, I was tangled up with another rider in the air and I’m sure you can imagine the outcome from there. The initial assessment from the ER doctor was that nothing was broken, and it must have been a patella dislocation as I felt a large “pop” when taking a step moments after the crash. With that being said, I knew I needed to get an MRI as soon as possible to make sure no further damage was done. With the awesome help of Ryan Lockhart and Steve Sulyok, I was able to get into a private MRI clinic in Vancouver the Tuesday following the crash. Sadly, when the report came back it stated that I had a completely torn ACL, displaced fracture of the lateral meniscus, and fracture of the tibia plateau. Not the news you want to hear as the season is coming to an end, you’re in contract negotiations and the pure fact of the known recovery time for this injury. But as a racer, it’s important to focus on the good, and in this case, if an injury is going to happen, this is the time of year for it to happen. I’m not the first racer to go through this injury and most certainly won’t be the last!
For the last four years, with the help of the Tanner Steffler Foundation and Walton Raceway, I have put on a charity bike ride called ‘Ride With Me’ to raise awareness for mental health. The ride takes place once a year at the Walton TransCan and gets a ton of support across the community which I am extremely thankful for. I’m also fortunate to have a platform within the community to share my knowledge and experiences with mental health. My main objective is to help spread awareness through the motocross community. I hope you can all join us next year at the Walton TransCan as this ride is always a lot of fun.
Throughout my professional career, I have been very fortunate to not suffer any major injuries up until now and you forget the toll it takes on you not only physically but mentally. Since I have been hurt it’s been non-stop phone calls to doctors, multiple physio appointments, and a whole lot of time to think. There’s a catch-22 when it comes to having this much time off. On the positive side, you have time to better yourself as a racer or person, time to answer those emails you haven’t gotten around to, and so on and so on. But then there’s the negative side and if you’re anything like me, it’s easy to start overthinking the small things which can easily make some small issues feel bigger than they are! For myself in these situations, I like to set smaller easy achievable goals for that individual day and then go from there. For example, getting into surgery in Canada was not the easiest thing to make happen, and as each week passed, I was getting more and more anxious that I could get surgery in time to heal for the opening round of the 2023 Triple Crown Series. I know the 2023 Series, which is supposed to begin in June next year is still far away, but this type of injury takes a long time to heal. So, while I was waiting for a surgery date, I was setting smaller goals to stay focused and happy. Goals that I could achieve by the end of the day and another one to achieve by the end of the week. I found that it was a good way to keep my mind focused and thinking forward instead of spiraling in my own thoughts. I understand it can be easier for some to complete this than others, but at the end of the day, the goal is to focus on our own self-growth. Everyone has their own story and their own battles that they deal with, be proud of yours!
As much stress and anxiety as being a professional motocross racer can bring, I wouldn’t trade this sport for anything else. The relationships that have come from racing dirt bikes are pretty remarkable and I like to remind myself of them when things get tough. If anyone wants to share their story or simply just needs someone to talk to, reach out to me on Instagram @racing4mentalwellness as we will always be there for you. Thank you for reading and I look forward to chatting with everyone again soon.