“Someone asked me the other day what my goals were for 2021 race season and just before I started repeating the same generic answer I have spat out for years now about how I’d like to get another podium and top 10 in the overall again I suddenly stopped before the words fell out of my mouth, instead I started to think a little deeper about what they actually are and how they’ve change over the last year.

I used to come into a race season with a result based mindset, were my happiness and overall idea of success was based off a few numbers on piece of paper. In short, low numbers on the paper = happy Dean, high numbers on the paper = sad Dean.
This mindset or tunnel vision way of looking at it takes so much away from the overall experience of what you’re actually doing and makes you miss all the things you should also be focusing on.
Now in saying that it’s not like I’m not going to be happy if I do well and I’m still going to be a little annoyed if I don’t do as well as I’d expect out of myself but I’m not basing my entire mood around that.

This year I want to focus on those things I used to miss and truely immerse myself in ever part of the process while also enjoying it while it’s happening, I don’t want to bitch and complain about tracks or condition but instead embrace the challenges, I want to lead by example and uplift and support where need be, I want to have more connections with the places and people I get to meet along this journey, I want to live in the moment more and grasp how special this point in my life is, I want to excite and entertain and most of all I want to bush myself past what I think is possible in the hope that it will give other people the strength to do the same.

This year I’m not so worried about results mainly due to the fact last year this was all taken away from me and after some time and a lot of deep thought I became alright with that, I dropped the ego and let go of what I saw as my identity around riding, and honestly I was content with that, so in my eyes everything from now on is a bonus.. so why not just enjoy the ride 😜”