Joe Rich Q & A on theComeUp Board

Joe Rich is amazing. Such a great rider and compassionate individual not to mention a legend in BMX and successful entrepreneur. Ask 100 BMXers who their top 10 favorite riders of all time are and you'll hear his name over and over.

Well, Adam at theComeUp started the Pro Rider Q&A thread on theComeUp Board a while back and it's going strong with a bunch of pros answering questions. If you haven't been to check it out yet... you really should.

So what prompted me to write this post? This awesome answer by Joe Rich where he empathizes with a reader about ACL surgery and talks about his own ACL problems...

"that was probably one of the toughest times in my life... But I have to say this, after 5 knee surgeries ( 3 of them being full ACL reconstructions ). . . I wouldn't go back and change things to any other way.

During that time I learned a lot about myself. At the times that you feel that low, you have to dig deep to pull yourself up for air. Even when you think there is no air. Whenever you have the thing you love the most taken from you, you feel empty. But you can only let that emptiness remain for so long. It's a matter of survival in a sense. You have to let it turn to something else or you'll get eaten up.

I learned a lot about who I really was during that time. And also how much I was going to have to fight to get back to the place I wanted to be at. It also let me pursue things that I had been interested in, but never took the time to learn more about because I was too busy riding. Taking photos, and working with video for example. I took all the energy, drive and effort that would go into riding my bike, and applied it elsewhere. You can create a whole other side of life that you will like just as much as riding, even when you can ride again.

At least that's how I've learned to turn a bad situation into something good." -- Joe Rich

Well said Joe, well said.


Read the Joe Rich Q&A here.
or the others
Keith Romanowski Q&A
Chase Dehart Q&A
Mike Ardelean Q&A
Sean Burns Q&A
Ryan Sher Q&A
Karl Poynter Q&A
Chad Shackelford Q&A
Jason Enns Q&A
Mike "Rooftop" Escamilla Q&A