To realise the risks
mortgage or dinner, anything. It’s a strange one because, off the bike, I do think about that [the danger] at times, especially when you hear of another rider being injured and think, ‘That might have been me’.”
That mental strength was moulded from a young age. From getting bullied at school and living with the threat of being stabbed, to winning world titles after being told he would never ride again let alone race, and while his parents fought out a divorce and his youngest son suffered from silent reflux, a condition where acid spills back up the oesophagus from the stomach, stinging the throat.
Growing up in sectarian Northern Ireland, the bullying began for Rea when he started at Larne Grammar, a school taking both Protestant and Catholic children. The trigger? A pencil case in the style of former American racer Kevin Schwantz in his famous Pepsi colours; red, white and blue.
“It affected my confidence,” says Rea. “Mum was in and out of the headmaster’s office all the time trying to sort things out. Academically, it was great but I didn’t have much of a social life and that sort of stains my school memories.
“There was also the threat of walking for a bus and they [school kids] will jump you and you’ll get stabbed. It didn’t materialise but it just goes to show kids can be cruel and I’m kind of worried for my kids
SPORT IN BRIEF
going through school. Whilst you can’t hold their hands, it’s tough.”
Rea won an unprecedented fourth straight World Superbike title at Magny-Cours on September 24. On Sunday, he set another record, with 10 consecutive race victories in Argentina, despite having food poisoning.
He has already set a record of 70 race wins and has 16 for the season, one behind Doug Polen’s record set in 1991. He is also on course to smash his points record of 556; he has 520, with two races in Qatar this month remaining. Of those four titles, however, arguably the hardest was the second in 2016. His preparation was hampered by Tyler’s reflux, where the result is frequent screaming, plus Rea was also not enjoying the feel of his Kawasaki.
In his recently released autobiography ‘Dream. Believe. Achieve’, Rea describes being scolded by his wife Tatia for breaking down in tears prior to the first round in Australia.
“I wasn’t as well prepared going into 2016 because of sleep deprivation and supporting my wife,” he says. “I prioritised her and Tyler over prepping for my season. I was overtraining – because I wasn’t sleeping, had no energy and was busting my a*** – and I arrived at the start of the year emotionally and physically drained. I remember we went for a pizza one night and had her parents look after the boys and I just had a bit of a moment and she said, ‘You don’t get to do this’.”
Having been told in no uncertain terms to get a grip, Rea won a second title and the records show no signs of abating.
“I couldn’t do all this without my wife being so strong,” he adds. “She’s my rock. I’m always away and, while I’m one of the only riders who brings his family around the world sometimes, I feel I have to do it to keep us together, although I know it’s disruptive to the kids to fly them around the world.”
What Tatia cannot do, however, is be there in one of his loneliest moments before the start of the race. Rea sits on his bike, alongside chief mechanic Uri Pallares, waiting, feeling alone.
A grid girl stands one side, TV cameras
REA IN NUMBERS
the other. Then, slowly but reassuringly, Uri rubs his hand up and down Rea’s thigh. “I’ve no idea why he does that but, do you know, I really like it,” says Rea. “On that grid I feel so alone. I feel like he feels responsible and understands what’s going on inside my brain and it puts my mind at rest.” ●Dream. Believe. Achieve by Jonathan Rea (Harper Collins) £20, is out now.