Chad Reed is downsizing his life. Following last year’s modest privateer tour on the Monster Energy AMA Supercross circuit—his 17^th season there—he and his wife, Ellie, listed their Florida home and 65-acre riding facility with a realtor. After all, Reed, now 36, wasn’t even sure if he would line up to race another AMA Supercross or Pro Motocross National again. He didn’t have a ride for 2019, nor an agent. But he’s still Chad Reed, and that means that any time he lines up behind a starting gate, he feels he still has a boxer’s chance of at least reaching the podium. It’s something he’s done more times than anyone in the history of the sport.

He’s also driven the same Florida backroads between his home and that riding facility too many times to count and admits he is ready for a change, even if that means never racing again. He’s telling me all this in November as he and Ellie and their three kids are preparing for a long trip to Australia, where Chad will do a couple of races but, more importantly, get back to his and Ellie’s old hometown of Kurri Kurri, visit their families and old friends, show the kids the homes they grew up in, the schools they attended, the lives they once lived. He sounds like he may never come back.

Three weeks later, Chad Reed is back—only he’s driving on a new road, to a new track, with a new team, in a whole new part of the country for him. He’s in North Carolina, heading out to the JGRMX/Yoshimura Suzuki test track, where the team awaits him, along with a brand-new race bike and a perfectly prepped track.