There's a version of the Zach Osborne story that writes itself. Four-time champion across Supercross and Motocross, the two premier disciplines of American dirt bike racing, one contested inside stadiums on manufactured tracks, one outside on natural terrain across the country's biggest venues. The most electric pass in recent memory. A kid from Abingdon, Virginia who went all the way to the top of the sport. A career that did not end chasing former glory, but retiring with the number one plate.

That version is true, it's just not the whole picture.

The real version is much messier, much longer, and much, much more interesting. It's the story of a kid who packed up everything and moved to Europe because the American dream wasn't working, who spent years as the lone American on the MXGP circuit (the global championship series that runs across Europe and beyond) grinding through mud and uncertainty with a young family in tow and a future that no one, including him, could guarantee. It's the depiction of an athlete who came back home and kept grinding, quietly, for years more, before sweeping both the 2017 supercross and motocross championship in a single season. 

Years before any of that happened, he told our co-founder something that turned out to be less a motto and more a blueprint: "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." It took sixteen years, but he proved it.

He's exactly the kind of person Courier exists for, the person for who both refuses to rest on (very high) laurels. Since retiring in 2021, he's coaching junior riders, building businesses, and, as any good retired renaissance athlete does, competing in gravel, road, and XC cycling with the same intensity he brought to every gate drop.

We sat down with Zach to talk about doubt, flow state, what the lean years actually made him, and why he'd take a hard worker over a talent every time.

[COURIER]: You spent years racing motocross in Europe as the lone American in the MXGP circuit. What kept you believing in a path that, from the outside, looked like it was going nowhere? 

[ZACH]: I'm not sure what kept me believing and I couldn't sit here and honestly tell you that I ever thought I'd be a champion at the highest level until I crossed the finish line to do it. Doubt was always an issue so I tried to just enjoy the journey. I think the fun of racing and even at times the thought of getting a real job just kept me digging."

[COURIER]: How do you reflect on that time in Europe now?

[ZACH]: I absolutely wouldn't be the same without the early years. They are what forged me to who I am today. I tell my kids (and my wife does too) that even though we didn't have everything together and we didn't have much money, we were LIVIN. We look back on our time in Europe as some of the best and most fun we ever had. It was all a huge lesson that got us ready for the tests that would come (and still do come).

 

The 2017 Supercross season came down to a single race in Las Vegas. You were trailing the points leader with two turns left, with two corners standing between you and losing the championship. Then you made the pass. Walk us back into that moment. What was actually happening in your head?

 

[ZACH]: That whole race was quite literally the phrase 'when preparation meets opportunity.' I was so prepared for that race and so deep in the moment that my innate ability just took over. It was truly just flow state on display.

[COURIER]: After retiring from moto you've gone deep into cycling, not just dabbling but competing across road, gravel, and cyclocross.  How much of what made you a champion on the moto transfers directly into how you approach everything else?

[ZACH]: I don't know about serious or competitive but I do ride and compete. I think the lessons I've learned in my sport carry over to all aspects of life and any other sports that I partake in. You can add discipline and consistency to just about anything and be somewhat successful. There's always work to be done and ways to improve — you just have to keep beating the drum, which is exactly what I did in sport.

 

[COURIER]: You've talked about racing as a privateer (a professional racer without big budget sponsorships being a direct parallel to building a business — betting on yourself before anyone else will, limited resources, grinding before it compounds. Does entrepreneurship actually feel like that?

[ZACH]: I think my entrepreneurial mind is very much a direct product of racing. In a lot of things in life you have to get the cart before the horse, which is sort of backwards to how it would typically be done. Finding something you believe in and pursuing it relentlessly typically pays off. I would say sport and business are very similar in those ways. You have to believe before you can achieve, and that all requires risk."

[COURIER]: When you work with junior riders now, what are you actually looking for? What separates the ones who go on to make it?

[ZACH]: Of course, talent is key, but in motocross there's so much more. Grit, determination, ability to overcome injury, and a short memory of the failures, just to name a few. Any sport is so very hard and such a razor's edge at the top, but our sport even more so because of the risk. It's hard to find guys with the whole package. But give me a hard worker over a talent every day of the week.

Follow along with Zach Osborne