Out of the Blue | Mélanie Perez | Presented by Schrader’s

Out of the Blue | Mélanie Perez | Presented by Schrader’s

By Jensen Amyotte

Photos provided

Name: Mélanie Perez

Date of Birth: May 22,1990 

Hometown: Goult, France

Grade or occupation: Osteopath

Race Number: 220

Bike: 250 SXF « dragon moto »

Race Club: MC Goult

Classes: Top 5 French championship trying to ride in the top 20 MXGP in 2022.

Who/what inspired you to get into the sport of motocross and how long have you been racing/riding? 

David Vuillemin when I was 8 and Livia Lancelot when I started to see that girls can ride! Ashley Fiolek for her performance without hearing the engine!

When not on a dirt bike how do you keep yourself busy? Are you involved in any other sports or extracurricular activities?

Oh yes, motocross is a complete sport. I must admit that I don’t even have time to do other sports. I do boxing, climbing, mountain biking, weight training, swimming, wakeboarding, hiking…

I would like to be able to do many more sports to prepare myself for the bike… but a week is only 7 days and I also have to learn to rest!

I am also an osteopath, for the passion of mechanics of the body …

From your first ride to where you are now what is something you never thought you would be able to overcome but have?

The whip!!!

What is your favourite track and why?

My favourite track is the one in the village where I live in France. I have calculated everything without realizing it! I loved the track of Goult. It is traced in the ochres of Provence which gives it a crazy grip, and a nice view. 

One day, I found the little house of my dreams two minutes by motorcycle from my favourite track, and the village’s postal code ends in 220. Destiny!

Who has been your biggest inspiration/hero on and off the track? 

Boxer Mohammed Ali. Work to gain… No pain, no gain!

What is the biggest lesson that motocross racing/ off-road has taught you so far?

Motocross taught me to have a healthy lifestyle to perform and avoid hurting myself. Eat well, sleep well, train regularly, and above all, like in boxing, if you fall, get up and learn from your mistakes!

It’s the school of life! And if you don’t question yourself, you don’t move forward, you move backwards!

If you could give 1 piece of advice to a female of any age who wants to start riding, what would it be?

To never give up!

When you are a woman in this sport it is very difficult to face the criticism and remarks that are sometimes very hard to take, but you like it? Then listen to your instinct and surround yourself with the right people! Don’t force yourself to be with someone because others told you he was the best! It may be the best for your buddy, but if your instinct tells you no, it’s not the right one… in this sport it’s good to learn to listen to your aspirations… because it’s a very complex sport that requires crazy self-sacrifice. If you are not well surrounded, you’ll risk injury, or even to make a sport burn-out!

What was your first fear when you started riding and how did you overcome it? 

I was afraid of hurting myself. As a result, I over-compensated my sports preparation.  And I just hurt myself for the first time at 31 years old. 

I have always avoided big injuries thanks to my muscles and even then my muscles protected my shoulder from a serious dislocation. No surgery, just muscle strengthening and ready to go again.

What was your first race number and how did you choose it?

My first and still current number is 220. Long story short, I wanted the 225 (22/05 my date of birth) but it was already taken, so I was given the 302, which was nothing for me. My ex at the time did not compete that year, so for my birthday he offered me the reservation of the 220 number, which he had originally reserved for himself with the 22 of my birthday for his girlfriend. 

Today the 220 sticks to me more than ever. I realized that 220 was in the lexical fields of electricity. I am an electric person with a lot of energy. I’ve been called hyperactive to fight my emotions. I clearly never stop and sports are my way of spending this overflowing energy.

My first team was called Thunder’ace for lightning…electricity. Today it has evolved into Team 220 Volts.

And in 2022 certainly Team 220 Volts empowers. Why? Because we put all our energy into the women’s sport which is the most important aspect of our work. 

Do you see yourself ever competing in the Canadian WMX Triple Crown series? 

I dream of it, but I don’t have that kind of money to come to your country to test it. I love your motocross culture and tracks!!!

What do you want to be when you grow up? 

When I was a kid, I dreamed of becoming a top athlete and making a living from sports. I knew that it would be very difficult to achieve this because I come from a family with a very modest income, which could not afford the motocross expenses. So I dreamed and planned my life to have a good job in health and be able to ride on my own.

Well, the reality is different, even being an osteopath I barely earn enough to pay for my motorcycle.

Who would you like to thank?

I would like to thank my partners so much because without their help I would not be able to afford the costs. I would not even have a motorcycle in my garage.

Team Dragon Moto in 2020 gave me the energy boost of a whole sporting life by allowing me to ride a factory bike with factory forks and a crazy engine build. At that time, I couldn’t afford to keep up and was planning to end my dreams. They allowed me to start over again by offering me riding conditions worthy of a pro.

I have another very important partner, the car dealership Lacharette1807, because I had to sell my old truck to pay for the 2019 season. I had no more vehicle and they provided me with a Ford Transit custom to go to the competitions. The cohesion around me is just crazy! They understood my story and they want to help me which regularly makes me cry! Hahaha

And the best of all is Marjolaine, my partner, who takes care of everything behind me: community manager, photographer, videographer, sports coach, mental coach, team accountant, team manager, mechanic at the races… She carries everything at arm’s length by herself. We are two and we do the work of 10.

I would also like to thank my family for never believing in me, and for not helping me to accomplish my dreams because thanks to their abandonment, I discovered terrible people in my experiences but also people who wear their heart on their sleeve and who struggled before getting to where they are…people with values! So thank you life, for all the lessons, good and bad!