In normal times, Jesse Melamed would be a quarter of the way through the Enduro World Series (EWS) season.
But clearly, these are not normal times, and with the season's first two races postponed at this point until November because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 28-year-old Whistlerite hasn't raced since last September.
Entering a season where he was looking to build on five top-10 finishes in six completed races, Melamed is holding up "as good as can be expected" in a situation where he can't go for rides with friends and has to rein in the rides that he does.
"It's weird—I'm not stoked to go riding because I feel a little bit guilty because other people can't do it and because there's a lot of pressure to not crash and not hurt yourself," he said.
Though he's still finding ways to train most days and continuing to live a healthful lifestyle, Melamed acknowledged that it's difficult to maintain in a situation where, realistically, there's no confirmed timeline of when racing might return. The next scheduled EWS race is in Italy at the start of July, but like everything, it feels very much up in the air.
"It's six months of building throughout the winter to get to the first race, and when that didn't happen, I just really needed to step away. It's so much physical and mental build-up, and you're left with nothing," he said. "I just took it easy and treated it like my offseason—no stress, no pressure—and now I'm trying to get back into a little bit of motivation.
"You have to be careful because you don't know when we're going back racing. It's just maintaining. Everyone's talking about how you're supposed to crush quarantine and come out with a million new skills. That's a little bit unreasonable, so I'm just trying to do maybe one or two things that I can look back on and know that I came out of this time with something new."
Explaining that his life is generally pointed in the direction of self-improvement already, Melamed said that it's not so much newfound time, but energy, that has helped him find some more dedication to his pursuits. He's found more time for baking and cooking unique recipes, whipping up everything from sourdough to black-bean brownies to homemade granola.
He's also taken more time for yoga, meditation and mindfulness, and hopes to be a more complete racer on the other side.
"I want to come out of it with more of a handle on my mindset, which I've been able to work on now. I've been able to think, collect my thoughts and reflect a little bit more," he said.
Though on paper his job is to race and bring results for his Rocky Mountain team, Melamed has stayed active on social media, even recently doing a simultaneous interview and workout from home. While he enjoyed the experience, Melamed much prefers being able to ride.
"It's a weird position because sponsors are asking me for content but we are in a position where we can't actually get content. It's tough on all sides," he said. "The marketing people at Rocky Mountain would say their job is to market us as a team, which is helped by having races to go to. Without that, more of their time is dedicated to figuring out how they can market the riders that they have."
In the pocketbook, Melamed said he's on salary with the team and has some savings, so he has managed to weather the storm to this point. However, he doesn't expect this situation to last forever, and when racing does return, would be surprised if the same prize money is up for grabs as before.
"I'm expecting, at some point, to be on a reduced salary, which I think is fair," he said. "It's not really fair that I'm not taking a pay cut when people are getting laid off and others are taking pay cuts. The world's in a crisis, obviously, so I wouldn't expect to get out of that unscathed.
"It will be unfortunate going forward. I would imagine that everything's been hit pretty hard and there's going to be a lot less money floating around for years to come."
