FAIRFAX, Va. – Michael Lane continuously kept climbing aboard his drop barrel earlier this week in Greensboro, North Carolina, with the same ongoing thought running through his mind.
“I just know it is going to feel better,” Lane thought.
“I know it is going to feel better,” he reiterated.
Unfortunately, for him, his left groin did not feel any better, and the No. 1 rider in the Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour decided to opt out of this Saturday’s Velocity Tour event in Rochester, New York.
Lane took over the Velocity Tour lead last weekend in Portland, Oregon, with a third-place finish (2-for-3), but it his 85-point ride on Hair Trigger in Round 2 ultimately did him in.
The 28-year-old learned earlier this week that he has a partial tear in his left groin after originally dismissing the pain in Portland.
“I noticed on the way home that my groin was bothering me,” Lane said. “I got home and tried to ride my barrel. When I clenched down on my barrel, it was like that feeling you don’t want to feel.”
Lane for now considers himself week-to-week.
There was the possibility that Lane could have tried to ride through the injury this weekend, but Lane wants to play it extra safe after having a much, more serious tear in his left groin at last year’s Velocity Tour Finals in Las Vegas.
Lane also took into consideration the process that reigning World Champion Jess Lockwood went through this month. Lockwood tried to come back from a groin injury and ultimately did further damage, causing himself to miss the remainder of the regular season.
“It is nothing like at the Finals last year, but it is in the exact same spot,” Lane said. “It is not torn (completely). I feel like if I would have gotten on, I would have torn it more and been out until the Finals.
“Last year I could hardly even walk. I don’t want to go to that point with it. I know getting on is only going to do that. It just sucks.”
Lane is trying to return to the World Finals for the first time since going 2-for-5 at the 2015 PBR World Finals.
The Tazewell, Virginia, native is hopeful if he takes a cautious approach with his groin now that he will then finally arrive in Vegas relatively healthy.
That has been a rarity for Lane.
“This would be the fourth year straight of me not being able to get on at the Finals (healthy),” he said. “Two years ago it was my ankle. 2015 at the World Finals I was dealing with a (bad) shoulder.”
Adding to Lane’s frustration is the fact that he had just returned to competition after missing almost two months because of an injury to his riding arm when he was bucked off by Minion Stuart in Moncton, New Brunswick, at a PBR Canada Monster Energy event.
“I was on the UTB in the first half and I wasn’t able to go much during the summer because of my injury up in Canada. Minion Stuart jerked me down and I had some stitches under my chin. My whole arm turned blue and had veins running all through it. It looked pretty nasty during our honeymoon.”
Lane and his wife, Brooke, went to Jamaica this summer for their honeymoon.
Lane was gaining steam in his return too, surging into the No. 1 ranking in the Velocity Tour by going 8-for-15 with a Touring Pro Division victory and two third-place Velocity finishes.
Lane is 12-for-20 (60 percent) with an event win and six Top-5 finishes on the Velocity Tour.
“I love those events,” Lane said. “It is not like I feel any different at the cups, but for some reason I have just won so much at this level. Once you get that confidence of winning in there and you learn how to stay in your zone. Once you get to winning, you get that confidence to where you think they can’t slow you down.”
There are four events remaining until the Velocity Tour Finals on Nov. 2-3 at the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa.
Lane has a 40-point lead on No. 2 Colten Jesse, who has since made it onto the premier series full-time.
No. 3 Justin Granger is only 50 points behind Lane, and he is in the draw in Rochester on Saturday night.
Fans can catch all of the action from Rochester beginning at 7 p.m. ET on RidePass.
Lane isn’t concerned though because he knows that ultimately the Velocity Tour championship will come down to the Velocity Tour Finals.
“It don’t matter who is winning that thing going into Vegas,” Lane said. “Yeah, if you jump ahead of it at the beginning of the year and run off with it, yeah that’s cool and all, but you are not really going to. Because once you go to winning on Velocity, you are going to be put on (the premier) tour.
“It is like every year; whoever does good at the Finals is going to win everything.”
Lane is also on the cusp of the 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast. The No. 44 ranked rider in the world standings was the next alternate for the U.S. Border Patrol Invitational this weekend in Fairfax, Virginia.
He is 290 points behind No. 35 Marcos Gloria.
The Real Time Pain Relief Velocity Tour champion receives an automatic bid to the PBR World Finals on Nov. 7-11 at T-Mobile Arena, as well as a $50,000 champion’s bonus.
That too is on Lane’s mind.
“I know everything happens for a reason and God is just building that fire for me right now for when the Finals do roll around,” Lane concluded. “Anytime I have a break, I do nothing but train, train train. My plan is to be ready for when I do come back. I am trying to look at it as a blessing instead of a setback.”
