Michael Dunlop admits a pure love of road racing fuels his passion for a sport that has inflicted so much tragedy on his family.
The 33-year-old is preparing for another assault on the Isle of Man TT, looking to add to the 19 wins he has already claimed on the Mountain course.
Michael continues to carry the flag for the proud Dunlop racing dynasty, and shoulder the grief of losing his father, brother and uncle to an unforgiving sport that doesn't even spare its legends.
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A memorial garden in Ballymoney houses three statues in honour of Robert, William and Joey, a lasting reminder of three of the town's most famous sons.
"I don't think there's any family would go through what we went through, and have the desire to get up in the morning and ride a motorbike," he told the official Isle of Man TT races website.
"I think that proves we are only in it for the love of the sport. It is sometimes hard to love something that can be so cruel.
"But it is like a bad old woman sometimes, you always fall back to the same one, don't you.
"With things that happened, it has changed the way I look at some things. But at the same time if it wasn't for the sheer love of motorcycling, I wouldn't be doing it.
"You wouldn't put yourself through the torture."
Michael also spoke of his pride for Ballymoney, and how the town rallied around the Dunlop family following the tragic deaths of Robert, William and Joey.
"We're quite fortunate in our wee town, the family is well respected," he added.
"When William passed away they got to put a statue in the (memorial) garden. That doesn't often happen, and that statue will be there when I am long gone.
"And that's an honour to see that, and that's lovely that a wee town wants to do that. And our town has been fantastic to us.
"I've got the Freedom honour myself in the town and stuff like that there, and it is an honour to come out of Ballymoney.
"But sadly, it's not until something nearly happens when the honour comes. You don't get a chance to enjoy it."
Joey, who died in a racing accident in Estonia in July 2000, was awarded an MBE in 1986 and then an OBE 10 years later.
Robert, who died as a result of an accident at the North West 200 in 2008, was recognised with the Freedom of Ballymoney Borough in 2007, an honour also bestowed on Michael.
While still proud of the family recognition, Michael insists the adulation and personal honours were never on the family's radar when they raced motorbikes.
"People say, 'you deserve an MBE for services to your sport'. But it would be some craic the Queen looking at the state of me," he joked.
"But it is never something we set out to achieve. People tell me I've got 19 TT wins, but I never think of it that way. I did all that before my late twenties.
"Joey was only 26 or 27 when he got his first win. It's strange, but you don't look at it that way.
"We just ride bikes because we enjoy them. We don't do it for any other reason"
He added: "You find nowadays, a lot of the guys push to be famous. They push to be a name. They want to be something, maybe on social media or whatever.
"They're putting themselves up to get an MBE or OBE or whatever it may be.
"I remember years ago my dad said, when Joey got his, he was embarrassed. Well, not embarrassed, but they brought him into town on a bus and things like that.
"And they never wanted any of that. Joey just genuinely went about his day.
"The whole aspect of that has changed now. Even when my dad was younger, when you look at it now, they didn't get what they deserved to get.
"Even what my dad did. They suffered the highest level of life just to make Ballymoney somewhere. And they didn't do it for any other reason.
"I remember when we were going places, and they were just so proud of being from the town and where they were from. There was never any heirs or graces.
"And it's probably the same with me."
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