£ Wet conditions made
initial testing tricky in
Valencia
point I tried to see how long it
could go with just the ‘cleaning
up’ treatment, but I had to get rid
of those bones in the end. There
was one other option a lot of
doctors suggested. With a normal
person they would have just fused
the wrist, which would have been
good for a normal life as far as
getting rid of pain and keeping the
strength going, but I would have
had no movement, and it would
have been impossible to ride at
100%. I spoke to some riders who
had that procedure, like James
Toseland. He had it done on his
right hand and according to him
you just can’t do it. So I talked
to a lot of doctors and riders
and eventually, I felt good with
the procedure I went through.
It’s been very ‘nagging’ and not
much fun, but I’ve come back
now and it’s only been four and a
half months. They even said that
in a couple more months, I should
be doing better still. So I’m quite
optimistic actually!
Malaysia, Japan and Australia;
the three back-to-back races
were tough but after the week off,
I actually felt a lot better coming
here to Valencia. This is an easier
track, but it gave me a lot of hope
that with some good off-season
rehab, it won’t be an issue next
year.
With the winter ahead, I guess
you will go back home to the
States? I know you are a family
man, so will you be going back
‘home’ to Kentucky or will you
go to California?
Yeah I’m going back to Kentucky
to start with and then I’m gonna
go to California to see my doctor.
Now that I’ve ridden again, I
just want to let him look over
everything and do a good checkup. I haven’t been for a check-up
since before Aragon so….let him
come up with a plan as far as the
next step for rehab and that sort
of thing and then we’ll just go
from there.
Once that is all taken care of,
will you ride much throughout
the winter? I know you like to
ride dirt track, supermotard and
motocross…
You know I will probably ride dirt
track but no jumping. Yeah I will
still keep riding motorcycles for
sure.
You are passionate about offroading..
Yeah I enjoy it and for these
MotoGP bikes, you can train
a lot in the gym, but there are
certain muscles, a certain brain
co-ordination that’s really hard to
replicate, so I use off-road riding
as a big part of my training.
There seems to almost be a
trend now with all the Moto
2/3 guys riding dirt track and
supermoto to train those skills.
It’s something that I remember
seeing pictures of you doing
years ago, when you were a
factory Honda rider; out training
in California on a motard bike
going full sideways, knee down
on tarmac! All the guys coming
through are now doing things
you were doing ten years ago.
Is it something you have put
so much effort into training for
that you don’t need to keep