just as Covid started ,” He continues . “ I had some surgery to repair my ankle joint and just as it was healed , and I was ready to start riding we went in the first lockdown .”
In many ways Covid was a help for Houlihan , a time to spend away from the bike and have more titanium added to his body .
“ I had surgery to fuse my right thumb joint which was ripped apart when I had my accident in 2018 at Hellas Rally .” Eight weeks off the bike , lockdown meant it was a forced recovery . It was also time to seek approval from the Australian Government to access a travel exemption to take part in Dakar 2021 , obviously based in Saudi Arabia . But what about training , it must happen and for Houlihan it ’ s a little different to most .
“ Due to my titanium knees I can ’ t do much training off the bike ,” explains Houlihan . “ I have to be super careful not to wear out the joints .”
Hang on , titanium joints wear out ? Apparently so with extreme environmental use , training for Dakar extreme ? Probably .
On a ‘ normal ’ week Houlihan tries to get in around 1500 kilometres of dirt riding with roadbook navigation thrown in . He also does long days to simulate those found on the highest level of rallying . There ’ s no fancy gyms or training programs with this guy .
“ Quite often I will knock up 2000 kilometres over a Saturday & Sunday heading out into the desert from my hometown of Albury .
“ The majority of my riding is by myself ,” he continues . “ I also have some great Navigational training tools that I can practice on the computer . Understanding and reading the roadbook correctly is really the hardest part of the training .”
Navigation is an aspect of rallying that often catches many of the best competitors out . Fully understanding the art of reading a roadbook is a huge asset .
“ My good friend and fellow international racer Michael Burgess is now doing roadbook training here in Australia and hopefully Michael will be at Dakar with me ,” Houlihan adds , continuing that he has spent considerable
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