On The Pegs January 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 1 | Page 70

On The Pegs
What do you think was the difference from this
year to last year? What were you doing better this
year from last year?
Last year I think I realized that I really needed to put
everything into this. There’s only a select few of us
making money and those few are the guys that are
winning. Actually Kailub (Russell), Thad (DuVall) and
I are on the podium close to 70% of the time. And
we’re probably the only three that are making a com-
fortable living doing this. That’s where I wanted to be.
That’s where I saw myself. So, last year I started put-
ting in the work. I changed trainers. I started doing
some different things. I started trying some different
techniques while on the bike. Everything just kind
of fell in place. It obviously took over a year to get to
where I wanted to be, and it took the off-season. I
think the off-season training is the place where I can
pick up the most. The reason I say that is during race
season you do a GNCC, you’re out for two days. Yes,
you can work out if you want to, but my trainer basi-
cally tells me you’re going to do more damage than
good if you’re out there training on Monday and
Tuesday. During the off-season I can hit it every day of
the week, and we can control what my body’s doing.
This off-season, since working with him, we really put
in the man-hours and got my body where it needed
to be. It’s tough to maintain during the season with
such a busy schedule doing all three series, but we
found time to balance it pretty well early in the year,
at least until the sickness. I think having a positive
crew around me and a mechanic this year, which
I haven’t had the last few years, and just the little
things, kind of tying up all the loose ends, everything
fell into place.
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