VOLUME 57 ISSUE 15 APRIL 14, 2020 P57
enjoying it and trying to make
the most of it, and just compet-
ing. The biggest thing is reading
terrain, reading the other riders,
the strategy of it, kind of know-
ing where you're at and where
you're going to be the next day if
dunes are coming up, or if it's just
going to be roads where you're
not going to be able to put a lot
of time on somebody. It's kind
of knowing what's coming up,
where you're at, where the other
riders are, all these things. It's try-
ing to study these things. When
you do get lost, staying calm and
controlling your emotions and try-
ing to figure it out piece by piece
on the last known place where
you were, the last waypoint. To
train for these things, everybody
has a little different approach.
But for me, some of the biggest
things that I work on is reading
the desert. As a motocross guy,
you don't really understand this
until you're there and competing
and you're going so fast trying to
read the land and what's com-
ing at you at these high speeds.
Obviously [you have to be] fit,
but you have to be pretty average
in everything. You have to have
good strength, good endurance.
Your body and stomach have to
be used to eating crazy foods.
You can't be on a super strict diet
and then go to some of these
countries where there's not a lot
of fruits and vegetables. Your
stomach has to be able to toler-
ate what you're given, and in a
sleep-deprived state. It's hard to
train for this stuff, but I think a lot
of it is just being well-rounded on
a lot of different aspects.
At Dakar or some of these
other rallies, how long are you
typically on a bike in a day?
Some races are short. Some
days you'll only be on the bike
six hours, at a world champion-
ship race. But you're pinned for
six hours. Sometimes at Dakar
I've had days as long as 12 or 14
hours. You wake up super early,
four in the morning. You're on
the bike at 4:30, and you're on a
liaison riding in the dark on really
dodgy roads, kind of like Mexico
where the pavement blends
in. You don't have good light.
There're potholes. Your tension
is kind of up and you're already
Short's number-one goal these
days is winning the Dakar Rally, which
he hopes to accomplish with his new
Monster Energy Yamaha Team.
