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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126442
Did you pn:pan: diffen:ndy for the o ao 0') - 34 Nationals thu year? Right. That was my whole goal for this year, after having such a bad year, finishing third. I wanted to do it for Montesa too because they hadn't done it yet. Kind of a moral victory for me and them. I wanted to prove that I could do it again. Wen: you training banter phyIic:aIIy or jail JJIeIIUi-e -allf? MmtaJIy. Tbat'. what il aIwa,. is. It always gets down to that. Strictly a mental game. I was more enthusiastic this year. I !all' a .... .d enthusiasm toward the middle of last year. And for me enthusiasm is everything. Sammy Miller said so in his first book. Enthusiasm is the whole key to success. But I was kinda down last year. I had a lot of things in my life that didn't have to do with trials that were going reaDy bad, and that hun me too. Where did you wind up in the world campaign this year? Ninth. I didn't go to the last three rounds. You had a third in Spain. Right, and" a fifth in Canada, an eighth in Colorado, a ninth in Italy and a 10th in Belgium. Is the world thing what you really want to do now? Now it is. To aay that the U.S. Cham· pionship didn't make any difference would be foolish. It's still important. If you can't do one, you can't do the other. You just can't rule it out: oh, it's easier so it's not as good. Which isn't necessarily true. If it's easier, then it's easier for ever,one•. Everybody has the same chance. Forme, now, the World Championship is what I want to concentrate on after winning the U.S. Championship four times. This was the last year I really wanted to do it. put that last effon in before I officially retired from it. You'n: thinking of pulling out? I'm not going to ride the Nationals in 1980 at all. An: you going to bale in England? Live in England. As of now everything looks A okay. I'll be basing out of Renthal, near Sandiford's (the British Montesa importer). Renthal has a factory where I can work on my bike. As far as parts, I get all that [rom the factory. An: you going to get an ACU license and ride the British Nationals and Champion.hips? I've already applied for it. So it will be you and Bernie over then:. I applied for the license rwo weeks ago and they can't really deny me now that Schreiber has gotten one. I plan on living there from January until November of next year. So the top two finishing riden won't be riding the Nationals next year. How do you 1ft the Nationals going? I think there are going to be a lot of people jumping in that we haven't seen for a while. I think it's going to be anybody's ballgame and bring back some riders. The only thing I can see wrong with the Nationals - and it's not anybody's fault, or anything anybody can do - the country is 50 big and gas has gotten so expensive. The trials themselves are reasonable, $20, but the price of gas ... Like if I was an amateur, going out and doing it, [ would find it very difficult taking that much time out from my work and then paying out all that expense money. It's terrible! But [ don't know what you can do to bring the country together. If you bring it down to just a couple of days for a one week series, that's not fair, because a rider can be off and it's hard to get baci in. Like for me, if I've had a bad day I like to take a month off to regain some confidence. I don't know what tbe anawer is. I think they have done a good job so far. The current aet up is the only fair way. Each pan of the country has its chance to .hine. It's just the growing COllt of gas and motels. [ do think that now this championship is going to be wide open, it's going to stir up a lot of interest from people who were always dole. 11ft at Ie.- three or four riders who are capable of winning it. Who? Stita. Leavitt, if he rides. BmR'. ... a possibiliry. Curt Comer and Jeff ruh. And poasibly Mark Eggar if he decides to ride again. And Mike Griffitts if be cornea bad. You cut your knee oPen with a powenaw a ~ ago. How !mig did it take to recoYer? The doctor told me DO walking for a couple of months because I cut into the knee cap itself. I said: a couple of months? I have trials comiDg up. It kept getting stiffer and stiffer. I could hardly bend that knee after four days. h just locked up solid. So I started going for walks and doing the exercises he told me to do. I put a pad over it, left the stitches in and went riding. r rode the Trick or Treat last year three and one half weeks after the accident. I was just forcing myself to go on after a while. The AW cut into the It_ boDe, but jUit got the flab, right? If it had been another quarter of an inch to the right I probably never could have ridden again. There's a main tendon that controls the knee. He said if that tendon had been cut, it could have snapped at any time. If that happens it takes yean to get it back so you can pull on it again. I was just really lucky. Has Europe brought any changa to your riding style? There's a lot more aggreasion, tnore forceful riding than yean before. More momentum. What about phyaica1 trainiDg? A lot of running now. [ De'Ver did a whole lot, but now I'm getting into distance running, putting in 60 miles a week. I have running partnen now 50 [ stay interested. We generally do a four· miler one day alternating with a 12· miler the next. We're going to run a marathon eventually. Still do the weight training? [ get hot on that for about a month and then back off. Some aay that weight training can burt a trials rider. That was my best year, '77, when I was really into it. Not a lot of heavy lifting. Just daily lifting and eating a lot of protein. Tons of eggs and milk. I gained l!O pounds in three months, went to 185, and decided to back off. The weight training didn't hun me at all. h's just a matter of finding time for it now. I feel the running is far more beneficial for me. Any other exercisea, or juat running and riding? I'll get on these kicks for awhile, but berween the riding and the running I'm 50 tired I'm good for ahout 10 pounds on the weights. So next year u a full . . .uh on the world IChedule? It'll actually be my lint year for giving it full concentration with a go·for-it attitude. I'm going to buy my own car and go my own way completely. No more traveling with Spaniards and Team Manana. Will you have IOmeone to work on your bike in England? For the nonnal maintenance, unless [ have a big problem, I'm better off maintaining it myself. I prepare all my National bikes. Nobody is going to look after your bike as well as you are. No one is more interested. They may be more skillful, but they won't be as interested and they may overloolr. something like that engine plug in Ireland this year. h wasn't tightened