Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128332
r it, and maybe that will op en the door, too," Ben said. "So met imes it helps to speak about things." With that he launches into a long story about a recurring dr eam fro m his early professio nal dirt track days. The dream preve nte d him fro m waking up. The point is that "the re' s so mething to the mind, I'm rea lizing more and more. I'm not getting weird; I'm just understanding the human mind a little bit better." So how does that relate to Daytona last year? "Sometimes you're playing golf, and you think, 'I'll double bogey or triple bogey this hole and make it up on the next one .' You neve r do . And that's been my problem . And now I don't care about making it up any more." Put anothe r way, he wants to get it right the first time . Riders, good riders, do n't like to make excuses. Instead they talk abou t missing their setup. They talk about defect ive tires. They talk about lappers. Did I say they don't li ke to make excuses? They talk about know ing why they've been beaten and trying to fix it . Bostrom is no different, e xcep t that this year his probl em , at least the physical one, didn't have a fix. The testing season had gone well on the new Honda CBR-IOOORR. It was faster, handled bett er, and was easier to ride than the RC-51. He couldn't wait to get back o n it. Then the week before Daytona, Bostrom got what see med like a fairly ben ign ear infection. But instead of running 47s on race tires. as he'd done during the January test, he was doing 48s, and for the race, 49s. What he thoug ht was an ear infection affected his visio n. He didn't know why. The 200 ended prematurely w ith a stre tched chain. And fro m the re it was just a downhill spiral. '" we nt to Fontana, really bro ke my balls trying to race that," Bostrom said. "Before that we had a test at Laguna, and ' was running around the re abou t two seconds a lap slowe r than I wante d to go . I co uldn't get out of the 27s, and that was my limit. If I we nt over that, I was going to cras h. It was pretty guaran teed . And I to ld the guys, 'Let's just soldier through this test and get to Fontana .' And Fontana , the first race I was trying really hard to make up for lost points, but I ke pt steering into the corners because ' co uldn't see the barr ie rs as I needed to. I finally just ran into a curb, which sucked . Put us onto the ground. I've bee n st ruggling ever since." Bostrom trie d to cure the vision problem with homeopathic med icine, "and believe it or not, it seemed like it worked a bit." He took pills t hat helped the first day of a race weekend but were less help each succeed ing day. ' ~ my body would run down, I'd have less strength in the eyes," he said. The pills didn't cure the ailment, so he sought out more conven tional doc tors . Blood work found his body chemistry to be deficient. His training, hydratio n and nutrition weren't in sync. Too often, he was exhausted . O n the final lap of the second race at Barbe r Motorsports Park, Bostrom mistook the wh ite flag for the checkered flag. " I was diZZY," he now says. While lead ing the race early on, he' d bee n distracte d and had to shut down the throttle. "I was in tro uble. Whe n [Aaron] Yates came up, Isaid I can't lose another spot. So I rea llytried to gas it up the last couple of laps and bring the lap times back down ." W hen he saw a flag, wishful thinking made it checkered. Only on the cool-down lap did he realize his mistake . First he had to finish. The n he worried about how badly he'd let down his crew. "They're not going to understand whe n I came in," Bostrom said. "I cou ldn't ride." The following week at Pikes Peak International Raceway he rode so tight, he couldn't ride. So tense was Bostrom that he pulled a muscle in his back. Then it migrated over his shoulder and into his armpit, affecting his breath ing. "Neve r had pain like that befo re," he said. "At some point I just had to sit up and stretch out my back. I could not lean the bike left any more . I realized right there, I'm riding tight." America n Honda believed Bostrom was their best hope for a title. While Duhamel and Erion Honda's Jake Zemke shared a spare for the past year and a half, Bostrom had two machines. That changed at the following race at Road America. "It'd have been nice if they actuallywould have called afte r Pikes Peak when they knew it was going to happen and said, 'Hey, you're not going to have a spare bike, so heads up.' But when I showed up, I heard it fro m my guys, and I think my guys we re a little bit nervous abo ut saying, 'Hey Ben, you lost your bike .' Maybe if they knew for a couple of days, they didn't call me either. I think they thought I was going to take it worse than I did." Bostrom believes Honda made the right move . "Whe n I got there, I said I totally understand. If I was in Miguel's shoes, I'd want those bikes also. He 's racing for a championship; I'm way out of it. I just need to go out there and get my head on straight. I need half a bike. I don't even need a w ho le bike. I just need to start riding the thing co rrectly. Y do n't nee d two bikes, not ou whe n the bike's this good." Bostrom believes the bike is supposed to do all the work. In his resurgence, Duhamel is relaxed on the CBRIOOORR. Only Mladin rides tight, Bostro m said, "but he's quick every lap, so obviouslyhe's in great shape. Idon't think it's easy to hang onto the bike like that. He's forcing the bike around the track. He's been riding fantastic for like the last five years." Co incide nta lly, Eric Bostrom found himself in dire straits at PPIR. "I was des troyed during the race ," Eric said of his only win th is year. He spent the race on eggshells, trying not to crash . "That will wear you out. You can' t hold 350 pound s from fall ing over, and you definitely can't do it for 48 laps. So I think the re's a difference." Like Ben, he sees Mladin making it work. "De finite ly, Mat e xasperates himse lf on the tracks on the track," Eric Bost ro m said. "Y can see it ou when he comes in. He's tired, and it's beca use he works hard, but I don't believe he's sho t when he comes in off the track. He co uld go out and do it again. Part of it is because he's physically in good shape, but the other part's because' think even though he 's intense and tight. he's not riding on eggshe lls; he' s comfortable." Ben Bostrom has the good fortune to share the Honda semi with the ageless Miguel Duhame l. Duhamel is at least 36, but he has the stamina of riders half his age. Much of that's due to his work with the Carmie Training System. Run by mostly e1\-ath tl!s Co lorado Springs, it's the same group that wor number of elite athletes, including five-tim France w inner Lance Armstrong. Rock climbing has given Bostrom a zero body fat, physique . But aerobic capacity isn't visible in six-pack abs, and Bostro m's was off. Back in the World Superb' days, Troy Bayliss and Ruben Xaus tried to ge bicycle, but there was always a climbing wall o r beac h that beckoned. On a February flif't www.cyclenews.co Duhamel and Erion Honda's Jake Ze mke were talking bicycling. So Bostrom got one. And soon he discovered that he's not alone . '" found out that everyon e in the paddock has a bike," Ben said, a revelation wh ich says something about his relationship with the rest of the paddoc k. Does he know how avid his crew chief Merlyn Plumlee is about bicycling? "Found out that Mat [Mladin] was really into it, and Mat's been riding great. I figured there must be something to it." Jim Lehman is Bostrom's CTS trainer. A wiry ex-bicycle race r himself, he was at Brainerd to see firsthand how a race weeke nd is fashioned . Bostrom 's exe rtion was mon itored in practice, his recove ry and hydration scrutinized . Lehman wanted to see if there was time in the weekend for Bostrom to put in two hours on the bicycle. Aerobic cond itioning has to imp rove. End-ofrace fatigue means you have to think about wh at you're doing, that you're no longe r acting on instinct. You're less fit, less alert. "You have to ride at the same pace that you think. and that's not racing," Lehman said. T he entire CTS system is the complet e opposite of the way Bostro m has run his life. "Normally I go out and play and have a goo d time," Bost rom said. "One thing I can honestly say is, maybe I've ove rdone it." When he was with Ducati, team manager David Tardozzi was againsthistaking vacations. For Bostro m a vacation isall playand not enough nutrition, rest and hydration. ''I'd just kill myself, and then I'd show up at t he track burned o ut." Whe n he went through his 2001 w in streak, it was part ly because he had a bro ken shoulder and cou ldn't rock climb or wakeboard . "I had no strength to do anything else, and that was David's po int really drove home. In 2002 I tr ied to enjoy life, I tried to take it easy, and it didn't rea lly work o ut. A few of the races I had