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/128644
" (The reco very ) is prett y slow. I've had a lot of pain in all th e soft -ti ssue m uscles and whatnot, from the atro phy . I lost a lot o f weigh t; I lost 30 pounds of mu scl e. I mean, I' m a ski nny guy anyway , and I do n' t have much body fat, so if 30 po unds goes , it's m ore th an likely all muscl e - maybe part o f my swelle d head from bein g cham pio n all those yea rs (laughs)... "You really hav e to take time off, and at like eig ht weeks, I went to Davey Coo m bs' wedding - fl ew back east - and now th at it's six m onths later, I don 't kn ow how I ever did tha t. But hell , Davey and Shann on were gett ing ma rr ied, so I wanted to be there and be a pa rt of thei r wedding . I was in a lot of pain. but just needing to get up and move aroun d, it' s cr azy. You j ust get so atrophied from lying on yo ur back and hav ing you r feet up for two m onths straight. "So I started peda ling a sta tionary bik e just to get some bl ood -fl ow in m y legs. but it was still just reall y early for that. About the end of Au gust , when I went back east with th e race team fo r the fi n al t wo m otoc ro ss Nationa ls, I start ed lifting weights a little bit , and actually do ing som e physical exercise . I put on some weigh t befo re the U.S. Op en so I cou ld fit into m y tuxedo , and then aft er th e U.S. O pen, afte r th e official reti reme nt party , I really took time off - five weeks off aw ay from th e gym, away from all physica l acti vi ty , away fro m the alarm clock, and I literally slept in . "I went t o Th ailand for 10 day s on vaca tion, got a lot of slee p during th at, didn 't answer a cell phon e, didn't do any wo rk for th e tea m - nothing . I cam e hom e for a week from that tr ip . and was sleep ing until li ke 10, I I in the moming - 12 hours a night. After about a week of th at, I said. 'A II right. that's enough. I need to get back in the gym and start some physical therapy and some training .' Because I'd like to get back on a motorcycle and go for som e rides someti m e before Chr istmas. That's my goal, and I think that after all those years of training . it's hard to tra in without a goal. It's like. 'Okay . what am I doing th is fo r?' So when I got back from Tha iland. and I really took some time off. I th ought to myself . 'I'd like to get back on a bike.' "It's really strange. I've told this story a couple times to my friends and stuff. but I started dreaming about it , where I have dreams th at I'm on th e bike . I was at th is track . and my bro ther (Bryan) was rid ing . and (Jeremy( McGrath was ri ding - it seemed like McGrath and those guys were testing. And so I'm on the track, and I'm just blasting these big, soft, grassy. loam y berms - like Unadilla berms from like ' 77 or something . So I started dreaming about it . and it 's really the firs t ti me . I me an you always dr eam abo ut hav ing stuff. or you say. 'Oh, I've always dr eam ed of owni ng a Por sch e,' or someth ing like th at . but it was really aweso me when I had dr eams abo ut ri ding a m ot orcy cl e again, because it' s an obta inable goal. Th en I wok e up in the momin g, and I said. 'O kay , now I k now why I'm getting out of bed at 7 and go ing to the gym .' "I just hope that all that co mes back . and that when I do get on a moto rcy cl e, th at I can let go of th e past , of th e inj uries, and ride worry -free. and really enjoy it , and not be nervous about it. Ju st not to be going around th e track , and go , 'O h, man , I hope I don't fa ll off.' or something like that, becau se th at would take away fro m th e fun of it. You don't want to be worri ed about falli ng off when yo u're riding. I th ink I would be ho lding back, and I think it would be cheating myself, especially at th e level tha t I am ." The Team trail ri de th a t he pa r tic ipated in j ust b e f o r e his caree r-end ing crash, E m ig ' s misch ievous s m ile is ba re ly d e t e c t a b l e as he e yes the tape r e c o r d e r pu rp os efull y and " c o m plains"; " It was j u st a pa in in th e ass having to stop and wa it fo r Tim Clark [anoth er friend). " In short, Jeff Emig rema in s real, a simple-sounding but elusive trait that has a lways com e naturally to our pro tagonist. From day on e . Em ig h as worn his h ea rt on h is sleeve i n an honest , v ul nera b le ma nne r t ha t ha s won him more dedi c ated fa ns than even h is th r e e National MX crown s and o ne Su p erc ro ss t itl e would seem to warran t. Em ig is an instinctual p er so n, an d while instin cts are n ot always correct, they a re al w ays real. w hich is w hy his own pred iction fo r his f u t u r e i s at the sa me ti me the m o st nebul ou s and the m o st accurate ; " I kind o f feel that the fi rs t pa rt o f m y life . b e in g a m oto cro ss ra c e r, is m a k in g a tr an sitio n . I n ever p lanned o n b e in g a motocross r a c e r in the beg inning - i t j ust happened - so I g u e ss we'll j ust see w ha t ha ppens in the n e x t 30 years ." eN "There's a lot of team issues that we didn 't get accomplished last year because I was hurt, and the fate of th e team was undecided were we go ing to still race or not? But evidently we did something right, because Ka wasaki and Chevy Trucks came our way, and a whole host of other sponsors. The Edg eSports.com is in for th ree (more) years. so it's been really positive in that respect. And the bottom line is having a race team so they can stil l build me a bike to go ride [laughs) . If you don 't have any reasons, that's the one . There's mechanics there. and parts, and every thi ng else - tires, and somebody to do the air filter [laughs]... "Th e bottom lin e is everybody's got to earn a li vi ng. but racing is the way that we kn ow how to do that. But we'r e very fortunate that we , all of us - Dixon and Strangio , and all of us - earn a li ving doing something that we like. You go through li fe, and you m eet so many peop le who j ust hate their jobs. I m ean, I'm lu cky - that we get to go ride motor cycl es and get cool stuff , free clothes, sunglasses, or whateve r, trave l around. It's a great job to have. a gre at ind ustry to be involved with, whe n it comes to that. Bu t we're just like anyo ne else when it comes to the business side ; we want to make money. And by putting in hard work and using ou r head - hiring smart riders that can get us good finishes. that's the name of th e game. " Rac ing is not nine to fiv e; racing is 24 -seven. So everything yo u do is directed towards racing . That's really the only way that it works. I think you'll see that when you see a gu y lik e Mitch Payton down at Pro Circuit. He's on the dyno with my team for the last cou ple of weeks. He' s been on th e dyno at m idnig h t - cy linders, heads. pip es. wha tever. And I think tha t that's tru e with a lot of the raceteam technician s. It 's just life; it 's j ust a way o f life... "I' m not ju st getting a percentage of it, that 's for sure. It' s our effo rt, and I want it to succeed. I'v e got m y place in it, and I try to han dl e just my part . We all three make the decisions together. co llec ti vely, but if some thi ng reaily co mes down to it , I guess it wou ld ulti mately be m y ca ll. But fortunat ely , Dixon and To ny do a great jo b. Th ey back ed me when I lost m y ride. and the y back ed m e when I had my ride wi th Kawasaki . A nd we'v e been fr iends for a lon g time. I di dn 't have any idea th at D ixon and Strangio had the capabilities to accomplish what they have. They keep doing things every day that just amaze me , so I'm very fortu nate that I have those two guys with me. Bec ause if I didn't, I wo uldn't have a race team. "It does n't eve n com pa re to racing . It's a co mpletely different deal. but I've kind of m oved on to a different phase in life , and it's a new cha llenge for me . I' ve never ran a race t eam befor e. so I learn stuff every day. and learn stuff by the challenges tha t are prese nte d to me. I leam stuff abo ut myself every day, just like I di d riding." cue I e n e _ S • JANUARY 3 .2001 49