Cycle News

INTERVIEW CODY WEBB – AMERICAN BETA AMA ENDUROCROSS RIDER P72 Let's talk about trials. I know it had been a while, but you went back to a national event and won it! Yeah, that didn't even make sense. [laughs] I've really gone away from the whole trials thing. When I first started to do Enduro- Cross, it was just for fun and now it's turned the other way. I'm just doing the trials thing for fun now. I showed up for my first trial national of the year, which was the final round [of 2014]. I prac- ticed two days after Sacramento [EnduroCross] and I showed up, I rode the day before the event with Pat Smage and the other pro guys. Trials is really all about precision and my precision is still there but I'm just a little shaky and not confident with my moves when getting set up on the bike. After practice I thought, 'Oh, I might be able to hang with those guys, but I don't have anything for them.' But somehow I got the mental game going on for me. The conditions were really nas- ty and muddy and slippery and it was almost kinda like Enduro- Cross. You make more mistakes when you start hopping around so I'd just ride it, not stop and just go right through the section. I won the first day and I was ec- static about it; I couldn't believe it. I thought there was no way I was going to be able to win the second day again, but my men- tal game must be strong. I must have everything firing on all cyl- inders right now because every- thing has been going my way so far this year. I won both days and surprised the hell out of myself. I surprised my dad – my dad couldn't believe it either. I think I shocked a lot of people that here I am, basically semi-retired from trials and I just show up for fun at the final round to see how I do and I won both days! How is your foot doing after last season's injury? The foot's pretty good. I don't think it will ever be what it was again. From riding my whole life, my feet were apparently already messed up. I never knew this until after I had surgery. I have a weird thing where my joint is prone to separating. Everything with the plate in my foot is good but I can feel that the foot is really rigid. When I get a big enough break in the series – maybe af- ter this year – I'll probably get the plate removed so it's a little more free. The joint in my foot gets agi- tated here and there if I do too much. I was not feeling so hot after the first day of the trial. You wear softer boots to ride trials so you get more feel, so I was defi- nitely feeling it, but it's nothing a little ice won't fix. I don't think any dirt bike rider ever feels perfect. Do you have any other one- off events planned for this year? I'm actually racing the National Enduro in Colorado in a couple weeks. I'm trying to branch out and see what else I can do for fu- ture opportunities. CN Another notch in Webb's victory case is the King of Motos. PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT HOFFMAN

• Cover