I’ve been ice riding all winter. It’s been pretty cold and snowing since November in New York. My buddy has a pond near his house, and he plows it into a TT track. I ride my 450 there almost every day. It’s good practice. The most important thing is staying “bike fit.” You don’t want to lose touch with the feeling. Doing 170 mph at Phillip Island this weekend will be a little different. I’ve haven’t really gone anywhere this winter. Once I’m home, I like to stay home, recuperate, and think about all the things I could have done better last season. I got a new personal trainer, so I’ve been doing a lot of cross-fit stuff—rowing, cycling, and running. It’s been going pretty good, but I’m definitely eager to get back on the bike. Last season was a big learning year. When I was in British Superbike two years ago, I took a little more risk and crashed a lot more. In World Supersport, I stayed more consistent and didn’t go above what I thought I was capable of. I was trying to score points every weekend. I ended up sixth, which is really good. This year I will really have to stick my neck out if I want to win the championship. It was great to have the American flag back on the podium at Misano [third place] and Jerez [second]. After that, everything started clicking for me. People saw my talent and what I did the rest of the season. Those finishes helped me secure a ride this year.
The team is basically the same as last year. Andrew Pitt is my crew chief, and I have the same mechanics. We’ll be on K-Tech suspension again. Hopefully, the bike will be a little bit faster. We’ll take it step by step and try to run at the front. I’ve been on K-Tech suspension since I raced 125s with Barry Gilsenan at Celtic Racing. In BSB, I rode a Superbike on Öhlins, which was pretty good, too. K-Tech has really good front-end feel—like you could do anything with the bike on the front. Also at the rear, you can feel everything it’s doing. It’s like dirt track: You can slide the bike a bit more and play with the throttle. The tracks I’m most looking forward to this season are the ones where I had my worst races last year. I really want to attack them. Hopefully I can get my best results at those tracks, even better results at my best tracks, and put it all together. Wayne Rainey is a great guy to take over AMA roadracing. He’s done everything on a motorcycle. Hopefully MotoAmerica can build the series back up and bring young kids through it. That’s what they need to do. All the roadracers are dirt-tracking now. I see it on Twitter when I follow Marc Marquez or Bradley Smith. For me, it’s a great training method. I’ve been doing it since I was three years old, and I absolutely love it. When my roadracing career is over, I will definitely go back to AMA Pro Flat Track for a couple of seasons. I want to win some of them.
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