T
he dirt donkey has been getting a thrashing lately as the BSB bike isn’t going to be ready for a little while yet and I’ll have to wait to make my ’23 tarmac debut at the official BSB test at Navarra. It kind of sucks that I won’t be able to ride my proper bike until the very first official test. It’s just always nicer to bed yourself in a little more slowly with a new bike, team and circuit instead of heading out with all your peers but it is what it is and that’s why I’ve been flat out on the MX bike getting myself as bike ready as I can. Us BSB lot utilise a load of different types of riding to get prepped for the race season. Everyone is different and what works for one doesn’t necessarily work for another but we all have to prepare as best as we can because we hardly ever get to ride our actual race bikes. There are a few reasons for that but the main two are finance and availability.
As you can imagine these things have quite a hefty price tag attached even before you throw fuel and tyres at it and head to a circuit with a four-plus strong crew just to run the thing and that’s without even contemplating the possibility of chucking it at the scenery, so to ride a BSB bike for a day is no small financial commitment. Then there is the actual availability of going riding. My new race bike is still waiting on a few vital parts so I can’t ride it yet anyway but even if they were here, the extra mileage I’d put on would mean other bits need replacing before the start of the year and the lead time of them would be touch and go for the season opener.