"Yeah my problem is I'm addicted to two wheels….But for me I'm a two wheeled junkie, if it's got a couple a tyres, and i'm pretty happy, I don't care if it's a tricycle honestly I will race you."
American Superbike and Supermoto star Ben Bostrom now racing for Michael Jordan Motorsports Suzuki recently spoke to Pit Pass Radio on cycling cyclo cross and mindset.
In January Ben Bostrom raced the masters cyclo-cross at the UCI world championships, he's also planning on lining up in the Race Across America RAAM, in the teams event later this year. The best part about Bostrom's interview was his discussion about the mindset of a winner. Once you've read this you'll know why he's a champion - not just on motorcycles - Bostrom's recently made winning in the sport of cyclo-cross part of his two wheeled career too.
Ben Bostrom is well known for his exploits on motorcycles, yet get him started talking about cycling and his passion for anything on two wheels pours out, the man is just happy if he's out there riding. When asked what he's been doing over winter he replied, "You know I think the main thing is just pedaling that bicycle, I'm doing the bicycle races and keeping myself entertained."
Between January the 13th and 14th 2012 Bostrom competed at the UCI Cyclo-cross 35 - 39 years - Masters World Championships held at Eva Bandman Park in Louisville Kentucky, in the mud and snow. This is the first time the event has been conducted in America. Before the race Bostrom said "I've got a pretty fun race coming up .. the masters world championship in cyclo cross .. man so it looks ridiculous, you got a bunch of dudes… run'n round in a kind of a circle more or less .. jump'n over things … ohh your ride'n a road bike in the snow and mud by the way with little knobby tyres .. you hop the barriers you run up the stairs you get back on it you try to ride you fail - try to ride some more, it's a one hour anaerobic sprint, that's all it is, it's hilarious, you get off the bike .. you pick up your bike, they smack you in the helmet with their wheel, trip in front of you … it all happens and it's all over in an hour. You know what it is, it's a badass sport, it just happens fast .. in one hour you're done .." Bostrom finished fourteenth in his heat on the Friday, then took eighth place in the final riding for Sho-Air/SpeciaiIzed. His time of 47:06 was 2:13 down on the winner in a five lap 15.5km race.
Many professional motorcycle racers are taking to cycling as a form of training. Some reckon they can take it or leave it, yet others like Ben Spies get into some serious training on bicycles, Spies even owning, sponsoring and when he can - racing on an Elite Texan squad - Team Elbowz, named after Spies himself and his iconic style which earned him the name Elbowz. Listening to Bostrom his passion for racing and riding bicycles pours out. Plus the cyclo-cross event in which he races is one hour flat out, perfect training for the motorcycle races he competes in, Bostrom said, "But honestly it's really awesome for the motorcycle …. it's one hour it basically replicates my super bike race and I'll go for forty minutes hammering, it's the same on the bicycle plus twenty and it's left right twisties, you're passing people and twenty minutes to go you think you can't push any harder and you find .. you find the will power to go on 'cause you're going to win you know ... it's awesome for motorcycle racing."
Racing is in his blood and the attraction for two wheels whether it's running on fuel or muscle power is all the same in Bostrom's books. "Yeah my problem is I'm addicted to two wheels….But for me I'm a two wheeled junkie, if it's got a couple a tyres, and i'm pretty happy, I don't care if it's a tricycle honestly I will race you."
On the race across America Bostrom said he'd do a couple of days in the teams event which would comprise a group of about eight of his friends, he says "Yeah I tell ya… I know this doesn't sound like any fun, but I'm gonna do a couple a days, the main thing is if you get yourself in your own little element and you get going it's almost .. in a sense easier than a sprint, because I've got time - I can wear down the other athletes - I can set myself at an aerobic threshold … and not have to go over that heart rate and you push push and you know the pain is sustained …" Preferring not to compete in the solo race he has respect for those who can race across America alone. "But if you're a complete maniac you can do it by yourself, Yeahh I totally get it, you see one guy gets ahead I think he's gone and spent himself and the other guys gonna try and read the other guys face the whole time, like when do I make my break for it…it's a chess match .. that's why the solo class is the best class."
Bostrom's understanding about the defining moment of a race is honed to perfection, talking on breaking your competitors will he said, "Yeahh but I'm a bastard .. I go by the Kenny Roberts theory, if he brakes right there I could probably brake ten feet later.. It doesn't matter what the sport is if you're climbing a hill on a bicycle or a running race I go okay I'm in a lot of pain and my body wants to shut down right now - but so is he - and I'll put money he's hurt'n as bad as me and I'll make sure he doesn't want it as bad as me." Here Bostrom refers to legend Kenny Roberts who may have hung up the leathers many years ago, yet his influence quietly echoes through nearly every thread on racing motorcycles.
It all comes down to mindset no matter what type of bike you are on…"That's what makes people different .. it's mind.. it's completely mind you don't have to have the most talent, you've just got to be of a strong mind .. and you'll succeed and I don't care if that's being an athlete or being a business man in life or life in general, it's just the mind."
For the full interview at Pit Pass Radio click this link Ben Bostrom Pit Pass Radio
Bostrom #182 at UCI Cyclocross L.A. Weekend: UCI Elite Men Rounding the Hairpin Cyclocross at Griffith Park So Cal Cross Prestige Series #9 November 7th 2010
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A cyclo cross race that turns into a bike tossing contest, bike abuse en masse.