From The Guardian: James Toseland speaking about Japan, preperation and family.
“Hello from Japan! There are just four races to go in my first season in MotoGP and we have travelled from Indianapolis to Motegi, moving swiftly from five hours behind GMT to eight hours in front. Trying to keep up with the date and time where you are, as well as at home, is actually one of the more challenging aspects of the job – and it is one that the formula one boys will have to deal with in Singapore this weekend.
Lewis Hamilton has said he will eat dinner at 1am and go to bed at 3am to prepare his body ahead of the race on Sunday night. It reminds me of my first race this season, in Qatar, which started at 10pm. I adopted a rigorous training regime just to ensure my body was ready to race at that time of day, which I did by keeping very active until about one in the morning. I went out early to acclimatise and for about 10 days straight I found myself in the hotel gym at midnight with just the cleaner for company. I don’t know what she thought of me, but I could tell from the looks she was giving me that she might have suspected I was a bit of a nutter.
Keeping active is an integral part of acclimatising, and I’ve found myself exploring Japanese shopping malls at the time of day when my body has been telling me that it’s ready for bed.
The grand prix is also under floodlights for the first time, and having experienced it myself in Qatar I have to say that they are in for a fantastic time. One of the surprising by-products of racing under lights is that you can see into the driver’s helmet as most prefer to wear clear visors to minimise any glare. So whereas everyone may look very calm under normal conditions maybe you will get to see some angry or scared faces in there.
As for myself, I’ve been recovering from what was a poor race last time out at Indianapolis. I finished 18th and, to be honest, it was all my own fault. I simply chose the wrong tyre, banking on the fact that there would be rain during the race as the remnants of Hurricane Ike were sweeping through the area. It didn’t happen, though, and your tyres wear away unbelievably quickly in that situation, which just ends up shooting you backwards down the field.
Onwards and upwards, though, and I have to say I’m glad that Japan will be the last race where I’m learning the track from scratch. It’s draining having to concentrate on that before every race, but I know the last three tracks well and I’m hoping for some really good results before the MotoGP season draws to a close and the circus goes into hibernation over the winter.
I still find that I have to pinch myself when I realise that this is what I do for a living. There has never been any history of bike-loving in my family, and I owe my participation in this great sport to my step-dad Ken. When he met my mum he was really into his bikes and used to take me for rides on the back of his machine – much to my enjoyment, needless to say. I loved it, and when I was nine he got me my first bike, a TY80 Yamaha. Never in a million years would I have dreamt I would end up racing a Yamaha for a living.
Getting that bike was a big step for me, and you have no idea how much my standing went up at school when everyone found out I’d got a bike for Christmas rather than a normal present. In terms of my reputation among my peers I don’t think I could have done anything cooler.
Ken is sadly no longer with us, but I can’t forget the influence he had on me. He started taking me to race meetings when I was 10 as my mum wouldn’t go – she was far too scared by the danger and what it would do to her little boy, not that I can blame her. She knew how much I loved it so she wouldn’t stand it my way, and to be fair it kept me out of trouble a lot of the time. If you’re heading off to race meetings every weekend then you don’t have nearly as much time to misbehave or get into the normal scrapes that you’d expect a young lad to find himself in.
So looking back I guess it served two purposes – it kept me out of trouble, and it gave me something to focus on. I owe Ken more than I really know, but I certainly wouldn’t be here, racing motorbikes around the world, if it wasn’t for him. I’ll definitely be thinking of him when that first podium or that first MotoGP win does come along. And who’s to say that might not be this weekend?”
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Good words.