American Nicky Hayden (Honda) is currently leading the MotoGP championship series. Ricky Carmichael (Suzuki) needs no introduction. He has more titles and wins than any other motocross/supercross rider in the history of the sport here in the U.S. What do these two men have in common? Well, a couple of things.
First of all, both of them are trained by an individual named Aldon Baker, a former mountain bike pro racer. More importantly, Baker has both Hayden and Carmichael deeply involved in road cycling as a means of training
An interview with Nicky Hayden published today on CyclingNews.com reveals just how much Hayden is involved in cycling. Mixing 3 plus hours of endurance riding with shorter, “interval” training rides, Hayden says he tries to ride every day, and credits this training for his superior fitness aboard his MotoGP bike.
Carmichael’s fitness is legendary in the motocross world. Virtually the only rider to ride just as hard on the last lap in a long, hot, humid moto, as he did on the first, Carmichael is a veritable machine.
Hayden notes that another form of exercise, jogging, causes impact to the joints that can be detrimental to a motorcycle racer. If you are serious about training (whether to race motorcycles, or simply to get into shape), perhaps you should get yourself on a bicycle.
