TT3D: Closer to the Edge Page #3

on the apex of the corner;

not very fast, maybe 120 miles an hour

Hit the kerb with my arse

at 120 mile an hour

I walked away. Walked away no bother.

The bike was nothing,

we could hardly salvage anything.

Everything was written off on it.

Everything.

I got away from that, but it scarred me.

It didn't scar me for life, it just....

Proper. I just thought another one

of those moments I thought, ooh.

But that's a buzz that,

you know get it wrong, you're

an inch out here and that's it.

Yeah, it was a lot like that.

I'm not like

a sadomasochist or anything,

I'm not purposefully going out there

trying to kill myself

No, definitely not. The opposite,

really, I want to succeed, you know?

But that's the buzz you get

out of trying to do that.

You do end up in that position

where it looks like it's going

to be game over at any moment.

But, those positions, money cannot

buy the buzz you get out of it.

That thing that you get, that you

think, "That's it, game over,"

you don't go into a panic, you just,

"This is it, game over."

I've been in about four of them

since I've been racing,

and I've been racing 10 years now.

And all of those moments, I think three

of those moments were at the TT.

I come to the gym

a couple of times a week,

and get out on my mountain bike

a couple of times a week.

I enjoy my training

and it keeps me focused on the job.

I don't like anything to

sort of let my riding slip.

If a bit of training's what it takes,

then that's what I do.

I've always been a bike fanatic

but my parents have

always been against it

and by the time I got to 15, I think

I wore my parents down that much.

They were a bit concerned

about me getting a road bike

so they got me a trials bike

and the minute I was 17, I took my test

and got a road bike,

so it backfired a bit on my parents.

But, you know, I met a group of lads

that blagged a caravan for free,

it was an absolute wreck.

Dragged it all over the country,

it was falling apart

and we got to race meetings, had a few

beers at a barbecue, raced all day.

It was just great

to experience that side of it.

Natural ability pulls you

through to a certain level,

but if I'm in a race and it

comes down to a tight battle,

and I lose the race basically

through fitness or something,

you know, I 'd be devastated with myself

so I get very obsessed

about what I'm doing.

There's only one outcome for me.

To win the race.

Every one of the 37 and

three-quarter miles of public roads

that makes up the course has

created a champion or hero.

Over 200 corners must be

negotiated up to six times

to complete the world's toughest

road race in the fastest time.

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