MotoGP: Remy Gardner: ‘Motocross is a bitch sometimes’, Hard Enduro ‘safer’
Motocross is widely seen as one of the best all-around ways for MotoGP riders to stay bike sharp and maintain th🧜eir physical fitness while away from the grand prix paddock. Not to mention the fun factor.
But the Australia꧋n called time on Motocross traini𝕴ng after suffering a wrist fracture in the run-up to pre-season testing at Sepang this year.
It was the second time that Gardner had been bitten by his love of Motocross, after su🐓ffering multiple leg fractures in 2♍018.
The latest big name to be caught out while Motocross training is Gardner’s friend🍎 and rookie Moto2 race winner Pedro Acosta, who was forced to miss the recꦫent Assen round after breaking his left femur.
“I spoke to him. He's alright, he’s in good spiritsꦿ,” Gardner said of Acosta.
“Motocross, in the end, is dangerous and I c🔜an't say that I haven't done it [been injured]! I've been there twice already with Motocross, so I’ve ac🐷tually left it, I'm not doing it anymore, until I'm out of racing I guess.
“Unfortunately, it's dangerous. It's good training and super fun, but Motocross♏ is a bitch soꦿmetimes.”
The 24-year-old no🐬w uses “lots of Enduro and Trials” instead, explaining: “Not fast Enduro, 🌱Hard Enduro for physical training.”
Hard Enduro uses machinery very similar to Motocross. But while Motocross is about riding fast laps on jump-laden tracks, Hard Enduro involves overcoming steep hills and (mostly) natural obstacles🌄 to get from A to B.
That means much lower speeds and, while Motocross is about how quickly you can finish, the first priority in Hard Enduro is simply to reach the finish - riders often have to physically manha✅ndle their 110kg bikes just to make it through the toughest sections.
“I think it's 𓂃much safer than Motocross, because with Motocross you’ve got spee🐭d, jumps, I've hurt myself many times in motocross,” Gardner said. “Hard Enduro is all first gear kind of stuff, pushing the bike up rocks.
“I guesꦫs you could fall down and slip or whatever. One day maybe, but I think it's much safer. At the moment I've got no injuries from it.”
Bu🧸t like any motor𝓡cycling activity, safety is relative.
“I ♉was going up one of these big hills in second gear and I’d been told ‘make sure if you can't make it, you throw the bike [away from you]’.
“So when I was about to fall, I just [launched the bike a💟way] and it went all the way down to the bottom. So yeah, I s⛦acrificed the bike before myself!
“🐓But it's good training. Physically, Hard Enduro is one of the hardest types of training you can do. Just watch the guys at Erzberg.
“We'll go out and do like 5 or🍃 6 hours. And I am dead. I take 2 litres in the camelback and when we get back I’ll drink another litre and a half of water because I'൩m just dehydrated. Especially now in summer. In Spain, it's like 35 degrees.
“It's pretty gnarly…So I do a lot of that [Hard Enduro] and some Trials and Dirt Track. And with the little bike🎉s, the Ohvales, a bit of training withꦑ those as well.
“But I'm not touch🍨i🍸ng a motorbike for two weeks [of the summer break]. I’m going fishing!”
Gardner has scored nine points d🔥uring his open🍸ing 11 races in the MotoGP class, for Tech3 KTM.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Su🌠zuki exit story and Marc ✅Marquez’s injury issues.
