THE SETBACK I DIDN’ T SEE COMING Then, of all things, a kettlebell nearly ended the whole campaign. It sounds almost funny saying it out loud. Romaniacs prep derailed, not by a crash, not by the bike, but by a training session gone wrong in my own garage. I pulled a muscle that took me off the bike for over a week, and it turned out to be relatively minor in the end. But it dragged up something a lot heavier: the story of the back surgery I had in Germany. It’ s not something I’ ve talked about much publicly before, but it felt important to be upfront about here, because it’ s part of the real calculation I’ m making every time I push a training session or line up a section on the bike. There’ s a version of smart that’ s about tactics and race lines, and there’ s a version of smart that’ s about knowing when to back off because I’ m old. Definitely not too old to do it, but also definitely too old to push it as far as I used to. That week off the bike was frustrating in the moment, but it forced a recalibration I probably needed. A reminder that this whole build up is as much about arriving at the start line intact as it is about arriving fast.
GETTING BACK INTO IT Since then it’ s been a pretty smooth ride. We took my stock 450MT out into proper bush terrain to actually feel what this bike does, and found out pretty quickly where I needed to be careful. A low ground clearance that punishes bad lines I think was my biggest takeaway from all the training I did. Clipping a tree root or rock with the sump on an off camber will be deadly, so line choice is top priority. The suspension is not designed for hard enduro, which is where the TFX package in Romania will be night and day.
98 KIWI RIDER