A GP bike isn't as physically demanding as you'd think |
As I speak I've got a lot on my mind. I'm going to be a dad again come December 19, which I'm so looking forward to. I have to say, my wife Alyssia is the cutest pregnant girl you've seen... until she turns sideways and she drags shit off the kitchen counter with her bump. She's not big, it's just like she's got a medicine ball under her tits!
Me? I'm ready! The first time with Gracie I was scared to hell, but I've now been there and done it, so I know the joys that kids bring. All is cool! The dream for any parent is one boy and one girl and we've been fortunate enough to have a girl and now a boy brewin' in Alyssia's belly. Gracie wanted to have a sister, but now she's excited to have a brother. We know she'll smack him if he gets outta line!
We've had a test in Malaysia on the new 2006 bike which was cool. Yamaha have improved the bike, I've improved and I'm ready. The new bike's great; normally you get a bit more motor or a better chassis, but Yamana has made small improvements in all areas. Now I've refined my style I'm looking forward to the next test after Christmas.
It's strange, but I finally figured out that it's not where you sit, but the transition from brakes to gas and what you do with the controls. In World Superbike, you ride in a different way. I've been learning this from Valentino's data.
Ours is a good, solid team. Most of Vale's mechanics are Aussies, New Zealanders or English, while most of mine are Italians, so he speaks to my guys and I speak to his. It's the first team I've been in where there's not so much of that whole team split thing between the riders. Sure, his mechanics want him to do well and mine want me to do the same, but it's a good, close feeling.
People have asked me how Dani Pedrosa will do in '06. He'll be cool, although he is a little small. It'll be interesting to see how he does over a full race distance. Speaking to Troy Bayliss and Chris Vermeulen, who've ridden World Superbike machines recently, they say a GP bike isn't as physically demanding as you'd think. And Casey Stoner told me that as you're not carrying the speed through the chicanes and tight corners that you would on a 250 with steel brakes, the MotoGP bike is pretty easy to flip from side-to-side. It's going to be fun to see, that's for sure. '06 is going to be the last year of the 990cc bikes, where a lot of the time you're riding the torque. I'm sure a while down the line the 800cc bikes will have the same horsepower as the current 990s, but as you decrease capacity you have to increase RPM to get similar power, so the 800s will be more difficult to ride. I've not thought about '07 though! It's '06 I'm concentrating on.
At home I've been doing 'tool time' on various bits of land I have. In fact, I spent all week digging a ditch. I've got this digger thing, and instead of renting the proper piece of equipment, I used this digger. I needed to make a big mother of a ditch to get power to this building I have.
I guess it should have taken three to four hours to dig this ditch, instead it took about a week! As any guy knows, heavy equipment is fun for the first two hours, then you're saying to yourself, "Ain't I done yet?"
Typical guy, huh? Happy Christmas to you all from Colin, Alyssia and Gracie Edwards!
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