On Track Off Road No. 187

still pushing at 100%. I think
that it’s a mistake to think that
a short circuit rider is going
at 95% when they race on the
roads. You still push as hard as
you can the roads, but it is different.
It’s hard to explain. You
don’t ride in the same way. You
don’t push the front anywhere
near what you do at BSB. You
don’t ride the front into the
corners really hard. You don’t
lean over as much, because
there’s not as much grip. So
it’s not because you don’t want
to or you aren’t able to do
what short circuit riders can
do. The reason it’s different is
because there isn’t as much
grip on the track. Without the
grip you can’t ride the same.”
“You find the limit in a different
way. A lot of the corners
at the TT lead onto really long
straights. Any kind of corner
that leads onto a long straight
- and you might have a two
mile straight - you need to lose
a little bit going into the corner
so that you can gain lots coming
out. If you do that in BSB
you’d get hammered because
the straights aren’t that long.
Because you’re making sure to
setup the exit you’re braking
earlier. For me I’m way more
relaxed on the roads because
I’m braking way earlier than
where I know I could. A lot
of my success on the roads
comes from racing in the British
championship.”
“It’s interesting for Dean Harrison
and more and more of the
roads riders that are doing the
full BSB season now. They get
the benefit of racing but they
also have a problem because
the focus for them is obviously
on the road races but by racing
in BSB the risk of crashing
is higher. You push to the limit
and beyond on short circuits
and it can take time to figure
out where that limit is. If you
crash and end up hurting yourself
then you could miss out
on the road racing season.”
“I’m the opposite; I’m a short
circuit racer that comes road
racing. I don’t have to worry
about not hurting myself
because both are just as important
for me. I’ll be doing
BSB and that’s my focus. Once
that’s done and I’m doing
a road race, it becomes my
focus. If there’s another BSB
I’ll do that, and then go back
to a road race. It’s a bit different.
The TT is the big race, for
road racing at least, and it’s
obviously a main focus of mine
but once the TT is done it’ll be
BSB on my mind again.”
Will the pressure of being the
favourite change things for
Hickman? He’s got a target on
his back as a Senior TT winner,
lap record holder and the rider
that came-from-behind on the
last lap 12 months ago to win
the biggest prize. Hickman
does his best to play down
that pressure.
“The TT is such a diverse
place. It’s so unique. It’s so
long and it goes through so
many different types of tarmac
and areas of the island.
It changes all the time. It goes
from narrow and bumpy to
being wide open and smooth.
It’s got uphill and downhill sections
while other bits are quite
flat. Some of it is blind. Some
of it you can see easily. It’s
very, very different.”
“Before I won my first TT, I
always said that the pressure
was on the people that
have already won races. Once
you’ve won a TT you can’t really
go back. You know you can
win and want to do it again.
Now that I’ve won one I’ve kind
of changed my mind! I’m now
saying, ‘I’ve won one, so now
the pressure’s on the people
who haven’t won one!’”
2019 TT: PETER HICKMAN