Christian Iddon
I’m only a few weeks out of the race season and I’m already missing that rush. I’ve never done drugs but I can only think that racing is something similar. It gives you a feeling that is just so hard to deal with when you don’t have it there at your disposal… who doesn’t love speed?
So when racing doesn’t give me my kicks I try to do anything and everything to keep myself entertained. Trouble is that not only is race season over but I’m also on strict orders to ‘rest’ my recovering collarbone so I can do even less with myself at the moment. It’s a pretty old injury now but after continuing to use it pretty hard for the entire time since I broke it and then re-separating it at the last round at Brands, it needs time to try to heal.
It would be damn awesome if it starts to knit together naturally so I don’t have to go down the surgery route – every time I have an operation I swear it kills off a few of my brain cells! So, the plan is to leave it well alone for the next three weeks and take it from there. If three weeks of ‘rest’ doesn’t do the trick I’ll be under the knife. To be honest, the main issue is that the concept of rest is a difficult one for me.
A bit like yearning for that rush for racing I’m the sort that always needs something to occupy my mind otherwise things can go pretty tits up quite rapidly; I mean, I’m currently filling my days working at a tyre garage. I don’t really need the work as I am looked after by Tyco BMW but it occupies my brain so that keeps me ticking over rather than sitting with my right hand all day.
See, usually I’ve always enjoyed a bit of manual labour to keep me ticking over. I’ve been a builder, quay header, shop keeper and tree surgeon (Jack of all trades, master of none) during my time as a racer. Most of the time I find it helps and gives me a sense of reality outside of racing. I find it keeps you grounded. So often I’ve come back after a successful weekend of racing where fans come up for autographs, you get applauded for your good work and champagne gets sprayed, and 7am the next day I’ve been the tea boy ‘bitch’ who’s made Dave’s brew too milky.
I don’t always choose the safest of jobs either. A couple of years ago I managed to chop my finger off just two days before Snetterton BSB. I didn’t dare call Philip Neill (TAS boss) so instead I sent a text. I played the situation down pretty well, I would say, with the message reading: “Hi boss, had a bit of an accident and lost the end of my finger today. Having it sown back on tomorrow, see you Wednesday”… I am the master of the understatement.
Anyway, I’ve been on the tyre shop job for one week of three now. All seems to be going well apart from one of the staff getting run over within two hours of me taking over the stand-in management role but apart from that, job’s a dream and I’m well entertained.
In other news, my mum has booked us on a ‘fitness retreat’ for New Year in Thailand. I don’t want to come across all ungrateful and it’s very nice of her to book it but I spend my whole year training and eating right and now the one time it’s ‘okay’ to let go a little, I’ll be on a two week mission of eating apples and doing sit ups. Nightmare. But then again, I suppose it will put me in good stead for the 2019 season – oh, and between us, I’ll be back in BSB. It’s nice to get things signed up before the end of the year and news will be out soon!