DOES NICKY HAYDEN do too many laps? He just stays out there lobbing them in during testing, when other riders figure they've learnt all they're going to learn and are back in the pitbox.
"That's just Nicky's style. He can't sit down for more than five minutes without riding his bike," his crew chief Pete Benson said at
Jerez. "I'm not sure whether it's good or not, but that's what he likes."
And it's not only on a motorcycle that
MotoGP's new world champion takes it to the limit. "His training schedule is incredible," his manager Phil Baker said. "It's six hours a day, every day. His listens to his personal trainer, Aldon Baker (same surname, coincidentally) and follows his guidance on everything. His eating habits are so regimented - what to eat, when to eat."
In winter Nicky likes to go for long bicycle rides with his motorcycle-racing brothers Roger and Tommy in Southern California, and they download heart rate data and email it to Aldon Baker if he's not with them.
"It's taken very seriously," Phil Baker said. "Nicky wears a watch that monitors the information - the speed they're doing and their heartrate going uphill compared to downhill. It's a completely focussed attitude to winning races."
It all seems very un-Valentino-like, but it's what makes racers feel confident that counts. Those who might dismiss Hayden's obsessions as nerdy will be even more enraged to know that Nicky doesn't have to fret about such downhome details as paying his monthly credit card bill on the right day to avoid incurring rip-off interest charges.
International Racers, Inc, the sports management company for which Phil Baker works, takes care of that - as well as Hayden's mortgage payments and an investment programme that ensures he will have enough money to last him the rest of his life by the time he's 35.
"Motorcycle racers have shorter working careers than you or I," Phil Baker reminded me.
It all sounds a bit MP3-era, but I was surprised to learn that International Racers has been looking after American bike racers for more than 25 years, and has handled the affairs of the Kenny Robertses Senior and Junior, and Wayne Rainey and Eddie Lawson as well as
Nicky Hayden.
"We've managed five out of the seven American MotoGP champions, and we have
13 world championships under our belts," Phil Baker said.
Before you start carping at all this, remember that Hayden covers up to three grand prix race distances in a day when he's on a serious testing mission. If you did that AND spent Saturday mornings faffing over chequebooks, you'd be the nerdy one.
