You as a racer probably heard about the May 31st thing before the fans did, before they made it official, so you maybe knew it was coming. But how do you feel about it? Are you pumped we’re going to try to ramp this back up, or would you prefer it to have more lead time? This is totally different than normal racing. We’re all in one state the whole time. How do you feel about all this?
Yes, I did hear about it. Obviously they were going to try for that. I did get, I wouldn't say confirmation, but they said it was going to look really good for May 31st. It’s going to be the same for everybody as an ideal situation. It’s not about not having enough time to get ready. I’m ready. It’s just going to be weird for everybody. There’s no track walk or things like that. It’s the same for everybody. Am I pumped about it? I’m trying to make the best out of it. I don’t want to sound like I’m in negative slate or anything. I think we have a plan actually, and I’m pretty pumped. Normally my agent or my wife take care of all that stuff, but I’ve been actually pretty involved in trying to get a plan set up with everything because it’s going to be a little bit different being at altitude and whatnot. So we’re definitely making the best out of it. I’ve got my teammate obviously, JB [Justin Brayton], involved. We have a super good plan set up. I think it’s going to be a fun three weeks for sure.

A lot of people probably don’t realize this but you have some Utah connections. Your wife and her whole family is from Utah. So of all the places to pick, did it kind of work out a little bit for you?
Yeah, it’s like a home race! Of course. We spend a lot of time obviously in southern Utah. I love going to Utah, first off, and I feel like I have a lot of fans, especially in southern Utah, St. George area. That’s where I spend a lot of time so I’ve gotten to know a lot of people and whatnot, so I’m super excited to be racing in Utah for the remainder of the season. I’m excited. I haven’t been to Salt Lake in a long time. I think the last time I went was 2013, because in ’17 I was hurt. I don’t really remember when the last time was that they actually did race there. But I’m excited. I love going to Utah.

One you’re there, you can’t really leave the state with the testing and everything we’re going to have to do, but they said you can go anywhere you want in the state. So are you tempted to go and build a track? Or maybe you have one there already?
I’m not going to ride between Monday and Wednesday. There’s not really time. You only have two days in-between. I think since we are at altitude things are going to be a little bit different. The focus is going to be on recovery and just kind of staying loose and happy. Then from Wednesday to Sunday obviously there is going to be a little bit more of a gap. I think everybody is probably doing the same thing. We were planning on riding somewhere on Friday. I’m not even too worried about whether that was supercross or not. I think it was just important to be on the bike, do some starts, do a little bit of play riding. I have done my work. I feel like I’m in a good position. During those three weeks of time I’m not going to be focusing on trying to gain any fitness or anything. I think it’s all about feeling good. I’m just very interested to see with the altitude, being there for such a long period of time. It’ll be interesting. I have a lot of good people around me with Blake [Savage, trainer] and then some people from Red Bull. We have a lot of connections around to try and gather as much information as possible to make the best out of the state while we’re there.

When you hang out in southern Utah where your wife’s family is, is that altitude? Do you have experience with that?
Yeah, a little bit. Definitely. I think it’s 2,700 feet or something like that, so not as high as Salt Lake City or even Park City, for that matter. Park City is really high. But enough to where when you go on bike rides you notice it, for sure.

At Daytona you were like, “I’m going to chill on the public autograph signings.” That’s before we even knew how bad this was. Then it just turned out you were in the same boat as everybody else. So I think when fans heard supercross is coming back, people started speculating, “I bet you Roczen doesn’t even want to do this.” Can you comment on that? Were you worried at all? Are you worried at all?
At one point of course I was worried because you have these different states… Like in Florida right now, I think they’re kind of starting to become back normal. The restaurants are somewhat open. You don’t see a whole lot of people in restaurants yet, but it’s busier. California is, I was just talking to a friend earlier, I guess still only takeout. It’s still kind of locked down. It’s just weird. I’m just unsure about the whole situation. Is there a second wave or not? I just didn’t want anything to be rushed. Of course, I’m excited to go racing no matter what. It’s been a long time and I want to get this championship done before any other race is scheduled. So my priority was trying to get the supercross season continued before doing any other races.

At Daytona you were like, “I’m going to chill on the public autograph signings.” That’s before we even knew how bad this was. Then it just turned out you were in the same boat as everybody else. So I think when fans heard supercross is coming back, people started speculating, “I bet you Roczen doesn’t even want to do this.” Can you comment on that? Were you worried at all? Are you worried at all?
At one point of course I was worried because you have these different states… Like in Florida right now, I think they’re kind of starting to become back normal. The restaurants are somewhat open. You don’t see a whole lot of people in restaurants yet, but it’s busier. California is, I was just talking to a friend earlier, I guess still only takeout. It’s still kind of locked down. It’s just weird. I’m just unsure about the whole situation. Is there a second wave or not? I just didn’t want anything to be rushed. Of course, I’m excited to go racing no matter what. It’s been a long time and I want to get this championship done before any other race is scheduled. So my priority was trying to get the supercross season continued before doing any other races.

I think there were people speculating that you wanted to wait six more months, but that’s clearly not the case.
No. Absolutely not. The year’s over in six months! We’re just all in a unique situation because the MXGP guys, all they do is ride outdoors. The NBA, all they do is play basketball. We do have two different things that we got going on, supercross and motocross. So I didn’t want supercross to be scratched then start outdoors and then go back to supercross. Of course again, same for everybody, but we’re still trying to make it as comfortable as possible because no matter what, once we do start racing again it’s going to be a long, I would say a couple of years. We start now. If it goes into outdoors and then we race until late October. Then we have November, December. Some people do manufacturer changes. Some people have new bikes. We have a new bike coming out. So we have to get testing time. Everything is all flipped upside-down right now.

Good to hear that you’re excited about racing. You have a real reason to be. You’re three points behind in the championship, so if anybody has an incentive to want to get out there and score points and make it happen, here it is. You got your chance!
Yeah, absolutely. What I love about it, too, is normally seven races are drug out. If you have an off-weekend in there, like we were going to be off for Easter, that’s eight weeks. Now it’s going to be boom, boom, boom, boom. I think it’s important to get a good rhythm in. I’m excited. We’re in a good position. So is Eli [Tomac] and even Cooper [Webb]. Nothing is lost yet. I’m all in, man. I want this so bad. I keep telling my wife about it and everything. I am putting everything in motion on my side to just leave nothing on the table. I don’t want to go there and like, “I’ll guess I’ll drink some water…” I don’t know what you want to call it. I’m hustling to try to get everything set up. Hydration, everything, I’ve got to plan this and I’ve got to plan that. I just need to make sure that all the puzzle pieces are lined up so I can just go out there and be my absolute best and just hammer down and try and make this thing happen. It’s awesome for the fans right now because we are pretty close and I think it’s going to be really exciting, especially now since all this time off. We’re going to be one of the first sports that’s going to be on TV so I think that’s going to be big. I’m just excited to be in the position. In the previous years I wasn’t in title contention and you’re just riding around in eighth place or whatever. It’s not me and it ain’t that fun to be back there. So I’m finally back in the hunt, actually probably more than ever before, honestly, this late in the season. Even though we do have seven races and it does sound like a lot, it’s going to be going by real quick.

What do you think two races in a week are like? Does that sound gnarly, or is it not that big of a deal?
I can tell you after these three weeks are over! It’s interesting. Racing intensity is always on a whole other level. Sunday there’s no time at all between the next race on Wednesday. Wednesday to Sunday, you got some good time in-between there to try and get everything lined up. It’s going to be a sprint. There’s no “Let’s see what’s going to happen” or whatnot. I feel like you got to set the tone and if you don’t set the tone in the first race, you better fight yourself back real quick because it’s going to be one race after another. It will be interesting. It’s kind of cool about it, honestly, that we have these unknowns. This is all very unique. That’s kind of what makes this exciting too and fun. I’m looking forward to it.

You’ve always been the guy to say, “I don’t need to do everything exactly the way some trainer tells me to do it.” You’ve been a guy that kind of just rolls with it. So do you think this almost helps you a little bit? I don’t think you’re a on Tuesday. So it seems like you’re equipped for this.
Yeah, absolutely. I think this is honestly almost, I wouldn’t say an ideal situation, but I do feel like I adapt really quick. It seems like I always come out guns blazing at the start of a season. At least I have that on my side. Plenty of time after a long off-season I come back and then I’m smashing it early in the season. So that side of things, it’s a little bit in my favor. It’s a good situation for me. It’s a good spot to be in. I’m second, but we’re close in points. Anything can happen. You’re right, I don’t really like to be told what I have to do. As I’ve grown older I have read and I’m still interested in the whole physical side of things when it comes to training, whether that’s strength training or cardiovascular training, whatever that may be. So now the fun thing about it is that I’m the one reaching out to people from Red Bull with Blake. We’re all on an email. I just try to cover all my bases. That’s just because I’m super motivated. I think that’s going to be a big mental advantage to my side just because I am not leaving anything on the table.

That’s cool to hear. It reminds me a little bit, and I’m sure you talked to your teammate JB about this, he told me the older he gets the more he loves all these logistics. He loves traveling internationally and having to figure out flights and time zones and crating up bikes and all this stuff. So it sounds like you’re loving that process a little bit too, the planning part?
Yeah, absolutely. I think just when you get older and wiser you tend to relax with things a little. Back in the day when I first came over, I was freaked out. I had never been on a plane this much in two months of racing the west coast series than I’ve been in my entire life. I’m like, this sucks. Time changes, heat, traveling, people all the time… I was spun out because I wasn’t used to that. Now I just use the flight time as relaxing. I’ve done this a long time. I just kind of learned to prepare myself for these situations. I think this is just part of being older and being somewhat of a veteran in the sport and learn how to flow with it and keep your stress levels down.

I’m going to ask you about a couple other things you’ve had going on. Last week you had this Red Bull Homestretch thing. Somehow you’re in a virtual car racing event with legit, professional drivers, also a baseball player. How did that go? I’m assuming these guys have tons of experience doing this. Did you have any? You kind of held your own.
The good thing is, my whole entire life I was wanting to be a jack of all trades, so I feel like I’ve done a lot of variety of sports. Am I a professional at any of them? No, but luckily when I go to St. George I drive a lot of side-by-sides and stuff. So I guess what I’m saying is I have a little bit of experience at least being in somewhat of a car. That actually translated over nicely. I was really surprised with how legit this whole thing is. Having that said, I’m not a professional, at least not yet, but once I retire, maybe I’ll go over into four wheels. I’m going to have to do some kind of racing or some kind of competing because otherwise I’ll probably drive myself nuts. And I will definitely drive my wife nuts! I never get to race those guys in an actual real event, but the cool part is Sebastian Loeb, Scott Speed, Indy car drivers, Travis Pastrana—they’re all legends of rally and four-wheel stuff, so of course they have a lot of experience. So I tried to get some practice in because I didn’t want to look like an idiot out there. It actually paid off. I feel like I did pretty good. It was more for fun than anything, but having said that, because we had three different events—we had one where we were doing the Red Bull Ring and it was in an NSX, regular kind of race car I guess. The second race was a rally race. Super difficult because you turn the traction control and everything off. You’re sliding all over and you’ve got to think three corners ahead with how you set everything up. So it was really difficult, but so much fun at the same time. I was blown away by just having a PlayStation screen and a steering wheel and our controls and everything, how legit it actually was. So that was cool.

Then the last race was a go-kart race, and that was not my favorite. It was on a wet track and everything. I didn’t practice that at all. You just looked at the steering wheel and the thing wanted to go right! It was insanely touchy. It was like Mario Kart when they drop a banana peel and you ride over it. I got spun in the first race a little bit. Also, me and Travis always found each other. We were battling back and forth. I got sent off the track once or twice but caught back up to those guys. I actually drove off the track myself in the first race. I think I finished fifth or something like that. The rally race, I feel like I was the best personally. I went into second and hung with the top guy. Sebastian Loeb is the rally car driver, like the GOAT. He’s like the Ricky Carmichael of rally. He has nine world titles or something like that. I was pumped. I went back into third or fourth and me and Travis were battling of course the whole time again, but we were hanging with the front three guys the entire time. There was a lot of slicing and dicing going on. I guess what I’m saying what made it so fun was that none of us were so spread out that we were all driving by ourselves. There were five guys literally in the same spot the whole time, going back and forth. Super easy to make a mistake because it was literally like you’re driving on ice. It was a good time. I had a blast. Obviously, I’m going to start racing now so I don’t really know if I have time, but I think it is a six-week event, and I would love to do it again. I had a lot of fun. The time-consuming side of things was that setting this whole thing up, three or four days before it I was on the call with fifteen people. You need a laptop. You need an iPad. You need an ear bud in the left, ear bud in the right. Ear bud in the left you talk to the tech team. Ear bud in the right you actually talk to all the drivers and then to the two commentators. Setting everything up. It was definitely a process. It was time-consuming.

Also, Red Bull re-released the Terra Firma that you did three years ago where you reenacted what Jeremy McGrath did out there in California, which still blows my mind. You rode a two-stroke for fun a month before the supercross season started. That was a huge risk that you did this.
It was trippy. It’s an old bike. Of course, the mechanics are awesome and they do whatever they can to try and get the thing as safe as possible, but you just never know. Having said that, us riders, especially on a supercross track, especially, there’s not a lot of room for error. But when I am on my 450 you know what the suspension is doing, the motor, all that. You know exactly what the bike is going to do so it’s not a problem. Completely different. It’s like on a different planet going from two-strokes to four-strokes or the other way around. Then a month before the season, you’re so anal about it, you just want everything to be perfect, and then you’re switching over to a super old two-stroke. I was always confused. I think it was a ’94 or a ’93 in a frame of a ’96. That’s why I actually said in the actual Terra Firma, I said, “The bike’s actually older than me.” But then I sounded like an idiot because it was supposed to be a ’96 and I was born in ’94. So I really don’t know! There was a little bit of confusion going on. [Note: Roczen rode Jeremy McGrath’s 1996 CR250R, however, McGrath always used 1993 frames on his bikes, so the bike was based on a ‘93]. Anyway, the bike handles and reacts so different. Then you go back to your 450 and all of a sudden you’re back to a super fast bike and everything handles different. You’re close to racing but still far enough out to get used to it again, but it just kind of like stresses you out a little bit. It was a bit hectic, but it was so much fun. Who gets to say that they’ve actually ridden Jeremy McGrath’s bike? Especially such a legendary bike. So it was super fun and I think the video turned out awesome. Really happy to get to be a part of that.