Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
As you all know by now our two-time 250MX Champion Jess Pettis is not only down south preparing for the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross Series, but he’s training at the famous Baker’s Factory located just outside Clermont, FL. Pettis is beginning his second month of work at the Baker’s Factory and so far everything is going smooth. To get his thoughts on how the first month at the Baker’s Factory has gone, we caught up with Jess after dinner and as he was getting ready to rest up for another day of riding.
MXP: Hey Jess, how was dinner?
JP: Hey Palms, it was good. It’s been a long day so it was good to eat and think about going to sleep.
What did you have for dinner?
Tonight I had a black bean burger and a salad.
Sounds good! It’s been a week since we’ve spoken, how have the last seven days of training gone?
Everything has been going great! I’m feeling better on the bike and my fitness base is starting to come around. It was tough when I got down here a month ago as before coming to Florida I was mostly doing strength work on my knee and not a lot of actual training. So when I started with Aldon a month ago I kind of had to work my way into shape. Now I’m feeling good and each morning when we check my resting heart rate I’ve seen some really good improvements.
Last week, we were talking about how there are three different SX tracks at the Baker’s Factory. For the first few weeks you spent most of the time riding the two softer ones and you were adapting well to them. However, the other day you spent some time training on the harder packed SX track. How was that track?
Oh man, that track is tough. The soil is a little more hard-packed but after a while, it gets really chewed up. Also, that track doesn’t have any triple jumps on it so there’s no real place to rest. It also has a few sets of whoops and a couple of dragon backs. It’s really challenging and it took me a little bit to get my breathing down and stay relaxed. However, when we went back and rode the first track again, I felt really good on it and it showed just how far I’ve come since I arrived in Florida.
That’s great to hear. Having three challenging tracks there to ride definitely shows one of the many advantages to training at the Baker’s Factory.
For sure it does. Even if you look at how tough the whoop sections are here, that alone is great training. Two years ago, when I was training in California and riding at local SX tracks there, they were difficult but the whoop sections were fairly easy and there were a lot of places on the track to rest. I would ride there all week and feel great, and then I would go to the race on the weekend and the tracks would have deep whoops and I would struggle a little. Now, I know I’m going to go into Houston completely ready for anything and with my bike set-up properly. With the three difficult tracks at the Baker’s Factory and the ability to change the tracks up and build whatever obstacles are needed, I think that’s a huge advantage.
I would agree with that and I think you’re going to feel super confident when you arrive in Houston. Obviously, you’ve been training hard both on the bike and off of the bike, but have you also been working on technique?
That’s a good question. We have been working on certain things like starts, we actually do starts every day. Thankfully I have a few new clutches here with me as all of the practice starts are hard on them (laughs). Also, I’ve been spending some of my own time working on certain riding techniques, I’ve always done that and I’m not going to change now.
Interestingly, you say that about practicing starts there, I’ve been watching a lot of videos recently of riders training at the Baker’s Factory, and in almost every video they’re doing starts. You’ve always been a great starter and now it sounds like you’re going to be even better.
I hope so!
As far as the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross schedule goes, has there been any talk yet about how you guys are going to deal with it? Will you be spending the entire week in Houston and again in Indianapolis?
Yes, we have. I’ll be staying in Houston all week and hopefully, we can find a place to ride on the days off. I also plan on staying in Indianapolis, but that could change and I might fly back to Florida so I can ride. As you know, the weather isn’t great in Indianapolis during that time of the year so I won’t be able to ride. We’ll see, it just depends on how much the flights are between Indy and Orlando. I believe the final series schedule comes out on the 15th (today) so we can make final plans then.
Well, I’m glad to hear that everything is going well as now you’re entering your second month of training. Thanks for taking some more time with us and please have another safe week of training.
Thank-you Palms! Yes, it should be another great week. I’ve made a lot of great progress during the first month and I cannot wait to see what the next few weeks hold. We’re just over a month away from the opening round of the 250SX East Series so we have to keep working hard.
