Happy times...

Fun, that's the way i perceive life should be, Petra and i took a few days out before Miller and as you may well of seen from some of the pics i've posted we went to Orlando, it was only 4 days out but boy did it do me the world of good, you see the reason i write all this is because my job, i.e racing a motorbike is to me the coolest job in the world bar none, sure it could pay probably 50 times better then we might earn something like footballers but you see the thing is that's not what it's all about to me and it took those 4 days out to realise, the problem has been that things racing wise haven't been going at all well, let's be honest now, we flew in all the preseason tests, last year i grant you we were fast in Portimao but this year, Portimao, Valencia and Phillip Island, we were on it, to the point where i didn't even care if someone went a quarter of a second quicker in any given session as i knew within that we could do it, i quite honestly felt on it, this is to be my year... two massive high sides later and a string of what are to me dissapointing results had gotten me all confused though, you see the problem here is that racing is such a massive part of my life and every time things don't go my way in a session, a race, a practice whatever i become frustrated and just try harder and harder and harder but actually that just doesn't work with a Ducati, the harder you try the slower you go. Now, back to Orlando, 4 days out, time to relax and reflect, Petra and i talked for ages and i realised the problem this year is that i'm just not relaxing and enjoying the only job i've ever dreamed of having all my life nowhere near enough, this is supposed to be fun, it's all i've ever wanted and i don't want to look back one day and think cor, i travelled the world, got paid to race bikes, the only job i ever wanted since i was a kid and i wasted it by not actually enjoying myself, In Salt Lake this weekend i had a lot of fun, i really enjoyed my bike again, she's my baby again, we've changed back to an analogue throttle and i've got my feeling back, i've read some pretty negative stuff that sometimes makes me want to front out the people and say "do you know what, you're nothing but an armchair world champion, what the f**k do you know about how hard we have to try to get anywhere at world level???" people talk about motivation, high pay cheques for nothing, parenthood etc and it just makes me laugh because do you know what, the only thing i've been guilty of so far this year is trying too hard, not having fun and being too serious, this weekends been mega, i've loved it, enjoyed myself on track, been far more relaxed off track and i absolutely can't wait until Misano, hopefully we can qualify better and be up the front, Shakey's smiling again!!! take it easy and keep the faith, Shakey #67