#anyway. mmm the idea of casey missing racing...

[batsplat]

Stoner also revealed that he had found it immensely difficult to miss the races, so much so that he couldn't bear to watch them on TV. "I didn't want to watch the races, I just wanted to find out the results, it was too hard to watch" he said. "Even now, it feels like I've missed out on so much." "We went off lactose, we went off gluten for two or three weeks, to try and get a reaction from that. Unfortunately, medical things take some time to understand them. You need to get things out of your system before you can get other things in your system to see if it works. We've found recently that I've had quite low blood pressure and low sodium levels so we're trying to increase that to see if that helps. We might have found something with lactose, a lactose intolerance to some degree, so I've gone off lactose to see if that helps." Stoner dismissed rumors that a bad diet may have contributed to his illness. "We haven't changed my diet because I already had a good diet before, but we're trying to change it to put things in my diet that will put something in my system to help me pick myself up again." "For the first month there was complete rest, there was no physical exercise at all. After that we started training lightly on the bike again, I was out there with my trainer, and we did a good week or so training. Basically just light stuff, just to keep the muscles working, because after so long off the bike, the muscles are going to be sore and tired. After the exercise, we still found the same problems, I was still running into that wall, and we couldn't fix it." Stoner mocked rumors of his retirement, saying that he had laughed at how quickly they had appeared. "I heard on day 3 of Brno that I was retiring," he said. "It's pretty immature of people to spread these rumors." His intention, he kept repeating, was only ever to take 3 races off. "I am looking forward to my future, especially if we can sort this out. I'm looking forward to this weekend, because it's been too hard to be away from racing. It only takes you a couple of weeks away from racing to realize that this is what you really want to do and what you want to get back to doing."

Stoner also dismissed rumors of problems between himself and Ducati. Stoner told the assembled media that it had been his decision to handle the situation as they did, and concentrate on getting better in Australia without assistance from Ducati. "It's difficult for people over here to understand that being away from the sport meant I had to be away from the sport. I had to sort this out on my own. If I'm not here racing, what reason would there be for me to be in contact with the media and everyone here?" Nor had he been upset by Ducati's approach to Jorge Lorenzo. "It's understandable," Stoner said. "It was no problem for me. There was an opportunity there, I'm sure a lot of riders were speaking to a lot of teams; it was that part of the season." But Stoner was clear on where he wanted to stay: "Ducati know I'm happy here, and they know I'm happy with the work they've been doing." He also explained that part of the lack of communication was down to the remoteness of Stoner's house in Australia. "Mobile phones don't work where I live," he said. "So I was out of contact with everyone until the doctors appointments." When asked whether his problems could have been caused by stress, Stoner replied that he did not believe this was the case. Any stress he may suffer, he said, was solely down to the pressure he puts on himself, one factor which the doctors did identify. "They said over-training, things like this. Maybe pushing myself too hard," Stoner conceded. "My biggest critic is myself. All the pressure comes from me, I don't feel pressure from elsewhere. If I'm not getting results, the biggest problem I have is myself. I'm disappointed in myself. This is what confuses some people; when I'm interviewed after the races, even when I win, when I don't look so happy it's not that I'm not happy, it's that I'm disappointed that I made a mistake or I don't believe I rode the best race I could. This is the only criticism that I could have. It's definitely not a problem of pressure."

Excerpts from Casey Stoner's Estoril 2009 media session (x)

[anamuseinglife]

Iditapod Bonus: McGrath Interview with Aliy Zirkle

Note from the transcriptor: This bonus ep had a lot of background rustling noises/quiet conversations. I did my best to capture it!

Casey Groves: Welcome to another bonus edition of the Iditapod. Right now, we’re going to go to an interview with Aliy Zirkle back on the trail in McGrath; it’s Ben Matheson hanging around talking to her, but also kind of recording the sounds of a musher doing their chores, feeding their dogs - so you’ll hear a lot of that. She likes to talk to herself and talk to other people as she’s doing her chores. Aliy’s a great person to talk to as a reporter on the Iditarod trail, she’s very talkative, generally upbeat, and she’s very smart about how to run the Iditarod. So, here’s Aliy Zirkle, interview kind of interspersed with her dog chores. Enjoy.

[crunching sounds]

Aliy Zirkle: This is Allen’s idea of organized, Danny [man laughs] he’s like “all you do is just blah blah blah blah blah” [crunching sounds, probably snow, things moving, bags openly, the sound of plastic brushing against itself] Haven’t used those dog jackets yet! I have used those hip boots, though. There was a whole bunch of open creeks only after Judy in Rainy Pass said “there is no open water from here to Rohn” I was like mmm I gotta put my hip boots on now that you said that. [man laughs] And there were five open creeks! [sound of snow moving, more crunching] kind of given, you know?

Ben Matheson: How are the dogs doing on hydration today?

AZ: Good, you know what they do a lot which is amazing that humans can’t? Is that they dip snow, it’s phenomenal that they actually get hydrated out of that, like you and I would not and they do. Um, but then the other thing is that I’ve been regularly feeding them a watery meal, probably twice a day if not…. Honestly I do one more out on the trail if I have any leftovers. So I think they do pretty well, better than me. I have my two little thermoses and I’m not as diligent as they are. Thermos cheater bar. Let me see if this works [metal sliding, clanking]

BM: How well, how well was the trail set up coming in from Nikolai?

AZ: Mmmmm… I would say…. In some spots really well, and in other spots - that’s just the wrong size, crap oh there it is - we definitely went slow a couple spots, but then, we picked up. So, on and off to be honest with you.

BM: Mhm

AZ: It’s definitely been worse, in years past, or not worse, but you know. There’s been punchier trail in years past. [plastic bag rustling] For all the talk of “there’s tons of snow it’s gonna be a slog”, it hasn’t been that bad. But, things can always be badder, worse. The only thing I’m missing is sleep. I need to sleep a little bit. I’ve had the opportunity and for some reason my body’s been like “no you’re good, you don’t need any!”. Which isn’t true. [breathes slowly] Burn your new parka! Yay, that’ll happen by the end of the race. [plastic rustling]

BM: You thinking about Ophir or Iditarod?

AZ: Sure. Name of the race is Iditarod, why not go to Iditarod. [pouring water] I haven’t been there in a long time - uh, 24 - long time. [bucket clanging] Look at that, cheap bar works. Yesss. [more water pouring, zipper moves] I uh, I always 24 in Takotna, and, you know, Allen and I were talking and, I kind of think we should shake it up a little, I’ve obviously got one thing a little bit wrong, mmmmmmmm, sounds like a good shake up, huh?

BM: I was going to ask about a little bit of diarrhea, I saw?

AZ: I’m doing fine, thank you for asking [all laugh] I think it’s uh, weather, I have put a few of them on metronidazole, which is kind of just in case, but honestly, they’re jogging out there in 30 degrees warmer than they should be, they’d probably have it 0 or 10 below. Um, as soon as I put them on some metronidazole it clears up, so I’m pretty cautious about that. No one has any bad, that’s for sure.

[more sounds of plastic rustling]

AZ: [quietly] I did see some other poos out there though, right, looks good, huh? Warm that up, get a meal - thank you very much I appreciate it! Fix it?

Man: Yeah, I have five fingers on both hands

AZ: Wow! Not calling you, Mitch

Man: No [laughs]

AZ: Where is he, anyways?

Man: Behind you

AZ: Hm. This is a really comfortable seat, that thing. So, dog jackets, I have like a million dog jackets for like 30 above, thank you very much I appreciate it. That was not outside assistance, that was you borrowing my knife

Man: Wipe the peanut butter off before you use it!

AZ: Okay, they won’t mind

[more rustling sounds]

AZ: Ope, bib attack. Hmmmm might use that. Oh, there they are, more booties. [rustling, bottles clanking] Get back. How are you guys? Hi, how are you? [loud rustling] I’m making dinner for my dogs! They’re not gonna eat it right away though, we let it sit, simmer, like moose stew. Just a little while. [more rustling, opening packages, quiet background conversation, intelligible]

Casey Groves: That was Aliy Zirkle, in the checkpoint of McGrath, being interviewed by KNOM radio’s Ben Matheson. Stay tuned for another full length episode of the Idatipod.