Josh Gilbert has endured a challenging season having to recover from Epstein–Barr virus. The British rider made his Ulster Championship debut at the weekend where he experienced a mixed day of results but still showed his determination to push through. We caught up with Gilbert to reflect on his weekend in Northern Ireland, the difficulties of riding while managing EBV, his progress back toward full fitness, and his future ambitions both in MXGP and potentially America.
GateDrop: Josh, your Ulster Championship debut, a bit of an up and down day, luck of the Irish wasn’t really with you, just talk me through your day really and how it all went?
Gilbert: It was but it’s nice to be here, what a lovely place it is. We came over on Thursday after Monster Mountain and then spent an evening at a campsite and then cruised on up. It’s a nice part of the world over here. I’ve only ever been here and raced Desertmartin for the British Championship, so I’ve literally flown in and back out again. It’s nice to come somewhere a bit different.
It was a bit of an up and down day results wise, stuff just seemed to happen all at once today it felt like. I had a little issue with the radiator cap in the first one so it was spraying out water and I wasn’t sure what it was and then a puncture in a race as well. It was just a bit of chaos and then in the last race for some reason my back brake pedal, something was up with it and I was having to pump the back brake as I was going around. It just felt like one of them days where I just kind of wanted to go home in one piece. Taylor (Hammal) was riding really well all day, he actually really enjoyed the track. I struggled a little bit but it’s something different, I’m happy to have come here and the guys have put on a really good show, I’m definitely pleased to have come over.
GateDrop: I was going to ask you about Taylor actually because you’ve been getting the upper hand of him in the British, he was telling me that he’s sick of finishing fourth but today he actually rode really well, are you impressed with how he rode?
Gilbert: Yeah, I struggled maybe a bit with the dirt starts too whereas he had them quite dialed in and then he got out at the front. With the dust berms it was quite hard to see when I was behind him so it was really hard to pass because the main line was to just rail the berms so that made it hard work. He rode really well but also my bike I think I needed to come with a completely different suspension to it because I’ve been going harder, harder and harder with my suspension for the GP’s and the British. I felt like I’ve got to the point that I’m pretty much comfortable now with that but I’ve come here and I feel like I needed to go way back again and make everything softer which I tried doing but it just didn’t feel comfortable enough around here today. With the few mishaps we had as well, I was just happy to take second in the last race to go home safe and sound.
GateDrop: What are your thoughts on the track? Obviously, we haven’t had too much rain so it meant it was dry, there wasn’t too many ruts, probably wasn’t too bumpy but in a way not too many ruts is kind of good because then you can move wherever you want, but how did you find the track?
Gilbert: I don’t know if it was because it’s been so dry but the stones came up through a lot more so it actually made the track feel really slippery, there wasn’t a lot of grip apart from the main line. To try and pass it was really difficult because the main line you could literally just go in and just hold the throttle wide and just use the berms whereas if we had a little bit more moisture I think there would have been maybe a bit more dirt to hold the stones together and it wouldn’t push around so much. But even at Landrake for the British, they’ve got all the facilities and they still struggled to get the water down and it’s just the dry weather that we’ve had lately. I saw yesterday when I turned up at how much effort they were putting in so it’s not for the lack of effort. It’s just been dry and that’s it basically.
GateDrop: Let’s talk about the elephant in the room – Epstein–Barr virus, how has that been going? Are you able to ride during the week at all yet?
Gilbert: Yeah, so since I got the all clear before Preston Docks I’ve basically been trying to ride nearly as much as possible building it up slowly. Before the British last week was the first time I did two 35-minute moto’s. So, after German GP, the Monday night after I was sat at home and I had pain in one eye and had a headache. I just thought maybe I’m getting a bit of a virus and I just didn’t do a lot for a couple days but it just didn’t seem to go away. My concentration was gone and I had to sleep through the day and I just couldn’t keep my eyes open. I did end up going to the doctors about it and they basically said give it another week and then come back to us. So I gave it another week and I tried practicing before Blaxhall for the British and I could only do like 10-15 minutes – but it felt like I’d done a full moto and leading up to that I didn’t say too much. I kind of thought there’s something not right here and then at Blaxhall we were on course for second overall and I was feeling so rough. I’ve never ever felt like that riding. I wanted to come in after the first race and faint, that’s how it felt. So, to nearly come away with second overall there it was like a big damage limitation it felt like.
The Monday after Blaxhall, I went straight back to the doctors and got a blood test and then I also got a private blood test done myself because I wanted to know straight away pretty much. It come back with that which explained a lot. In a way I was kind of glad I got an answer because there was something that definitely didn’t feel right. I’ve never experienced anything like where you just have nothing to give.
GateDrop: In terms of now you’re probably missing quite a lot of bike times because you weren’t able to do much during the week but how close would you say you are to 100% now?
Gilbert: I’m feeling much better now, I’d say I’m like maybe 80 or 90 percent. I’m very nearly back. At Landrake for the British the other day, I was feeling pretty good and then sort of just at the end got a bit tired. I feel like I’ve had quite a good three weeks or so back prepping. It does feels like starting from scratch again because I took four or five weeks off doing nothing. I went for two cycles with the E bikes but at the end when I started to feel a little bit better just to see how I felt. I then rocked up at Preston Docks and just hurt every minute. I don’t really want to rush back to having that again or some form of it. Coming back and starting from scratch isn’t deal when everyone is up and up and going but we’re nearly back.
GateDrop: I believe you’re going to be racing MXGP at Arnhem this weekend. Will you do much sand riding this week to prepare for that that one – it’s probably going to be rough but you’ve raced there before so I’m sure you’ll know what to expect…
Gilbert: I’ve raced it twice I think. I was there last year but I’d come in a bit under prepared because I’d just come back from my shoulder. Arnhem was a little bit hard last year but from what I remember I was quite happy with how I got on. I actually don’t mind it when the sand is that big that you have to jump the bumps to get a bit of a flow. It’s quite gnarly there but I’m nearly back so I feel I’ll do a bit of riding this week in the sand. I haven’t made a complete plan yet of where I’ll be going to do but I might get out there early just to do some riding but you also don’t want to do too much before the weekend comes.
GateDrop: Any plans for next year yet? Any phone calls with any interest and would you like to be in the GP paddock… It’s obviously getting harder and harder every year it feels like but would you like to be in the GP paddock again?
Gilbert: It would be nice but I mean America also appeals to me quite a lot because I’ve been out there and done it before. At the minute I think America has the upper hand on the GPs. I’m not sure to get a ride with a decent team but it’s hard to find nowadays. Everything is tightening up so I’m not sure at the minute. I haven’t really had any talks, it’s not been very fast with sorting things out. We’ll see, something will turn up.
