BTOSports KTM Team Profile #3

The grand finale for Moser

BTO Sports profile #3 of #29

Photos by Lissimore

I had the pleasure of getting to hang out with Andrew Short and the BTO Sports – KTM Racing Team at the Seattle Supercross, it’s an experience that I don’t take for granted and is hard to put into words. I have a tendency to take things a little bit too far so I tried my best to be respectful of the job everyone on the team was doing while I was making waffles, roaming around the semi, drooling on Shorty’s bike and explaining the marketing potential of a shake weight. This Short profile isn’t about how much fun I had at the Seattle Supercross you can read about that later this week in Moservations.

I wanted to take the opportunity I had to talk with some of the team members and ask what it takes to run a race team. I had a lot of questions about what it takes to get Andrew Short to the race each and every week. We’ll look at a couple of team members each day through-out this week to see what happens behind the big BTO Sports tent, I asked the hard hitting questions or at least the questions I wanted answers too. Another big thanks to Andrew Short and the entire BTO Sports Team for tolerating me this weekend, I had a ton of fun and even learned some things.

What better way to conclude this BTO Sports Team profile than with their newest rider Andrew Short. I showed up prepared at Seattle with a list of interview questions and when I went to ask them I couldn’t find my notes. I warned Shorty after the race I was going to call him to do the interview and I’m sure he thought there was a good chance I would forget but I found the questions in my woody and he was kind enough to take my call….eventually. If you haven’t read my 29 questions with Shorty from Washougal 2012 you’re missing out and here is the link

http://pulpmx.com/stories/shortcomings-andrew-short-conversation

I now present to you 34 minutes and 26 seconds with Andrew Short, the goal was to interview him for 29 minutes but it’s difficult to make yourself hang up the phone when your talking to Shorty. But first a medical disclaimer which will make sense after you read the interview.

The medical information in this interview is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This information is not intended to be patient education, does not create any patient-physician relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment. Please consult your health care provider, before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition.

I called Andrew for this interview and his phone goes to this “You have reached Andrew Short, at the tone please record your message….beeeeep”

I can’t believe he’s standing me up, I’m just going to keep calling unti he answers, I know where you live SHORTY!!

I block my outgoing phone number and call again-sweet success! Shorty answers

Moser: Hey it’s good to hear your voice

Shorty: (laughs) Whatever, do you have your recorder

It’s some app Swisscore told me to use and I tested it out so hopefully I don’t eff this up. I’ve got my questions ready, tested the recording device so I should be good.

What are you up to man

I have been re-assembling a clothes dryer

You didn’t have the Sears guy come out to your house because it cost $50.00

Yeah dude I’m way too cheap for that

Did you get it dialed in or what?

I don’t know I can’t get it back in the house by myself to plug it in and test it, I probably did all that work and it will still be broken. I told the wife I was going to hang a clothesline in the backyard.

Until she leaves you guy, you gotta keep momma happy

Yeah thats true, hows testing going, where have you guys been riding at?

We went to Pala yesterday and it was so so, today I rode supercross with Kenny and it was pretty fun.

Is this the first outdoor testing you’ve done?

Yeah just yesterday

So you have some work to do then

No it’s not that bad the motor is just insane so we just need to dial in the suspension

You don’t sound too worried about it

No it will be good

Lets get to this so I don’t keep you up too late, so all my questions are based on like training, nutrition that sort of thing.

(laughs)

No I’m serious, but if there is anything you don’t want to answer just skip it or better yet tell me it’s off the record and tell me the information so I can use it to try and get a Shorty six pack.

(laughs) oh gosh

So how much does your diet, nutrition and training play a part in your program?

I think it’s just one of the elements and that’s what makes MX/SX so cool is that there are some many things that it takes to be successful in our sport and if one of them is off it throws the whole puzzle into the trashcan, I think diet and nutrition is key especially for staying healthy for the entire season and if you can feel better and stay consistent week in and week out it’s got to make a difference in your overall well being. Conditioning and being mentally and physically fit is part of your job but also just being a human you want to be the best that you can be on and off the track. So I think it’s an important part of your life for racing but also for just life in general.

At what point in your career did you start taking your diet and training really seriously?

2006, but even then I didn’t have any knowledge or education. Obviously year after year you learn more about yourself and how your body reacts to certain food but also your education grows the more you research you continue to learn from different people and your base fitness begins to grow. It’s been a transition and a growing period for quite some time.

So growing up were you a fairly healthy kid or were you like most kids eating fast food on the way to the races.

Yeah exactly I was like most normal kids, and honestly I appreciate that my parents let me make my own choices. Some of these kids parents don’t let their kids eat chocolate or chips or any junk food and as soon as those kids get out of their house………..

**CALL DROPPED**

Moser: Well this is going seamlessly

Shorty: What happened?

Apparently this app that Swisscore recommended requires money and I ran out of money so it dropped the call.

So we better get going

No, no, no nice try I threw some money on there we have lots of time now. I think we were talking about parents being too strict with chocolate then the kids move away and you have the RC problem where they are slamming cheeseburgers behind McDonalds.

Exactly and it’s the same philosophy with like drugs, sex and rock and roll I think, if you tell a kid no when they get out of the house they want to do the things they weren’t allowed to do. But I didn’t eat very healthy growing up my parents let me eat whatever I wanted so when I got to a point where I felt fitness was holding me back racing and I wanted to do whatever I could to be successful I started looking at all the different pieces that it was going to take to make that happen and nutrition was definitely one of them.

So currently you work with Seiji, the urban hippy well I guess he’s more of a farmer hippy. I know you worked with Jeff Spencer, have you worked with anyone else?

I first started working with a guy named Michael Johnson and he had worked with a lot of the Honda guys in the past like Fonseca and a little bit with McGrath.

So he used to play basketball?

What?

Oh wait I was thinking Magic Johnson and you said Michael Johnson, nevermind. So how does that work when you start with a guy and develop a program.

I started being a lot more structured and more emphasis on training. I quickly saw my results improve so I started putting more effort into all of those things and one thing lead to another and it was an exciting time in my career, it was cool.

So after Michael Johnson who did you work with next?

Next I worked with Spencer and then with Seiji.

You have a Paleo based diet right?

Yeah I try to eat Paleo or caveman but mostly just gluten free, but it’s really hard when you’re on the road and traveling all the time.

What’s the difference between gluten free and Paleo?

Paleo is called like the caveman diet so you basically eat more of the less processed foods, no carbs, pre agriculture based foods, nuts, berries, protein. I do eat a little bit of brown rice when I’m racing and I’m not as strict as I was a couple years ago I try to keep a good balance and not stress about it and keep my energy up on race day.

When did you first start eating gluten free or Palaeo?

Like 2011, when I first got on KTM.

Ripping a turn on the BTOSports KTM.

Was there a specific reason behind it or you just wanted to try something different?

I had been reading about it and Seiji gave me a bunch of information on it so I decided to try it myself just to see how I felt and how my body responded to it in the off season and I felt like it was a good direction for me to go and that my energy was a lot more consistent that’s what lead me to the decision.

Is there a book or a website that you would recommend if people wanted to check it out.

Not really, Seiji provides me with a lot of information he does a lot of research. The cool thing about Seiji is that he doesn’t force it upon you he’s really well educated and that’s his specialty so he gives you pieces here and there and you make your own decision.

So what are your favorite nuts?

(long pause) you’re crazy

That’s an honest question you eat a lot of nuts being Paleo right?

I like almonds, fruits vegetables mostly just whole foods. Is that interview really all about diet? Because this isn’t very interesting.

I think it’s interesting. You don’t think anybody with like this?

No, probably not.

I think a lot of people will find this interesting. So when you’re on the road it can be difficult to eat healthy so what are your go to meals when your eating out?

It’s easy to eat good when you’re at a restaurant, the hard part is at the hotel, or airport finding something that good, easy and quick. So I alway carry a bag of nuts, there are some more Paleo options now, Braaap bar is coming out with a Paleo bar that I’m pretty excited about. It’s also easy to carry some fruit with you.

At a restaurant what’s your common like pre race meal the night before a race?

Salmon and vegetables.

Do you count calories or have any idea of how many calories you eat in a day?

No I have no idea I’m not that strict.

Do you know any good hangover cures, I could really benefit from that in a lot of ways.

No, I don’t think I’ve ever really had a hangover before maybe once or twice.

We might have to fix that in the off season if you’ve never really had a hangover.

I have a glass of wine for my heart and health and to help me sleep but that’s it. I’m pretty square.

The drinking part I’m good at, it’s the recovery part I was looking for some help with. Alright lets talk about water I know you like glass bottled water but at home do you have some fancy filter system.

Yeah we’re on well water and treat it filter it, and then I try to drink out of glass when I’m on the road. That’s what’s cool about living on a farm we have our own garden, chickens so we know what they eat and farm fresh eggs, we even have our own beef. By no means do we eat only off the farm but it’s pretty cool that we can grow our own food and my wife Jacki is really into it and it’s something she enjoys but it’s also healthy.

So you can’t drink water all the time, so what else do you drink to hydrate.

That’s about it. I like Liqua or Pellegrino.

What’s Liqua?

It’s just flavored carbonated water

Ahhh you drink carbonated stuff? It’s disgusting every time I’ve been to Europe I can’t stand that stuff. I was going to ask which type of alcohol might be least damaging to my health but I think we’ve already covered that it’s probably red wine. So it’s alright if I have a bottle of red wine a night.

Pinot Noir

Pinot is your favorite

Yeah Estancia Pinot Noir

So wine isn’t going to kill me then?

(Long pause) I’m not saying that, you can do whatever you want (laughs). I’m not endorsing anything. There should be a big disclaimer on the top of this.

Alright we’ll put a disclaimer at the top.

(laughs)

Despite having to go to the LCQ in Seattle, Short finished top ten in the main. Can you imagine if he didn’t make it and I was there?

How about supplements are you taking an over the counter multivitamin or some complex amino acid, does Seiji grind up some roots and herbs for you to take every morning?

I take all kinds of stuff. I do blood work with my doctor and he helps me with my supplements, so I’ll get by blood worked tested quite a bit actually.

I see a lot of riders wear a heart rate monitor and I think I’ve seen you wear one, so do you wear one when you race?

Never when I race but I’ll wear one when I practice and also on my bicycle I measure watts, and all that info we’ll put on trainingpeaks so that way we have your whole yearly calendar of exercise. After thirteen years of racing I know basically exactly what to do.

How about the VO2 max or lactic threshold test, didn’t you go the RedBull training facility once?

Yeah I went back to RedBull quite a few times but I do all that type of stuff with Seiji he has all that testing equipment, and the lactate threshold testing helps you find your zones and what not. A VO2 max test isn’t really trainable it’s more genetics and isn’t really going to help you race a motorcycle.

It’s hard to cheat when your bicycle riding with a watts meter on, there’s not much coasting.

And also we’re downloading the rides so theres no cheating, because you can see everything.

What about sleeping tricks you’re obviously traveling all the time, sleeping in different beds, time zones all that stuff. Have any tricks or tips for people that are on the road all the time?

I’m a good sleeper so not really, the only thing I struggle with is sleeping on the plane. But rest is something that is something I’m pretty good at. The only hard part is having kids now, my wife Jacki is really awesome with getting up with the kids and allows me to sleep in more than probably any other husband. But it’s also an important part of recovery from racing for me because if you’re tired and you’re racing SX and have a mental lapse it could cost you big and that’s one of many things she has been awesome about. She was a racer herself so she kind of understands what it takes but having said that having kids definitely makes it difficult to get enough sleep and with your recovery.

It seems there is alway one kid that stays up late and one kid that gets up super early. At least that’s how it works at my house.

Both our kids go to bed pretty early but one of them wakes up super early.

How many hours of sleep do you get a night on average?

9-10 hours

Wow that must be nice, maybe I’m in the wrong profession. So all the traveling, airplanes, germs and stuff how do you stay healthy over such a long season?

There’s not much you can do about it. There is now way to avoid it and with me having kids at home the germs are going to be there and I ran into that last summer when I got a staph infection so I’ve been trying to educate myself and be proactive about it. It’s kind of is what it is. We obviously wear our bodies out week in and week out and if you don’t recover your putting yourself in a really vulnerable spot so you need to be very aware of your body and the situation your in.

Lets cover some stats like weight and height?

Why does that matter?

I think the people want to know

Is this for, like, my drivers license?

No I’m not ask your eye color.

No I’m not answering that it’s weird

I’ll just guess, you’re about the same height as me so you’re probably 5’10” – 5’11” and probably weigh around 175 pounds if I had to guess. (the shrug I hear on the other side of the phone confirms I’m close) I won’t ask your body fat percentage or resting heart rate I don’t want to be creepy. How many pushups can you do?

It depends every since my elbows I haven’t been doing push ups as much because I don’t have as much extension and I’ll have problems with my elbows sometimes if I overextend them. Honestly.

I wasn’t calling you a liar. Are your elbows ever going to be the same or back to normal or is this something you’re kind of stuck with?

My left one doesn’t extend all the way. They feel fine and function perfect for riding but push ups and stuff like that bother them. I just try to be more careful of the stress I put my body under I don’t want to get any tendinitis so I just try to be careful with them.

So this is effecting your tennis game?

Yeah no more tennis. I can play but I don’t play nearly as much.

You won’t be installing a tennis court at the Short Family Farm?

Well the wife would like to.

So what’s your favorite type of training, I’m assuming cycling?

Yeah I like all kinds of cycling. I have a cyclecross bike that is awesome on the farm from going down farm roads and what not.

What is a cyclecross bike a hard tail or no suspension?

It’s like a road bike with mountain bike tires is the easiest way to explain it.

What is your least favorite type of training that you do on a regular basis or what do you loathe the most?

There’s not much, I really struggle with swimming because I grew up in Colorado and it’s not something that comes easy to me so it’s always a struggle for me to swim. Lots of swimming in the summer to keep the stress load down from the heat. The best part is Roczen in his banana hammock, and Papa too (Roczen’s dad).

So when it comes to…….

Dude are you still asking questions about training?

We are almost done.

This is all you got is training questions?

Yeah I’m sorry to disappoint, these were all things I honestly find interesting and wanted to know.

I don’t think anybody is going to care about this stuff

I respectfully disagree. What do you do for recovery, I’ll just list off some things that came to mind: hot yoga, pilates, foam roller, ice baths, sports massage, electrotherapy, compression tights.

Pretty much all of those except yoga I don’t do much yoga, I do a little bit of pilates at the gym with my workout but ice baths in the summer, I’ll get a massage Monday after a race and a lot of compression stuff, and foam roller.

Those foam rollers suck they hurt real bad.

The biggest thing for me is growing up in Colorado I’ve always struggled with the heat and the recovery there has always been difficult for me and with living in Texas it’s good because you get acclimated but at the same time you have to account for the heat stress so it’s definitely difficult.

Here’s the last disappointing question of this disappointing interview.

(Laughs)

You’re obviously really health conscious so when you retire are you going to adopt a deep fried pickle, hot wings and beer diet or are you in this healthy lifestyle for the long haul?

I do like hot wings, so thats kind of a guilty pleasure, just my wifes hot wings though, they’re really good. I think it’s going to be hard like when any athlete retires he kind of blows up and gets big so it will be a struggle. I think I will have to find another activity or hobby, but I’m pretty much just going to ride the rest of my life as long as my body will let me, so hopefully I don’t put on too many pounds. But yeah I want to maintain a healthy lifestyle I think it’s something I feel like I would be missing if I didn’t live that way. We’ll see who knows maybe I’ll be a big old fat slob when I retire but I hope not.

Short focuses before the night show.

From the outside looking in it appears you’re really really hardcore with your diet and after talking with you it sounds like you’re not quite as strict as I thought you were, it’s still hardcore but it doesn’t sound as miserable as I thought it might be.

Well part of my problem in my career was I would get too serious and put more power into something than it really is, like if I missed a meal I thought it would effect me on the track. The older I get the more I realize you just have to adapt to each situation and make the best of it and it is what it is.

I don’t have any more boring questions, sorry.

I just didn’t expect this from you.

I’m just full of surprises.

What do you do with these questions, you put them up on Moser.com?

No this will go on pulpmx.com I have to transcribe this tonight.

Matthes just lets you put whatever on there?

Pretty much, but he’s actually really upset because Moservations Seattle got picked up by Racer X.com.

I didn’t see that I haven’t been on the internet today.

It’s on the front page of Racer X go check it out. Next time I interview you I’ll make sure to ask more questions about how far up my leg should I be shaving.

So what are you doing this weekend?

I was gone last weekend so I need to mow the lawn. What are you doing this weekend?

Racing, same thing every week.

Oh there’s a race this weekend?

Yeah, but it’s going to be warm though

Salt Lake is going to be warm?

Yeah like in the 70’s, normally it’s like snowing there.

What are you wearing? Can we go there?

(laughs), yeah lets not

I agree lets not, sorry I had to call you like four times to make this happen.

No worries

Thanks again for everything last weekend and the boring interview