JARED GRAVES INTERVIEW

ON THE EVE OF HIS RETURN TO THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF THE WORLD RACING STAGE, JARED GRAVES SAT DOWN WITH [R]EVOLUTION MAGAZINE FOR HIS FIRST PROPER INTERVIEW IN OVER A YEAR. IN CLASSIC ‘RUTHLESSLY HONEST’ JARED STYLE HE DOESN’T HOLD BACK WHEN DISCUSSING EVERYTHING FROM THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF BATTLING BRAIN CANCER, TO DEALING WITH THE ADVERSITY OF DOPING ALLEGATIONS, TO ULTIMATELY BEATING CANCER AND NOW PREPARING HIS RETURN TO RACING WITH THE TEAM THAT HE SAYS HAS ALWAYS FELT LIKE ‘HOME’.

- Sven Martin & Thomas Falconer

Let’s begin by going back to the start of the 2018 season. Even though your training and preparation had been strong heading into that year, after a few races it quickly became clear that your results just weren’t quite there. Was that a frustrating time as you searched for answers obviously unaware of what you were going to find out later in the year?

No that’s not how I saw it at all. There were a few small details early in the season that weren’t clicking. But in round 1 I was sitting comfortably inside the top 10 at the end of the first days racing, even with a couple of slow leak flats on stage 2 and 3, I knew I could have been in the top 3 at the end of the first day if I didn’t have those issues, then I exploded my rear wheel on a rock on the first stage Sunday morning and that race was over. Then in Round 2 in Colombia I was in 2nd, after stage 1 then broke my shifter when I got a bit loose on a turn on stage 2 and I snapped my shifter paddle on my knee, so I knew the speed was there but it seemed like all those little things were going against me that stopped the results from coming. People just don’t see your name in the overall results and they just think you are going crappy, but it was some really random mechanical issues that were keeping me from getting the results more than anything else. It wasn’t actually until a couple of months later for the next few rounds that I knew something weird was happening. I just couldn’t focus on what I was doing. I felt mentally fatigued all the time, unmotivated. Plus, it was wet at every race, and it’s probably no secret that the Specialized tyres that we had to run were seriously subpar in wet weather. I felt physically fine, so I was confused why I just had no motivation for anything, then the seizures started.