COLUMNIST: Christian Iddon

OXFORD PRODUCTS MOTO-RAPIDO BRITISH SUPERBIKES

Pre-season preparations are well underway and this year there will be no stone unturned, no box unticked, as we head quickly to the first round of BSB.

I've just had another birthday and I've racked up a few of them now and it got me thinking about how much racing life I have left in me.

Now, please don't take that as an indication that I have any inclination of giving up any time soon. That thought has never crossed my mind, but what I am is a realist: my life as a professional motorcycle racer can - and will only last so long. Each birthday, each season, I have, that moment looms closer.

Nobody can ever possibly know how long their sporting career might, last and it can end for numerous reasons... anything from injury to losing the love, through to plainly and simply not being good enough and not getting a ride. But whatever the reason, the day comes to each and every one of us, and when that day eventually comes and I hang up the HJC, I want to be able to say I went 'all in' and there was nothing more I could have done. You're a long time retired, and I don't want to spend that time thinking 'what if'.

I can quite happily live with myself and be content if I know I gave it my absolute 100% - and even if it eventually turns out that I simply wasn't good and there were better guys on the day (or year), then that's fine.