Adam Cianciarulo Interview: Salt Lake City Press Day
May 11, 2024
Since you announced your retirement, what has been your goal and where have you been mentally through the last few races?
I still am getting paid to to do a job, so you always wanna do the best you can first, I think. The struggles that I deal with on a physical level are well documented. So it's all about finding the limit, so that you're not taking too much risk and just trying to enjoy it, really. I haven't been putting a lot of pressure on myself at all. Normally, I have a few good laps in me in the heat race, and sometimes I can do some decent ones in practice and stuff. But yeah, it's not like I'm battling near the front, trying to get a podium or something like that. So it's really just about enjoying it, and not risking too much, not taking it to the next level.How do you enjoy it? As a fan and a spectator, it goes by so quickly. Do you want it to, like, slow down? Did it all come way too quickly?
I mean, life in general, man, it's here and gone. This has gone by so fast, the last 10 years. I'm so grateful to have this time with Kawasaki as a professional. It's just the same as always. Just trying to be as present as possible. I mean, that's one of my main goals in life, is just to to be in the moment and not let, you know, fear of failure, expectations, all that stuff take you out of the present moment. So it's just about removing as much of that stuff as you can and just being here with it.You've been doing this your whole life. After tomorrow night, your life ahead is a blank slate. Is that scary? Is it exciting? Are you gonna take time off to just truly relax and enjoy it, or are you going to get to the next thing right away?
So it's a big transition, obviously. I know nothing else other than wake up and figure out how to go fast on a dirt bike. So, yeah, I know it's going to be difficult in that regard of trying to find something else. I mean, not many people in life get to do something like this, a continuing passion.
But my main goal is, I don't want to coast off the success that I've had. As an athlete, I want to find something else where I can hopefully bring value to the sport. But yeah, right now, it's overwhelming. There's so much stuff going on this weekend. I have a bunch of friends and family here.
And in the future, I definitely see myself, broadcasting in some role. That's kind of the only thing I have to go off of right now, is that I've really enjoyed anytime I've had the chance to do that. But we obviously have a lot of really good people in those positions as well. So it's about finding a role for me that I can fit into and help complement the guys that are doing a great job currently. So, yeah, that's my goal as of now, but it's all new. So I'm not limiting myself to one thing - who knows? It could be something else in the future.
