Chance Hymas Interview: Detroit Press Day
February 14, 2025
You just finished one race, and I know you’re not coming in at 100%. How did your body feel?
The body felt good, just lacking a lot of laps on the bike. I’m in shape off the bike, but it never fully replicates what it's like when you're actually racing. Being off the bike that long and then jumping back into races—just the breathing, the heart rate getting that high—it's something you can't simulate off the bike. So, yeah, just lacking that part of it. I’m getting better now, though. This week, I did some long motos and sprints, trying to get my body back into that routine. But it’s definitely a struggle; it doesn’t come back immediately. Each week, I’m just trying to build, build, build, and get back to that spot. I'm going to have to race myself into shape each weekend... it's a grind for sure.
What was your offseason like? Did you get surgery on the knee?
Yeah, I had knee surgery at the end of September. I was in California for about two and a half to three months. I started riding again after about 12 weeks. I was on the bike for maybe two or three weeks—about six days total—before I ended up needing a couple of arm operations due to nerve problems. That put me off the bike for another two, two and a half weeks. I basically got back on the bike on race day at Glendale. I had been training at home, watching Supercross, so it wasn’t ideal for sure. But I knew if anyone could do it, it would be me. I’m not afraid of hard work. It was tough, and the team wasn’t completely sold on me racing. They didn’t want me to take unnecessary risks.
So you barely got any time on the bike in the offseason?
Yeah, barely. Barely.
That sucks. The nerve issue—was that something unforeseen, or was that an operation you had planned?
Honestly, just the knee surgery was planned. The arm issues were unexpected. I couldn’t ride because I couldn’t feel my hands. I wasn’t going to go through another season struggling with hand numbness. Mentally, I couldn’t do it again. I decided I needed to take care of it. I didn’t want to put myself in a situation where I was investing more into something that wasn’t going to work. But honestly, once I started riding again, I realized I hadn’t truly enjoyed being on the bike in a long time. Fixing the issue probably prolonged my career.
Was that something you dealt with last year as well?
Yeah, I’ve been dealing with it for years. People always say “arm pump,” but when your nerves are messed up, and then the muscle pump adds to it, it’s a different level. I’m sure I’m not the only one dealing with it, but every time I brought it up, it felt like an excuse. But when it’s completely out of your control, it’s miserable. Every time I got on the bike, it was miserable. I reached the point where I had to do something about it, or I didn’t see how things were going to end well.
And it’s better now?
Yeah, so much better. It’s good. So much better.
Last question—you made a huge jump last year in outdoors. You mentioned in the pre-race press conference last weekend that your goal is the outdoor title. Are you doing anything differently leading up to outdoors? Starting outdoor training earlier?
It kind of depends on where we are in the series. With some guys dropping out, you never know—I might be in the mix toward the end if I can keep putting up consistent results. It’s too early to say. Last year, we used the longer East Coast break, when the series went back West, to do a bunch of outdoor testing. Then, toward the last couple of Supercross rounds, we stopped practicing Supercross and switched to outdoors. So we’ll see. This year, we might need to set aside a little more time because of the new bike and still getting used to it. But overall, my eyes are on the outdoor title. I just need to take the right steps each weekend to get there.
