A FEW broken hands, feet, ankles and concussions are small pains for living the dream, according to off-road international motorcycling champion and new Stroud local Josh Green.
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The world champion bike rider was at his new home on 150 acres near Stroud, getting ready for this year’s racing season.
It begins with a state event in Queensland followed by the national competition in mid March.
The ‘Finke’ (Finke Desert Race) is one of the biggest annual sporting events in the Northern Territory and has the reputation of being one of the most difficult off-road courses in one of the most remote places in the world.
“It’s two days of racing, we do 240km one day one way, then 240km back again, all up it’s 480km,” Josh said, adding that he had been practising at high speed.
“I’ve done it three times.”
In between Australian events, it’s the world’s trails beckoning Green onwards, with Yamaha taking six of its best Australian riders on a journey all over the world to compete. Last year, Josh formed part of the Australian Enduro Bike Team, which stood on the winning International Six Days Enduro podium in first place.
“Every year Yamaha takes its six best Australian riders all around the world, it’s like the Olympics for trail bike riding. And last year we won, I finished second in the 250 class. So that was pretty cool.”
According to Josh, he has wanted a career in racing since ‘as far back as I can remember’. He has also always wanted to live on property.
“I’ve always loved the area up in Stroud, it has everything – riding, training... I’ve always been looking out for something here,” he said, recalling he almost purchased a property in 2009 except that his international racing career took precendence and he ended up in Europe instead.
“I’m on 50/50 grass and bush and back onto state forest. I’ve got a few tracks around the place and I can run and mountain bike throughout the area.”
He runs, swims, cycles, and has a few race buddies come up every now and then so they can train together. When he’s not racing he will also run workshops on-site to teach others the skills he has gained. But for now, racing is still the priority and he has just resigned with Yamaha’s Activ8 team. Having “won everything in Australia” on the 250 model, at 90kgs and 178cms tall, his priority this year is the 450 class.
“It’s great to be successful at what I’ve always wanted. I am living my dream."
