Multiply that several times for Cianciarulo’s riding partner Chase Sexton, who broke through for his first career moto win in Florida’s first race but quickly became so hot and dehydrated that he couldn’t even ride the second. He performed poorly at Southwick and then sat out RedBud entirely.

“I think everyone deals with heat a little differently, just like with elevation,” says Blake Savage, Sexton’s trainer. “For Chase, he was having symptoms like headache, dizziness, throwing up, flushed skin, and confusion. These are all definitely signs of dehydration. He had also noticed that there was no sweat coming off his arms as he attempted to go out for the second moto. I believe this is a result from pounding water too quickly. The water carried out all the salt he had left in him, and not replenishing that with enough salt afterward made it so he could not retain any of the water. It would just pass through his system and he could not rehydrate enough for the second moto.”

Sunk

After that moto win, Sexton sat three points behind Ferrandis for third in the 250 standings. Ferrandis has since rounded into Cianciarulo’s biggest title threat. Guesses and theories about as to why Sexton, who rides in Florida every day, would struggle so badly in the Florida race. At Southwick, Sexton could only guess, saying perhaps he hadn’t realized the difference between training days, where you ride straight from the air-conditioned shop to the track and back, and race days, where you spend extra time in the heat with practice, sight laps, sitting on the line, and podium time.

Dan Betley, team manager for GEICO Honda at the time, said Sexton’s workload the week before the race was not abnormal (though some suspected that having teams come to test with the riders in Florida compels the athlete to ride too much). However, it was puzzling to hear that Sexton rode the week after overheating in Florida. Betley also laments the number of people in a rider’s ear these days and the conflicting advice they offer—especially influential to a young and eager rider like Sexton. Betley doesn’t point the finger at Savage, whom he says he respects for his actual physio-science knowledge, but rather the entire groups of people who surround riders these days. A veteran rider would know which advice to take, but a 19-year-old go-getter like Sexton will easily believe more work is better. To that end, Savage says Sexton usually says he feels fine when he’s probably fatigued.

“Let’s say you get through one race with only a little bit left,” Savage says. “That’s going to carry over. This point of the year, you’re not going to make too many fitness gains, and trying to do so would be silly. I think these guys, mentally, feel like they have to be doing 30-minute motos all the time, but if we’re not able to maintain that by this point in the season, it’s too late already.”

Seth Rarick, the trainer for 250 prospects Jacob Hayes and Brandon Hartranft (who each logged their best rides of the season during the three-week stretch), says he pushed his guys until the week of High Point, then backed down. Rarick says just a few days off the bike can cause a rider to lose his edge, but it would take two full weeks without training to lose fitness.

Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull KTM’s Cameron McAdoo, like Sexton, is known as a training animal, but he collapsed in the heat at WW Ranch. Incredibly, he was back at Southwick to log a last-to-11th charge in the first moto and sixth in moto two.

In a text to us, McAdoo said he didn’t do any training after Florida until Wednesday, when he logged two 25-minute, low-intensity riding sessions at Milestone in California. But it’s not like McAdoo doesn’t also think tougher is better—in a text, he summed up his recovery like this:

“Momma didn’t raise no Bi@&$!”

Science Since

Finally, before round eight at Millville, blood-panel results revealed that Sexton was deficient in some nutrients, which affected his body’s ability to deal with heat. After a weekend off and with supplement help, he returned for round eight at Millville.

Ken Roczen also welcomed the weekend off. Roczen also trains with Savage (his brother-in-law) but has been suffering from some sort of illness or fatigue that has persisted for months. As expected, it impacted his performance greatly in the toughest races.

“He wakes up feeling super tired, lethargic, and those are all signs there’s something wrong with him,” Savage says. “It would be one thing if he was going 25 minutes into a moto and then starting to drop off maybe two or three seconds. But as you guys saw, he’s getting five minutes into the moto and then he’s losing six to even eight seconds a lap. That’s a huge sign something is going wrong there.”

Roczen even had to slow down to throw up during RedBud’s first moto.

“I’m still trying to find a couple of things out, because obviously what’s going on, it’s not normal,” Roczen told our own Steve Matthes. “It’s not like I get brutally hot out there, but a couple of other things are going on. I don’t know. We’re going to have to figure it out.”

While backing off to recover might seem like the obvious goal, the elite pack knows they can’t relax too much or they’ll lose fitness or speed.

“As much as you would like to take time off and enjoy it, you want to keep pushing and keep trying to get better,” Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson said following RedBud. “Obviously, you’ve got to rest and recover, but at the same time you’ve got to keep working and trying to improve for the next race.

Anderson’s Aldon Baker-trained crew seems to gain steam in the latter part of the season. One insider theorizes that Baker puts his riders into the Florida hurt locker earlier than others, which slows them in the early rounds but adds fitness that pays off later. Indeed, Marvin Musquin rounded into his best form at midseason for the third straight year. Not surprisingly, he was the man feeling best after RedBud, where he scored his third moto win of the six-moto stretch—which also included two of the three overall wins.

“I’m really happy the way I’ve been riding and feeling,” Musquin said after RedBud. “Definitely it’s pretty tough physically, but I have a solid program. I just follow the program and recover pretty good and am feeling really good during the races, and it shows with my riding.”

French riders are often praised for their technical skills and race craft, but Musquin and Ferrandis were the ones who got going when the going got tough. They were the highest point-getters in their respective classes over the three-race stretch.

“I think the next three to four days I will take some holiday for recovery,” Ferrandis said after RedBud. He then enjoyed one of the track’s signature LaRocco’s Leap Light beers in celebration. “It’s okay, we don’t have to race next weekend,” he laughed.

It helps to have no-nonsense trainers in their corners (Baker with Musquin, multi-time AMA National winner David Vuillemin with Ferrandis). But perhaps further, the key is that Musquin, 29 and Ferrandis, 25, are the two oldest contenders in their respective classes. Riders can get advice, but it’s up to them to truly know their bodies, how they feel, and when doing less might actually result in more.

“I think it’s just balancing that fine line of working enough but not too much and trusting the work we did before the season,” says Gareth Swanepoel, another no-nonsense type who works with Monster Energy/Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha riders like Justin Cooper. “The schedule has been the schedule for a while, so this hard stint is something we have tried to prepare for. It’s the great outdoors. It’s what it’s all about.”