A Quick Chat With Austin Forkner

Austin Forkner does things his own way. And with three wins to start the 250 East Coast portion of the 2019 Monster Energy Supercross Series, it’s clear that his way is working. The Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki rider has been dominant almost every time he’s wheeled the bike onto the track (the only thing he’s lost so far is faster qualifier honors at Detroit) and as we prepare for the first 250 East-West Showdown of the year, almost all attention is on the twenty year old. During the Friday press session in Atlanta, we spent a few minutes chatting with Forkner about his confidence, his training, and yes, his candy and ice cream-included diet.

This is year three. What has been the biggest thing that you’ve learned from that first West Coast season to now?

That smooth is fast and I’m still learning that a little bit this year. The first year I tried to rush everything and was the typical rookie. I would just go for it, especially in the whoops, because my technique wasn’t the greatest. Learning to calm down and that I’ll go faster because of it, I’m still learning that even from last year.

I watched the qualifying of Dallas and Detroit and you were ripping, but it was clear that you don’t leave a big margin for error. Is that intentional or is that just the way it works out?

Well in practice I don’t intend to, but I seem to push the limits in practice. I guess it’s a good thing because I find out how hard I can push on the track and then know not to go that hard in the race. Sometimes I go back to my original self in practice and that’s when everyone will tell me to calm down and that I’ll be fine. Usually, for the race I calm down and I’m good.

In Dallas when the bike went across the concrete…

And it sparked up [Laughs].

Yeah, I thought, “Well, that was a couple of grand.” But Mitch probably doesn’t care if you get the win. At the first three races, you have been dominant every time. Are you riding with a sense of confidence and mindset of, “I am the guy that you are all supposed to be chasing and I’ll make sure you are all behind me from the moment the gate drops?”

Yeah. This year I feel like I stepped up my training and everything quite a bit, so I go to the gate with the mindset, “I have worked harder than all of these guys and I have had two years of bad luck and I deserve it. I work hard and there’s no reason I shouldn’t be winning races.” And that’s my mindset. It makes it easier if I can be aggressive straight out of the gate and get to the front.

Does that mental aspect make the physical aspect feel easier?

Yeah. Robbie Reynard is a bit of a mental coach and is my fitness trainer and he tells me, “You’re the man. I have seen you ride. Don’t hold back, don’t pace yourself, give it one-hundred percent the moment the gate drops. You are not going to get tired. You are the guy, if you get out front no one is going to catch you.” And I feel like being mentally strong has helped me.

Have you gotten to enjoy the wins, or do you think about it like, “I have to get all of these wins now?”

I still am pumped every time I win. I don’t want to get to the point where I think, “Oh, another win.” I enjoy them all individually and want to cherish every win because I have been that guy on the ground or in the ambulance, just a standard eighth place guy. Coming from a couple of years where I didn’t feel like I was where I needed to be, to now being “the guy,” I feel like I respect and cherish all of the ups because I have been at the downs.

Last week when the camera went to you after the first race I thought, “Wow he really is eating a Pixie Stick.” And I’m sure you’ve gotten endless talk about that this week. But as much as you can say it was a nutritional thing, was doing it in front of everyone a mind game? Like, “I’m going to do this and all of you are going to freak out.” Because that’s what I took it as.

[Laughs] Honestly, I really wanted to just get it in me. We didn’t have that much time at that race and it was for recovery. My trainer said that the type of sugar in a Pixie Stick helps with recovery and the soon that I do it, the better I will be. But at the same time, I didn’t think about it. I just started doing it and then saw everyone staring at me and then thought, “Oh, this is going to blow up.” I don’t care and I’m doing solid. Everyone was making fun of me for it, but I mean, at this point I’m winning.

And what works for you isn’t going to work for everyone.

Exactly. I do bloodwork every year to find out what my body needs and what it can take. I burn through calories and can’t keep enough food in me. If I quit working out and eat burgers and pizza, I end up losing weight because I lose muscle. I don’t put on fat and I have such a high metabolism that it doesn’t matter, I can basically do whatever I want. I don’t have a super strict diet, so I just eat certain types of foods more because it’s what my body needs. I just can’t eat one or two things, so it’s not like anything is really bad for me. If it works it works, and it seems like it’s working.

This might be one or two years ahead of your time, but Jason Lawrence used to roll up to the starting line of the Nationals with a popsicle in his mouth. And I think he did it to screw with them a bit, so that’s why I thought you did it too.

I took Cold Stone ice cream to the press conference last week just to, you know [Laughs]. My mom was going to Cold Stone before the race last week and I asked her to grab me just a little thing of it and I ate some before the motos, then finished at press. I don’t care what people say. That can say, “Oh that’s not good for you!” But they don’t know my body type and how my body works.

I think that you guys are held to an unrealistic standard, that you at twenty years old are not going to eat what I eat. Only eating chicken and rice, that would take the fun out of it.

If you can’t drink a pop once a week, that’s not even fun. If you’re that strict that you’re only eating chicken, rice, and nuts, it’s not fun. You can’t live like that and I don’t care what kind of body type you are, your body needs a little bit of sugar, sodium, and fat. Your body runs off of that and I’m pretty lucky that my body can take a little more of it than other body types, just because of my metabolism.