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Mike Montgomery Is Back!

Oct 20, 2009
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<p>Specialized is pleased to announce the rebirth of Mike Montgomery. After suffering from a shattered thumb, Mike Montgomery is finally back on the bike and ready to ride. Mike injured his thumb while filming an edit in Malibu and crashed on the landing shattering his thumb between his bars and a rock. Mike will be competing at AT’s Showdown next weekend in San Francisco, his first competition since his injury mid-season.</p><p>
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After getting multiple surgeries and suffering from an infection, Mike got back on his bike and picked up right where he left off.</p><p>
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“Being back on my bike feels like a huge weight is off my shoulders. I never knew how much I took riding for granted until this dumb injury. Riding feels fun again and I have a ton of new tricks in my head that need to be taken to dirt! During the injury I couldn’t really do anything because of the meds I was on for the staff infection. What I did do was watch all the events closely throughout the year picking runs apart and watching how certain tricks were judged to figure out how I could adapt my riding. I feel like a lot of riders were screwed in judging this year, and I know it will probably always be that way, so I figured it would be a good idea to watch and finch way to turn. Not Hayden. Ever optimistic and knowing no way but to get back up, Nicky dusted himself off and worked even harder. </p><p>
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Let’s backtrack. Hayden spent most of the post 2011 off-season rehabilitating his body from that disaster in Spain. The setting of the crash was sadly ironic, as Hayden actually won the 2006 MotoGP world championship on the very same track, a triumph that his many fans around the globe will not forget. Then Honda mounted, Hayden became the first American to win the MotoGP title since Kenny Roberts, Jr. </p><p>
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Since then, Hayden has become a factory MotoGP rider for the Ducati team. But MotoGP underwent dramatic change after the 2006 season. The bikes shrank—literally—from 990cc to 800cc, and it’s no secret that Hayden never felt the same on a 800cc MotoGP machine as he did on a mighty 990. The riding style required on an 800cc didn’t really suit a guy who grew up racing Superbikes in America, who was essentially incubated on the clay oval tracks of the US flat track series where sliding sideways at 120 mph is commonplace.</p><p>
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However, 2012 brings 1000cc racing back to MotoGP, with technical rules again allowing the engines to leap back into the liter class. Everyone who saw Hayden race a 1000cc Superbike here in the USA or on a 990 MotoGP bike at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was looking forward to him reviving his career in the post “mini-bike” period of MotoGP. </p><p>
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Then, in late December, Hayden was re-injured when he crashed a dirt bike in his native Owensboro, Kentucky. He broke a bone in his shoulder and damaged some ribs, and could only ride short stints at the first MotoGP test of the 2012 season. After doing so and realizing his body needed help he returned home for more surgery. </p><p>
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While Hayden admits that the off-season and pre-season have been disappointing, the upside is that he has been able to take rides on his new bicycle, which he keeps at his “winter” home in Southern California.</p><p>
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His new S-Works Venge is great for all-out sprints. Creating the world’s fastest UCI legal road bike required a new formula for lightweight, stiffness and aerodynamics. Specialized left the world of cycling and took the Venge to McLaren, where they applied materials, technology and manufacturing methods normally used in F1.</p><p>
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“I think that it’s awesome that my bicycle has a design inspired by McLaren and Formula One. I’m hoping to be spending a lot of time on it in the coming weeks,” said Hayden.</p><p>
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The bicycle will be an integral part of recovering strength and fitness. It’s also a great way for Nicky to pass the time while he waits for the chance to get back on the “liter bikes” and the 2012 MotoGP season to begin.</p>

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