Martin - When You Dead, You Dead

Contents

The maddest 12 months of my life. The journey starts with an oddball race up an American mountain and ends with me checking myself out of hospital with a broken back. Again ...

As Guys Latvian grandfather frequently reminded him, When you dead, you dead. So before its all over, Guy Martin is making the most of the time hes got. In this past year alone, hes raced the Isle of Man TT and finished on the podium; competed in solo 24-hour bicycle races; trekked across India; commissioned the building of the largest Wall of Death the world has ever seen, then built a bike to ride on it; flown a stunt plane; broken a go-kart speed record down a French mountain and dusted himself off after a dramatic crash at the Dundrod 150 Superbike race, and not forgetting his day job as a truck fitter.

Theres been some near misses, incredible feats of endurance, fantastic sporting achievements, the odd spot of bother and one or two misadventures. But no one can tell it like Guy can, so here he is doing all the talking.

Spot on.

Guy Martin has always lived within 20 miles of the Grimsby hospital he was born in, on the 4th November 1981. But that hasnt stopped the professional truck mechanic from winning multiple international road races, including eleven Ulster GPs and eight Scarborough Gold Cups, plus scoring sixteen Isle of Man TT podiums. Neither has it prevented him from presenting five critically acclaimed prime-time TV series, being the subject of a BAFTA-nominated documentary or breaking British and World land speed records along the way. Did we mention hes also the author of a phenomenal number one bestselling autobiography? Not bad for a truck fitter.

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Epub ISBN: 9780753551547
Version 1.0

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Virgin Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing,
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SW1V 2SA

Virgin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com

Copyright Guy Martin 2015

Guy Martin has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

First published by Virgin Books in 2015

www.eburypublishing.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

HB ISBN 9780753556665
TPB ISBN 9780753556764

My second go at writing a book followed my first pretty quickly because 2014s My Autobiography went down so well. You might be thinking Id struggle to fill this one, considering that book covered the first 30-odd years of my life and this one concentrates on just 12 months. I thought the same for a while. To be honest, I still hadnt got my head around anyone wanting to read about me in the first place, so it wasnt an easy decision to write another. In the end, I had no bother filling another book because this has been the maddest year of my life. And previous years had been full-on, so thats saying something.

The book starts at a race that made a big impression on my life, Pikes Peak International Hill Climb of July 2014, and finishes just after one that made an even bigger impression, the Ulster Grand Prix of August 2015. I talk about winning and losing, successes and almighty fuck-ups. Itll let you know a bit about my decision-making process, that sometimes only I can understand. I describe how and why I do stuff and the opportunities Ive turned down. It also covers the day-to-day routines that have made me who I am. Ill also introduce you to people I work with and mates I spend time with.

There have been a couple of big additions to my life who dont really get a proper introduction in the book, but were there through all of it.

When I started writing the book I was a bit lonely. Every morning I was getting up at daft oclock in the morning, working in the truck yard on my own, only going into the office for a brew and some passive smoking with Mick Moody every three or four hours. Then Id come home to an empty house, because Nick, my cousin who lodges with me, doesnt come home till late most nights.

One day, not long after getting home from Pikes Peak, I was on a pushbike ride with Jason Miles, who crops up regularly in the following chapters. I was telling him Id love a dog, and when he said his mates sisters cousin knew about a litter of Labradors that were due, I told him to put my name down for one. There wasnt any big decision about this breed or that breed, but Labradors are a bit like Retrievers and the Lancasters had them on their farm when I lived there.

It wouldnt be possible for me to own a dog if it wasnt for my sister Sal, so we decided wed share one, her looking after the dog when I was away. So in August 2014, me, Sal and her boys George and Louie went over to Manchester to see this litter of Labradors. There were only a couple to choose from, because most of them had already been picked, but as soon as I saw them I thought they were the best things ever. Id eaten some bacon Frazzles on the drive over and one pup I picked up started licking my chops straight away. I thought, Right, youre my man. He was the smallest of the survivors. There had been a smaller pup, but that one had died. I didnt bother having his back end checked Labs are notorious for having dodgy hips, but I wasnt bothered because I was having him whatever.

We named him Nigel, after Mad Nige, the late Mad Nige, my mate from the Isle of Man. He causes loads of grief, tries to eat everything and disappears for hours, but I just put that down to him showing a bit of character.

The other big change in my home life is the fact that Sharon moved in. Shes from Dublin, and weve been together for most of the time I was writing the book. I first met her at a charity moped race at Mondello race track in February 2014. Sharon is a mate of people I know out there because she was involved with the Loughshinny Motorcycle Club, who organise the Skerries and Killalane road races. She was invited out for a meal with a group of us and I got talking to her a bit that night and then again at the race the next day, quizzing her about a load of stuff. She said she liked that and even though she promised herself shed never go out with a road racer we ended up together.

For most of the time covered by this book I would go over and visit her for the odd weekend I had off and every time I was racing, testing or doing anything in Ireland, but she moved over to England after the 2015 TT and its great. In the past, Ive dragged jobs out because Id get whinged at when I came home, but Sharon doesnt whinge about anything. She gives me a cup of tea, we have a yarn and then I go into the shed or we do something. Were well suited.