DR: Do you think you're going to be able to get back on a bike in time for the next round?
ML: That's my plan. It's a nine week break in the Enduro series, so it's going to be really, really close as far as the round in Michigan in the middle of June. That's gonna be one I may just tough out and try to get something out of it, get a decent placing. Then we've got another month until the one in the middle of July in Pennsylvania. So with the way things have been going, the way Russ (Russell Bobbitt) finished in Texas on Sunday (Bobbitt finished third), it's just... with four rounds in you can never be too sure how things are going to end up. Anything can happen. I'm going to do everything I can to make that round in Michigan.
DR: What were you doing last weekend during that enduro?
ML: Pulling my hair out. Actually there was a local race here in New Jersey that my family, my brother raced. Me and a buddy went up there and chased around. My mechanic Evan rode. I really needed to keep busy. I was getting updates from Melissa, my old mechanic's wife, she was there, she was giving me updates of every section, how people were doing, then she gave me the final results at the end of the day.
DR: Can you give us an idea how tough that was to lose the points lead when you're not on a motorcycle?
ML: It's frustrating as heck. I wasn't that bad on Sunday. It was harder at the beginning of the week when I first got hurt, when I knew that I would miss Texas. It was harder the Friday that I did it, then the Saturday, the Sunday, that weekend when I was in the hospital. It was extremely difficult then because of the doubt of knowing when I was going to be back. That weekend (of the Texas race), I wouldn't say it didn't bother me, but it didn't bother me that much. I was counting what place Russ would get and how many points he'd be ahead. I don't know, I wasn't that bad on Sunday. I kept myself occupied, and I'd seen the doc that Thursday, he was telling me this (June return) was definitely possible, where before he was telling me I might need two surgeries and he wouldn't put a time frame on it. I kept telling myself I'm only going to miss one race, it's not that bad. It could definitely be worse.
DR: Do you get to drop a round in AMA Enduro competition?
ML: No, they count 'em all.
DR: You want to tell us about fighting back from a mid-season injury?
ML: Before the second round in Georgia this year I was feeling really strong, riding really well, and I crashed practicing on Wednesday before the race. I broke some bones in my hand and I finished that race in pain, struggled through it, and got third there. Then I didn't ride the Alligator (not an AMA Enduro points event), took off two or three weeks, got myself together, and then won Louisiana. So I was thinking I was coming back pretty strong from that, and then boom, this happens. So I just recently came back from my hand. And then with my knees in '04 I came back. I broke my knee early, then came back half way through and won three or four races, then at the end of that year I fell at the very last enduro and broke my humerus bone in eight pieces. I had to wait all winter to deal with that and then won the championship in '05. Then in '06 I blew my knee out half way through the year on that one, then came back and won in '07. So I know the deal with coming back. It's definitely something I've done before. I've dealt with it, I've done it, and I know what do to as soon as it happens, where to put my head... the first couple days are always hard. Just the doubt of knowing when you'll be back, so I just took a couple days off to get my mind situated on what I wanted to do and now it's down to work. It's every day, everything I eat and do. I still train and work on things.
DR: Will you be using any unique forms of rehabilitation?
ML: I've got a great place, it's called Nova Care Rehabilitation Center that I've always gone to with my knees. They don't have anything trick, but it's just every day they have something. They're a firm believer that every time I get hurt, as soon as I can start exercising and pumping blood anywhere, whether I'm doing it upper body or wherever, that pumping blood helps heal bones. I was working out four days after I did it - what I could with a cast on my leg. They have a couple bone stimulator machines that I get on for a half hour or forty five minutes a day that helps pump blood also to the area where the broken bones are.