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It did suck though. I couldn’t do much for a while.
I find it interesting about the incidence of Epstein-Barr in Moto compared to professional road or MTB cycling. It seems to me the Moto guys have a much higher incidence rate, which seems weird as the total volume of training a pro road cyclist does is very very high. Not trying to read much into this, but just curious why Moto guys have more issues with EBV? Maybe age related, as the Moto kids embark on higher training volumes very young with not quite as much progression? Cycling tends to be very progressive for riders who come up through junior, U23, and then elite/pro. Maybe also just a better understanding of training? I see a lot of Moto guys just going at it helter-skelter and doing too much (even Dungey pre-Aldon says he didn't really know what he was doing).
The MX community just eats whatever is served to them without critical thinking.
When someone has EB virus, Lyme Disease, an autoimmune disease, etc, people can't see it... they can't feel it... so most people can't really relate unless they've suffered from something like it. So, therefore, the person in question must be faking it, lazy, or whatever because they "look just fine". About zero empathy, sympathy or understanding from the ignorant. Just look at some of the comments in this thread. It's not just Vital... it's humans in general.
Thomas Covington is a professional racer and didn't get to where he is by being a slacker. His MXGP results prove that. He now has a diagnosis and can focus on getting better so he can show his true potential here. Best of luck to Thomas. I hope he recovers quickly and gets to the front of the pack soon.
So yeah, when people can't see what is wrong they just love to sling crap. I have sympathy for Covington, it's been obvious something is really wrong with him and hopefully he can get back to 100% and prove his doubters wrong in 2020.
Pit Row
As for the Epstein Barr, I did a project in college on it. Just about everyone has the virus, its similar to HPV in that you can get it from kissing, sharing cups, dirty gym equipment, etc... By the time you are an adult you usually have an immunity to it, because its likely what led to you getting mono when you're a teenager. The connection with sports is when an individual over trains, drastically changes their diet, and other factors that contribute to a weakened immune system, it can come back and lead to mono or chronic fatigue. Or they could have just never come in contact which is highly unlikely.
By no means am I a doctor, but, I would guess that we see a higher amount of cases in motocrossers because for the formative development years when they would get mono or contact the epstein barr virus, they are in small communities (training facilities) and don't come in to much contact with large numbers of people with it like most of us did in High School and Middle School. Could be an interesting topic if someone was working on a doctorate or looking to do a case study....
Your points about the relative isolation are interesting. So in addition to being unable to speak like a normal human, the home schooling might be contributing to illness issues later in life. Stay in school kids! "Yeah, no, can't thank the schools system for my health".
You can’t qualify for a Supercross main after a holeshot in LCQ and you have only shown top 10 speed in 1 moto outdoors..
I hate to be a hater but I’m just not buying it sorry.
Show us a few laps at speed and then fade and say you have EB
Great to hear Covington found reason and could now get better. His speed at GPs was awesome at times so waiting him to make top5 when he is 100%.
The only cause I can think of is just before catching it I was pushing a lot at work and I had a bit of a lack of sleep that week, so I was feeling really tired, then boom, about 2 weeks later I got really sick. It sounds a lot like an overtraining drains your body so much that it can easily catch a virus.
Obviously there are different 'levels' to the illness and some people might end up worse/better than I did but I wouldn't wish it on anyone and can't even imagine trying to ride, let alone race, a Motocross bike for any length of time while fighting it.
The Dr basically told me I HAD to rest if I wanted to recover and that pushing through it was the worst thing I could do so I'd be surprised if we see him out there racing over the next few weeks - isn't doing anyone any favours.
Post a reply to: So...is Covington hurt?