In motocross, there are fast riders, and then there are legends. Ricky Carmichael is the latter—a rider who didn’t just win but redefined what it meant to dominate. Known as the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), he built his career on a relentless work ethic, razor-sharp strategy, and a mindset that separated him from the rest.
In this interview, Ricky reflects on the pivotal moments of his career—from his decision to train with Aldon Baker to his battles with James Stewart and Chad Reed. We dive into the strategies that made him unbeatable, the mental game behind his success, and his thoughts on the future of the sport.
Looking back through your career, what fascinates me is your decision to workout with Aldon Baker. How did that come about and why did you pick him?
Well, that was from Johnny O'Hara, actually - Johnny O'Hara sought him out. For me, it was the 2000 Supercross series and I'm like, "I'm just not getting the results I need to be getting, what I'm accustomed to getting in the 125 class." And I needed to change my off-bike programme. And when I say off-bike programme, I wasn't looking for cardio. I thought that I had my cardio down, I always did what I did on the motorcycle for practise. I just needed a strength coach at the gym.
So Johnny's like "hey, I might have a guy in mind," and it was Aldo. Long story short, that's how I met Aldo. That's how I started working with him.
That season, you came in with quite a lot of pace, got injured, then struggled. How did you come up with a strategy, and how did that make you different as a rider.
Do you think that's why you were successful?
Yeah, the older I got the smarter I got. I won a lot of races and championships just by being smart, not always being the fastest guy. To give you an example, I knew that there were times where I know I can beat James Stewart, and I knew I could beat Chad Reed. However, my game plan was to be the best guy week-in week-out, and a lot of my race strategy I learned from Johnny O'Hara.
Why do you think you and Aldo were so successful together?
I think we were doing a lot of things that the other guys weren't doing. I mean, there were no magical answers. I think with the work ethic that I had, how much I used to practise, and then what he brought to the table off the bike, it meshed perfectly.
I think sometimes people would hire him looking to have the same result as we had. That's not always going to happen. He's not the right guy for everybody. He only works with certain people. We've seen that down the line, and I think that we had a good routine in what we did. His routine worked well with my body type and what I did on the bike. So, it was kind of like a perfect match.
That's interesting. I read in an interview with him where he said that none of the modern-day riders could've done your training schedules. What was an average week for you? For me, if I had to say what Aldo is probably talking about, the volume of training I did. I rode a lot. 3 times a week, minimum. I trained every single day, cardio. Weight training every other day. We had a lot of volume in training. If I had to guess, that's probably what he was talking about. However, my body type suited that. I have a slower metabolism; I store a lot more energy. That allows me to be able to sustain more volume of training.
Who's the quickest guy you think you've line up against, so far?
James Stewart. To this day, I don't think anyone's ever ridden a motorcycle faster than him. No way.
How did you come up with a strategy to beat him?
My strategy for James Stewart was - on the days I couldn't beat him, be faster than him and pull away - follow him. Force him, stock him. Take my bets that he's gonna crash. That was just a single race. For the series, have a better average finish than him. On the days that I was as good as him: get out front and pull away as fast as I could.
Was it difficult to resist being pulled into a race with him? How did you avoid that?
The reason I was able to not get so wrapped up in him beating me at one race, is because I knew that there's no way he could do that for a 17-race Supercross series. So, I didn't have to dwell on it. Chad Reed, on the other hand, played with me mentally more than James.
What was different about Reed?
Chad was really hard to beat because he was just fast enough. At his best, sometimes he could beat me - other times his best was enough to keep up with me. So I had to ride just a little out of my comfort zone, and I knew he wasn't willing to take that risk. So on races where we were really close, I knew I had to hang it out and really ride that ragged edge - and that's what would be able to get me over the hump to beat him.
Would you be thinking about specific parts of the track where you wanted to put on the pressure?
I knew that he was very hard to break, mentally. He's very strong up top. I would try to be faster than him in the corners and the rhythm sections because, in my mind, I knew I was faster there. But, he made up so much time in the whoops. That was his strong suit against me.
Through your career, who did you enjoy racing the most?
McGrath. 100%. I did enjoy battling him, and I did enjoy myself and James the last year.
