World Superbikes are 1000cc street bikes modified for the race track. As anyone who rides a sportsbike will know these things are fast!

We tune the engine, modify the suspension, brakes and wheels, put on slick racing tyres and take off as much weight as possible from the standard machine.

These things will accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 2.5 seconds, first gear alone will do over 170 km/h with a top speed of over 300 km/h and when I squeeze the brakes they stop even quicker. I think I have the best job in the world!

The forces that go though my body during acceleration and braking are big and the wind pushes hard against me at those high speeds, but the real physical part is trying make these things turn and go around corners at the limit of adhesion as fast as we can for about 100km of racing distance.

Slowing the bike from over 300km/h to sometimes as low as 70km/h isn’t easy either, with those racing brakes it feels like your elbows are trying to go though your shoulders. Read in the fitness section of my site what I do to stay physically and mentally at the top of my game.

There are many things we can adjust and change on the bikes for the different nature of all the circuits we go to, like tyres, wheels, brakes, suspension, chassis parts, engine power, electronic controls and aerodynamics. Pretty much everything on a WSB bike is adjustable to try to get the best possible package at the circuit we are racing on.

Having all these possibilities of adjustment means there is a huge amount of input from myself and the teams engineers and mechanics to make the best setting possible, but there is no such thing as the perfect motor bike, its all about compromising turning and grip and trying to apply as much power as possible to the ground.

Saying that, when the bike is working well and I am riding it to its absolute best there is no better feeling than sliding the front tyre into a 200km/h corner, or having the bike right over on its side, sliding around with my knee buried into the ground and starting to open the 225+ horsepower and feeling the thing go.

When I’m out there on the bike, my mind and attitude go completely into racing mode and time seems to change and things happen in super slow motion. For example, watching the numbers turn over on the onboard lap timer.

When I’m in the garage, I can see the seconds ticking over and only the occasional number in the tenth of a second column. When I’m out there doing my stuff, I can clearly see every tenth of a second when I have a quick glance at the dash three or four times a lap. I think there is a zone every athlete gets into when they are competing at the top level and part of my zone is having my mind up to that speed.

That’s a bit about my bike and what it’s like to ride it. I hope you all enjoy WSB this year and support Kawasaki and myself right through 2010.