Mark Webber is not an easy guy to catch. He’s probably the fastest cyclist kiticon will ever talk to, since his usual mode of transport is a Red Bull Renault Formula 1 Grand Prix car capable of 360 kph!

Add to this that Mark is a very busy man. kiticon was lucky to catch up with Mark at The Red Bull hospitality unit at The Australian Grand Prix, his home event in Melbourne, on the Thursday before the big race. It’s the first race of the 2009 F1 season and during the lead up, Mark has been kept busy recovering from a horrendous bike crash, which occurred in November 2008 while Mark was taking part in his own event, The Mark Webber Tasmania Challenge. Almost all the experts thought Mark wouldn’t be racing here today, since he broke his right leg and sustained many other injuries from the incident. But doubt Mark’s resilience and courage for one moment and you’ll lose, for this guy is an incredible competitor. The resulting media scrum here at Albert Park is intense.

Everyone wants to know what makes this guy tick. kiticon was right there to get the goods about fitness and cycling from the man himself.

Interestingly just before Mark talked to kiticon we overheard another journalist asking Mark how he was feeling before the race. Mark replied: "It doesn't give me much grief in the car. The biggest challenge is actually walking up and down the pit lane." Then, "I'm OK with it. I rest it each evening as best I can. I'll be fine after the first few races." Tough guy indeed!

Kiticon:    Mark, we know you’ve had the big accident, and come out the other side of it, and all the boys here say you can’t even cycle at the moment, but what would be your bike of choice to ride?

MW: Oh I can ride now, yeah. I’ve got a Giant. I love mountain biking and road cycling. More road cycling really, I mean road cycling in the hilly areas, not just on the flat. I love riding in the south of France, I do a lot of riding down there on the hills. The Dolomites are amazing. I ride there and in Bolzano in Italy, those kinds of places.

Kiticon:    How did the idea of the Mark Webber Challenge start?

MW: Well, I wanted to give something back here, locally in Australia, particularly to helping unfortunate youngsters by way of raising money through something that would challenge fit people as well. So having an adventure race, making sure it wasn’t going to be a five kilometre fun run, rather something that competitors would have to spend three or four months getting prepared for. It was a six to seven day race that would raise some great funds.

Kiticon:    You had some pretty serious competitors in there as well.

MW: Oh we had some really good people turn up and do it. So that was the reason why we started the challenge, yeah.

Kiticon:    Cycling can be a very important part of a fitness regime. Has it been like that for you?

MW: Oh yes. I was introduced to it very late, but loved it. I picked it up very quickly and it turned out to be a sport I did well at, a natural thing. I was feeling with running and swimming, I’m making pretty heavy weather at this, but cycling and the bike came to me so quickly, the whole idea of how I wanted to ride. Because all sports are technical, but I knew this was perfect for me.

Kiticon:    Does cycling cover part of the training for motor racing, maybe one area that no other part of training could do?

MW: A lot of the drivers cycle now, and it’s so good. I like being on the bike because I’m free. I’m not being crammed into a tight space to do my programme, so it’s perfect.

Kiticon:    What’s your first cycling memory?

MW: My first memory was getting given a BMX bike for Christmas, probably… well I don’t remember how old I was, pretty young. I’ve got a photo at home of me doing a wheelie on it on Christmas Day!

Kiticon:    We’d like that photo! If you were going out on a long cycle ride for pleasure, what’s the one thing you’d look forward to?

MW: One thing? The views. I love good views.

Kiticon:    It’s visual?

MW: Yes, the experience of seeing all those great views.

Kiticon:    Could you give us any idea of music you’d cycle to?

MW: Oh I’m totally against people riding with ipods, totally against it. So no, I think you need to concentrate on the bike. I’ve done tens of thousands of K’s on bikes and I’ve never ridden with music in my ear, ever.

Kiticon:    Would there be a thought process going on before you ride, like when I ride, it starts my day for me. Everything comes into place.

MW: Yeah, absolutely. You think about a lot of things. On a nice long ride you can relax, enjoy the bike, tune into it and also really open your mind up.

Kiticon:    Just one last question. Give us one little thing that people don’t know about you.

MW: There’s a couple of things. I haven’t owned a hairbrush for about fifteen years. These are my brushes (points to his fingers!). And I love my dogs.

Kiticon:    We’ve heard that. What dogs do you have?

MW: I’ve got a Wymerana, Shadow, and a Rhodesian Ridgeback, Simba. Yeah, I love my dogs.

Kiticon:    Where is home?

MW: In the U.K. I love Australia too, but I have to be where I can do my job.

And with that, he’s off to do his job. He leaps up and bounds off to do the endless media slots that’ll be his workload until the time for talking stops. Next morning he’s in his new car, instantly on the pace as soon as the timed laps of Albert Park have commenced. By Friday afternoon he’s fourth quickest. Clearly, there’s no way of stopping this racer!