CS Santosh and Toby Price: Two brilliant off-road riders get talking!
The Mind Behind is a fantastic initiative by Red Bull that is bringing us closer to famous athletes, celebrities and even chefs from around the world, to see what goes on in their head and what enables them to unlock that extra bit of willpower that us mere mortals fail to do. In the first episode our country’s very own off-road ace, CS Santosh linked up with Toby Price, who won the Dakar last year, on Red Bull India’s Instagram page and it gave all of us some much needed inspiration during these trying times.
Toby has raced in the Dakar multiple times now, but he still remembers his thoughts during his first Dakar, “I thought of everything I could possibly think of. It was five times greater than I had imagined; so that was a challenge in itself, I remember I had never felt so physically tired and drained.” When asked about how he prepares before the Dakar, Toby said, “I think, yeah, that month leading up to the race you just got to make sure you're physically and mentally prepared”. “You have to be sure you have everything organized and sorted before you go as once you get into the event, you just got to take it day by day and stay consistent; that I would say is the biggest key to my win”
CS asked Toby whether he would make the switch to racing in four-wheelers anytime in the future, to which he replied “For sure, that's definitely a future goal; I just love racing and I love burning fuel I love burning up tires. Anything with an engine in it, I would race a lawnmower if I could, if someone gave me a go for it! It’s a bit of a goal and a long way ahead but will surely go for that too, someday.”
As a two-time Dakar winner, Toby definitely has the correct mindset needed for endurance racing. Santosh asked what makes him tick, to which Toby replied, “The biggest rule to be successful is to never give up. It's not an easy road. You have to keep challenging yourself and keep going on; just have fun with it and try and learn as much as you can, every single day”
Toby is as well known for his riding skills in the bivouac as he is for his hairstyle and Santosh wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to enquire about Toby’s unique look, “‘Yeah, this is pretty much the longest standing relationship I've had. It was back in like 2016 or 17 in Spain, I had an appointment for a tattoo, and the guy there said he would pay for my haircut, if I’d get a mullet (type of hairstyle). So yeah, I got the mullet, and then I was only meant to be around for a week. And then, yeah, it's now four and a half, almost five years later and it's still going strong!” , said Toby.
It was a very interesting conversation and great to see two great riders getting together and just talking about their passion, and fooling around a bit too! You can watch the full episode of The Mind Behind with CS Santosh and Toby Price on RedBull India’s Instagram handle, with more episodes to come soon.
