Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/241252
5 Minutes with... ..Jeff Pasqua Story by Kevin Novello Photos by Art Pepin www.offroadpaparazzi.com How's it feel to win your second ECEA Enduro Championship? Very satisfying. Last year I was leading the series with 3 races and was forced to sit out the remainder of the season with a ruptured disk in my neck. The injury put me in the ER after the Michaux Enduro. I tried to tough it and finish but my arm went numb. It was a tough pill to swallow after being in contention to win it. But to come back and win it this year after the injury and struggling to find time to practice between family and work is a great feeling. Do you feel like you did anything better this year? I improved my rock riding. In ECEA endruo competition you have to be well rounded. I was always stronger in the sand and worked on getting better in the rocks. The series alternates between sand runs in New Jesey and rock runs in PA and the suspension testing I did paid off. I struggled in the rocks last year and got beat a bunch of times. To go in and win the Moonshine and Mixchaud enduro's , which are pretty tough rock runs, was a great personal achievement. Does it get harder each year? How so? Absolutely. I am 44 years old and age is catching up with me. There are nagging injuries to deal with and the kids 16 Trail Rider At 43 years old, Jeff Pasqua earned his second ECEA Enduro Championship. today are getting so much faster. I feel as if I was to work three times as hard. I think my experience helps carries me in some way. I may not be the fastest but my experience can compensate in some ways that only experience can. . What did you have to overcome this year? I didn't have too many issues this year. The season started slow and it took a while to get a win but then things began to roll. I focused more on being consistent rather than winning and that seemed to help. I felt like I was always on the podium and that being consistent paid off. I also focused on staying off the ground this year. I felt like I crashed less this year. Racing is part luck but I also felt like I didn't have as much tough luck as I did last year. I definitely made less mental mistakes and that helped make my own luck. How do you manage to get it done between work and family life? This year was difficult personally because I lost my job, which took a toll on me. I ended up being out of work for a couple of months before finding another job. People thought because I was out of work that I rode more, but it doesn't work like that. Aside from that I focused more on bike set up. I went back to my notes from last year and www.TrailRider.com