Rui Goncalves, Max Nagl and Shaun Simpson lent their thoughts on what is a personal matter at the final Grand Prix of the 2011 FIM Motocross World Championship. To read the words click here.

Below is an excerpt…

Do you have to ignore the thought of what state you might be in at 50 years old?

Rui: For sure…I don’t think I have ever thought about it to be honest. I just think about the next time I am riding and taking the best that I can from it. Logically, if you are going to think about it, it is something [consequences of the injuries] that is going to be there later on but I like to live for the moment.

Injury must be a little bit easier to deal with when you are young. I can imagine it gets a little more complicated with the passing years…

Max: When I get injured I think about the future. I don’t want to be in a situation later in life where I cannot get in and out of a car because I’m in too much pain. I give so much of myself to the sport – even to the point where you ignore what the consequences will be for the future – and I guess that is pretty crazy. If you have a broken bone then you know it will hurt but normally it should not represent such a big problem in later years. With something like my back and the injury I had this year then I know I will already have some issues in the future.

So you haven’t had that ‘what am I doing?’ moment? Or do you think when that arrives it is time to stop?

Shaun: I think 50% of the injuries I’ve had have been through no fault of my own, maybe it was a bike problem or someone else’s doing. When it is your own fault then it chews you up quite a bit but when you’re not responsible then it chews you up even more. You ask yourself lots of questions, and more than ever you want to get back to give it another go.