Cal Crutchlow returned from a two-week trip to the U.S. on Monday and with the first official MotoGP Test at Sepang taking place from February 1st-3rd, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider explained to motogp.com how he has been preparing.

Crutchlow had an operation on his shoulder at the start of December to repair a similar injury to the one suffered by Valentino Rossi, and a fortnight of cycling in the California sunshine has left the British MotoGP rookie in an upbeat mood as he works his way back to fitness.

“It went really well. I had 12 days of real cycling and did 692 miles (just over 1,100km). It’s a good base of fitness to start the season and cycling is a passion of mine, so to get out there in nice weather was great. It also helped my recovery with my shoulder, and I’m now looking forward to going to Malaysia,” Crutchlow said.

The 25 year-old also explained that the company of fellow Brit Bradley Smith, who in 2011 moves from 125cc up to Moto2 with the Tech 3 team, provided a valuable exchange of information for both riders.

“It was great to meet up with a Tech 3 team-mate of mine and do some training together,” he said. “We were doing rides of between two and five hours a day, so there was a lot of time for talking! It was great for me because of his experience around the circuits and he knows them a lot better than I do. But at the same time it’s completely different on a MotoGP bike to a 125cc, which he has been riding. The good thing for him is that I can give him some good advice on 600cc bikes from when I won the World Supersport title, so we have a mutual respect. Bradley is a good guy and someone with a good future in MotoGP, I’m sure.”

Discussing the progress of his recovering shoulder in relation to the Test, Crutchlow continued: “The shoulder is sore but that’s because I’ve been working it hard. The Doctor put it into perspective by saying a normal person would be in a sling for 8-12 weeks and I took it off after three weeks, so we have pushed the boundaries – that’s what motorcycle racers do. He explained that going to Sepang in two weeks is really going to test it, but he said he’s confident that at the start of the season it should be fit. It won’t be 100% but it’ll hopefully be better than it was before. That’s good news for me.”

The temptation to get on a motorbike before Sepang and try his shoulder out is a great one, but Crutchlow is resisting the urge. He wants to ensure he can make the most of the Sepang Test and will instead continue with a fitness programme until then.

“I have motocross and enduro bikes at home but I don’t want to do any damage or wreck the recovery work that’s been done, or even go to Sepang with any doubt in my mind that it’s not good. So I’d rather just leave it and go to Sepang,” said Crutchlow. “At the end of the day I can do press ups and general things with it, it is sore and it aches after, but I only had the operation six weeks ago.”

“We’ll use this first Test really to get my head back round being on a MotoGP bike which is completely different, and to learning the circuit. It’s been a couple of months off a motorcycle for me so to get back on and work out how everything works again will be a key aim. For the second Test we’ll then have a bit more of a goal for testing a lot more things and being more optimistic, and by then I’ll have had another three weeks and hopefully it (the shoulder) will be better,” he concluded.