Edwards has taken advantage of the three-week gap between this year’s Misano and Laguna Seca rounds of the championship to take a hard-earned break in his native homeland.  Far from the glamour and glitz of a World Superbike round, Edwards retires to the sleepy Texas town near Houston where he grew up, visiting old friends, working on his house, playing golf and spending overdue time with family.

“This is what life’s about for me,” explains Edwards. “I know I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do when I’m racing but when I’m home I’m just like anybody else – work’s done and I’m home.

“In the past few years I’ve seen the need to break away from racing and settle back into home life. It’s not just the distraction from chasing a world title but it also recharges my batteries and fires me up to go racing again.”

Never so much has the “Texas Tornado” needed to recharge those batteries than at present, as the 28-year-old heads into his home round of the championship at Laguna Seca, California.  Despite setting records this year, Edwards is still fighting to work out what it is he needs to overhaul championship leader Troy Bayliss.  Edwards trails the Australian by 49 points after eight of 13 rounds but it’s the determined Edwards who has set a new record of 15 consecutive podium finishes in the championship.  He’s also become the first non-Japanese rider since 1995 to win at the wild card-laden Sugo circuit in Japan.

Despite his efforts, Edwards knows it looks increasingly like he will need to do even more to topple Bayliss. Yet, in his familiar laid-back style, Edwards refuses to change his game plan.  A couple of weeks’ break at home is inadvertently offering him that change of approach – only Sunday’s Laguna Seca action will prove its effectiveness.

Edwards recalls: “In the old days I was building up to every race for the full week before. I was miserable, focusing my mind, preparing my thoughts and training hard.

“That didn’t work for me. I’m not saying it’s the right way or wrong way but, for me, it wasn’t right. By the time I got to the races I was too wound up, anxious and under pressure before I even started practice – it didn’t work.

“Now, I’m home, switched off and that’s the best preparation I can have. When I arrive at a race I’ve arrived just to race. From the moment I drive through the paddock gates there’s no doubting what I’m thinking about – that works for me.”

So, while it remains in focus, the Laguna Seca event will not move from the background of Edwards’ mind to the fore until he drives into Monterey on Wednesday afternoon.  Until then it’s life as normal for Edwards – spending time at his and wife and mother-to-be Alyssia’s home on the outskirts of Conroe.

“Racing’s always been my life so returning home after an event is normal – only nowadays I’m not travelling home after every event – in fact I’m at home right now for the first time in around two months,” Edwards recalls.

But once he arrives home Edwards embarks on a mission to cram as much as possible into his brief return. He moved into a new home in April but within a couple of weeks was off to Europe for four rounds, eight weeks of racing.

And it was during that period that parents-to-be Colin and Alyssia discovered the news of their first child.  “It was while I was over at the TT races on the Isle of Man that I found out I was going to be a dad,” recalls Edwards. “I’ve wanted kids forever and now it’s finally happening, it’s great.”

But will it change Edwards’ outlook on racing? He believes: “Children won’t change anything. It is more responsibility for me but it’s also a new challenge. But, with children, I’ll have everything I want.

“With everything I’ve ever wanted there’s no more looking to the future and wondering about what’ll happen and when we might have children – now, all of sudden I’m living for today even more.”

Yet, despite his absence from home and the pressure of the World Superbike cauldron, the modest, tobacco-chewing Honda SP-2 rider never loses sight of real life.  The super-stardom Edwards enjoys at a race event hardly befits the man whose racing roots are well and truly on a small, volunteer-run motocross track near Conroe.

Edwards explains: “That’s where it all began, at the Rio Bravo track. We used to race on a Friday night under floodlights then on a Sunday afternoon. Then, when I started doing nationals I was at the same events as Jeff Emig, Damon Bradshaw and Ezra Lusk. 

“That was my life and I did it until I was 14 but now I rarely go out on a motocross bike, maybe for the odd practice day. But, now and again, I do catch up with some of the fellas I used to race against locally.”

Then there’s the almost bizarre game of golf Edwards will have with friends on a Saturday morning. While he’s trying to record his best ever score – in typical competitive style - his three playing partners are just doing what they do every Saturday morning of the year.

Totally unaware of the kind of following Edwards has at any World Superbike round, his home-grown “buddies” join him for a few beers, 18 holes of golf and play each other for two dollars!  And the friendly fourball also spans four generations; Edwards in his 20s and the other three in their 30s, 50s and 60s.

“We also have a fifth player in his 40s so there’s five generations of us out there on some Saturdays,” Edwards reports. “I met one of them through a friend a few years ago and it took off from there. They’re all really good guys, we have a good laugh at each other and crack our first beer about 8.30am.

“They all follow my racing, when they can. Each time I’ve seen them recently they all say; ‘God damn, what the hell are we going to do about this Bayliss guy’ – it’s fun hanging out with them.”

Once the golf is out of the way Edwards takes in one of the 20 or so fast food restaurants he may visit during his brief period at home.

“I suppose it’s strange because in Italy or somewhere you might arrange meal times or restaurant bookings but here there’s loads of different foods and while you’re passing it’s always tempting to pop in,” he says.  And, there’s always time to call in for a beer with brother Jimmy who runs a lakeside jet ski rental business or meet up for dinner with his original sponsor, a Honda dealer on the outskirts of Houston.

And it’s that casual lifestyle, based around the picturesque Lake Conroe, where Edwards will find it difficult not to spend his days when retirement comes about.

He reveals: “I don’t know exactly what’ll happen when I do retire but I know that for my entire life people around me – friends, family and everyone I know have all been focused on me.

“I want to get away from that, the ‘me, me, me’ situation, and start giving something back.”

Yet Edwards is also ready for a future in racing although steering the ship as a team manager may never happen.

He reckons: “If the right opportunity came along then I’d have to look at it but I’d be a lot more use in a technical role than any management role.”

Edwards is as laid back about his future and his retirement plans as he is about everything else in life – care free, non-committal and enjoying life today with little thought for the future. Although a number of local property investments will at least guarantee his family’s security.

He continues: “I’ve not made any plans really. If an opportunity to invest comes along I may take it but I’ve also lost half a million dollars in the past year-and-a-half in stocks and shares.

“I can see myself raising kids in my current house and playing golf every day. I’ll probably retire from racing when I’m 32 or 33, after that I’ve got 18 years to get my golf game in shape before joining the U.S. Seniors tour!”