One Sunday in the middle of August, I went along to see the British Qualifying and Eastern Centre quad bike championship at Blaxhall motorcross circuit.

While it was enjoyable to see quads being pushed to the limit, the main reason I was there was to see Ollie Stearn riding in the solo support races on his Honda 450 motorcross bike.
Ollie is one of the competitors I sponsor and support with nutritional advice.  After watching Ollie race a couple of times, it became clear that he is an exceptionally talented rider with stacks of commitment and bravery. 

If any of you are wondering why bravery would be useful, then I can only suggest you go and watch a high level motorcross event to see what I mean!  While Ollie doesn’t as yet ride full time (he is also a qualified mechanic) he races at a level where many of his competitors ride motorcross bikes as a full time occupation. 

To watch Ollie pushing himself and his bike to the limit while more than holding his own against the professional riders was quite thrilling to watch.  The other thing I noticed was the huge stress that motorcross puts on the riders.  As an interested observer, it was possible to see the physical changes the riders went through during the events.  Fatigue was obvious, towards the end of each race, riders seemed more susceptible to dropping the bikes or not keeping the lines as tight as the early stages of the race.  One of the big hurdles for the riders seems to be lactic acid and cramping, caused by the constant shaking, breaking and accelerating that their entire bodies go through. 

I was amazed to see how many riders just used orange juice or similar to re-hydrate after each race.  Many of them are perhaps not aware that there are supplements that could help them push through the lactic acid barrier, help them increase power and strength to handle the bikes, and re-hydrate themselves with glucose polymers.  I am convinced that many riders can improve their performance by using such products! Both Ollie and myself are now putting together a specific pre-race combination of nutrients to give him the added edge over the other riders. 

Lactic acid buffers such as citrulline malate and Beta-Alanine, with creatine monohydrate to increase power and strength will be the basis of Ollie’s pre race nutrition.  There are also a couple of other products that we will experiment with to increase his oxygen uptake and race recovery.  I have no doubt that the correct nutrition will improve his endurance and lead to even more impressive results. If you want to know how to improve your sports per-formance....from someone that knows how to improve it....then you know where to come..

 — Ant —