1.

Drink water with lemon for some taste at every meal.

2.

Eat several small balanced meals throughout the day. If you can, eat 6-meals a day. This will help prepare for the amount of food you will consume during the race.

3.

I hate training at a gym so I played sports 4-6 nights a week. I played College Volleyball when I was younger so I played 2-man grass volleyball all day Sunday either in a tournament or at the park with buddies. On Monday, I would ride my mountain bike in the hills and roads. On Tuesday, I played in a Soccer league at night. On Wednesday, I would either play in a softball league or go run. Thursdays, I would play racquetball and put the smack down on Sean Hamblin. On Friday, I would try to surf, swim, or do something random I didn't do during the week. Saturday I would try to ride moto if I didn't ride on Friday. I did all this for about 9-weeks in a row and ate pretty well the whole time. I went from 210 lbs down to about 197 lbs but had a lot more muscle in my legs and back.

4.

 I did P90X Yoga at least one day a week. Core strength is critical.

5.

I took MSM supplement pills a few times a day, Potassium/Magnesium Pills once a day, Glucosamine with Chondroitin in both pill form and in Liquid from a high-level anti-oxidant juice called MonaVie in the morning and at night, and a whey protein drink from GNC called AMP in a black and red bag. 2-weeks prior to the race the guys at OC Honda told me to drink Accelerade Sports drink before and after exercise, and EnduroxR4 for recovery. I also added Electrolyte tablet supplements to my water during sports. Anti Cramping pills from a mountain bike store was a last minute purchase.

6.

Six days before the 24-hour race I went to CompEdge in Hisperia and rode 45-minute motos with 20-30 min breaks all day long until they kicked me out of there at 4 pm. I drove home, ate dinner and got on my mountain bike and rode for 2-hours straight then ran for another hour or so. I was trying to see if my muscles would cramp and they did not so mentally I was pretty stoked.

7.

At night or when I had a spare moment I read the book The Ultra Marathon Man to find out how to deal with the mental stress and how to balance the food deal DURING the race. What I learned most in the 6 and 12 is if you don't eat your toast.

8.

A smart dude at OC Honda told me that first hour you start racing and you are fresh and feel good, your body is using the energy from fat and other readily available sources. He said after that first hour, if you can feed yourself a similar fuel to what your body is using in that first hour it will fool itself into thinking there is plenty of it and you can run at a pace that can continue as long as you eat every hour. The last thing I feel like doing when I'm competing in any sport is eat so this was literally like force feeding myself every hour. He said to eat about 200-300 calories per hour of protein, fat, and carbs. Especially good carbs that your stomach does not have to work too hard to digest. This fact was so critical to my success in this race.

Ride like you normally ride. Don't try doing weird things, focus on being comfortable, and hit your lines.

2.

Chew some kind of gum (sports gum is good) and drink plenty of water with an electrolyte additive. If your mouth is super dry, you may drink too much when you come in and that can cause problems. Camel packs do not work for me. I end up drinking too much which makes me throw up. I chew gum to keep my mouth wet and drink every 25-30 minutes.

3.

I would do a 25-27 minute lap and in the last 5-minutes of the lap, I would think about what I needed and what I had the prior break. My pit crew tracked when I would take an aspirin or muscle cramping pill or whatever so I didn't take too much. If you don't have a good pit crew to help you I suggest you write down what you did eat or drink as it will all become a big blur at 4:30 am when your eyelids feel like they are lead and your lungs are half full from dust.

4.

When I came in to change goggles and gloves, I would eat either Pasta, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or banana nut muffins for my carbs. My main water source had a very high protein supplement from GNC called AMP that I mixed in roughly 25% to the rest water. Every other pit I would alternate between drinking that mixture or just plain water with electrolyte tablets. The Goal is to put away somewhere around 250 to 300 calories and hour mostly in carbs with some fat and protein too.

5.

 I would do 1 lap, take a brief break to re-fuel, and continue this process for as long as I was comfortable and not feeling too pushed. About 6 hrs in, my wrists started to hurt so that's when I started taking Ibuprophen for the pain. Before my hands started hurting I wrapped my palms with PreWrap foam tape and a little medical tape before I put on my gloves and this helped me a ton not to get gnarly blisters on my palms. I run my suspension a little softer and I use FlexBars since my 2008 CRF 450 is already stiff up front and tends to shake harder in the fast chop. Saving your hands is so key; protect them by changing gloves often and taking smooth lines even if it's a bit slower in your mind. Smoother is faster in 24 hrs. When you stand, squeeze the bike with your legs, and rest your hands.

6.

Run a taller seat or a step seat and mix it up with padded under shorts so your ass does not get totally beat to hell. The more you can stand up the better, as this will also help with less cramping in your legs. If there is a straight or calm section, stretch your to keep them loose. When you come into the pits, don't sit very long and if you do keep your legs straight and stretch every second your eating or drinking. Resist the temptation to sit down for very long especially late at night as it's so easy to dose off and getting your body back will seem almost impossible once it starts to shut down.

7.

When I started to feel sleepy, I drank a natural energy drink called Xowii that has some natural caffeine in it from the Kona Red Coffee Cherry. But most importantly, Xowii contains liquid glucosamine and high level antioxidants. On an ORAC scale (oxygen radical absorbance capacity); it scores over a 5000, which is huge for antioxidants. Another energy solution I would mix in about every 2-3 pit stops was MonaVie Gel Packs and Cliff Gel energy packs. The MonaVie also had liquid glucosamine and that helped my joint pain. Don't do the typical energy drinks since the sugar content and other crap in those is a slippery slope for a 24-hour race.

8.

About 16-hours into the race, I stopped for about 35-minutes, took a shower, and changed all my gear. The way I felt after that was amazing. If you have the means to do this, I strongly suggest it. I have heard your body can absorb water from a shower and it sure seemed like I was getting an IV in a way. I did have an IV on standby but didn't have a nurse to give it to me. My # 1 goal was to not get the same muscle cramps I got in the 6 and 12 races. I also chose to wear regular knee guards instead of my asterisks knee braces as I think they constrict blood flow a bit too much for a really long race.

9.

Staying on top of pain with aspirin every 3-4 hours is important. It also helps thin the blood but I am no doctor so take it for what it's worth. I can say the mountain bike dudes swear by the anti cramping pills I took so learn from those tree huggers whenever you can when it comes to cramping. It's not just bananas like grandma says, there is a lot more to it. A decent level of sodium intake is good, some chips and stuff will help you retain the water you drink too. I would eat chips every few hours along with all the other stuff I ate. You will find the longer you race the more your going to want food that you can easily digest like yogurt and gel packs and stuff. Soup is good too in the middle of the night and will give you a nice mental treat when you are in a very cold place and your throat feels like it's on fire.

10.

At 4 am, my pit crew went to sleep in the race rig. I was alone and sat down knowing I was 2 laps ahead of the guy I had to beat to clinch 3rd. I gave myself a treat and just sat there waiting for him to come around or rest himself knowing with only 6 more hours to go, all I had to do was stay ahead of him. When he came around I was without a pit crew and that's when the mental depression started to kick in. My throat hurt so badly from the excessive breathing and the dust it was very hard to swallow anything: especially if it was cold. This is when you will want luke warm liquid or soup. I did not have it but wished I did. It prevented me from getting my 300 calories during those hours of darkness and about 2-3 hours later, I paid for it dearly when I started to feel sick and got delirious and talking gibberish. It took force-feeding myself to get back my energy and mind.