More than a decade ago, motocross pros could be counted on to be the life of the party, drinking hard all night, racing all day. Things have changed. Now the top stars in the sport are drinking more. A lot more water, that is.
With more water in their systems, riders are better equipped to handle the punishing demands of successive 20- to 30-minute motos on the same day, usually in extreme heat. Staying hydrated keeps their brains and central nervous systems functioning smoothly and sets them up to ride hard again the next day.
Without a body fully topped off with fluids, a rider could see his strength and mental-response times drop by 10 percent when he rips – or really limps – through the last couple of laps of a race. Ten percent may not seem like a lot, but all it takes is one split-second lapse in attention for a guy to get passed or botch a jump and crash out. And with the millions of dollars at stake in today’s motocross world, losing a race because of dehydration will earn a rider a one-way ticket to the bush leagues.
Having a rider chug a bottle of water just before he rolls up to the starting gate on any given Sunday isn’t going to do the trick. Proper hydration is a multistage strategy that starts with a simple calculation of a rider’s sweat rate in gallons per hour. Armed with this number, a rider will have a good idea of how much fluid he’s going to lose during a moto. He then can make sure he downs a specific amount of sports drink right after each ride and stays sharp.
Here’s how a fictional 154-pound rider obtains his sweat rate:
Just before jumping out for a practice heat, the rider strips down and weighs himself. He weighs 154 pounds.
After the heat, he strips down again, towels the sweat off his body, and weighs himself again. This time he weighs 152 pounds, meaning he lost 2 pounds of fluids during the heat, or a quart (32 ounces).
Since his heat lasted 60 minutes, his sweat rate is 32 ounces an hour.
To properly rehydrate himself, he needs to replace 150 percent of the fluids lost, or 48 ounces.
This same formula works for a rider of any ability, and the same benefits apply to someone messing around at a track all day. If you’re not racing, you have the option of wearing a Camelbak-type hydration system on your back and sucking in an electrolyte-packed sports drink throughout your ride.
Figure out your sweat rate per hour the same way as above, and make sure to take in the same amount of fluids you’re excreting through perspiration. In the case above, our rider would want 32 ounces of fluids an hour every hour if he was riding in, say, the Baja 500.
Dean Golich is a coach for Colorado Springs-based Carmichael Training Systems. For more information on the latest in training, fitness and nutrition, go to www.trainright.com/newsletter.
