Nick Kimber

With miles of road ahead, your nearest competitor within target range, and your legs doing all the work, you may feel well in control of your destiny. But throw in some of nature's most rugged terrain - unseen ditches, impossible climbs, sharp bends, broken paths and water troughs - and suddenly your destiny looks shaky.

 

This is how the challenge mounts up for sports scientist and champion mountain biker Nick Kimber. Previously a road racer, Nick readied himself for the ride on the wild side while studying at university in New Zealand. After his first competition in Wellington, Nick was hooked.

 

Earlier in the year, Nick completed his first season of competitive mountain biking in Australia which included a 3rd placing in the 2002 World Masters Games and winning the Victorian MTBA State Series (Vet Class).

 

Coming into the new series of the Victorian MTBA, summer 2003-04, Nick's goal is to defend his state title with the aid of hard training and lots of Aussie Bodies protein! His warm up performances have been encouraging with a recent third placing at a team event in Canberra.

 

Nick has found that mountain biking places an extra demand on upper body strength, underlining the importance of protein as part of his training and recovery.

 

"In road racing, your legs are doing most of the work, but mountain biking involves a lot of out-of-seat climbing, moving the bike through rough terrain, withstanding and absorbing shock," Nick says.

 

"All of it takes extra energy and places a heavier toll on the muscles. It's also more mentally challenging because you're always concentrating on gear changing, braking and getting good lines through corners.

 

"With protein supplementation, the most noticeable difference so far is that I'm not losing muscle mass like I typically do when getting back into a lot of hard aerobic training on the bike.

 

"I've tried hard in the past to remain weight-stable and I'm finding now that having a Protein FX bar a day, along with Perfect Protein and/or Protein Revival, really makes a difference.

 

"I've also noticed that my body fat levels have dropped as well and so I'm feeling leaner but stronger at the same time because the muscle mass is still there."

 

Keep up to speed on Nick's progress at the Mountain Bike Australia website.