Breakfast
I can start as early as 5.30am if I’m riding, but on a normal day it’s 7am, and it’s always light: a coffee with a piece of fruit – apple, orange, banana … And maybe a couple of biscuits. It depends on what I’m doing the next day: if I have a race, I’ll always eat less. It’s all about weight management – it plays on your mind all the time. If you wake up five to six pounds heavier you know that somewhere down the line you’re just going to have to lose it again, so even if you try eat a bit more normally while you’re on holiday, you tend to get back on to your working diet very quickly.
Lunch
Usually at about 11am. You don’t want to eat a full meal between rides, so it’s tiny: two to four chicken nuggets or a chicken wrap. I imagine my stomach is fairly small, but you do settle into it. We’re so active; there’s no sitting around. We get 10 days off in August but apart from that we’re racing all year round, always on the clock.
Snacks
Lots of sweets. I use up a lot of energy, so I often need an energy boost. I love Haribo Tangfastics, the red packet; but I’ll have anything really. I have a really sweet tooth. And the odd packet of crisps – beef Hula Hoops or purple Monster Munch. I spend a lot of my day in the car – about 60,000 miles a year – so going to the garage is a bit of a nightmare. I could buy everything. Once every few days I’ll have a can of Coke, but most of the time it’s a builder’s tea with a good few sugars, with maybe a biscuit if there are any. And Robinson’s squash – apple and blackcurrant, with fizzy water; I make it quite strong, an inch of cordial per glass.
Dinner
I still live with my mum, and she looks after me very well. I love pasta – carbonara, especially – but I avoid eating too many carbs. So it’s usually chicken – stews, grilled, wrapped in bacon – or steak, rare. With two to three veg, spinach, carrot – my mum’s very trad, and I’m not very fussy.
- Sam Twiston-Davies is running the Grand National on Blaklion today at 5:15pm
