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\u201cI wouldn\u2019t normally do that, I\u2019d just go out and ride, but this time I went to the gym, visited some marathon and triathlon stores, and played around with nutritional drinks and snacks, to figure out what I\u2019d need to get me through those days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re burning around 5000 calories a day, so it\u2019s impossible to get all that back into our body in one evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cNutrition made a huge difference and at the end of Sonora, I felt 100 per cent. The hardest thing was fatigue from having four-to-five hours of sleep a night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sutherland has his eyes on the Sunraysia Safari rally in outback New South Wales in September, the Rally of Morocco and the Baja rally in October, and the peak of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to refresh my mind with using the European ERTF computer systems, and it would be great training leading up to the Dakar Rally in January 2024,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMentally and physically I know I can tackle Dakar. It\u2019s 14 days, and it\u2019s about riding conservatively, not pushing the limit, because the risks are huge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll probably do some small races in the meantime, but my main goal will be working towards Dakar, saving money and securing sponsors.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expects Dakar will be his toughest challenge yet, but alongside his fitness and nutrition, there\u2019ll be something else giving him the energy to persevere.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels good to have my family backing me from back home in Ballarat, and a majority of my support comes from them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Melinda, my aunty, stays up late to watch the tracking. I think about that while I\u2019m racing; my family\u2019s watching, so I can\u2019t slack off here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sutherland\u2019s dad, Rick, suddenly passed away eight years ago, and is never far from his thoughts during a comp.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeading out in the mornings, I say to dad, if there are any rocks, get them out of the way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get weirded out by fans and signing stuff, and being interviewed, but I just like the riding, having fun, and making the family proud.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s enough for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Running his own tiling and motorbike adventure businesses day-to-day, Sutherland says life can be hectic, but time on two wheels is his form of meditation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get this silence and alone time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re out there for five or six hours at a time, you get in a zone, you\u2019re hypnotised, and there\u2019s nothing else in the world that bothers you except for the job at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you run a local business and are interested to sponsor Sutherland as he independently gets himself to the Dakar Rally, contact matt@mvmadventures.com or visit @m.sutherland23 on Instagram.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOTORBIKE racer Matt Sutherland has achieved two major rally wins just days apart. The KTM 450 rider took out the Sonora Rally\u2019s National Malle Moto class at the end of April, before becoming overall winner of the National Off Road Racing Association Mexican 1000 rally this month for the second year in a row. The […]<\/p>\n