Motocross and supercross wunderkind Ken Roczen spends nearly all of his time out in the blistering sun, pushing around a 230-pound bike—sometimes crashing said 230-pound bike, as he recently did during a race in Anaheim, dislocating pretty much his entire arm in the process. So you’ll have to excuse him if he wants to chow down on a little pizza and ice cream in his down time. (We’d say he’s earned it.)

Here’s the thing, though. Some of these other athletes claim they haven’t touched a candy bar in the last decade, but not Ken Roczen. “If you want to get my honest opinion, I think that athletes, they won’t tell you everything, you know what I mean? They say something that they do, but in the end it’s not even really like that at all times.” Winning professional motocross races is stressful enough, which is why Ken subscribes firmly to this philosophy: Take care of your body, but don’t deprive it of all the yummy goodness this world has to offer. After all, what’s the point of risking life and limb while becoming a world champion if you can’t celebrate with a little cake afterward?

GQ: You’re in an interesting position, because you’re not just a professional athlete. You’re out there handling what is essentially heavy machinery.

Ken Roczen: That’s right!

So what’s the key to that? How do you ensure that your body can handle operating that machinery every single day?

Well, I pretty much always start out the day with a cup of coffee. But even before that, on an empty stomach, I take my amino acids. I usually have a 30- to 45-minute workout in the morning, and then afterwards we prepare some breakfast. I believe breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so I usually try to start things off with a bigger breakfast.

A lot of proteins then, I’m assuming?

I need to have a good mix of protein and carbs, because if I only have protein, it just doesn’t hold on very long for me. I need both a good amount of protein and a good amount of carbs to get me through a day. So I’ll have two eggs, over-easy, and I usually put them on a couple little slices of gluten-free toast.

Oh, are you gluten-free?

No, I just really like that bread. It doesn't necessarily have to be gluten-free. But I’ll put the eggs over it with a little bit of hot sauce on the side. Sometimes I like to prepare a little bit of a baked potato the night before and have that on the side, just for carbs. Oh, and some avocado—some good fats that will get me pretty far throughout the day. Here and there, I’ll also have a smoothie in addition to everything else. You obviously want to try to get all your vitamins in, and I don’t take any artificial vitamins or pills. I try to get all my vitamins strictly from foods. After all that, I pretty much go out to the track for the day.

I think that would be the hardest time for me, because when I get really into physical activity like that, sometimes I just forget that I need to eat and drink something.

I try to take a legit lunch with me. Prepare a sandwich or something. Preferably chicken. I’m not a big turkey guy. And no cheese. I need quite a bit of food throughout the day, especially during our outdoor season. I have these little—they’re kind of like baby food, actually. Those little squeeze things.