As we celebrate World Bicycle Day today, I’m very proud to be a part of the MAMIL (Middle-aged man in Lycra for those who don’t know) brigade of people pedalling around the country roads all over the world. Cycling has been a huge part of my fitness training as a professional racing driver. It’s a great way to get fit and I found that I generally had less injuries than when I was to go running for my exercise. It’s a very social way of exercising, where you can go on rides with friends, getting to see and experience some fantastic views. I’ve become accustomed to travelling with my bike in a bag around the world and have enjoyed pedalling across a whole range of places from the European Alps to the coastline in southern India, through small towns and hills in Europe to the bustling cities in Japan. As a professional racing driver who has spent two decades training, it’s inevitable that injuries have been a part of my life. I have spent a lot of time with physios and doctors over the years, attempting to fix and avoid injury. It is only in the past year that I’ve discovered collagen. If I’m perfectly honest, I had really assumed that collagen was something mainly used for plastic surgery. I didn’t realise how beneficial it could be for our bodies on a daily basis, if we supplemented with it. Having spent a bit of time reading up about it on the Pura website, I got in touch with one of the founders Jennifer Mo, eager to learn more. I had no idea that there were different types of collagens which are blended to either help with joint repair or your skin and hair or as an immune booster and even to help you get a better night’s sleep. My favourite way to take my daily dose of flex+ is mixing it into my morning coffee. It’s virtually tasteless and it’s such an easy way of getting it into my body, as part of my daily routine. I started taking flex+ when I had a tendon issue with my Achilles as I thought it may help to speed up the healing process. After a month of taking it, not only was that completely sorted but the pain in my lower back from a disc bulge I got after years of driving race cars got a lot better as well. I have been taking flex+ on a daily basis for nearly a year now, and whilst nothing is perfect, I’m certainly less prone to injuries and don’t have that stiff achy feeling when I wake up in the morning, after a long few hours on the bike!