Ultra Rider: In Search of the Ultimate Long Ride

A dedication

Tomorrow I race.

Its been a long time coming and now that time is here. Tomorrow morning at 7am PST, I will turn the pedals on my bike and start an adventure of over 500 miles.

The Furnace Creek 508 Invitational is an ultracycling event like no other. Each year cyclists gather in southern California to start this inimitable race. The course winds its way through some of the most adverse conditions and terrain found on this contintent. Sandstorms, heat, hills, wind - the race has something for everyone.

Many riders don’t complete the journey, many do.

I’m here to race. I will do my best, but above all else, I will have an adventure. I will finish the race safely and I will have a lot of fun with my crew and competitors along the way.

It won’t be easy, but there’s nothing I can do now that will make it easier. I haven’t checked the forecast yet - I am sure it will be hot and windy. Some of those winds will be helpful and some will not. At night, the temperature will drop and it will be cool, or maybe even cold. I can’t change these things any more than I can smooth out the hills.

What is important now is that I focus on riding well, competing well and take everything that I’ve learned in my training and apply it to what comes next.

I will expose myself and I will experience it, and for having tried, I will be a better person, regardless of how I finish.

This race doesn’t use numbers to identify its riders, it uses animal totems. Traditionally, a totem is an entity that watches over an individual or group. I picked mine to represent a small bit of family history. My mom’s family all adopted CB handles that they used to communicate with one another at their lake in northern Ontario. Each had a different handle using the Wolf theme. Last summer, my grandpa Collier passed away while I was riding across Canada, and although I didn’t get a chance to tell him, I made the entire trip with a photo of him in my back pocket. He was ill, and I was thinking of him the whole way, even before he passed. I’ve carried that same photo on most of my long rides since.

When I was thinking of which totem to pick, I wanted to include him in there some way - he has been with me for all of these rides, and I could really use his help on this one. Claiming the Gray Wolf as my totem seemed like the obvious choice.

I also try to dedicate each of my rides to someone special. My record breaking ride across Ontario was dedicated to relatives and friends that were, and continue, to fight cancer. Similarly, with this ride, I am doing the same. I’ve spoken with these people, they know who they are, and although I won’t be naming them here, I would request that you include them in your prayers over the next few days. I will be thinking of them as well, and they could all benefit from our collective positive energy.

There’s nothing left for me to do now, but shower, sleep and get on my bike. Thank you to all of you for your support, assistance and motivation during my preparation for this race.

My special love and thanks to Amanda for having the patience to let me do this.

Watching the Race

The Furnace Creek 508 won’t be broadcast on network TV, but there will be a few ways that you can follow my progress on the web.

First, stay tuned to this blog. We will be posting audio, video and photo updates from the race as often as we can.

Second, follow me on twitter.

Third, check out the AdventureCorps Furnace Creek 508 Webcast.

Finally, watch my time splits.

Demystifying the Queen stage and dinner by the pool...

Yesterday, we drove 400 miles of the race course and took some time out to climb and descend Towne Pass - the “queen stage” of the Furnace Creek 508 Invitational.

We arrived at the base of the climb, a 16 kilometer behemoth, in the high heat of the day in the middle of a brief dust storm. Temperature was approximately 40 degrees celcius on the tarmac, with winds gusting between 40 and 50 miles per hour.

The climb itself went well, taking just over an hour, we summited at approximately 30kph with the benefit of a nice tailwind that pushed us over the top. The descent was a bit tricky as the high winds really pushed the deep dish Zipp wheels around a lot.

We saw a lot of really cool things throughout the day. I will post some photos when I get a chance. My favorite was watching the sun set over Death Valley while standing in the Badwater basin, the lowest spot in North America at 283 feet below sea level.

We drove straight through to Baker, California, where we turned back towards Los Angeles. We learned a lot about the race course, terrain and have a much better idea of what it will take to do well in this race, although we didn’t get back to the hotel until after 1am.

Today was a quiet rest and recovery day in Simi Valley.

We slept until 9:30 or so this morning and generally took it easy for most of the morning. Early this afternoon, we headed out to the local Starbucks to sit down and finish out our planning by applying a lot of what we learned to our “run of show” - the general plan and schedule that we’ll be trying to follow for as much of the race as possible.

For instance, we were able to take our new knowledge of the geography to be more strategic in our selection of where we’ll be doing bottle feeds from the crew to me while I’m on the bike, where we will be stopping to install the lighting on the bike, how we will be handling the self-support requirement in the first 24 miles of the race and where we’ll be using the fast bike instead of the light bike. We also took some time to apply the weather forecast to the projected time splits so that we’ve got a clearer understanding of where I might be facing headwinds and how that will affect our race plan.

Of course, none of this will mean anything once we get out on the road and find out exactly what it will take to do well in this race.

We’ve been avoiding restaurants for the most part and this evening was no different. We made our menu selections at the local Von’s and took our repast back to the hotel. Tonight we had a simple dinner of salad, fresh bread and other finger foods out by the pool.

We ran out of time today to get all the things done we wanted to do, but truth be told, we’ve got lots of time to take care of the final details we need to worry about. We’ve really worked hard to come up with a plan that will present the least amount of complication combined with the highest potential for race performance. That translate into a lot more time for me and the crew to focus on what’s really important instead of worrying about details that won’t affect the outcome of the race. I think there’s a life lesson in there somewhere.

Tomorrow we shift our operations to Santa Clarita. Just two more days until the race.

I can’t wait.

A few thoughts before I leave...

The Furnace Creek 508 Invitational ultra cycling race is in less than 7 days.

Tomorrow morning, I will get on a plane with my bicycles, gear and the knowledge that I’ve done what I can take fully prepare for this awesome event.

How awesome is it you ask?

Well, for one, this will be the longest ride I’ve ever done - by a full 6 miles. My ride across Ontario in May was just over 502 miles, this one is at least 508.

There are also a few hills on this ride - some 35,000 feet of climbing overall. They say that it is the equivalent of riding 4 mountain stages of the Tour de France without stopping.

Then there’s the heat. The forecast for next weekend on the course ranges between 33c (94f) and 42c (107f) degrees - some parts of the course will be hotter than others. The weather overnight will dip down to a cool 16 degrees celsius.

It is going to take a concerted effort to minimize the effects of the sun. I will be cycling in long shorts with full arm and head coverings. I’m persuaded that using fabric to keep the sun away will be much more effective than any chemical lotion. If it works for the desert nomads, it should work for me.

Thankfully, we’re going to have a full moon and a long night, so I will have a long cool reprieve during the dark hours. My strategy will be to drink as much as I can during the overnight to replenish any fluid lost to the heat of the day. I will also seek to “make time” during the overnight hours while it is cool.

I’m feeling great about my prospects. More so than any of my other races this year. I’m most looking forward to the experience of this event - I don’t have a strong feeling that I need to prove myself as I did in the earlier rides. My main priority is to have fun and finish safely.

I’m also quite excited that I will be racing against David Goggins. He is an amazing ultra athlete and I will definitely be keeping a close eye on him.

All of my bags are packed, my reservations are made, cars arranged, etc., etc., etc. A thousand details have been attended to, and hopefully none missed. We will need to still buy a few things while we are down there. Some bike supplies, water containers, that sort of thing. Nothing too expensive or involved - hopefully.

I will post more when I arrive and throughout the week. Now its just time to go to bed and wait for the morning to come.

Preparation, Hard Work and Packing...

I spent most of the entire weekend doing one of three things - sleeping, eating and getting prepped for the 508.

Both of the bikes are in the shop now. The C0 needs a new saddle - not surprised, this one has at least 10,000 kilometers on it. The A0 will get a new chain and cassette and the alloy bars will get swapped out for my carbon bars. Both bikes will get tuned up, lubed and looked over with a fine-tooth comb before they are packed for the flight to Los Angeles.

Most of my hardware is packed. If you are interested in some of the stuff that I have to take, my packing list is a public Google Doc. Same for my nutrition and crew plan. Of course, nothing ever goes 100% according to plan, but this should give you a really good idea of how we’re going to tackle this beast.

In short, we’re going to keep it simple. My food will be very straightforward - lots of liquid in the form of Amino Vital which will give me some calories and replenish needed salts and elements lost to sweating. I won’t be eating anything that really qualifies as solid food - unless you count my selection of Larabars, which is a natural, organic mix of dates and different kinds of nuts and fruits. They are really awesome and go down pretty good. I’ll get about 1 of those an hour on top of the 1-2 bottles of Amino. Every 2 to 2.5 hours, I’ll also get a “power shake” - some Ultrameal mixed with water and flax oil. I’m planning on eating between 17,000 and 21,000 calories over the course of the race and taking in more than 50 liters of liquids.

All of this food and water, assuming I can keep it all down, will only keep me from digging a big hole for myself. Over that same period of time, I may lose more than 60 liters of water to sweat and burn almost 25,000 calories. All of this of course depends on how quickly I finish the race. I am aiming for a 30 hour finish, which has a lower caloric and hydration requirement, but we need to plan for a less than optimal finish time of 36+ hours. There aren’t a lot of places to stop to replenish supplies, so we’re planning on bringing everything we need, save gas and ice which we can find at a few stops along the way.

Same goes for my equipment list. It looks like a long list, but most of this, other than the bikes, fits inside two small tote bins (which are both small enough to fit inside my duffle bag). Simple, simple, simple. The only real luxury that I’m pushing for is a PA system that we can carry on the top of the van to play tunes through the long hot night. Music is a real motivator for me, so I really want to make sure that we’ve got some wattage that we can crank out!

I still need to pack my clothes, which should only take an hour or two. I don’t have a lot of time this week, so most of the rest of my prep will happen next Saturday, although I will be able to peck away at a couple of other things here and there this week.

Getting the bicycles ready to race

Tomorrow is a big day at Ultrarider HQ.

I need to get up first thing and clean-up the bikes and get them down to the bike shop for final inspection and packing. Each of the bicycles needs cleaning, tuning and most likely repairing. I would normally break down and pack my own bikes, but I think it will be a bit easier this time around to get them professionally done.

I am taking two bikes with me - the 2007 Giant TCR Advanced 0 road bike, and the 2007 Giant TCR Composite 0 road bike. I am going to set the AO up for climbing - lighweight bars, pedals and wheels, and the C0 for fast - aerodynamic bars and wheels. The C0 will be slightly heavier than the A0, by a few pounds actually, but it will definitely be the faster of the two bikes on the flats. I’m pretty sure that I can get the A0 below 15 pounds pretty easily.

I also need to start packing for the race this weekend. I won’t be taking much down to California with me. The race is a long way from home, and I really want to keep my baggage as light as possible. I’ll be borrowing a few things we need to support the race, buying a few others - like food, and making do with a generally simpler set up than I’ve had on previous rides.

A big part of success in ultracycling comes from having a great plan and doing the right prep. As we discussed planning, we realized that we can minimize a lot of the prep work by keeping the game plan simple.

For the Furnace Creek 508, this means that we’ll have a simple eating plan, a simple support plan and a simple gear plan. The less moving parts the better. For instance, on previous rides, I was eating a very complicated mixture of bananas, yogurt, soy milk, flax oil, powdered food and other ingredients - almost 800 calories worth - every five hours. For the 508, we’ve reduced this to a simple mix of flax oil, water and powdered food every two hours. Less calories, more often.

The simplicity that this one small thing brings is amazing - less ice, less coolers, less ingredients to worry about spoiling and ultimately, a lot less to worry about.

There are still a lot of details to worry about, and in just 8 days, I’m on the road down to California to kick off this grand adventure through the desert on my bike. Can’t wait.