20th
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.
Posted at 22:12 - Comments (View)
