Prep report

 24HOGG prep report.

So I went through the saga of the bike beforehand, right? The whole bottom bracket creaking thing. Using some green Vibra-tite retaining compound? Facing the BB shell, pressing it in. Having it be silent for a ride then start creaking like crazy? And then ultimately pulling the sliding drop outs off too many times (after a broken nut and then realizing the driveside drop out - broken nut side had worn and could move so I replaced it with a spare) I dripped some 70% ETOH down along the cups and the bike was quiet - making only some tiny expected creaks under the most load. 

Wasn't silent but was quieter than most bikes in the race. And I have no idea what it was that was creaking. The Dropouts do make creaking sounds like a BB but so does the BB and well who knows.

More importantly it is fixed so who cares.

Parts? I had everything. An extra rigid post, the spare saddle already on the 170mm dropper in case I needed to swap droppers, and a third saddle. I gathered all my extra brake pads, Oh and yeah I changed the rear pads because they wouldn't stop insane chatter, and I think maybe it might actually be the rotor being too thin, BUT not sure, anyway I did have a few extra pair (CX bike with the TRP spyres use the same shimano shape pads). 

No extra thru axel because Thom Parsons still has mine, but the spare for the Crockett is long enough to engage enough threads to work in an emergency, so I packed that. And cables, and housing, and put a few 180mm rotors on layaway and took them up, spare locknuts for the sliding dropouts, tires, tubes, extra sealant, lube, cleaner, grease, might have skipped the extra grips but I did bring the wheels (rotors, cassette and all) off the Top Fuel (good because that had the only functioning wheel sensor and that was key). 

All the Topeak stands and pumps (shock and floor and hand). Couple CO2s to pack on the bike with the dyna plug kit that all sat in the Topeak FASTFUEL DRYBAG X along with the pass through battery for the lights and Wahoo. I did try the burrito bag for that stuff but it was extra and had the space in the Fastfuel bag and no need to bounce something off the back of the saddle for all those miles.

The cushcore came in and I put it in and was so glad becuase I smashed the rear wheel on a rock three laps in a row in the dark. Hard enough that if the cush core hadn't been there shit would have been bad - busted rim maybe hard.

Gearing? 34x20 with 29x2.6 tires on Line Pro 40 rims (41mm internal width) Cushcore Plus Pro in the rear, Bontrager XR2 tires, FinishLine Fibertech sealant in there.

Yaris fork with 140mm upgrade, 180mm XT cranks, 130mm dropper post, 780 mm Raceface bars, Shimano MT500 series brakes, Wheels BB, XL Trek Stache (2019) in Matte Cobra blood. Odi Rouge lock on grips. Wahoo Elemnt with a fancy K-edge mount. Shimano 540 pedals and Shimano XC-7 shoes in 48 wide. NBX Castelli jersey (3XL) and XL NBX team bibs. Defeat wool socks.

EZ-up from my dad, the one he brought up and gave me for the 2008 24HOGG edition. We drove up together in my Golf packed to the gills that year. And it rained and I killed a few rims and all the brake pads, and a rear derailleur starting the last lap and almost didn't make the time cut and haven't ridden that bike since (the Mantra). Oh and last year I was missing a few stakes and the EZ-up started to fly away, I found my stakes, then borrowed a bunch more of the tie-downs and light stakes and more stakes. So in the end the thing had two sides up and a dozen anchor points and didn't go anywhere. Tent, a Kelty my dad gave me after college to replace a tent he gave me that was supposed to be big enough for me but wasn't. An Ikea crappy cot to sleep on, metal folding one, good for a shorter lighter back sleeper, not good for a 230# 6'5" side sleeper. But it was better than sleeping on a thermarest. NBX table, a couple chairs (that weren't comfortable to sit in) and shit what else? A cooler, I brought everything in plastic bins because the weather was forecasting scattered thunderstorms all day everyday. (we only had a few very very few light and patchy showers over the whole weekend - until just before awards started, it POURED for 5 minutes then, and stopped).

Did a pre-ride lap after the pit was set up, that is when I found the wheel sensor not working and swapped for the other one. Also tried to ride the pre-ride lap easily. That was harder than I had hoped, The gearing was just too tall. 

Last year the bike was set up with a 34-22 and 29x2.4 tires. That's roughly 44 gear inches. This year? it is roughly 50 gear inches. Way harder. And a bad idea. didn't take more than a couple laps to kill all the hard torque in the legs. BUT i managed to ride everything but the steepest stuff all the time. I put a wheel wrong a few times on one particular turn a few times, I did stop and walk and eat a few climbing sections, mostly just so I could eat, but also keep moving. Figured walking the course and eating is better than stopping and eating and then walking less. Not sure how that figures but if I had an easier gear I might have been eating less on the course? Dunno. But for sure I think going to an easier gear is a better idea. That or I need to lose even more weight and get stronger. That's by far the better option. 

Okay then we get to FOOD.

Like I mentioned, last year I think I mostly captured the prep on IG stories. So no real clue.

But I made a similar pasta 'soup.' I bought fancy pasta, that was a bad move. The shape was perfect but the fancy pasta was rougher cut and higher quality - i think the cheap elbows I used last year were better. And I opted to NOT add the olives this time and only made 4 quarts instead of 6 quarts. Spicy Sausage, mushrooms, white beans, tomato paste, chicken stock, pasta, and then once cold I threw in some zucchini. 

I had gotten a bit worried - wanted to bring some of those Trader Joe's Super Sour Scandinavian Swimmers and they were out of stock until the last minute. Packed three or four bags of those and one bag of regulars. Packed the mini-stroopwaffles, some TJ's fig bars too. A few cliff block sleeves and that plus the rice cakes were it food wise.

The Rice cakes were my take on a carbonara. 3 cups of dry Jasmin rice. Unrinsed to leave extra starch in there to help with binding. 8 slices of North Country Smokehouse applewood smoked uncured bacon, 8 ounces of sauteed mushrooms, 6 eggs scambled, parmesean cheese, and peas, a splash or two of soy sauce and some cayenne pepper. Yup. Put it all in a big bowl, mixed and mixed and mixed. Then packed it tightly into a glass enchilada pan - you know the big rectangle pyrex things). Covered that with more parm, then cut it into squares and wrapped in foil. They were actually REALLY good. All weekend good. SO good. 

AND then the sandwiches. 1/2 pound of uncured sliced smoked turkey (~8 slices) 1/2 pound of virginia ham (uncured) (~9 slices) and 1/2 pound of sharp cheddar (sliced). Mayo, yellow mustard and one loaf of sprouted whole wheat bread. 

DO NOT GET THAT BREAD AGAIN, it was good but hard to chew. I made 8 sandwiches (one loaf of bread) with all that. Made the sandwiches Saturday morning. Put them in a aluminum serving tray in the cooler. Mayo on one side, mustard on the other, turkey slice on mayo side, ham on mustard, slice and a half of cheese in the middle. The extra ham and cheese I made into a rollup. Ate all but two sandwiches during the race, the last two I ate that night after the race. Actually maybe there was one sandwich left for Monday's breakfast, I'm a bit fuzzy on that but it was the right number.

The pasta soup thing was Friday food. Lunch and dinner and then a little of it on Sunday night. 

Liquids? I make 4 pots of coffee, iced it down and put it in a gallon jug and a Nalgene. I brought two quarts of Keifer. One was Saturday morning calories and the other was post race calories. A bunch of Hi-Ball enegry seltzers. I drank one Saturday morning to conserve coffee and that was a mistake, too much all at once. 

Oh and I packed nearly a quart of muesli with milk and peanut butter, and tried to eat it all Saturday. Almost got through it. I ate a TON of calories saturday morning so much so that I was not hungry for a while but still managed to eat rice cakes and not actually feel hungry until Sunday.

Lesli brought a ton of stuff and one of the things she brought (like last year) were the tubs of Gatorade Endurance powder. I went through almost two tubs last year and since I was planning on doing this semi-self supported I had an idea to just mix it up in those 2.5 gallon water dispenser things you get at the store. I cut a hole in the top big enough to pour the powder in and it made a mess but worked out surprisingly well. A little strong of a mix, but that was okay I just added a little bit of water as I went but being able to mix or pick either lemon-lime or Orange each lap was important.

Always rode with two bottles. For most of Saturday I did one bottle of Gatorade and one bottle of coffee. Drank a little water at each stop as well, mostly to go with the Pickle juice. I did eat at least one pickle per lap. Grillo's of course. And drank a sip of the brine or two each lap as well. Rinse with water and good. Brought two quarts of pickles with me, one was completely gone by the end of the race.

It was hot but I never stopped sweating and only had one very subtle almost cramp, no real cramp at all anywhere, stopped to pee a handful of times, never too dark or too light, always in the right density zone. Kidneys always felt good, the rest too. I did take a few Mag Glycinate and Vit C through the course of the race. Not too many times but just enough to add to the mix.

Once I started in on the Super Sour swimmers I'd risk getting that sugar stomach, but eating three bites of a sandwich erased it completely. Too much gatorade? A few bites of the sandwich and everything was in balance. 

At one point I started carrying water because it was getting so hot on the backside away from the head dunk station, wasn't the best move but it helped. Would pour water on my head and then hot water would drain off. It was HOT out there. Like it never cooled off at night. Obviously it did but not much and the humidity went up so it never really 'felt' cooler. 

I didn't take shoes off once, or change bibs, or jerseys. last year I took shoes off almost every lap and iced my feet they were in pain. Changed clothes too. 

That took time. I just turned laps. 

Lots of laps, but not super fast because I had to walk so much of the hills, both from gearing choice and elevation and the choice of not going so hard that I'd crack.

Turning laps not taking naps.

Got to wondering if everyone that was complaining about stomach issues really just was tired. Having stomach issues saves more face than saying you were tired? Maybe?

Joel's bike was probably 10 pounds lighter than mine. Having a lighter bike also would help. As would being stronger and lighter. He finished his 17 laps 2 hours before I finished my 17 laps. He pulled the plug and then watched my laps, If I had chugged a Red-bull and left right away and found an extra pile of KJs I might have been able to hit 18 laps by the cut off time, but it also mean that all Joel had to do was turn one lap in the same amount of time and he could have easily done that. 

Finishing second wasn't so bad. It certainly was a big accomplishment, due in huge part to planning. And it was also pretty awesome that I was able to do it nearly self supported. Had lots of borrowed help and some equipment and Lesli and others were around if I needed something. So it was not truly a solo experience but it was close.

There's quite a bit more to the story, will get to that next. For now, this will have to do. Currently thinking about the Freetown 50 in the SS category. Just because.

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