Pre-Race: SM100 Part 2

So I have gotten a  little bit farther on this "race plan" business. I have decided where to put my drop bags, I think, yes I have: at checkpoints 2/6 and 5. I don't actually think it really matters that much, because all I really see putting in them is my drink mix. It really seems that the aid stations will have everything else I could need. I struggled with what to put in my drop bag for the Stoopid 50, and ended up filling it with random stuff because I felt like I needed to put something in it. The only thing I really ended up wanting, and didn't have, was my own drink mix. I will of course put my light in my bag at 5. I am really hoping not to need it, but I would rather have it and not need it than not have it at all of course.

I never really understood the people that were insistent on trying to drink all of their calories and eat nothing during a race. However, I seem to be turning into one of these people, but not by choice. I just don't seem to want food during rides and races. My reliance on powered stuff, gels, and bars goes completely against my quest for an entirely whole foods diet, but it just works so well and is easy to carry and all that. So oh well. Another day of existing entirely on sugar.

I am convinced that someday a study will come out saying that drinking Gatorade for 12 hours isn't exactly healthy, but I can't really take my string bean and ham soup, that I am about to eat here at my desk, on a ride with me anyway. I have tried potatoes, but compared to a PowerBar, they just take up too much pocket real estate for the caloric value. I have also tried Dr. Allen Lim's rice cake recipe, which is really quite fantastic, but I'm not sure if I will make the time for that (even though it doesn't take very long). However, the more I sit here and think about it, the more I feel that I might want some rice cakes. Possible addition to the drop bag.

So my food plan is fairly simple, but simple is hard to mess up. Now all that is left is figuring out what assortment of warm clothes I might need for the morning (I am a wimp for cold), and fretting over if I really trained enough or not and if a 6.5 hour long ride 4 weeks ago was really enough before starting to back off the endurance work. But I think I am done caring about that, and the warm clothes will probably just involve me packing everything and deciding that morning. I should probably be more concerned that I don't have a sleeping bag and that it might be in the 40's at night. Hard to think about that when it is over 90 out right now.