So, what do folks usually carry as far as ride nutrition? 50/60g / hr?
Is it worth carrying my own electrolytes other than the first couple of bottles or will there be plenty of electrolytes to fill up at aid stations?
LMNT packages in the bottle and bike bag. Along with Maurten carb gels. After riding Vancouver to Whistler I always have everything I need. They ran out of a lot of stuff on a very hot day. It was hell.
I was thinking of packing all I needed, but subbing in whatever caught my interest at the stops.
I was just going to shove it all in my jersey. My bib has a couple of pockets too.
Maybe a small frame bag would be wise.
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Cascade has had various electrolyte options over the year, varying with sponsorship. I’ve usually preferred to bring my own so that I have something I know I like and that works for me. Also consider palate fatigue - by the Lexington stop I’m usually pretty tired of drink mix and enjoy plain water or a Coca Cola plus some salty snacks.
A little top tube bag can be handy, to increase carrying capacity and make snacks easy to access.
One of my favorite things to do if it was a toasty year was to stop at the St Helens McDonalds for soft serve, fries, and a soda - and to enjoy some AC for a few minutes. The moral and physical pick-me-up had me flying into Portland some years.
Have a great ride!
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My strategy is to bring carb+electrolyte mix in two bottles @90g each plus a concentrated mix to refill both in a flask in my pocket, plus some salt capsules and a few other gel/chew options. Eat some solid food at a couple stops. My wife and I are staying in Portland for a couple days after, so she’ll meet me 2/3 of the way to restock with a third fill of carb mix and plenty of assorted other snacks.
For storage, I normally run a very minimal saddle bag, but will swap for a moderate sized one to accommodate a second TPU tube, chamois cream packets etc, plus I bought a rear top tube bag from LeadOut! for some extra storage and to get a few things off my back. Extra, emergency-type items like Advil and caffeine tabs will be in the pack as well.
Pretty excited to get going!
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I wore a USWE pack with a bladder for water while having mix in the bottles. Something you wont find at any of the aid stations is caffeine. I stopped at a gas station somewhere near mile 110 and grabbed a redbull and put it in each bottle. Carbs, Caffeine, and a change in flavor was really nice as the afternoon got hotter.
I’d recommend a top tube bag to keep snacks close. Sunscreen from a bottle squirted into the corner of a ziplock makes it much less of a hassle to carry than the entire tube.
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Another +1 for bringing your own sunscreen. I reapplied some sunscreen provided at a STP feed stop. It turns out I was allergic to that brand.
BYO sunscreen so you have control over the brand and the timing of the re-apply.
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Thats certainly less than ideal… Kind of follows the notion of ‘only use products you’ve used in training’ because you really never know what will happen.
Stashing a Peanut butter sandwich in the top tube bag also gives you something to get into when you really are just tired of sugar water.
Finished the one-day STP, covering the 207 mi with an average speed of 19.9 mph! Under 10.5 hrs saddle time and just over 12 hrs elapsed time, with a TR-calculated IF of 0.63 and 419 TSS. Most importantly, I finished strong, without any cramping/bonking or honestly even questioning of life decisions. With this being a full 100 mi longer than my previous longest ride, I’m satisfied to have z2’d it steadily the whole way. As a first timer, I gathered as much data as possible here and through friends who’ve completed the ride and in the end my plan was good, and the execution was solid. I was riding without any partners/teams but freelanced my way into groups probably 70% of the time. Had a GREAT tailwind for 30mi or so late in the day to keep progress up through the hottest part of the day. Low 90s temps, but whenever I stopped at a signal, the heat coming off the pavement was BAKING.
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I did the one day STP last summer at the age of 69. Average speed before hitting the red lights in Portland was 16 mph Total time 15:40 including stops. 13 hr riding time. I got the t-shirt
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I just had to reply to say that was a delightful and quite helpful post, jamesdrichey! I’ve done the 1-day twice, and all your practical tips are quite good (well, I’d advise people to try hard not to put a burn on their legs on the hills in the first place). But having a good spirit about the whole experience, and having a good sense of fun, those things make all the difference, and you did a bang-up job of showing those. You’d be a great riding companion.
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