Any advice on how to get my nutrition to Unbound without looking like a drug mule going through the airport? I have my own drink mix, and I would like to divide that up per serving at home in ziploc bags and pack those. Is this really nothing to worry about or should I bring the original ingredients in unopened bags instead?
I’ve never had a problem. If it comes in a zip top bag like most do, just throw the portioned baggies in the big branded one. j
I just finished out my fueling plan and yikes, it’s 1500g of carbs IF I race the sun. I’m going to pad that a bit from the start and each checkpoint and bring an extra 200g in case things go sideways on course.
Tape all the bags to your body under your clothes.
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Actually, last year, I flew back from Ironman 70.3 Puerto Rico with a large bag of Skratch powder in my bike bag. TSA searched the bag and clearly had an interest in the 2 kilos of white powder in my bag. They opened it, inspected, and then put it back without closing it correctly. When I got back, there was 2 kilos of sticky white sugar caking the entirety of the inside of the bag and all over the bike.
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Too funny. I would love to try that and see how it plays out, but I actually want to make it to Emporia. 
I think I will divide up my mix into individual ziplok bags and then put it in the larger freezer bags with a big label stating “Not Cocaine”.
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I’ve traveled many times with zip locks of powder. Just write the contents in a sharpie. I.e. “tailwind”
I’d actually suggest putting it in your carry on if possible. Worst case is they open it, test it in front of you, and close it. Beats improperly closing and putting back in your checked luggage. Assuming it’s nutrition, I’d consider the risk of it interrupting your travels to be pretty near 0%.
If you divide up into small individual bags they can also charge you with distribution.
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Last big ride for me today at over 6 and a half hours of zone 2. I hope I am a bit more prepared than last year.
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So far, In my experience TSA has searched my bike bag 100% of the time, so it doesn’t really matter what you do anyways. You’re not doing anything illegal, and you need to bring the powder. No matter how you label it or package it, some drug smuggler has thought of it and used that strategy. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I have considered leaving a note saying “please put things back the way you found them” as one time they removed a bunch of padding from the bike which caused it to get beat up when they didn’t put it back the way it was setup. That was really annoying.
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I’m seriously considering putting a “TSA Inspected count” with marks for every inspection like aircraft kill counts.
“yes it’s still a bicycle, just like the last 13 times. 
”
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Had mine today as well. Just over 5 hours of gravel. Toyed with some fueling/hydration options for the aid station. Not 100% decided yet. Was hoping to start with two .75mL bottles w/ 500 cal ea and 2L water w/LMNT, and then have the same thing at the halfway aid station (doing the 100 miler).
On the first half it was fine, but the second half, man my stomach gets pretty fully and I reallllly crave some plain water, although I’m also a very salty sweater so need to replenish. Hmm
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My final big day and dress rehearsal today at Rule of 3 in Bentonville. Tough race with all the singletrack, but it makes Unbound seem pretty tame in comparison as far as bike handling. My main goal was not wrecking, but I still had a minor dumb crash with about 5 miles to go (after congratulating myself on a clean race). Banged my knee pretty good, but hoping it will be fine. My other goal was to push all the road/gravel sections hard and I was never in a draft for that last ~100 miles of the race (always pulling groups or riding solo, mostly just dumb racing). Lot’s of time pushing tempo/sweet spot, a good portion in the aero bars. I took it really easy on the singletrack, just trying to be smooth and safe. 8+ hours, 466 TSS and good legs all day (until the wreck). I figured I had at least a few more hours in my legs, so feeling like the fitness is there for Unbound. The new bike (Seigla) was awesome. Perfect for the chunky gravel around Bentonville. Hopefully perfect for Unbound as well.
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You might need to add in something you need to leave in your mouth. The whole salivating & chewing action is linked to gastric emptying. Maybe some chews once an hour? Calorie density is all fine and nice until you’re stomach isn’t emptying.
I’m going to carry some roasted and seasoned mini-potatoes, like 4 in a snack size ziplock as my on bike real food savory item. You don’t know when you will need it, but they are awesome when you do.
If you haven’t tried mango chili lmnt, that’s another thing to help counter the non-stop sweet.
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I have a similar plan to you for the 100. I finished a 4:45 ride (zone 2/3) on Friday feeling pretty good in 90 degree heat. I used two 400 calorie bottles of Tailwind (with an extra 1/4 teaspoon of Himalayan salt per bottle) and 2 liters of plain water in my pack. I alternate a gel and half a pack of chews every 45 minutes. I will grab two more bottles of Tailwind, refill my pack with water and grab a Snickers at the aide station. I have found that I need to plain water to wash down the high concentration of carbs or my stomach gets upset.
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I was just reviewing the routes. It appears the Garmin file vs RWGPS are quite different in terms of elevation. Especially for the 200. Anyone know why that might be? My last ride I had some issues with Garmin navigation sending me the wrong way, so I’m a little unsure which file I should use. for the 200, RWGPS says ~11k elevation which is correct from what I understand. However, garmin shows ~5k which is much less!
Yes, this is actually how Pablo Escobar got away with it for so long. The feds would see the shipments, but he wrote “Not Cocaine” on everything so they didn’t even bother with it.
(attached image of the feds reading “Not Cocaine” on your powder bags)
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When I open the Garmin file in Connect, it shows 11k and 32 climbs. When I save it to MY Connect it’s 5k and 9 climbs. No clue as to why it changes it.
It’s about 12k feet. That’s what I have for last year (same route). And I pre-rode all of the north course a few weeks ago (over 2 days) and had ~13k feet of climbing (with some extra miles to make the course into a couple loops). There is a ton of climbing, it’s definitely well over 10k feet. Most of the climbing is further north, the departure and return to Emporia are relatively flat. The middle ~108 miles of the course had about 8500ft of climbing when I did my pre-ride.
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Awesome! I knew I was onto something brilliant.