For sure knew to expect 12k. Anything less will be a happy surprise. I just have some anxiety about Garmin sending me the wrong direction or doing something wrong. I switched from Wahoo Bolt to Garmin 540 recently, and it did some weird stuff on my last event.
I understand a ± 10% change in elevation due to different maps, but 50% is very strange. I’m sure it’ll be fine though. Good to know about the middle 50% containing most of the elevation. I think I will struggle with pacing a bit as I like to start strong, but that probably won’t serve me well in Unbound.
Starting strong can serve you well at Unbound if that puts you in a good/fast group early. And it really depends on your race objectives. If completion is the primary goal, err on the side of easy/steady pacing early. If you are trying to get the best possible time/result or a specific time goal like beating the sun, going out hard can give you a lot of cheap speed (at the risk of blowing up in spectacular fashion if you go too hard for too long). I went out stupidly hard for the first 4-5 hours last year and then totally fell apart for a couple hours about 7 hours into the race. But then recovered a bit and finished pretty strong. In reviewing my results and the results of others, it turned out to be a good pacing strategy because I was shooting for the best possible result, but it definitely made for a couple miserable hours during the heat of the day.
@webdev511 & @wes8450 thanks both for the helpful feedback.
I upped my sodium quite a bit this ride in an effort to minimize cramping. It totally worked, but I think I overdid it, which came with their own nasty side effects. The unsettling stomach and pretty severe headache being part of it (and I’ll leave out the worst of it).
I had roughly 1600 mg/hr, while I generally have around 900-1000 mg/hr. My normal race nutrition is typically the tailwind + gels, and usually keep a shot of pickle juice handy if needed. Being so close to unbound I absolutely don’t want to make any drastic changes and if anything, I’d revert back to my normal plan with some cramp risks around 4 hrs in, vs what I experienced on my 5 hr ride Saturday.
I think the unbound goal will be to target around 1200 mg/hr sodium, but also work something a bit more savory at the halfway aid stop (snickers?) and ensure I have some plain water available throughout the race.
Part of my change during this past Saturday’s ride was having the tailwind in my bottles vs my pack, so I knew exactly where I was at in my fueling. I had issues in my last couple races where I only finished about 50% of my pack during the 2nd part of the race, which I should have finished all. If I’m going to rotate in some cliff blocks/gu/snickers, I can still do water in my hydration pack but not need to make my bottles quite as calorie dense.
+1 This is basically how my day went as well. I think I could have been more efficient in the opening hours and still stuck with the same groups as well. A lot of useless surging by myself and others to close gaps that didn’t really need closing as the groups were so big until Eskridge.
Did you use salt, or sodium citrate. The latter is MUCH easier on the gut.
While we do need some chloride, it doesn’t need it in quite the quantity as it comes with salt. The citrate binder in sodium citrate isn’t completely innocuous, but it takes a bit more to cause issues.
Good thread here about salt vs sodium citrate Metabolic Pathways - #126 by bbarrera
Looking at the labels:
- tailwind has 310mg “sodium” per serving. In the ingredients, it lists “Sodium Citrate, Sea Salt” in that order. I’m not sure what the breakdown is, but since sodium citrate was first, it would be in larger quantity. I had approx. 990 mg per hour of ‘sodium’ from tailwind during my 5 hour ride
- LMNT shows the number 1 ingredient is “Salt, Sodium Chloride.” This has 1000 mg sodium per serving, and I had about 2.5 servings over 5 hrs, so about another 500mg/hr. Sounds like doing the LMNT during the race is not a good idea for me.
This was my first time having the LMNT during a ride. I normally have 1-2 packs of LMNT spread over the day before my long outdoor hot rides, but wanted to add in more sodium during my ride.
I was not aware of the different between salt/sodium citrate. Do you have suggestions for other sodium citrate sources? I want to reduce my amount of tailwind a bit during the race, but want to maintain/add some sodium citrate to make up for the reduced amount. Edit* looks like I can just buy bulk sodium citrate. Reasonable to just add some of that to my bottles?
Yes I add a touch less than 1/4 teaspoon / 4g per liter. I’m right in the 1000-1100mg of sodium per hour. I err on the side of too little and supplement with Salt Stick chews. I DO use an hDrop to track things. It’s not perfect, but it does seem to be a good gauge, but not a scientific device.
Doing the 200 here. Been reading about aero bars a lot lately. Seems they’re pretty common for a really long event like this. Been shopping around online and trying to decide if it’s even worth it to try and get it setup, or just do it without and then realize the benefits and add them next time. I’d probably be able to practice with them on 2-3 rides, but doesn’t feel like something I should probably change this late in the game. Thoughts? I was looking at the Vuka Clip or Profile Sonic Ergo 39a.
If you don’t already have a bunch of experience racing with aerobars off road, I wouldn’t consider it at this point. Hard no in my opinion.
Thanks. That’s what I needed to hear. Plenty of other things I could be thinking about and preparing.
The comfort and handling of aero bars usually takes a pretty fair amount of trial and error to really be confident. Using them offroad isn’t that ‘hard’ per se, but it certainly requires a lot of confidence that is built up from experience. I’ve hit my fair share of pot holes at 20+ mph that will probably always be a bit alarming, but I’m comfortable enough now that I can absorb it pretty well.
I recently added a redshift stem, and found on really rough sections if I leverage more weight on my hands, vs my elbows, it absorbs the bumps a lot better. Takes some effort from the triceps so not something I do permanently, but worth transitioning the weight if I’m on the bars and see a particularly rough section coming.
Once you do get comfortable with them, on long straight sections in particular, I have a hard time justifying not being on the bars (unless of course I’m in a group, which I don’t use them). I find them more comfortable, obviously faster, and they utilize the muscles differently so I can put out about 10-15 more watts at the same perceived effort. I get more direct hamstring/glute activation compared to the quads when I’m on the hoods.
I have the Farr Aero loop large. It’s there, and I use it on occasion and can see the watts drop when I do. I’ve been practicing with it on our SF Bay Levees, which range from champagne gravel to "this is dirt between the Bay and this retention pond that also may be driven on once every 3 or 4 years) The former, it’s easy to use, the later is a hard no.
I also dropped to a 400mm bar this year, so time on the loop won’t be as necessary as when I was running the 440mm. Yes it makes pretty noticeable difference.
I started toward the back 1/3 of the 100 milers, last year, and felt like I wasted a lot of energy trying to get past very large slow moving groups so I could have territory of my own to ride at my own pace.
Was that due to the area you chose or based on when you lined up?
I’d like to line up in the front 100-200 for the 100 mile, but being first time at this race I’m not sure if that means I need to get there super early or if people will line up based on their expected finishing times.
for the 200 they have self seeding except for the pros with call ups and all that. Pretty much count on the first 5 miles being pretty congested and slowly starting to thin out.
I can’t speak for the 100, but I showed up maybe 15-20 minutes before the start of the 200 last year and couldn’t get anywhere near the front. And had to work my way to the front the first ~45 minutes of the race. It’s supposed to be self-seeding based on expected finish time, but evidently about half the field decided they would be going under 12 hours last year when less than 10% actually did.
I guess some sorting out happens early depending on pacing, but the first ~27 miles is smooth gravel with just some small rollers. It tends to keep big groups together. Last year, the 200 had a huge pack until we hit the first MMR section at around mile 28 (Kaw reserve road I think). Broke up a little bit there and then after Eskridge you hit Divide road (~40?) and there were enough hills and chunk that things really started to break apart.
ah, good to know. I’ve only ever gone south…
I always wonder if people do this knowing they have no chance at that pace but figure they will have a chance to make good time by sitting in middle of these packs of fast-ish not having to pull and just slowly fall back.
Definitely lining up further back it’s a bit of a ghost town.