Stagecoach 400: Day 1

The Stagecoach 400 is in the books.  As expected I floundered in my first heat of the year.  But other than some moderate heat induced bonk/dehydration woes it was a fun little route!

Day 1:

At the start I got to chat with my multi-day friend, Forest Baker.  Read his SC 400 blog post for a glimpse of how to do it right . Forest pulled off pretty much what I had 'hoped' to do.

go to: http://teamkaker.com/stagecoach-400-2014/

 

Anyway, we departed Idyllwild in the cold at 6:30.  Knowing it was overkill, but wanting to tryout my cold gear, I went ahead  and wore my eVent rain jacket and rain knickers as wind breakers.  With my baklava, toe covers and over-gloves I was toasty warm during the initial decent (actually I broke a sweat on the 1st hill).  Anyway--Check for nice wind/cold gear test. 

Of course I already knew how this gear performed from all the 40 deg rides around Colorado but what the hey, the whole tone of this event was play and test.

 

Soon we were at lower elevation and I stripped off all the excess gear as the day began to heat up

Water in the desert, pretty cool right? To bad it was only for a short section early on........John ? blasting by in a rush to make up time from a flat.....

Humm

Strange mating rituals (perhaps a mirage) take place in the California desert

 

I maintained a very modest pace but by the time we hit 70 miles I was slightly overheated.  And at this point I made a judgment error that cost me any chance of “racing” to my best potential.  Basically I hurried my main resupply before the desert section.   And why one asks did I hastily leave that nice shady spot at the last stop/convenience store?

 

Why did I leave this nice spot in such a rush--stupid stupid

Silly, but they did not have a bathroom on site, and I really really had to find a bush.  So off I went like an idiot, only about 60% rehydrated and with my frustration and crossed legs--a ill thought out choice of resupply liquids and food.  One short hour later I was beginning to truly regret my rushed resupply.  And one day later I was truly crawling, still in recovery debt from this simple day-1 re-supply folly.

Now there was a resupply store at the end of the desert section but you had to get there by 9pm. Due to my rapidly degrading pace I soon realized I was not going to make it.  This was frustrating but not seemingly a big deal as the whole idea of the SC 400 was to train/test for the TDR. 

it was cooling of but the damage was done, I was not going to make the next resupply store before it closed........

 Anyway at 9:30pm I camped up short, slept for a few hours in the truly beautiful desert night (under that full full moon) and though up a plan to regain lost time.   

 

Of course my new plan soon backfired as it called for skipping the only nearby store in the still wee hrs of the morning and pushing for the 'next' resupply point. Ha, one mistake on top of another, I was floundering like a multi-day rookie but with a smile (most of the time)

 

More to come in day two (how to bonk in a multi-day yet have fun doing it)

 

PS:  I should probably mention at this point that part of my 'testing' involved no chamois cream on day 1. Hey, I wanted to see what would happen--but the results were as expected and I would not recommend this test procedure (at least to a friend).