Ain't No Right

If you read the link about hydration yesterday it took a turn which you may have suspected but it took quite a while to get there. Have a look here and if you don't want to read the whole thing go to the bottom where he posts the links:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=325580

It seemed like he was marketing but it took a long time to get there. His last post before I bowed out was contradictory but I left it on the table. He said there's no formula nor any right way but then he said that those who mix Gatorade and Carbo Pro are a lot closer to being "right". OK but if there's no right? There's no wrong. It's only pleasure and pain.

Having said that now I'm starting to question whether or not it's actually calories and not hydration that is dragging me down at the end of these big rides. I still think hydration must be a huge part but of course after that conversation I now have to doubt myself. Maybe I need to mix it up, who knows. What I do know is that it's too late in the game to go away from the Perpeteum plan so I'm going with that as my primary fuel source for the 24. Maybe I bring Heed as well to balance a little. I suppose I should consider the Accelerade I have and Gatorade powder is dirt cheap so maybe all of them come with me. But my current aspect of trying to feel better is to focus on drinking more water.

You know the fact he says peeing is a good thing and fails to consider hypnotremia tells me he's not nearly as complete a "nutrition guide" as he could/should be. Seems obvious the one dude was seriously low on electrolytes which is why he pissed everything out. But who knows anything let alone everything? What I will say is that I agree it's all highly individual.

This morning he emailed me because he said he didn't want the thread to seem like an advertisement. He said he was pretty sure he could help me out. Well I'm all ears at this point. I'll listen to what he has to say but there really are 2 ways it can go: a) buy our product or b) try mixing X and Y and see how that works. If he goes with option B then maybe I'll buy something from him eventually. I have no problem jumping from the Hammer ship but I need to be reasonably sure it works for me. At this stage I'm considering starting from scratch. No bike food has been able to keep me rolling well after 4-5 hours. If he can change that I'm all ears.

So I'm set on not doing the Darkhorse race. Only decision right now is to do my Allamuchy laps Saturday or Sunday. I think Saturday works better because I should do big rides the next 3 Saturdays with the last one being the 24 hour race. So tentatively Saturday it is. One reader agrees with my bagging the Darkhorse:

Steve

"while i think you would enjoy riding at stewart, good decision to bag the DH40. probably not challenging enough in terms of technical terrain at this point in the season for you. however, try to make it out there before hunting season."

I'm glad to hear it makes sense to someone. I actually have no desire to do that race. I would like to get up there just not this weekend. Maybe we could do a little MTBNJ shindig one weekend before duck/rabbit season opens up. I can bring the Acme explosives and you can bring the carrots.

Aside from what day to ride I need to find a 90 minute loop. I'm thinking that the white trail climb actually more resembles the fire road climb out of the boy scout camp. There are plenty of routes on motionbased to choose from it's just a matter of finding the one that fits best. I could always ask Brett but I know he won't want to do 3 of the same loop. I was able to dig this one up last night which should suffice. This is actually Jeff's from the board. After I found it I asked him what he thought and he said it was a good mix. Elevation is roughly the same. You climb up white. Mileage is even just about the same:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2683478

Pretty boring week which is fine by me. Felt OK most of the day Monday but got tired at the end of the day. Thankfully this seems to be a minor passing cold, not like the last 2 beasts I had. Slept OK last night, not amazing. Probably feel just about the same maybe a hair better this morning. Congestion is already draining. Feel a little bloated. So full of piss today I guess.

Bike is still being cleaned. I should probably do more than 10 minutes every morning and get it back together sooner than later. Today would have been a perfect sick day to take because Nat and Julia are going to the in-laws. But there's something I need to do at work because the Operations guys need to be taught the same thing 40 times before they learn it.

I would also like to get that Trek 8000 frame up and running as a second bike for the race but I'm not sure I have all the parts I need. Maybe I can take a good look at it Sunday and order whatever I need Monday. If nothing else I need a chain and probably some front rings. Probably need some cables too. You know that's just a force trying to get that together quickly. That's really more of an offseason project. I suppose I could ride the old Trek full-rigid as my backup if I need to. Then there's the SS but that's probably asking for trouble.

A few more comments trickled in.

George

"I agree Norm, going to Allamuchy instead of the DH 40 is a much better idea. Like you said, half a day vs a full day...and you will be able to test out your race strategy as you stated. Oh, and it's ok to sound insane...lol! BTW- is entenmann's chocolate fudge cake poison?!"

Didn't you crack your ribs at Allamuchy earlier this year? Hard to believe you're sending me to the place of your doom but yeah, it really does make more sense, even if I may not actually be insane. As for chocolate fudge cake, I think the beer might be better for you!

Steve

"yes, the inmates are running the assylum, but brett will be governor and fred mascot"

You know I think they need new avatars. Instead of mascot I think Fred should get Mayor McCheese, it just seems to fit. So my second order of moderator duty will be...

No FGI anymore as it adds nothing. I'll summarize every Friday which makes more sense than a bunch of random daily numbers.

Drink your Ovaltine.