@ Paul.
Yesterday was fun - until the last 10 miles, when I hit a wall. Our pace was pretty relaxed, and I don't know if that's why this was the easiest 200k I've ever attempted, but I think it was a combination of things:
1. Relaxed pace - our end time was 11.5 hours. Quite a few little stops in the beginning, including everyone taking an extra bbreak so I could get breakfast on the way - thanks Guys.
2. New mix - ratio of 4:1 unflavored perpetuem to lemon-lime accellerade. Tasted like lemon cream pie. Yummy!
3. Cool temps
4. Made sure to reapply sunscreen often - poor Nelson is fried like a pork rind!
5. Taking a dose of caffeine earlier rather than later.
6. solid food. I had a taquito with bacon and egg at lancaster, a chicken sub at rio vista, and a payday protein at cleburne. I really should have had some solid food at that last gas station we stopped at and didn't. As a result, I got a little ill on the way home, but the stomach settled by bedtime.
7. The best company, of course. Lots of good conversation on and off the bike.
I usually hit a wall around mile 60-70. My breathing gets shallow and panicky - like my breathing gets restricted. I noticed on my first 200k that caffeine and sugar open my airways back up and calm me down. Getting the caffeine pre-emptive at cleburne this time, and again later on, really worked to keep that away. Instead I didn't hit the wall until we turned off of 157, and was mostly turning the pedals until then.
Definitely the easiest 200k I've done so far, and I think I've proved that I will be able to survive calvin's challenge, so I'm gonna sign myself up for it tonight. Goal is 200 miles in 12 hours.
I wonder if we'll ever seen poor Evblazer again. He either wasn't talking much because:
A) We creeped him out (definite possibility) or
B) He was conserving his energy for the road ahead
But the guy held up like a trooper - he could have turned around at any time and stuck it out instead. The dude has cojones grandes.