I've been getting quite the education today on nutrition. I don't know squat about what to eat on the bike. As a cross country racer I ate whatever I wanted and never worried about it. I'm sure I could have been a more successful racer if I had paid more attention to it. I know I can finish something like the CTR but I can't do it on my current diet AND have fun doing it. Seasoned racers like Dave Harris, Chris Plesko, and Marshal Bird are very particular and specific about what they eat. I could pick out stuff blindfolded. These guys all do quite a bit of calculations while they're strolling through the gas stations, grocery stores or just sitting in a restaurant. Not me. When I start riding again in a few weeks I'm going to start paying very close attention to (and documenting) things like water loss through sweat, calories burned per hour based on terrain and speed and then start looking at what's going in my body. I now have some preliminary numbers of what should be going in my body for breakfast each morning during something like the CTR and what should be going in each hour and I'm stunned. It's no wonder I hit the wall and hallucinated on Sargents Mesa. I have spent the last 2 years working to improve my cycling fitness and my ability to ride long hours but that's not the problem. I'm on the right track with what I should be eating but I'm not even in the ballpark with how much. I'm not sure I'll line up for the CTR again just yet. There's something else I'd like to try this year but making it happen might be an issue.

Thanks so much for the kind words everyone. It's really nice to hear from some of the players about how difficult this race truly is even for them and it makes me feel better. Maybe now I'll get around to writing up something to go with all this years pictures.