Final Notes from Idaho

Here are some final notes from Idaho (useful notes for racers);

1. Because you (supposedly) cannot ship Lithium Ion batteries by air I had the company I buy them from (http://www.cr123batteries.com/) ship directly to Idaho. Unfortunately the hotel misplaced them and did not find them until after the race. The other team-mates had no trouble shipping their batteries by air. I did buy batteries and an extra light at Walmart and mark had enough extra CR123 batteries that I was covered. ( http://www.cr123batteries.com/ )


2. On the shipping gear to Idaho I made the mistake of trying to fly my gear bin on Delta - was charged both oversize and overweight ($440!!). In the future I will ship in multiple suitcases ($25 first and $50 for second) and buy a bin on location (a lot cheaper - Mark did this). On the return I simply shipped UPS (which was also a hassle, but a lot less). Anyone who finds ways of decreasing shipping costs - let me know!

3. I had a flat tire on day 1 of the race. On the steep downhills I had my brakes clamped pretty hard - this caused the tire to rotate on the wheel frame and shear off the nipple of the tube (really!). I'm not sure how to prevent this, but I did see how it happened. Luckily it was no big deal to change tubes even though you would have thought the 15 minutes to change the tire was forever! (note: I was riding a 26" hard tail)

4. As mentioned in the blog I changed from solid foods to Perpetuum after the first day. This worked amazingly well, and I still ate solid foods in the transitions (about 24 hours between though). I filled a water bottle with dry Perpetuum powder and poured the entire bottle into my 100 oz bladder and filled the bladder with water. It turned out to be about the perfect strength. I used Strawberry-Vanilla flavor. ( http://www.hammernutrition.com/products/perpetuem.pp.html?utm_source=lgsiteads-perpstraw&utm_medium=ad&utm_campaign=lgsiteads-perpstraw  )

5. Sleep - I always get asked now much sleep. I ended getting a bit less than the rest of the team (hazard of being a navigator) but was very well rested the entire race. Night 1 - 0 hrs, Night 2 - 40 minutes (not quality near CP 16 on ground), Night 3 - 4 hours (decent sleep in truck at TA 1/2), Night 4 - 4 hours (decent sleep under stars at TA4), Night 5 - 3 hours (3 hours decent sleep at TA5, up early to prepare maps for next leg), Night 6 - (5 hours, first one up in camp morning of restart - great nights sleep under stars).

6. Injuries and Pain management - In day 1 I hurt my knee in an endo on the bike. It did not bother me much during race, but it is still hurting 3 weeks later (especially on stairs). Loss of toenail (both big toes) made for some real pain, but only trekking and only downhill. After I lost the toenail completely swimming during Survival Quest there was no more pain. I took a total of 4 Tylenol the entire race for pain management the entire race.

7. Cold - I don't get cold easily so am not one to ask about cold gear. I wore a tight base layer with a fleece on top when it was cold and was fine. I was only cold when not active, but was easily warmed. The other team members did suffer some from cold.

Feel free to ask me about any Gear. The best Gear was the Out There Pack I bought from Mike Kloser - it was awesome http://besthike.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/out-there-as-1-backpack/ 

Gear Junkies have some great gear recommendations at http://gearjunkie.com/gear-test-expedition-idaho - I know how AR folks LOVE GEAR, and they have some great gear recommendations.