I started with two bottles and hydration pack. Main reason is if you are riding with a group in the early part of the race, they might blast through WP1 without refilling bottles, then you loose that advantage of sticking together if you have to stop. Also had enough food and gels on me to carry me to CP1. Worked well as we had a nice group of 10-15 working together and did in fact blast through that first Kammanassie WP1 without stopping and the attacks went up that little kicker climb just after WP1 that reduced us to 7 or 8 that worked together to CP1. Lights on the bike from the start.
At CP1 everyone in that group had different plans on how long they stop, so from there on in you are likely to be solo or less than 5 guys together. I left on my own there. I dropped my hydration pack in my CP1 box, spare battery for light in back pocket for rest of the race, put on warmer clothes, swapped sunglasses for photochromics, and just refilled my two bottles from there at the waterpoints and CPs as needed. Drylands always deliver at the WPs and CPs, so no shortage of Biogen drinks and gels and food.
Ate properly at CP2, fresh battery in the box, and more layers. Spare water bottle in box in case I dropped one on the route.
Got lost shortly after CP2, luckily saw another rider's light in the distance, so could back track and catch up to join him. We stuck together from there through the night all the way to the finish line.
CP3 swapped batteries. And again spare bottle just in case. Also food I know I can stomach. Sometimes your system just get tired of all the nonsense you eat on route, so I had simple chicken and rice packed for back up. Didn't eat it though, the pannekoek en boiled egg still went down 04:30 the morning. After that I survived on gels to the end.
My moving time was just over 17 hours, but I missed Sub 18 hrs. Definitely will try and streamline my stops next time. Skipping this year, but I'll be back for my Sub 17 hopefully next year!
