Munga musings from a novice - The Race - Part 4 of the Trilogy

[Carlog]

This has been a truly amazing post to follow, well done Carlo, redifining the word "vasbyt".

 

I have a question and please don't take it as a criticism, but doesn't the extensive use of painkillers during an event like this bother you a bit. I'm not sure what the sports doctors would say, perhaps one of them on the forum could comment?

Is WADA on this forum.    Yip is does bother me which is why I didn't have any - had lots of paracetamol but that didn't touch sides in terms of pain.  I limited the myprodols to two per 24 hour period.  i read extensively prior to the event and am not surprised that tramadol (active ingredient in Tramacet locally) has been banned in certain events from 1 March.  Pain management is an integral part of many events and what individuals do, within the ambit of the rules, should be part of their strategy. Of course, and i think the crux of your point, is whether participants (especially younger ones) understand the risks, and even if they do, have the ability to temper their intake against the need to win at all costs.  What i am convinced about is that i dont think i would have finished in the time i did without the Myprodols.  I think that alone makes them performance enhancing.  Are they illegally so...?

[Carlog]

Absolutely fantastic thread! Brilliantly written! I was wondering if I wanted to do it, now I KNOW I am going to do it (or at least attempt it!  )

Job done.  See you in November

[Carlog]

Seriously inspirational - but I knew the 4th part of the trilogy would be.  Somehow I was secretly hoping that I would come to a realisation that I don't need to share in this adventure.....I was wrong....my banking app just told me "Payment Successful".......oh sh*t, what have I done???

#hellyeah

[Carlog]

What a read  .... Hope eating all that carbs wasn't too bad

Sjoe!  thats a topic of whole post by itself.  Food was very good and was loads of food with low sugar or complex carbs.  Was always going to eat carbs, just needed to balance it with protein and, more importantly, fat.  Truth is after 36 hours i didn't care and it would appear neither did my body.   i ate whatever was in front of me (excluding coke/ donuts or sweets) and lots of it.  i def didnt need to take the 1kf of nutrition is carted with me almost the whole route.  

[SwissVan]

Hi Carlog

For the cold nights did you or anyone wear long tights or leg warmers?

Or was it not that cold...

[Carlog]

Hi Carlog

For the cold nights did you or anyone wear long tights or leg warmers?

Or was it not that cold...

I didn't take them but did see some folks wearing them.  This year I still wont be taking any  - unless a massive cold front is forecast.  I will def plan to ride through the nights again.  Its such a non-replicable part of the Munga experience.

[Bat]

Awesome, well done Carlog. I really loved your family support and encouragement. But I believe they must have heard more than you ever time something did not go to plan.

( I myself also fell off my bike falling asleep, and more than 10 times, but speaking to my wife, she also had the knowledge not to make it a big deal, as this probably would have made me think twice of going further) respect Carlog.

[AfricaMike]

Carlog - I'm having some shopping paralysis in trying to decide which GPS to buy - bit of a minefield.....seems like a lot of guys from the Audax scene as well as some Freedom riders use the Garmin Etrex but looking at pictures of the bikes at the start of last year's Munga a lot of them were equipped with either Edge or Wahoo.

 

The GPS that failed on you - was it a GPS issue or maybe the user (id.10.t)??  My biggest fear right now is the idea of getting lost and having to do hours of backtracking.....

[fanievb]

Seriously inspirational - but I knew the 4th part of the trilogy would be.  Somehow I was secretly hoping that I would come to a realisation that I don't need to share in this adventure.....I was wrong....my banking app just told me "Payment Successful".......oh sh*t, what have I done???

 

so can we expect a new thread with the details of cactus growth to become a hardegat MTB'er?

[Slowbee]

@ Cactus - the garmin Extrex is amazing. It does everything you need it to.

 

But remember it is at its core a GPS, not a cycling device.

 

So if power stats and such is what you are after, rather go edge or wahoo.

 

The best part is it takes penlight batteries these last about 20 - 22 hrs depending on the use of the back lighting.

 

Also being a GPS, when you replace the batteries, and press go everything right there, no need to fiddle to get things going again.

 

(You can buy a rechargeable battery pack, but for endurance riding having penlights, while adding a small weight is worth it).

[Carlog]

Carlog - I'm having some shopping paralysis in trying to decide which GPS to buy - bit of a minefield.....seems like a lot of guys from the Audax scene as well as some Freedom riders use the Garmin Etrex but looking at pictures of the bikes at the start of last year's Munga a lot of them were equipped with either Edge or Wahoo.

 

The GPS that failed on you - was it a GPS issue or maybe the user (id.10.t)??  My biggest fear right now is the idea of getting lost and having to do hours of backtracking.....

I used an Edge 800 which hasn't failed me since 2008.  Bit of a mystery as to why it crashed and couldn't be restarted.  It works again though after taking it to Garmin.  In my group of riders the majority used the 1030 with either the 820 or 500 series as a backup.  My backup was a loaned 520.  For power I used a 10000mAh battery pack that only powered the Garmin and it just made the 96hours.  I didn't take the Garmin off the bike once though and didn't switch it off at any stops either.  Its just one less thing to have to worry out logistically.  I didn't like the idea of having to touch my GPS at all, including changing batteries, hence my set-up.  I agree that getting lost is a k*k outcome, but i believe that if you follow some simple GPS setup that it would be difficult. I missed two turns that amounted to about 500m.  My experience was an outlier and there could have been some user issues so i reckon any GPP will do the job.  So i would consider:  how will you keep it charged without having to hunt for a plug point.  Touch screen or buttons.  Mine is a touch screen and the 520 i loaned had buttons on the side.  turns out i couldnt get to the buttons on the side with my tri-bars.  have a quick think about your cockpit and the size of your GPS.  I mounted a phone onto my stem with a R200 mount from Amazon.  worked a bomb.  That allowed me to have music, make calls, check the route profile and even the written narratives if everything else failed.  i even took screen shots of the GPS route coming into each RV, in the event that I had my GPS broke! in flight mode with battery saver on that phone will last more than 40hours playing music.  Hope this helps   

[AfricaMike]

so can we expect a new thread with the details of cactus growth to become a hardegat MTB'er?

 

How can anyone come close to writing a Ride Report that comes vaguely close to the quality of Carlog's 'Trilogy'!!!.......I'll have to think about it...... :-)

[hubbernero]

@ Cactus - the garmin Extrex is amazing. It does everything you need it to.

 

But remember it is at its core a GPS, not a cycling device.

 

So if power stats and such is what you are after, rather go edge or wahoo.

 

The best part is it takes penlight batteries these last about 20 - 22 hrs depending on the use of the back lighting.

 

Also being a GPS, when you replace the batteries, and press go everything right there, no need to fiddle to get things going again.

 

(You can buy a rechargeable battery pack, but for endurance riding having penlights, while adding a small weight is worth it).

 

The eTrex Touch 35 has Ant+ support. Not sure if the battery life is comparable to the simpler eTrex models though. 

[fanievb]

How can anyone come close to writing a Ride Report that comes vaguely close to the quality of Carlog's 'Trilogy'!!!.......I'll have to think about it...... :-)

 

you don't have a choice........

 

i know someone who knows someone who can swing the BAN hammer........

 

 

 

 

ping @slowbee I need some backup here...........

[Slowbee]

The eTrex Touch 35 has Ant+ support. Not sure if the battery life is comparable to the simpler eTrex models though. 

 

I have the etrex 30x, so as you say - the simple model. But it does its job.

[Slowbee]

Cactus ... I know a guy who knows another guy, who said we need some form of report.

 

*Apparently some kind of hub account is at steak. *