TNGA: A rookie's lessons learned

Just thought I'd put down some thoughts while the events of my stint on the TNGA route are fresh in my head. I figured I'd put these thoughts down here so I can find them again later... and maybe somebody else will find them useful ...or not.

Disclaimer: The TNGA was my first attempt at an Ultra and, due to several factors, was not able to finish. So, you can take my advice/lessons with whatever sized grain of salt you'd like.

In no particular order of importance:

1) Fitness. My endurance was there (I truly feel I would have finished if I hadn't had the time constraints I did), but my speed suffered horribly because I wasn't conditioned for the long climbs. Living near the water on the east coast for the last several years has not given me the opportunity to ride the kinds of hills found on the TNGA. I knew there would be climbs, but I took the height and duration for granted figuring my endurance abilities would make up for it. Not totally true. I could keep going, but I had to spin my two easiest gears which made progress very very slow.

2) Don't take the climbing for granted. There are some seriously hard climbs on this thing. I ended up walking a lot more than I'd care to admit. See lesson 1.

3) I took too much stuff. I'm sure this is a classic rookie mistake, if not THE classic rookie mistake. I honestly thought I was only taking the bare essentials to cover any mishaps that might happen. And maybe I was, but I realized that I had to get the weight of my gear down somehow. The way to do that, I think, is to not try to cover all possibilities, but to carry the gear that will get you through the likely scenarios while assuming the risk of the less likely scenarios. For example: I have broken one chain in all my years of riding bikes, yet I packed a small chain tool. I could have left that at home and just assumed the small risk of having a chain failure. I will approach my gear list with this mentality for next year.

4) I was way too concerned about missing or taking a wrong turn for the first several hours of the race. I was stopping at every intersection and double checking cue sheets with the gps. Cumulatively this cost me a good deal of time, and I eventually stashed the cue sheets and only pulled them out when I was confused. I pretty much just followed the gps for the rest of my ride.

5) Do some test rides with gear. Due to my schedule and my amazing abilities of procrastination, I never did a shakedown ride to get my luggage sorted out. Each bike is gonna have its own nuances in this respect. I spent a good bit of time stopping to tighten straps, rearrange straps, ziptie things in place, etc. It wasn't till the second morning of riding that I got my gear really sorted.

6) Pack all gear a few days ahead of leaving for the race. I was packing last minute and left some items at home that I really really wished I had brought. Luckily zipties came to my rescue. See lesson 7

7) Pack plenty of zipties. Having zipties saved me on several occasions

Gear:
Stuff I would take:
-200 lumen Hi/ 100 lumen low light On the climbs you don't need a ton of light, but on the descents which can get pretty fast, I was glad for at least 100 lmns.
-Dumonde tech chain lube (I would try to put a smaller amount in a different bottle...I took a normal sized bottle that was 2/3 full. I could have shaved some weight here)
-SOL escape bivvy. This performed well even in the damp conditions I slept in, but I could have carried a lighter bivvy and given up the breathability. Choices.
-Porcelain rocket and revelate gear. All performed really well, except my Pika seatbag wanted to wag a lot. It could have been my packing method, seat post, or seat rails that didn't agree with the mounting straps. Oh well...I just put it behind me (pun intended). Next time I'll just put less stuff in these same bags.
-Gummy bears! I was wishing for more gummies almost the whole ride. Gummy bears were great for times when I needed some sugar energy, and a cliff bar just wouldn't metabolize fast enough.
-Rain jacket. For obvious reasons...but I also wore it for warmth. It was all I needed in the clothes dept. besides the jersey and shorts I was wearing.
-bash guard. I bent a tooth on my chainring and had to spend some time with a rock filing down the bent over tooth. A light guard would've been cheap insurance

Stuff I wouldn't take:
-Thermal shirt, thermal tights. These could be replaced with arm and leg warmers if needed, but I think I could do without anything in this department. I only got cold in the very early morning when I woke up. The cure for that is to just get moving.
-chain tool
-as much food. I had a ton of lara and cliff bars along with some instant oatmeal and some other stuff. I feel like I could get to resupply points faster if my weight was down, and thus wouldn't need as much food at all times. This is a balance that I erred well on the side of too much. Food is very dense and heavy, and I carried excess up and over a lot of hills.
-as much water. Even as slow as I was going I never emptied my 3L reservoir completely between water sources. I know the stretch from Dalton to the border can be dry though. Another balancing act.

whew.