Originally, my training plan was to pre-ride the Kings Valley 400k. However, my coach asked me to rest the weekend I intended to do the pre-ride, and then ride the Brevet with the rest on the day it was scheduled. Working with Susan France, the local RBA, I was able to accomplish this. However, I would need to check in riders who finished behind me. Keith Kohan, who will be my FC508 crew chief agreed to do the pre-ride and check in riders until I arrived.

The brevet was scheduled to start at 4:00 am, so that slow riders would be able to get pass the gravel section after Logsden before dark. I thought the 4:00 am start was a bit early, but I understood the reason. So, at 4:00 am, 22 of us started out from the LaQuinta Hotel in Willsonville. I intentionally held back and rode with some of the slower folks. This to prevent me from riding too hard too early, which has been known to happen. I rode with Lynne and Leslie for the first ten miles. Then, I picked up my speed and started reeling in folks in front of me. I did this until I caught a group of six that included Del and Michael. These are fast riders who always turn in very good times. As such, I knew I was in trouble. So, when we reached Amity, I intentionally stopped to use the restroom (which was needed) and let them continue on without me. As such, I rode the rest of the ride mostly by myself.

My original ride plan was to take it easy as it was a long ride. However, I was feeling very good so I decided to continue to ride at an quicker pace. This decision reinforced a decision I made before the ride which was to eat more and eat more often.

Food I brought with me:

• Ten ounces of Hammer Gel (consumed all of it)
• Six baggies of one scoop of Perpeteum / one scoop of HEED (only one bag was left over)
• GU Brew Electrolyte Drink Tablets
• Assortment of bars (Think Thin and Clif).

Food I purchased along the route

• Corn dogs – one in Otis and one in Blogett
• Two Chicken tacos, both in Monmouth

I decided to consume an ounce of Hammer Gel every half hour (90 calories) and wash it down with a bottle of Gu Drink Tablets – 1/2 bottle per ounce of Gu.   At times would change to a Clif bar instead of the Hammer Gel or drink my liquid food (Per/HEED – 240 cal per bottle).

When I had to stop to refill my water bottles, I tried to find food I could get quickly and consume on the bike, that is where the corn dogs came into play. I tried to limit myself to food that I would eat during The Furance Creek 508 but I did have some exceptions. The only food I did not eat on the bike were the tacos.

This plan worked well for most of the day, but when it got hot in the afternoon, I ran into problems with the power bars and liquid food.  When it was hot, I could only eat the Hammer Gel washed down with Gu Water.

In the end, I managed to eat more calories per hour than I had in the past.

The bottom line is that I finished my fastest 400k ever, and by over 2 1/2 hours. I am very pleased.