I’ve been noticing a spike on in my blog traffic, all because The Austin Rattler 100k race. Most of that traffic found my race report from last year. The race report is one of my blog’s most popular posts. That’s not saying much, but it’s still true.

If you’re looking for any good info on how much climbing, why times are so slow, or what not, I don’t really have any inside information for you. But what I do have is a particular set of skills… my plan for this race.

Well, actually, I do know these things:

1. The race is going to have more jeep trail on it than it did last year.
2. That’s just a rumor that I’ve heard.

I guess that’s all I know. Not super helpful. Anyway, back to my plan.

Last year, I DNF’d. This year I’ve been racing much faster and harder, and while I haven’t done much endurance riding, I do expect one of these two things to happen:

A. get pulled feeling better, or
B. not get pulled and finish.

I did some math and found out how long it would take to ride 62 miles at a few different speeds.

10 mph = 6:12
11 mph = 5:38
12 mph = 5:10

I know that the cut off is at 1:30 PM, five and half hours after the start. I did more math and to make the cut off, I need to go faster than an average of 8.5mph.

To help me get to these goals, I am going to be much more proactive about my eating and drinking than I was last year, since it’s a little too late to get a bunch of endurance miles in. I’m going to eat every half an hour, so if the race takes 6 hours, that’s 12 “meals”. I hope I like the food I bring. 

My Plan (in it’s entirety, but in no particular order):

1. Eat early and eat often.
2. Go at least an average of 10 mph.
3. Don’t die.
4. Have fun.
5. Keep my feet going in tiny, concentric circles.