A Few Tips for Voyager Riding

By Janet Christiansen – First Ever Voyager Finisher in the 2007 Inaugural Hoodoo 500

 

Initially Planet Ultra did not plan to have an unsupported event, at least not for 2007.  I registered with the wrong impression that they were, and consequently had no crew less than a month before the event. I was resigned to just bailing out until they decided to let loose on a little creative instinct and experiment with this new category and place their trust in three of us who took the bait.  Actually it was Mike Sturgill who had been really pushing for this category over the past year.  At any rate, I hope this article can provide some useful information for other cyclists wanting to ride in the Hoodoo 500 Voyager category.

 

I think my biggest challenge in riding unsupported was anxiety. It was certainly harder climbing with all the extra weight, especially water. And you have to limit your choices of clothing, tools and spares. Fighting the overpowering need to sleep was really interesting too. But it was not knowing if, and where, I would be able to find water over the back section of the course during the night, and fretting over making navigational errors that really weighed on me the most.  While I cannot suggest a fail proof way to avoid these problems here are some suggestions.

 

Do NOT leave home without the Course Profile and Map
The route sheet has a pretty good listing of available services and when they’re open.  However, a course profile and map enables you to estimate how much water and food to bring, and gauge how fast you may go through it. When you hit a hard climbing section, you go through considerably more calories and water.  Therefore, knowing how long you have to climb (like down to the mile) before descending, or at least leveling out, gives you a good idea how long your supplies will last. This is the biggest mistake I made, and it repeatedly came back to haunt me throughout the course. 

 

How much ultra experience should you have 

I have been doing ultra cycling rides since 2002. That includes a paltry dozen or so double centuries, two Furnace Creek 508s, two person RAAM, a few brevet series' and the 1200km Gold Rush Randonee.  Previous to ultra cycling, I have embarked on a few bike trips in some very sparsely populated areas such as eastern Oregon, where it is not uncommon to go 80 or 90 miles with no services, no cars, no nothing. So between my 1200 km GRR and my bike trips, I had a reasonable idea of how and what to bring with me. Just the same, I cross checked my list against Mike Sturgill’s and came up with a few more good things to bring.

 

Bike Set-Up: Gears and Racks

I rode a fairly light bike with a triple crank (which is why I still have any cartilage left in my knees). I mounted a very light weight rack to the seat post and rear stays for my Jandd bag. I carried a Camelbak in which I stuffed spare clothes. I kept extra water in the Jandd bag - mainly because I HATE weight on my shoulders. This arrangement was more than sufficient. 

 

How Much Food And Water To Bring

I always left every store or time station with between three and four tall bottles of water, and enough calories for about 250 cal/hr.  Guess what? The water was about right, but it turned out to be not enough food. 250 cal/hr works fine on a double century ride; but on an ultra ride, most people will need more calories especially on the sections between mile point 160 and 200 (Escalante), between Escalante and Torrey (first major climb) at mile 265, and Panguitch at mile 375 and Cedar Breaks Summit (412).  

 

There are water faucets and spigots and campgrounds along the way, and good luck finding them in the dark by the way. But these places will have no food and there is absolutely NOTHING open after 10pm till you get to Panguitch. And no cell phone services. Unless you are lucky enough to be in the middle of the field, no other rider teams either.

 

What Tools and Sapres to Bring 

Really, not much more than you would in a double century. The pavement is very good, unlike a certain other 500 mile ultra event.

 

That’s about it.  I mean if a brake cable, saddle, or cleat breaks, do you think you can really fix it on the road?  OK, then bring 10lbs of tools. Me, I will wait until a team van comes along for help, even if it means a time penalty. 

 

In each drop bag, I had a rag and Tri-flow.  

 

I did not carry a spare light, because I have very high confidence in my Cygolite; but I did need to put an extra charged up battery in the last night drop at Panguitch because battery life is limited to 8-10 hours.

 

Clothes and Personal Effects to Carry

Two problems arise for the Voyager rider when confronted with less than perfect weather: One, how to stay warm - especially if it is raining and nasty. Two, what to do with soaking wet clothing that now weighs a ton.  Well, of course there are night drops but you may not be able to make it from say, Escalante at mp 203 and Panguitch at mp 375 especially considering the terrain and lack of services in between.

 

I was able to get by nicely with:

 

I was surprised by two things: First, the summits weren't that cold. Second, coming off the summits, the temperature changed back and forth frequently between very chilly (including wind chill factor) and warm pockets of air.  I would bundle up for a cold stretch only to have to stop minutes later hitting a warm stretch and starting to sweat inside my clothes. 

 

Bring layers that are easy to take on/off work the best.  Don’t forget, you can’t hand these off to a crew so you need to be able to stash them where you can get at them quickly and easily, ideally without having to stop all the time.  You will be surprised how many times you have to stop as a Voyager rider as it is!

 

Personal effects:

 

Night Riding

Daylight ends around 8:30pm (totally dark) and does not begin till 6:30am.  I got by pretty well with a helmet light and my Cygolite.  The latter has pretty excellent range as well as several dimmer settings for saving on the battery.  I typically can get 8-10 hours out of it.  So I had a spare battery for the second night which went in one of my drop bags.

 

Sleeping! 

Do NOT try to stay awake, when you sense you are nodding off on the bike.

 

This is another area where it is very different being a Voyager rider compared with a supported rider with crew who can try to keep you awake, and scrape you off the pavement if you do fall asleep and end up crashing.  You are alone, there is very little traffic and you might ride off the road in which case passing traffic, even cyclists may not notice you and keep going.  I cannot stress this enough. 

 

As soon as I sensed I was about to nod off, I found a nice *un*comfortable spot to rest my eyes.  The idea is to wait out this brief period while your brain is making you sleep.  After awhile, you should be good to go even if you got no sleep, but at least you are free from that overpowering urge to sleep.  You probably wouldn’t be able to sleep for very long if you are lying on a pile of rocks off the side of the road like I was.

 

Drop Bags 

o                    OK, the true voyager will shun night drop bags

o                    …And regret it.  I included at least one entire change of clothes in each bag plus warm layers (tights, jackets, gloves) in case rain had soaked the clothes on my back.

o                    Extra hygiene – some kind of alcohol based astringent for the area we dare not mention in front of the general public, toothbrush/toothpaste, wash clothe, sunscreen (DO NOT FORGET SUNSCREEN ON THE SECOND DAY), saline and spare contacts (I had extended wear contacts but sometimes you have to switch them out.

o                    Lots of food (especially heavy stuff like meal replacement drinks, or squishy stuff like PBJ sandwiches) and ever more eCaps

o                    Spare eyewear (dark and clear glasses)

o                    Yet another spare route sheet

 

Weather and Extreme Conditions

Forewarned is forearmed – be prepared for lightning, flash flooding and snow/ice squalls.

 

Unfortunately it is always difficult for us cyclists to get wind and temperature conditions where we like to go riding (e.g. low population densities).  I was able to obtain pretty good info online by Googling on Utah, <town name> and something like temperature, wind, elevation etc.  Utah has surprisingly good online information so take advantage!  Most of these sites will also give you the complete ancestry and genealogy of every resident who has ever lived in the town.

 

Have some idea how you are going to handle snow, sleet, flooding and lightning ahead of time so you are not freaked out when confronted with the possibility.  Apparently during the August Tour of Southern Utah (pretty much the same route as the Hoodoo), riders encountered sleet at the top of Cedar Breaks during the day. One rider ended up crouching in a ditch in the wide open Panguitch Lake area halfway up the Cedar Summit because local lightning storm was passing by at that time.  Also, the weeks before the Hoodoo in mid September there were lots of reports of flash flooding and thunderstorms in the national park areas north of St. George. So extreme weather can and does happen. 

 

Planet Ultra requires you to carry a space blanket, plus anybody passing by will very likely be willing to help you out. After all, this is Utah and while they will consider anybody riding around in the dark is out of their mind, they are just about the nicest folks on earth. 

 

Just remember, there’s no cell phone service out there. 

 

Actual weather and temperatures (and wind) 

It was maybe middle 40s I am guessing at the coldest points at night (Boulder Summit), and probably in the lower 50s during the day going over Cedar Summit. Daytime temps were about 70s at elevation, 90s around St. George, maybe 80’s between Cedar City and Enterprise.  Wind can be just about anything.  Also, very low humidity. You will be surprised how much water you go through!

 

Miscellaneous Items

o     MP3 player – great pickup if used judiciously. And use only ONE ear-bud of course!

o     Spare route sheets – no explanation necessary. Laminate them too!

 

Some Final Suggestions 

Take advantage of riding with other riders. Talking and pacing with others is a very good way to stay awake, and is a nice safety feature. The Hoodoo 500 rules are pretty flexible; so put them to good use.

 

Bring an MP3 player.  Good carrot to dangle …I like to promise myself if I can push until a certain mile point or time, I will let myself listen to some music. The Pavlov reward strategy works real well with me. Or if I hit a point of particularly low motivation, “hey, lets listen to some tunes!”  Some people work best listening to music non-stop, but for me this spoils the ‘pickup’ I get from cranking up the tunes after hours and hours of silence. 

 

For point of reference I NEVER listen to music during training rides, double centuries and made it to Day 5 in the middle of the night in a two man RAAM relay before desperately grabbing for my MP3 player.  I just think it’s kind of cool to listen to the road and surroundings.  I tend not to notice very much visually, so hearing is my big sensory input on the bike.

 

Know services along the course (and how long they are open on weekends!) Planet Ultra supplies a lot of information on their route sheet, but it is not comprehensive. Sadly, between Escalante and Panguitch there just ain’t much, except beautiful landscape of course, especially after hours.

 

I don’t know about you but I am strictly a 7-11/Circle K girl. I love a beautiful vista and scenic overlooks, only if my water bottles and food stashes are full.  I do not like relying on vague directions and finding spigots sticking out of the ground in some campground which I have never seen in broad daylight.  You might ask, what on earth am I doing in a Voyager race!  But that’s another story.

 

Anyway, the more you know about the course the better off you are. If you can possibly drive the course the day before or do the Planet Ultra Tour Of Southern Utah in the month before, do so, and make detailed notes about stores along the way.  Note where there are these mythical spigots, faucets and water pumps outside such and such a motel or general store after hours in the town of Boulder, Torrey and Loa. I guarantee you will have a heck of a time finding them in the dark. I had to clamber up a rocky unstable driveway to get up to the store in Boulder, and only because the store owner was still there and able to show me could I find any water. I couldn’t find anything but rusty old shovels and disused bikes where there was supposed to be a water pump.

 

Bring a decent road map of the area
Or suffer the anxiety of wondering if you missed a turn or are on the wrong road. The Hoodoo 500 route sheet is pretty accurate, and along with a course map, is very useful. But only as long as you're actually on course. Unfortunately, they show only limited details of the surrounding area. No longer very useful if you go off course! Utah is a bit minimal on road signage, and you could go a loooooong way before you realie you missed a turn or took a wrong road.

 

Knowing the general location of towns and roads in the area will let you know whether you are on course.  Plus if you have to stop for directions, the locals will be better able to help you if you present a map to them (based on personal experience). 

 

Do a little research on Utah’s many unusual and historical phenomenon.  

Whether it’s weather, history, or geology, do yourself a favor and do a little research before heading up there. Did you know that Butch Cassidy of the Hole in the Wall Gang grew up in Circleville or that part of The Outlaw Josey Wales was filmed in Kanab? Yeah, and that’s not even getting into why Utah is so distinct looking in color and contour.  Actually I don’t know off hand, because I was too preoccupied with weather forecasts.