long ride finally done

Today my goal was to finish 180km and dial in nutrition. Last ride I'd found the Perpeteum and Cytomax were a bad mix and I dumped all the Cytomax (powder) with Jamie when he rescued me from the flats/no spare/unable to patch due to rain. But I was cramping horrifically last ride and wanted to address that. I'm getting there. I headed out this morning, after waiting for it to warm up a smidge as we're under frente frio No. 6 (!!! already, and it is only OCTOBER) and wasn't sure where I'd go. I'd mapped out the distance to Coba and there and back was a neat 180km but I was worried about the dogs along the route. I considered doing Tulum twice (another 180 km) but I am so Sick To Death of riding back and forth to and from Tulum I might die of boredom. I also considered going past Tulum for 45 km and turning around but I had no idea of what the abarrote support was south of Tulum and I knew I'd need another liter of water at the turnaround so I finally nixed that. I also considered 3 loops of Xel-Ha becasue the Ironman course is also 3 loops of 60ish.

In the end I went with Coba, mostly because I told our abanil I was going there (and his eyes bugged out) and because I've not been there yet. I was right to worry about the dogs but after I figured out to stuff rocks under my shorts and throw them at the dogs it got easier. I was pretty done at 4-4-1/2 hours and super hungry at that point. For some reason I hate using GU (I take it for emergency) but couldn't find candy anywhere until Tulum the 2nd time (135 km) and by then I was doing better.

I had 2 packages of Perpeteum (270 cal each), 1 Cliff Bar (240?), 2 GU (180), 1 bag of lifesaver gummies (180) and half a PB&J and a Poweraid. I figured it was about 1000-1100 calories at the 4.5 hour point and I'd probably burned about 3000 cal so maybe that's why I was hungry. Who knows. I scarfed down some lifesaver gummies and than added a GU and all of a sudden I was bloated. I worked that down and took only Poweraid and water for the rest of the ride (almost 2 hours) and was almost better when I got home. So I found I can do real food and bike+run. It was super duper low humidity today (60ish and temp only got up to 29) and I was covered with powder when I got home, so apparently the humidity hides all the salt. I took Endurolyte tablets - 2 whenever I thought I needed them - and never cramped and am only very minimally cramping now at home.

So a good day all around but TBH, I'm not looking forward to more 6-hour rides. Tomorrow is a 2-hour ride and then we're off to Home Depot to try and stay ahead of the construction.