Stuff

Lots to do, only about 14 days left till the MR340.

I really believe that the most important paddling muscle is your butt. You've got to get it in the boat and get it in there often. Nothing beats time on the water. But with only 14 more days to race day, time for distance training is now over.

I did my last long paddle on Sunday. I started early, the temperature was 73 degrees and quickly rose to 93, humidity was at 85 and lowered to 48%. It was very hot, and very informative. I learned a bit more about my fluid intake requirements, I'll be drinking water from a camelback bladder, and drinking both accelerade and gookinade throughout the day from nalgene bottles. Neither of these drinks have preservatives, so I'll not be able to make a full days supply each morning.

I'm also being pretty careful not to forget to take daily doses of echinacia, airborne, and emergen - C. I'm a pretty healthy person in general, and usually have very few colds, but now would be a horrible time to get sick.

I've been studying the charts, reading about the navigation signage, making tables of all the boat ramps and official checkpoints along the route, and pre-planning and second guessing my camp spots. And I've been making lists and more lists, packing lists, food lists, lists of lists. Lots to do.

This race is one of the most organized of any I've ever been involved in. Race management has done such a wonderful job, and the race hasn't even begun. Their attention to detail and organization thus far says a lot about how well the race will actually be run. This always makes for a safer and more pleasant experience for everyone. And is much appreciated.

Registered racers are even starting to get dispatch memo's (have gotten #1 and #2 thus far). These memo's review the race rules, the race course, and the checkpoints in great detail. They also include discussions of various safety issues, and include lots of suggestions and great information about the river, river traffic, paddling the river at night etc... They say they want these dispatches to answer all and any questions we might have. What an excellent idea.

There is also a great website, RiverMiles, that includes information about the Missouri River 340, the Kansas River Gitty Fifty race that was held a couple weeks ago, a couple of informative forums, and some great links about these rivers.

The Kansas City Kansan's online news mentioned the MR340 yesterday, the race advertises as the world's longest non-stop river race, the news reported that a representative from the Guinness Book of World Records will attend the event to measure the length to see if it’s really the longest. How cool is that!