300 km Saguaro National Park, November 5, 2005
by Dan Trued

It was a perfect day to do a 300K. Not much wind, and a lot warmer than that 300K last winter. Had a few firsts. First time out in the country (where it's real dark at night), with LED lights. Had three 1 watt LED’s and needed them all. Two were handlebar mounted, and one was helmet mounted. Really got to see how they worked after sunset, as I was by myself. First time I used Ibuprophen, something I saw some people take at the last 300K. It works, why suffer? First time I used those magic endurance powders in my water. They seemed to work too. So I actually felt human at the finish line. First sunset ride, with a drop in temperature from 85 degrees to 70 degrees in 30 minutes. And I nailed Olive Street the first time around, only to get lost a block from the finish, until Susan and John [Mazzola] shouted me down, when I crossed a street in a search for the finish.

Planned on doing a ride time average of 16 mph, and did exactly that (total time average was 13.16 mph). Dropped off the first bunch before Coolidge, because I didn't want my ride to end at Tom Mix. Thought maybe I could speed it up, but when I saw the time splits at Bruce and Jerry's control, I kept with my pace. Had no flats, only one harassing car, a few dogs, a little impatience near Red Rock, and one stomach disturbance cured by a Tums. Great support (Susan, Roberta, Gerry, Bruce), like always, but I restrained myself from eating too much at one time, this time around. A lesson I learned on a 200K last winter, don’t eat a Thanksgiving dinner at the control, you might get a huge gut ache from trying to process all that food. All and all, it was a very enjoyable ride.