Gettin' Race Ready for 6 Hours of Warrior Creek

Tomorrow is the 6 hours of Warrior Creek race and I am on a duo team. Racing a duo team is something new for me and I am sort of not quite sure how to prepare. If I was racing solo, I would be loading up a cooler with lots of water bottles and know that each time around would be a fresh and cold bottle. But, for a duo team, I am debating, do I take bottles, or do I wear my hydration pack. Since I can't drink on the fly and ride race pace, I have decided that a camelbak will be my weapon of choice. However, my pack weighs a ton and this time I really only need water and  a few tools since each lap passes the start again anyway. All my tire changing gear is mounted  to the bike frame in the form of Awesome Straps. So as I start to unload all the things in my pack that I feel might be unnecessary for a 6 hour team effort, I realize something is wrong.

Evidently all this reading I have been doing about the Tour Divide as well as other ultra long distance rides in places like Alaska etc. have caused me to become a little packrat in my carrying mentality. Reading all about how those riders found themselves without food and stuck in between towns where they could not obtain any sustinence has made me start adding more and more stuff into my pack....ya know..."just in case". Now mind you, most of my own "epic" endurance riding is within 20 miles of my home so it is not likely that I will get stuck out there in a storm or with the requirement that I must emergency bivy overnight to save myself from potential frostbite or a bad sandstorm. Yet, for some reason, my pack has been stocked with every conceivable food I could want should that need arise.

As I started to unload the unnecessary weight, I had to pause. I literally think I had enough food stuffed in there to do a multi-day tour. The more I removed, the harder my husband laughed. Eventually it got so absurd that I had to laugh myself. What on earth have I been packing for? The apocalypse where I need to get away in a hurry.....on my bicycle?

This is what I found in my inventory. Can you say overkill? ....2 Go for the Gold protein Bars, 1 pack of Cliff Bloks, 1 Honey Stinger, 5 Cliff Shot Gus, 1 Box of Jolly Rancher chews, 1 dark chocolate candy bar, 1 Payday candy bar, 1 bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans, 1 full size Cliff bar, 1 bag of chocolate covered Espresso beans, some cash, a pack of tissues, a pocket knife, and a full size crescent wrench that I need for my other bike that I haven't ridden since February.
And this is the stuff I took out. I still have some other tools etc. in there in addition to a full 70 oz. bladder of water.

Clearly, I am ready for anything. I blame those books I've been reading lately especially from that Jill Homer and her experiences.

So now the pack is lighter, the car is packed and I am ready for this race.
I'd better not get lost out there. Hmmm....just in case, maybe I should throw those Espresso beans back in my pack. And maybe that Cliff Bar too. And how much could those Jolly Ranchers really weigh, right?