Le Parcour de Wild Race Report

"Perhaps I should write an article on nutrition and the way I make up my meals someday."

I, for one, would strongly encourage you to do so, Kevin. This is by far the most reasoned approach to diet for backpacking, high intensity or otherwise, that I have ever come across.

I think an article would be a real service to the community.

Thanks for the info.

I learned a lot about food from Kevin, both from seeing what he had along and by asking him about physiology (much of the info is condensed above). I've been backpacking plenty, and know how to eat for intense races of <24 hours, but this was somewhat new territory.

My dry dinners and breakfast were about 6 oz each. This just wasn't enough. I did have butter and olive oil to add to both, and that was a very wise addition.

Breakfasts were a varying mix of raw oats, instant oats, granola, full-fat powdered milk, nuts, and chocolate chips. They were really good, especially the ones with plenty of walnuts and chocolate! I'd do them exactly the same again, just add more stuff.

Dinners were primarily mixes of a starch (powdered potatoes or couscous) with some kind of dehydrated beans. We've got a food store in Missoula with an amazing bulk section that makes putting these together easy and cheap. The Couscous and chili-refried bean dinner was the best. I'm high maintenance when it comes to food, and a variety of flavors (and strong flavors) were something to look forward to when grinding out the last miles of a long day.

I should also elaborate oh how we did dinner on days 2 and 3. Both were on the cold side, especially at night, but had little precipitation and a decent amount of sun during the day. We stopped each day between 6 and 7 (just before dark, when we found a good dry and sunny spot) and fired up the Caldera and spent 45 minutes making dinner and resting our feet. It provided a big psychological boost, and made sitting and eating dinner pleasant rather than freezing cold. A very good technique to have. We didn't do it the next two nights because it was warmer, but mostly because we were wet and needed a fire and camp time to dry out.

My lunches were where I came up short. I brought 10 Clif bars, 10 Snickers, 10 Paydays, 28 mini Slim Jims, some salami, some hard cheese, and I think that was it. I needed more calories, more variety would have been nice, and I needed more protein and carbs (though more carbs at breakfast and dinner might have sorted that out).

Most egregious of all, we had planned on hiking on and camping Friday, then finishing up the hike Sunday (rather than hiking partway to civilization and then hitching a ride, which we did). I spaced bringing a dinner and breakfast for that last day, which was just me being dumb. I remember staring at my pack worrying that I had left something out. Unfortunately, I had.

It's good to note that I lost a good bit more weight than Kevin, and didn't have near the mental or physical resources left at the end of the trip. This was due to my lesser experience, but most directly to the bigger calorie debt I was running. Kevin graciously put up with my miscalculation on food, as well as my pushing of the easy button Friday evening to bail into civilization.

Gets my heart rate up just thinking back to it.

I found out about this via these forums, it was stuck down in one of the BPL organizational forums and I happened upon it back in the beginning of September, and immediately emailed to get in on the action.

The ambiguity with weather in the beginning of October got started with WT3, and adds a huge dimension that we got to experience first hand. Next year it could be warm and sunny for most of the same week. Or both.

There are few other places in the lower 48 that provide all the dimensions needed for this kind of challenge.
You need:
1) ~100 air miles between start and finish
2) minimal/no roads in a substantial area between
3) reasonably clear (not too contrived) boundaries
4) a multitude of possible routes, with none being obviously easier/faster/more straightforward

The first three aren't too hard to all get together, it's the fourth that makes Ryan's work on this really quite brilliant. There are several contenders for fastest all foot route, several quite difference routes for hiking and rafting, and several more if you throw a bike into the mix. Then there a few more truly unconventional options, and all the available not-speedy but really aesthetic options.

The Bob packs in an amazing variety.

I've been trying to come up with a route on the Colorado Plateau that would fit all four criteria and having a devil of a time doing so.

Could a route be fitted in the Adirondacks? Or in Maine?

I have no idea if the terrain exists in New England for this sort of thing. I'd listen eagerly if someone local started thinking about it.

I'd like to read the story with a topo map of the race area on screen. Any good online map sources?

You can get the event details and a PDF of the course area here:

http://www.parcourdewild.org/pdwblog/

It'd be nice if it were earlier in the year so there's more daylight and open water.

There's likely a good Wyoming Mountain and Wilderness Classic route.

An Idahao race in September that crosses both the Frank Church and the the Bitteroot WAs appeals, too.

The AMWC in the past has had mandatory check points that are sign in sheets to force racers into the heart of wilderness rather than allowing them to stick to within a few miles of roads or ATV trails which is typical human nature.

I always try to get 100-150grams of protein daily this takes up about 1/2 pound of weight.

Kevin,
What foods do you carry to cover the protein?

+1 on you writing this up as an article.

Congrats to you and Dave on this adventure!
–kerry

A mix of protein powder in my breakfast cereal, the protein in bars, 1 oz of dried meat in dinner and usually some beef/turkey jerky. Plus whatever I get from the other food I eat.

It's not hard to get 100g–every bar has between 8-20 an ounce of freeze dried meat has ~15g of protein, I get another 20g from protein powder–so with 5 bars at ~12g/bar=60g, plus 20g of protein powder at breakfast, plus 15-30g of dried meat = 95-110g plus whatever else other food has.

"Could a route be fitted in the Adirondacks? Or in Maine?"

That's a very interesting idea, but there would be the issue of traveling on private land. Are there large plots of public land in Maine? The Maine Forest Service website is not very helpful. It looks like the only large swath of public land suitable would be the Whites, about 75 mi SW to NE or vice versa, though I don't know how feasible it would be. Do you ban the use of the AT and other trails?