Equipment review and lessons learned
New Balance 1100MDS shoes.
Performed well. I had no foot soreness and never felt they lacked cushioning. They are heavier than most trail shoes for this reason. I chose a size a little too large and did get a couple of blisters that were sizing related. I will probably continue to use these, and I’ve now been using them (and the 1100 predecessor) for over 12 months. The winners of the event wore Inov8 Flyroc’s. I have a pair, but the lack of cushioning makes them too harsh for me.
Raidlight Gaiters.
If I would have had time to stitch the supplied Velcro onto my shoes I would have done. However, I just used Evo-Stik serious stuff (comes in one of those glue-gun type tubes. I just cut off the end and squeezed it out!). The adhesive held for the whole event, in temperatures above 30C. The gaiters didn’t leak any sand. I did tear one on brambles on the last day. I recommend carrying a needle and cotton for evening repairs, or even a spare pair as they are lightweight.
Asics Kayano socks.
I was very happy with these. I did get blisters in the places I expected to, but only after a few days, even despite foot taping with Leukotape. I took four pairs in total. It was nice to put on the fresh pairs, so maybe I should consider one per day for the MDS, despite the small weight increase. If you do use foot tape, this is what really makes the socks messy to use for more than one day. THese socks can be purchased cheapest here.
Helly Hansen seamless boxer shorts, and Adidas (cycling-style) shorts
No chaffing whatsoever. First class. I will use in the MDS for sure.
Railriders Ecomesh shirt.
I didn’t get any chaffing on my shoulder or back whatsoever. My shirt was soaking wet with sweat from the start line onwards each day. On day 5 I did get a sweat rash under one arm which rubbed on my shirt a little. I used some Bodyglide on both the fabric and my body and that solved it.
I do wish I would have taken another top, perhaps a Helly Hansen lifa to wear after the days effort. The last thing you want to do is sit in a wet and smelly top that you have been wearing all day, when at the bivouac.
Sahara Cap (from buncup.com)
Too hot. It has hardly any ventilation and even with all my hair cut off it was still overheating my head. The Raidlight caps looked far better and cooler, on the other competitors.
Buff
I opted to use a buff as headwear in the end and this worked very well. It doesn’t have a visor like a cap does, so I’ll take advice on using it in the desert or not (as a hat). It will be used for a sand-shield anyway; in fact I’ll probably need two.
Raidlight Sac-Runner
The choice of many runners in the event, although some opted for the slightly smaller Evolution Light. The night before the start I noticed my 18-month old pack had a lot of battle scars and a few holes, so I spent an hour stitching them up. My pack has had a lot of punishment over the last twelve months. I’ve heard Raidlight packs criticised for build quality. To some extent I would agree. They are definite weaknesses in the design, and you see the same faults appear on every sack. The loops which hold the compression strings burn through and fray eventually. The material underneath where the top clips fasten (the ones you fasten after zipping up the pack) wears away, and creates burn-holes. Various stitching has failed.
Now this may sound like a catalogue of failures, but bear in mind this is a seriously lightweight pack to begin with. Lightweight materials are not going to be as robust. I just accept that fact. I intend to use this very same rucksack for the next year and on the MDS. I’ll just patch it up when it needs it. I did not get any rubbing anyway with the pack. I’ve used it loaded up to 8kg on 35 mile events and still no rubbing.
Raidlight front pack.
Had no build quality problems with this pack and it’s still going strong. One minor gripe is that if you push a 1.5l bottle of water through the front, not only does it make unzipping the front pack a little difficult (but not impossible) the running action will make the bottle bounce off your chest or stomach. It is just not possible to use it like that unless you do what I did. I sewed on a luggage type strap on the main Raidlight pack (fairly near the bottom). Then when I put the packs on, I fastened the luggage strap in front of the front pack, securing it tightly to my chest. This worked perfectly.
The front pack is very useful for storing your roadbook, compass, and trail snacks in. I highly recommend using one.
MSR titanium kettle
Purchased cheap on eBay; brand new imported from America. This holds 0.85 litre; just enough for a dehydrated meal (typically .5 litre) and a cup of tea/coffee/soup as well. It weighs around 129g including the lid. This worked well, and the water boiled quickly with the lid on.
Thermarest Prolite 3 (now replaced with v4 I believe)
Worth it’s weight in gold. Once you sleep on one of these you will throw away your carry-matt. This provides proper hip support and smoothes out all the lumps and bumps under your tent. Its 370 grams well spent. I imported cheap from America from eBay. You cannot put a price on a good nights sleep.
The place I got them from.
http://stores.ebay.com/Mickies-Place-Outdoor-Gear
Be sure to read his tips for posting items into the UK. He will mark as a 'gift' for you.
Petzl plus head torch.
Excellent beam strength with 4 LEDs. Ran through 20k of dark forest and didn’t struggle for footing at all. Survived the sand and I had no reliability or battery issues.
Tyvek disposable suit.
Mine was just a disposable suit from the local DIY store. I was very useful to wear in the mornings and around the campsite, but it was not as warm as I expected. The Raidlight equivalent (a separate top and trouser), looked to be made to more windproof material and looked far warmer.
Still, for the 120g it weighed, it was well worth taking.
17g Titanium knife
Didn’t expect this to come in useful, but it did; making a mug out of the bottom of the plastic 1.5l water bottles. Useful for my tea/coffee/night time Rego.
PHD Minim sleeping bag.
I was too hot every night in this bag in France. It may be a different story in Morocco. I would think twice about getting a bag with no side zip. Yes a side zip adds weight but you have ability to peel it back and cool down if necessary.
I spotted a good design from another competitor. He had a Rab bag. It had down on the front, but nothing at all on the back until the feet part, where it had down on both sides again. The theory goes than if you had down on the back of the bag and are lying on the down and squashing the down flat, then it is not keeping you warm anyway. Down only really works when it puffs up and traps the air.
So, this bag was designed to be used with a Thermarest Prolite short length mat. You put the Thermarest mat inside the sleeping bag and it exactly covers the area where there is no down on the back of the bag. The advantage here is more weight saving.
First aid kit / foot care
I took Friars balsam to use as both a disinfectant and a foot tape adhesive. It works well on both counts. I saw some competitors using this in conjunction with a syringe. They would drain the blister and then inject the Friars Balsam into it. Then press down quickly and firmly on the top of the blister to make the loose skin sick to the foot again, and seal the blister. This looks to work well. A word of warning though; it hurts a lot, a short intense burst of pain. Make sure you have some leather handy to bite down on!
I wish I would have taken a few more antiseptic wipes to help clean out blisters and cuts.
Compeed: If you apply this to an established blister that you have drained, or you apply it to a hotspot which then turns into a blister then you will have real trouble getting the Compeed off without tearing off all of the skin. The Compeed is so sticky it is virtually impossible to remove without causing this damage. I will never use one again.
It is better to just drain the blister by pricking at the very edge, apply friars balsam and then dress it with some antiseptic cream first, then the lint afterwards (the cream to stop the lint sticking to the blister), then just tape over the top to hold the lint in place.
I also took some small nail scissors with me, which were invaluable when taping up my feet to cut off excess corners and edges of tape. They were also useful for cutting up the dressings too.
Final thought on foot care. The foot taping worked for the first two days, but afterwards I got blisters anyway. I might just try running without tape for a while. Suffer some blisters and just treat them and hope it toughens my feet further. Once I have toughened them up maybe I can go back to taping for the big event.
Drink system
I started the day with a 1.5l bottle pushed sideways into the Raidlight front pack as described. As long as the front pack is better secured tightly to the chest the system works well. I used a smart tube in the bottle itself, which fits to any mineral water bottle. I did also use one 800ml shoulder mounted drinks bottle. I think this is essential because it is not feasible to be able to pour electrolyte into a brand new 1.5l water bottle. The end isn’t wide enough, and there is no room to shake it up and mix it. I would typically start the day with the shoulder bottle empty, but at the first checkpoint I would tip 800ml of a new bottle of water into the shoulder bottle and mix it with electrolyte. I would then just fit the smart tube into the half empty water bottle. This means than you always have a clean supply of water that is not contaminated with electrolyte taste. It might be worth taking one of those long pipe-cleaner type brushes if your drinks bottle has a long straw. By day 5 my electrolyte bottle has fungus growing all over the inside of the straw. I still used it with no ill effects, but it may not be worth chancing it on the MDS.
I was happy with my drinks system and will use it on the MDS. You could also use the smart tube and mineral water system by putting the half empty water bottle in the side pocket of your backpack if you don’t use a front pack. I did try this to, and it worked just as well.
This is what one looks like (Smart Tube), but they can be purchased much cheaper from camping shops in the UK I noted.
P20 once-a-day sun block.
You have to apply it 90 minutes before going into the sun. If you can remember to do it this stuff seems to work well. I have a pleasant colour to me, but I didn’t burn at all.
Bodyglide
This is useful for lubricating between your toes, anywhere on your feet, on your shoulders, or back or anywhere you might rub. It’s not easy to come by in the UK. Try here if you are struggling: Wayside Kinetics
I just use the standard one.
Bin bag.
The classic runners outfit. For the weight, it is always worth packing one. An extra layer if you get cold.
GPS
I took my Timex Ironman watch, and its separate arm-mounted GPS unit. I took 4 spare batteries (12 hours life each). I find GPS useful for my pacing. I was literally running to the point of a mile an hour. It’s useful to know when checkpoints are coming up so you know if your water management is good or not. The separate GPS unit works well. The problem with the units where they combine into the watch is that they are charged by USB usually, and you are not going to be carrying your laptop. Unless you want to carry a solar charger (which are lightweight and made for backpacking these days) then consider similar setup to mine, or a well calibrated foot-pod pedometer.
Food
The best food I took was Mountain House. Everyone else’s dried food looked like mush. Mine actually looked like chicken and rice, or chicken and noodles. You can buy it from here but make sure you buy plenty at once as the delivery charge from the USA is quite steep. I bought the “2 portions” meals. The Rice and Chicken meal was 800 calories and was satisfying. Other brand meals I had for other day which only had 4-500 calories were not satisfying and left me a little hungry.
I packed 2600 calories a day, you can see me typical menu’s in the previous posts.
I would usually take a 620 calorie breakfast of oats, dried milk and banana chips. This was the perfect breakfast, maybe I’d even add a little more up to 700calories in future. The bigger your breakfast, the longer you will go without getting tired.
I took 100 – 170g of snacks (banana chips, cashew nuts and M&Ms). The same snacks did get a bit boring. The M&Ms went down best, and I wish I would have taken more of them. I also wish I would have taken some savoury snacks like beef jerky or Pepperami. Your taste buds do get sick of all the sweet stuff. It’s not so much the taste of the electrolyte I tired of by the end of a long day, it’s just the sickly sweetness. Make sure you pack savoury snacks well.
When I had done a days effort it was not always that late. I had my Rego recovery drink straight away, and this worked well and repaired my muscles for the next day. I didn’t suffer any stiffness until the last day. It was usually too early for my one and only main meal so I went hungry for a few hours. The other competitors always seemed to be eating. They took cup-a-soups or even Oxo cubes to make drinks with straight after the run. I was so envious. I cannot stress how important it is to make plenty of food. Do not try and save too much weight by reducing food, this lesson was the most important I learned. Take lightweight foods and plenty of them. It’s nice to ‘graze’ all day and not just save it for one big meal.
I packed Pop tarts for desert which I really looked forward to and enjoyed every day. A desert is a great morale booster, it is worth the weight.
Finally I packed a Rego Nocte drink for just before bed. I put my ability to get up, without soreness or stiffness down to having both a Rego and a Rego Nocte each day. The Nocte is a hot drink that has to be mixed into a paste before adding water. This is when I would use the bottom of a 1.5l drinks bottle for a mug.
Endurolytes.
I took two an hour and didn't ever suffer from any muscle cramps. They are definately on my list for the MDS.
Footwear around the campsite.
Despite being warned I didn't take any and wish I had. If your feet are sore or blistered you will not want to put your trainers back on to move around the bivouac in the evening. Take lightweight flip-flops or even slippers (I saw very lightweight ones being used).
The best lightweight solution I saw though was where people had fixed old insoles inside a pair of those shoe-cover type things that workmen put on to walk round your house. Don't know the kind I mean? click here. They basically either stitched or glued the insole to the bottom of the material sock, and hey presto the most lightweight footwear you can get.
That’s it for now. If I remember anything else I will add it on. I hope you find that useful.
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