Filling in the hours until "go time"

The Topeak Ergon Basecamp is over. I think it's safe to assume I won't be tagged in anymore facebook photos from Sedona... all right, kinda safe. Alan Jacoby, male video maker extraordinaire, might have had an excellent adventure, but I'm still not sure. He hasn't posted anything on his blog since April 18th, and so I'm still waiting to see if I was bested by a better man. Aside from Baller George, I think I've blogged about the event more than anybody involved (even though he wasn't truly involved... bastard), and need I remind you I was NOT even there. So far the only proof I have that Alan was actually there is this photo absconded from the internet by the Fact Marsupial.

Apparently Alan's love for novelty sized headgear knows no bounds.

All my riding gear is ready to go for PMBAR this weekend. Remember when I mentioned that it's not a bad idea to cover the threads on your CO2 cartridge if you're looking to get into muddy conditions?

I am not into using tape on bike stuff. I consider it gauche. I dug around and found my cutoff pen grip and installed it. Much less gauche... dare I say "pro level?"

The Octane LR is packed up and ready to go with the PMBAR required gear and foodstuffs. Why did I pick the Octane over the much larger but still uber-light Charge 450?

I can carry all the necessary gear (not shown: prototype Tülbag), and since I'm carrying water bottles I should be fine with 70oz on my back (lighter than 100oz by @ 1.25lbs). The biggest thing for me was the ability to carry three gel flasks that I can reach without taking off the pack, and the Octane comes through with two big zipper waist pockets and a shoulder flask holster. That means 1,350 calories without messing around, eat out of the one on my chest and swap it when it's empty. Between that and the bottles which will have some cheap Gatorade in them, there will be no time wasted with nutrition. I plan on wasting my time by wandering off course.

My bike is perfect, my pack is loaded, and my partner is strong and fast. All that's left now is to fuck up my navigation and screw us out of any potential glory.