The subject line could also be, from my perspective, "road rider gets schooled"
Don't know if it's bad form, but - for 45 miles, the terrain after CP1 was about the same, but mostly with the wind, thankfully! After that I dropped out so I can't speak past that. We went back through Baxter and Montour ... I called it in a few miles north of Montour, an hour behind the pace and looking at a nasty B road that would put me 1.5 hours behind was discouraging at best.
I too must minimize what I carry ... subsisting on liquid and powder for 32-34 hours might be a challenge, but that is a good possibility to investigate.
I agree on the navigation, I trusted who and what I saw ahead of me too much and wound up traversing the same B road we didn't need to, as well as the C road he warned us about. Lost a lot of time on both.
I didn't feel like a slow start was a bad thing, given the length of the event, but I suppose 3-4 miles in from the hotels by the interstate wouldn't have hurt at all (I was staying a block from the starting line).
I too am hooked and will be back if the is a v8 !
-Dan