The Backpack!
Meet FRIDAY. My Backpack.
My coach gave me the bright idea of naming my bag and bonding a relationship with it. Afterall we'll be spending almost all our running time together. The name FRIDAY just stucked in my head. A little trivia, in the Avengers when Jarvis became Vision, Tony Stark's new replacement AI for Jarvis was called FRIDAY.
Due to the "self-sufficient" clause of the race, I will need to carry everything (yes, EVERYTHINGGGGGGGG!) that I need for the entire of 6 race days. The bag might seems small, but we are going full minimalist. Anything that is not crucial to my survival, I am not bringing it. However I do have a list of compulsory items which I must bring.
The Compulsory equipment!
1. MDS Backpack
2. Sleeping bag
3. Head torch
4. 10 safety pins
5. Compass
6. Lighter
7. Whistle
8. Knife with Metal Blade
9. Disinfectant
10. anti-venom pump
11. Signalling mirror
12. Survival Sheet
13. Sun cream
14. 14000 k/cal of food (2000kcal per day)
15. Medical certified and insurance (In case of death, they can cover their back and ship your body back home =| )
Aside from these mandated items, I also have to carry others "compulsory" items such as wet wipes, windbreakers, toiletries, etc.
The ultimate challenge is to carry all the necessary items while trying to remain as light as possible. Thus we have many competitors going through great lengths to reduce their bag weight. This include things like, breaking of the handle of their tooth brush, repacking food from their original packaging into a lighter ziplock bags, vaccuum sealing everything to reduce air space, etc. In fact when shopping for food, we will look for food with the highest k/cal per gram (macadamia nuts!).
I am aiming for 8-9kg weight for FRIDAY. I'm going to be cutting a lot of comfort and hygiene items to achieve that weight.
This is my decision making tree
Honestly, I felt anything beyond the compulsory items are considered luxury. So lets start packing!!
Yah it's a mess. But we'll get it done!
First off, the compulsory items
Survival sheet, venom suction pump, safety pins, compass, signalling mirror, headtorch. Seriously, I'd drop these items if they weren't compulsory. Except for the headtorch.
Blister kit. Bandages, alcohol wipes. Needle to poke the blisters.
Visor, windbreaker, sleeping bag, neck buff
Painkillers, anti-diarrhea pills. Caffeine strip. Hand sanitizer. Cramp-fix. Electrolyte tablets.
Nipple guard! No kidding. My nipples bled once when I was in a 52km event. It hurts.
Personal hygiene kit (toothbrush, wetwipe, soap tablet, hand sanitizer), a everything-cup (for everything) and a spork! I have 5 wet wipes! So better not get any diarrhea!!
Now the food!
The original packaging are very heavy and bulky so I'm gonna repack them into very light ziplock bags.
My tailwinds. These stuff cost $5 per satchel. No joke.
And we're done!
Calories count
And stuff them into my bag.
7.5kg! Much lighter than I expected. Means we got a little room for luxury items like... I don't know.. an extra shirt maybe or a mp3 player.
Some "essential" items that I cut
1) Trekking poles. They weigh too much and not really useful unless when climbing hills/sand dunes. So no. We climb dunes like real men! Poleless!
2) Stove and fuel tab. No stove. We're not cooking anything. No fuel tab either. We're gonna make fire as god intended. Sticks and stones!
3) Pillow. Essentials for normal day. In MDS, this is a high-end luxury item. I'm going to use my shoes or my backpack as pillow.
4) Sleeping mat. I am hoping the ground is soft enough and the sleeping bag is sufficient. Most sleeping mat are not heavy but they takes up a lot of space.
And we're ready to go!
All the brands that I used;
Raidlight
Tailwind Nutrition
WaaUltra
Expedition Food
Real Turmat
Hoka One One
CLIF
Active
Revvies
Garmin
On where I got my supplies, please visit:
myracekit
Red dot running Company
How much it'll cost to do MDS
My coach gave me the bright idea of naming my bag and bonding a relationship with it. Afterall we'll be spending almost all our running time together. The name FRIDAY just stucked in my head. A little trivia, in the Avengers when Jarvis became Vision, Tony Stark's new replacement AI for Jarvis was called FRIDAY.
Due to the "self-sufficient" clause of the race, I will need to carry everything (yes, EVERYTHINGGGGGGGG!) that I need for the entire of 6 race days. The bag might seems small, but we are going full minimalist. Anything that is not crucial to my survival, I am not bringing it. However I do have a list of compulsory items which I must bring.
The Compulsory equipment!
1. MDS Backpack
2. Sleeping bag
3. Head torch
4. 10 safety pins
5. Compass
6. Lighter
7. Whistle
8. Knife with Metal Blade
9. Disinfectant
10. anti-venom pump
11. Signalling mirror
12. Survival Sheet
13. Sun cream
14. 14000 k/cal of food (2000kcal per day)
15. Medical certified and insurance (In case of death, they can cover their back and ship your body back home =| )
Aside from these mandated items, I also have to carry others "compulsory" items such as wet wipes, windbreakers, toiletries, etc.
The ultimate challenge is to carry all the necessary items while trying to remain as light as possible. Thus we have many competitors going through great lengths to reduce their bag weight. This include things like, breaking of the handle of their tooth brush, repacking food from their original packaging into a lighter ziplock bags, vaccuum sealing everything to reduce air space, etc. In fact when shopping for food, we will look for food with the highest k/cal per gram (macadamia nuts!).
I am aiming for 8-9kg weight for FRIDAY. I'm going to be cutting a lot of comfort and hygiene items to achieve that weight.
This is my decision making tree
Honestly, I felt anything beyond the compulsory items are considered luxury. So lets start packing!!
Yah it's a mess. But we'll get it done!
First off, the compulsory items
Survival sheet, venom suction pump, safety pins, compass, signalling mirror, headtorch. Seriously, I'd drop these items if they weren't compulsory. Except for the headtorch.
Blister kit. Bandages, alcohol wipes. Needle to poke the blisters.
Visor, windbreaker, sleeping bag, neck buff
Painkillers, anti-diarrhea pills. Caffeine strip. Hand sanitizer. Cramp-fix. Electrolyte tablets.
Nipple guard! No kidding. My nipples bled once when I was in a 52km event. It hurts.
Personal hygiene kit (toothbrush, wetwipe, soap tablet, hand sanitizer), a everything-cup (for everything) and a spork! I have 5 wet wipes! So better not get any diarrhea!!
Now the food!
The original packaging are very heavy and bulky so I'm gonna repack them into very light ziplock bags.
My tailwinds. These stuff cost $5 per satchel. No joke.
And we're done!
Calories count
And stuff them into my bag.
7.5kg! Much lighter than I expected. Means we got a little room for luxury items like... I don't know.. an extra shirt maybe or a mp3 player.
Some "essential" items that I cut
1) Trekking poles. They weigh too much and not really useful unless when climbing hills/sand dunes. So no. We climb dunes like real men! Poleless!
2) Stove and fuel tab. No stove. We're not cooking anything. No fuel tab either. We're gonna make fire as god intended. Sticks and stones!
3) Pillow. Essentials for normal day. In MDS, this is a high-end luxury item. I'm going to use my shoes or my backpack as pillow.
4) Sleeping mat. I am hoping the ground is soft enough and the sleeping bag is sufficient. Most sleeping mat are not heavy but they takes up a lot of space.
And we're ready to go!
All the brands that I used;
Raidlight
Tailwind Nutrition
WaaUltra
Expedition Food
Real Turmat
Hoka One One
CLIF
Active
Revvies
Garmin
On where I got my supplies, please visit:
myracekit
Red dot running Company
How much it'll cost to do MDS
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