Fort Ord 50 — 4 laps of a 12-mile / 1,353 ft loop across the Fort Ord National Monument on California's Monterey coast, produced by Repack Racing on August 30, 2026 as part of the California MTB Endurance Series.
Build Your Personalized Race Fueling Plan — $19General, evidence-based guidance. Numbers should always be personalized to sweat rate, body mass, fitness and weather.
70–90 g/hr of mixed-source carbohydrate (glucose : fructose ~1 : 0.8) for most trained riders. Trained guts can push toward 100 g/hr on the longer punchy-climb blocks. Liquid + gel is more tolerable than solids in coastal heat and helps you eat safely between technical sections.
17–34 fl oz/hr adjusted for the day's coastal-heat profile. Cool marine-layer mornings trick riders into light bottle plans that leave a deficit by hour 3. Drink to the clock, not to thirst — especially in the first two hours when the perceived need is lowest.
500–1000 mg of sodium per liter of fluid as a default. Salty sweaters and afternoon-half riders should push toward 800–1200 mg/L. Sodium debt on Fort Ord builds silently across 6+ hours and typically shows up as cramping on the last climb, not the first.
3–6 mg/kg body mass, split between pre-start and the base of the biggest mid-race climb. A 154 lb rider targeting 5 mg/kg takes ~200 mg pre-race and 150 mg mid-race. Save at least one 50–100 mg dose for the final third.
The lap format means you pass the start/finish area at the end of every 12-mile lap. Pre-mixed bottles in a labeled cooler + a support crew handing up bottles on the fly saves 60–120 sec per lap versus stopping. Cap start-finish stopped time to 30–60 sec on laps 1–2 and 60–90 sec on laps 3–4 if you need to grab solids.
1–4 g/kg carbohydrate 2–4 hours before the gun, from familiar low-fiber, low-fat foods. A 154 lb rider targets 140–280 g CHO. Oats + banana + honey, bagel + jam or a rice bowl are proven. Add 30–50 g CHO 15–30 min pre-start via a gel and sports drink.
Fuel BEFORE entering technical singletrack sections and IMMEDIATELY after exiting them — never force intake with both hands on the bar. Set a 15-minute alarm on the head unit from km 0. Chew during flat rolling connectors, sip constantly on descents where the surface allows.
Within 30–60 minutes of the finish: 1.0–1.2 g/kg carbohydrate and 0.3 g/kg protein, plus 150% fluid replacement with sodium. Repack Racing finish villages typically include post-race food — use it. The 60-minute post-race window is the single highest-return investment for how you feel the next week.
Grams and millilitres per hour for each phase of the race. Personalize to your sweat rate, body mass and conditions.
Fort Ord 50 (4 × 12 mi laps, 48 mi total, 4–7 hr) — targets for a mid-pack finisher
0 → 12 mi (start → end of lap 1)·0:00 → ~1:05
Caffeine: 150–200 mg 20 min pre-start (with breakfast option)
Focus: Do NOT chase early moves. Cap effort at high Zone 2 / low Zone 3 HR — even if the front group goes harder. Lap 1 is reconnaissance: learn line choice, sand-flat traction and descent grip. Lock in a 15-min intake alarm from mile 0.
12 mi (start/finish)·~1:05
Focus: Fast in, fast out. Support crew hand-up ideally — no dismount. If solo, cap stopped time at 30–60 sec. Take 1 gel now if you skipped one on lap 1.
12 → 24 mi (lap 2)·~1:05 → ~2:15
Focus: The biggest lap-race trap: legs feel fresh so riders push. Wrong lap. Lap 2 should feel identical to lap 1. Save the effort for laps 3 and 4 where it actually decides the finish.
24 mi (start/finish)·~2:15
Focus: Halfway checkpoint. Quick internal audit: HR trending up for the same effort? Cramping signals? Fueling on schedule? Take the solid item now — chewing gets harder on the second half.
24 → 36 mi (lap 3)·~2:15 → ~3:30
Caffeine: 100–150 mg at the base of the biggest climb this lap
Focus: Fixed HR / RPE ceiling on the climbs. Fuel through the sand flats. Riders who overcooked lap 2 blow up here; riders who paced conservatively pass them. This is where the race sorts itself.
36 mi (start/finish)·~3:30
Focus: Last transition. Take 1 gel, one more caffeine dose if under daily cap (≤6 mg/kg). Confirm you have enough fluid + one emergency gel for the last lap.
36 → 48 mi (lap 4, finish)·~3:30 → finish (~4:30–7:00 depending on pace)
Focus: Ride to power / HR, not to feel. Late-race under-fueling is where riders break — reset the 15-min alarm even if you 'know' the finish is close. Descend within your skills; a crash on the last descent costs the race.
Finish line to team box·T+0 → T+60
Focus: Recovery starts the moment you cross the line. Compress, shade, elevate. Use the finish-village food. Full meal 1–3 hours later.
Times assume a 5-hour finisher; scale ±30% for faster or slower paces. Sand-flat locations and per-lap peak heat may shift the numbers within a lap. Confirm the exact 2026 course layout, on-course aid stations, cutoffs and category-specific details in the Repack Racing pre-race athlete communications on repackracing.com/fort-ord-50. Individual sweat rate can shift fluid and sodium targets by ±30% — personalize with a pre-race sweat test.
Cool 54–61 °F morning starts under a marine-layer sky trick riders into a light bottle plan; by 11 AM the ridge is 79 °F and the deficit is already baked in.
Fort Ord 50 punishes riders who match early surges on lap 1. The 4-lap format compounds early over-effort into hour-4 cramping and lap-3 blow-ups. Cap effort at high Zone 2 / low Zone 3 heart rate through lap 1 — even if the front group is going harder.
The biggest lap-race mistake: legs still feel fresh at the start of lap 2, so riders push harder than lap 1. This is the wrong lap to push — lap 2 should feel identical to lap 1. Save the effort for lap 3 and 4 when it actually decides the finish.
You cannot safely open a gel in a rocky singletrack chute or a sand flat. Riders who skip a scheduled feed 'because the trail is technical' arrive at the next open section already 20 g behind — front-load calories before technical sections instead.
Punchy Fort Ord terrain burns glycogen faster than steady road tempo at the same average power. Intake should sit at the top of the recommended range (80–90 g/hr) not the bottom (60 g/hr).
Coastal salt, dust and long time-on-course amplify GI risk. Race only what you have trained on 4+ hour rides — even a familiar-looking new gel is a bad bet on hour 5.
Sea breeze cools skin without reducing sweat loss. Riders systematically underestimate sodium loss. A structured plan tied to fluid intake (600–1200 mg/L) prevents late-race cramping and cognitive fog.
Thirst under-reports fluid deficit by 1–2%. On a 6+ hour Fort Ord day, that gap compounds into cramping and cognitive fog by hour 5.
Coastal California UV on exposed ridges is stronger than most riders realize. SPF 50+ reapplied at every aid stop is a performance decision, not comfort.
A practical race-week checklist: carbs, hydration, sodium, caffeine and race-day supplies — print it or keep it on your phone.
Free calculators, checklists and articles to help you personalize your Fort Ord 50 plan.
Every athlete is different. FTP, finish time, body weight, sweat rate, weather, nutrition preferences and race goals all change what you should eat and drink.
FuelQ Pro builds a personalized race fueling strategy tuned to your ride — carbohydrate, hydration, sodium, caffeine and recovery, mapped to the course.
A Race Fueling Plan gives you a personalized strategy for this event. The free checklist helps you prepare the basics first: race-week setup, 48-hour prep, race morning, hydration, sodium, caffeine, aid stations, and backup calories.
