Nokomis, did you ever feel that you rode your pace on this ride? Did you feel you had lots and lots of time to ride easy at the beginning, almost stupidly slow? Did you feel like you had to keep up with the two guys?

My overall impression is that your fatigue at the end wasn't due to lack of fuel, it was due to riding at someone else's pace. Maybe I'm wrong.

PS - that much food would have me feel like crap but others maybe able to tolerate that much.