Two Wheel Blogs

Let me start by saying I will NEVER again race a race like Syllamo on a fully rigid bike. In fact after the race I vowed never to ride a rigid bike again ever, period. Let me start by saying that for some reason someone told me not long ago that Syllamo wasn't near as hard as Ouachita. That person was a little mistaken. Syllamo's Revenge made Ouachita feel like child's play. Don't get me wrong, Ouachita was a challenge, but this was the hardest race, hardest ride, hardest effort I've ever put out in my entire life... Syllamo's Revenge went down with a bang in 08, and I absolutely can't wait till next year.

I arrived late Friday night, with just enough light to head out for a short pre-ride filled with a mile climb to the top and a pinch flat two seconds into the way down. Rookie mistake. Taking the fact that everything that could have went wrong did that day, I was one pissed off cat hiking down the mountain. Oh, and I was smart enough only to bring two tubes, so I had to pray to god I didn’t have two flats the next day.

I camped out in the group campground, along with the boys Pete and Carey from Jeff, the Kuat Rack boys from Springfield, and a big group from KC who I was just starting to become acquainted with. We had an awesome campsite as you can see by the pics. There was the enormous rock bluff that begged to be free climbed, but considering I've never free climbed any cliff over 50 feet, I was a little hesitant. Make it halfway up this one and get stuck and your a goner.

Pass out early Friday, wake up at the crack of dawn Saturday. Do the normal pre-race prep, thank the heavens Pete brought and extra tube for me to pack along, and take the pre-race dump and before I knew it we were on the start line. All 250+ of us. I've never seen so many fatties in my life. It was one big knob fest waiting to rock some of the best trails Arkansas had to offer.

8 am rolls around and we're off! Were too you may ask? Up a mile long fire road climb. It was a great way to warm up, but not so great in the fact that half of the people decided to walk it all, and you had only two little lanes to ride in so weaving in between the people, ditch, and bike lanes was tough. A mile later, and off into the single track we head. I held with a small group for awhile until we hit the first technical section. I jump off to walk since everyone is bunched up and walking themselves and somehow my chain drops between the chain ring and jump stop. Ok, so I quickly fix it, get passed by a group and head down the way. Five minutes later I almost make a trip to the hospital by running me and my bike off the right of the trail, luckily on an incline that I could still catch myself and not go tumbling down.

I don't remember much after this... My mind seems so blurry from this ride. I remember railing some awesome trail in the beginning, and then we hit the green loop which offered up some serious superb technical trail. The only problem was that they had all hella rain the day before, and the mud was very prominent. This made the rocks slick as snot, and even though I cleared more than most during the course of the day, there were still areas in which would spank me like a little child. These trails were way more technical that Ouachita. The rock gardens were more intense, the downhills so rough you felt your bones rattle. But I think that may have had something to do with my rock hard bike.

That damn rigid fork... Why of course my luck would have it to blow a fork seal the week before the big race. So I think its okay, I'll just ride it rigid. Ask Pete, this was not the best course for it. More on that in a bit.

Mile 20 rolls around, and I’m losing feeling in my fingers. The thought of 30 more miles of this makes me want to soil myself. I wasn't properly trained for this race, I was in much better shape for Ouachita. Part of it had to do with the three trail rides I did last week leading up to Syllamo. I did more trail riding last week than the whole month before, and my body was feeling it. But all in all my body felt great during the race. Meaning my power and endurance was good, my ability to fling a rigid bike around 50 miles of the roughest trail I've ever ridden was not to hot...

Blur, blur, blur... 3rd checkpoint station comes around and they say you only have 12 miles of easy beginner trail left and then 2 miles downhill to the finish. Tears fall from my eyes, 12 miles to go, and it's all easy! I bomb down the intro downhill; easy as in there are no BIG rocks, just little ones, everywhere...

The longest 12 miles of my life followed. It's gotta be around the next bend... Nope... The next... nope. Okay, it has to be right around the corner... NOOOOO!!!! This continued for what felt like hours. At this point my biceps have cramped, I have to stop every 15 minutes to stretch and get the feeling back in my hands, and I starting to wish this whole nightmare was over.

Well I made it out, and the last 2 miles weren't exactly all downhill but once we hit the fire road we climbed up in the beginning, I let it rip. Never have I flown so fast on my mountain bike. At this point everything was numb of pain, so I put it in the biggest gear, threw down a couple strong pedal strokes, and held on for dear life. I passed a guy like he was standing still, and I faintly remember hearing him yell our lord and saviors name as I bombed by... I was launching off rocks and catching 10 feet of horizontal air, hopping over ditches, and flying so fast that towards the bottom I finally had to brake because I couldn't see. Tears had filled my eyes from the speed and everything began to look like a very bad oil painting.

At the bottom we hit the road and I laid the hammer down to pass one more guy, and the finish was mine... Not the best time I was hoping for, but pretty good considering the conditions and my bike choice. Six hours and 19 minutes, good enough for 50th overall. Probably around 35th or so in the Mens division excluding SS'ers and women. First place overall was taken by a guy from STL who rode a SS rigid bike. That dude rocked… finished in 4:50 or so I believe. Second, and fourth was also taken on a SS. It was a good day for the SS class. Chris Ploch took first in my age group, even with 3 flats.

Afterwards we all chowed down on some hamburgers and hotdogs, and drank plenty of New Belgium brew. I made sure to drink the pain away, and I did a pretty good job. Nothing like getting a little saucy and hanging out around the camp fire.

So all in all it hurt, it hurt real bad, and yes I know I'm a pussy... I didn’t feel so bad after seeing Pete when he finished. Even HE thought it was rough out there, and the only bike I’ve seen this guy on is a fully rigid SS bike.

Was it worth it? You bet… Will I do it again, riding rigid next year? No way… A beating like that has at least a 2 year shelf life. I could do without that kind of pain for awhile. Some suspension would have made the ride awesome… I now have a ton of respect for the guys who only do these races rigid. Me, well I think I’ll leave the beatings to them, and I’ll take some cush with me next time…