Two Wheel Blogs

Earlier this year I entered my first endurance MTB race (The Ouachita Challenge). I finished it and a few days later, sent out some emails to family and friends to explain the experience. I recently was reminded of these stories and was urged to compile them into a post here on my blog to share.

Some of you may have also done this race, and may or may not remember it quite the way I document. I tell you, I had forgotten a lot about this race until I started compiling these stories a few days ago. It may seem like I am trying to sound all hardcore tough-guy….I am not. If you check the results page you will see that I did not win, or even come close, and I, more than anyone else, realize that. I just had one heck of an experience and want to share.

Brace yourself, this is my longest post so far, but for those of you interested in SS MTB racing, and endurance, you might find this interesting. At a minimum, I hope I share how amazing the trails are in Arkansas, and I urge everyone to visit the Ouachita Trail.

Lets start with what I recall about the course...I took no pictures...none could have possibly captured anything that would even approach the experience that is "the Challenge". So let your minds wander and maybe you will get an idea of what this event was all about. I don't think I could possibly sell it short. It certainly would not be possible to exaggerate the experience of COMPLETING this race on a rigid single speed.

On to the course...
In the morning it was 40 degrees and totally clear. No clouds. One of those days where you just know that everything (weather wise) is going to be absolutely perfect! The temps crept up into the 60s by the time I finished the race. I never felt cold and never got VERY hot....but the effort made me hot at times.

We started from Oden School...a little school that houses first grade through senior in high school (last years graduating class was 12 people). We traveled about 1.6 miles of paved highway (behind a starting vehicle to a gravel road. This paved section was almost totally down hill. Lets talk about hills for a second...the "hills" that we rode up and down all day, missed the classification for "mountain" by anywhere from 120 to 75 feet...I may slip a couple times and call them mountains...I understand you must draw the line somewhere, but these hills certainly qualify for mountains in my book. Lets just say they were very rocky, very steep, had unbelievable views, and almost impossible to build roads through without use of switchbacks and tunnels.

Once we got to the point where the race began (they re-staged us after the paved section), the start was pretty low-key....I think someone in charge said,” Go". The clock had officially started running. We took off down a gravel road...not much to report a few miles of gravel with some hills (hills like around here...not much to report). After a few miles we reached a big hill, I think this one was called Big Brushy Mountain. Once to the top of the gravel road hill, we were directed onto the first single track trails, which continued to climb. The first thing I noticed was the number of people pulling over to fix flats....this continued all day long. I bet a guy could get rich in Arkansas selling MTB tubes. The second thing I noticed were the baby heads...they were everywhere and they were really not baby heads they were more like horse heads...In shape, size, and they made you feel as dumb as a horse as you bounced through them. Many of them closely resembled discarded Indian Axes...and affected tires in the same fashion an axe would.

Here is where things get a bit blurry as to what happened when so I won’t give a blow by blow, but rather some random thoughts and encounters I had.

About 2 miles into the single track, a guy was slowing down in front of me. seemed his rear derailleur was giving him some problems....yup he broke the frame at the derailleur mount and realized it as I was passing my...a loud "FUCK!!!" directly into my ear....guess he either bailed or finished on a SS like me.

When the trail turned down (it seemed that we were climbing forever before this happened), I took off like a banshee. Screaming down this single track loaded with cobbles and sharp boulders. There was not too muck vegetation so you could see the rocks fairly well....once in a while one got past the radar and it hurt. It was during this decent that I noticed a few things...the decent was AS painful as the climb. My legs were soaking up so many big hits that the fatigue was quickly becoming pain. My wrists were feeling as if they may break, and my knuckles were screaming from gripping the bars so tight with 3 fingers and pulling the brakes with the index. Humm...may be I should try the lighter grip like they tell you to do in the magazines...NOPE not with rigid...that about killed me when my hands let go of the bars on a big hit...can’t believe I recovered without a crash. Wow, my fingers hurt from pulling these brakes for....OMG how long have I been riding these brakes...sniff sniff...yup too long. Wow what is that ahead....looks like a dump truck pulled up here and dumped about 400 loads of crushed aggregate...each piece is about 9 to 12 inches across. If it were not for the guys blocking the trails trying to walk through the rock gardens, I might have attempted to ride a portion of them. It was hilarious, you would ride a quarter mile of decent, then the boulders would increase in frequency until it again looked as if trucks dumped piles on the trail....there were no trucks of coarse, but I struggle to explain the geologic event that resulted in these rock piles.

Again, I noticed people having problems of various sorts...some guy tore his ear...almost OFF his head. Many were verbally assaulting the race, the promoters, and the course (of course no one was there to hear their assaults)....others swore to never return because these boulder fields were such a bad idea....Man, what were these people expecting? I would have been upset if it had not lived up to its name (The Ouachita CHALLENGE).

Came to a section where the trail was interrupted by a roadway...we had to take stairs down a rock cut (for the highway) and ride across the road and re enter the single track...there were about a hundred people standing cheering on the racers...some looked amazed that we made it this far (we were only about 10 to 12 miles in at this point)...

Shortly after that, we got back on the "Ouachita Trail" and began our climb up "Blowout Mountain"...This is where the race promoters state in the packet...,"On the way up, the rider can expect to go through the infamous rock garden. This will put most riders off their bikes, and even those with strong technical skills will be challenged". Yup, the rock gardens I have discussed so far, were child's play...The rock gardens on Blowout Mountain wipe their collective asses with the with the sandboxes that I have been referring to up to this point. These things were really something...If I rode only a few miles of trail and could throw 100% of my effort at clearing these rock gardens without fear no fear of needing to ride beyond them for another 45 miles...I couldn't have ridden them...they were difficult to walk over without twisting an ankle or falling down. Once I topped this climb the decent was ripping...very fast and a few times I allowed myself to take in some scenery...OMG this trail is carved into the side of a mountain...its littered with roots and boulders, its about a foot wide (washed out in areas) and if you slip off the trail...you will continue falling for a few hundred feet...of course your fall will have many interruptions and pauses as you and your gear dissipate energy by slamming into rocks and trees, before continuing your (perhaps fatal) fall....OK no more looking at scenery, I better concentrate on the trail.

Somewhere after that little section was a check point that I blew through and kept racing to the next check point (they recorded my number)...at other checkpoints they gave you a colored zip tie that you were charged with carrying to the finish to prove you completed the entire course...what tool would want to miss any of this thing? These trails were the most amazing things I have ever seen!

OK after check point 1....let me quote the race packet once again...I really don't think they over sold this one at all! "Now starts one of the most dreaded climbs; the steep climb up Chalybeate Mountain. Though the mountain itself is not as tall as Big Brushy or Blowout Mountains, it still has one of the steepest climbs to the top; some riders will be forced off their bikes. Once at the top of Chalybeate, the rider will descend and climb a few more times before they start their descent on one of the best downhill's on the course"....Yes this was in fact the steepest climb...I am not sure how the baby heads and boulders could maintain their perches on this trail without simply rolling to the bottom. I don't remember many details form this section. My legs were cramping so bad. When I say so bad...realize that I lack the ability to put into words what was going on. I couldn't ride up that steep climb with a 32x18, but I couldn't walk it either with my legs locking up like blocks of granite. At this point, I started popping endurolytes (electrolyte tablets) like candy....I really think having a PEZ dispenser on my bars full of endurolytes is a must for next year...SERIOUSLY. I realized at this point that I had consumed 2 bottles of Perpetuum energy drink, and 3 liters of water along with a flask of gel, and about 14 endurolytes. Luckily I rolled into check point 2 minutes after reaching the bottom of my water.

At CP2 I took on 3 more liters of water, 2 more bottles of Perpetuum, and gave away the third bottle I was carrying as a souvenir to one of the many people cheering on riders at this point (really I just wanted to toss the bottle to lighten the load, but I think this guy dug it). Dug out some more endurolytes from the pack and hit the road (the whole pit stop lasted less than 2 minutes...I was on fire).

Did I mention that my lower back was hurting back where I hit the first rock garden? Well now it is positively screaming....along with my wrists, forearms, quads, gluts, calves....well you get the idea. The good news....only 25 miles to go! Lots of gravel roads and tamer single track.

Well, its not that easy...did 25 miles really sound easy though? The single track does have some pretty serious climbing, but slightly less rocks, but many more roots...this trails is called "The Womble Trail". It is truly awesome. It is almost totally ride-able (totally ride-able if you had not endured the first portion of the race), well groomed, and very pretty...oh but don't look down! I thought the Ouachita Trail had been carved out of the side of a mountain....The Womble has some tight switch backs and curves and trees that if you are not careful will force you over the edge, and while earlier I stated that a fall might be fatal on the Ouachita Trail...well, here I think a fall would LIKELY be fatal. Some of the faces off the trail were far to steep to stand on, and if you were moving you tumble very fast and stop very hard. The worst part of this section was the fatigue had really set in, I had the tunnel vision thing going pretty hard, and I could not eat or drink without feeling like it would come back up...must now force small drinks as often as the trail conditions would allow me to take a hand off the bars. I caught several riders on the Womble who were impressed that a rigid SS was passing them (that really kept me going). I rode with a guy who came in 4th last year on this trail...he seemed sure that I would be impressed with my own results (I told him my primary goal was to finish, given that my secondary goal was to medal (trophies were for 1 through 50th and medals to 100th place)). Unfortunately, I was surviving at this point and not still racing...but so was almost everyone else.

On this last section of trails (only 9 miles to go) I caught a woman...fairly attractive woman on a geared bike (full suspension) and she was dealing with flats and could not keep here back tire up...I would have never caught her if she had not had multiple flats...she later dropped me on the last section of single track...its not bad to get beat by a girl...right? She finished second among the women...she could hand my ass to me on any ride, I am sure.

We finally, finished the last section of single track and its a mere 7 miles of gravel road to go to finish...at this point I notice that the guy that we were pointing at and laughing at in staging is not far behind me...why were we laughing you ask? This tool had a set of clip on TT bars mounted to his MTB bars...what a wing nut! This dork is going to kill someone...he almost crashed into my buddy during the paved road roll out section in the first mile of the race...Oh that was a LONG time ago. Well you know what I am about to tell you. The combination of gears on his bike and the aero bars allowed him to get around me....DAMN!

Wait what is this? A little climb! Yeah, I got my legs back and I am catching this dork on the TT MTB as he spins his granny and I grind my SS....around a little curve....OH MY GOD!!!! This gravel road pitches up to about 14%...NO I am not Exaggerating....and there is no end in site...this thing is a monster...no not a monster...It is the devil himself. On the course profile (which I erroneously left in the truck) this climb is not represented with an angled line....rather it is a perfectly vertical line. It looks like a skateboard ramp on the course profile....wait a minute...what is that...yup my legs are gone again. Off the bike. The 5 or so riders that I was hanging with on the Womble (and I knew their gears would carry them away from me as soon as we hit the gravel) were still spinning their grannys. One actually gave me the pat on the ass as he went by....these guys are some nice guys...this is a far cry from a road race...may be the guys at the front of the race have killer/winner attitudes....Oh Damn!, there goes the guy with the aero TT setup passed me...guess he is not such a dork...rather he planned for the gravel sections and it paid off...he caught the other guys that I was riding with.

After that it was about 4 miles of mainly downhill gravel...My race was over...pedaled only occasionally (why spin at 140 cadence only to add a tiny bit of momentum?)...I had done it...and I lost no position that I didn't already figure I would loose immediately as I was coming out of the woods.

No one caught me on the gravel...that was a victory in it self....the Jones bars allowed me to get pretty aero, and I actually caught back onto some of my geared ass slapping buddies from the Womble....but that was only a temporary thing...the descents got steeper and they left me (gears trump aero).

A guy took the prize for course record...smashed the standing record by a full 9 minutes!!!....we were laughing at him too...he was warming up on a trainer pre race...I had to publicly state that I took back everything I thought about that guy since he did win and all...All my buddies similarly withdrew their comments. Talking to him, he said that he was not warming up for the race...he was just cold and was trying to raise his body temp....not sure about that. Can you imagine warming up for a race of that length?

I learned a lot at this race...mainly not to laugh at what I don't understand...aero bars...warming up on a trainer for a 60 mile MTB race...those guys knew something I didn't.

I now know why they call it a challenge. It was the most taxing thing I have ever done....I wish I could somehow figure the TSS points I burned during my almost 6.5 hour tenure in that race. I can tell you PE and relative soreness will indicate that this event was FAR beyond any two of my hardest training sessions, any TT I have ever done, or any week of partying during St. Pat's at Rolla.

I have typed this for about 2 hours...and I know that I have not even come close to telling you the struggle that was the Ouachita Challenge.

So far I have learned of 4 people that broke bicycles during this race. When I say broke, I mean they fractured the frame in a manner that made it not possible to safely finish the race.

One person broke a seat post near mile 15... but finished the rest of the race carrying the saddle with an exposed edge where top of the seat post was (I saw this guy finish).

I damaged my seat post near mile 5 and finished the race with a seat that was quite out of adjustment...the aches and pains elsewhere in my body made the seat adjustment almost un-noticeable.

The pain in my back, wrists, and legs started near mile 8...pain as defined as something that persists even when the muscle is not being clenched or stressed. Otherwise stated as, “I could get off my bike and sit down on the ground and these parts felt sore to the touch"

There were at least 3 water crossings in excess of 2 feet deep. the first of which was a stream about 40 feet across with white caps on the rapids that flowed over 6 to 9 inch spheres of granite. There was no sand or smaller gravel present (I presume the current would have carried it away). Riding the 50 or so feet approaching the streams edge on similar aggregate was quite difficult. After I entered the water I had to lean into the current a considerable amount... The water felt VERY cold. Other water crossings were not as pleasant. Many were murky mud holes where you had no idea how deep the were until you entered....one was at least 3 feet deep and was a drop off that sent the rider in front of me into the water/mud mix head first...His bike completely vanished under water moments before he went over the bars.

I am on the list for this year. I will definitely go back. I might even try to do the tour AND the race next year (the tour is the race run backwards the day before the race). I have done a lot of things on a bike but this is one experience I don’t think I will ever forget.