The Brain and I pulled out of Houston last Saturday morning, I picked him up from his apartment at 6AM. Having forgotten the cycling GPS I borrowed to use during the race, I drove all the way back out to the house to get it. So we didn't actually leave here until about 6:45. We stopped for lunch in Dierks, AR. There wasn't much to the town, but we needed to eat, and I saw a sign for a deli/meat market place on Main Street. So thinking this would be an interesting experience, we pulled in.
(thanks Google Street View, lol)There were two rotund old dudes sitting near the counter who welcomed us in, and Brain and I milled around for a few minutes looking for some lunch. It was more a general store than a deli/meat market, or so it appeared, so we approached the guys about some lunch. Guy #2 recommended having guy #1(the owner, we guessed) make us some sandwiches. I picked a hot link BBQ sandwich, and Brain went with a standard turkey sandwich. So while guy #1 was in the back fixing sandwiches, we chatted with guy #2. This dude was as country hick as I am skinny, and I reverted pretty quickly back to my country roots during the course of our conversation. He claimed this was the best meat market in this part of the country, and people came from all around to buy their meat. His perspective may have been a little different than ours, but after my sandwich I believed him. Brain couldn't understand most of what was said, but he still got a good kick out of the whole thing. A couple bucks for the sandwiches, and we were on our way. When Brain opened his sandwich, it was huge! He was struggling to finish it! We switched drivers in NewHope, when I opened my BBQ sandwich. This was the greatest BBQ sandwich I'd ever laid eyes on, a huge hot link down the middle of a bun soaked in BBQ sauce with some sort of meat chunks on top. I plowed through it and didn't even think to take a picture. Nothing to do with the Ouachita Challenge, but worth writing about.
So we got to our cabin that afternoon, and went out for an easy ride on the Womble trail.
I led us to some ridiculous climbing, which was probably too hard for the day before the race, but it was some awesome trail. We went back down and went to another section of trail that was easier for a little while before heading back. After getting checked into the cabin and cleaned up, we headed up to the Oden school to register for the race and eat dinner. The spaghetti was good, and I visited with some friends who had done the Sat. tour. Back to the cabin where we went to sleep, prepared to wake up to 35 degree temps on Sunday morning.
When we woke up and went outside, it was actually nice and we were thankful it wasn't cold. We headed up to the school to get some breakfast and get ready to race. As the race got closer, the weather turned sour. The temperature was dropping, the wind was blowing, and it started to lightly rain. Luckily the rain passed before the start, but the wind and cold stayed. So with arm and leg warmers on and a cold/rain jacket in the back pocket, we headed off to the start. The start of the race was downhill on a highway for the first few hundred yards, after which we turned onto a more rural road. It was mostly coast/brake/coast down the highway, but on the rural road the pace picked up. We had started somewhere around mid-pack, but on the pavement, I drug me and Brain up to the back of the front group. The pavement turned to gravel, and then we hit the climbs. When the race turned onto a rocky jeep road, the flats started all over the place. Me and Brain settled into a pace, working together, as the race alternated from singletrack to gravel road. Brain started getting flats at about mile 9, and he told me to go on. So I went. I rode solid and steady, going fast on the roads and cruising the singletrack. I only stopped for a minute or two at each aid station, just long enough to refill the bottles and get going again. When we hit the Ouachita trail and the mountains started, I began to feel the tiredness. I stayed steady, and got over the first two mountains pretty well. I was in and out of the last aid station pretty quickly, and off to get over the last mountain, Big Brushy. At mile 48 or so, I hit a rock way too hard and flatted my back tire. Stan's sealed the puncture, but the bead wouldn't reseat so I had to put a tube in it. GPS shows I was sitting still for 20 minutes tending the flat, which was way too long. I was fatigued and not thinking straight I'm sure(hence crunching the rock in the first place) and I messed with it way too long instead of just getting it fixed. Just as I get everything fixed and back on the bike to roll off, here comes Brain down the hill. So reunited, we rode/walked the rest of the singletrack together and hit the road for the drag to the finish. I somehow had some strong power left, so I threw down the hammer and Brain tucked into the draft. Wherever it was flat or downhill, I was hammering, and when we hit a climb, Brain pulled up alongside to pace. We got to the finish line to finish with a time of 6:26, good enough for 49th place out of 159 finishers and a lot of DNFs.
In retrospect, it was just as hard as I remember it being from 3 years ago. I was a lot faster(almost 2 hours) and I rode a lot more of the climbs, but when you're suffering trying to go as fast as you can, it is still hard. Maybe even harder than not being that fit but riding it tour style, no rush, etc. I will definitely be back, as I had a goal of finishing in under 6 hours this year which I didn't quite make. The flat cost me 20 minutes, so that would have put me almost to my goal, but you can't argue on things like that. The time you finished in is the time you get. If somebody finished faster because they didn't flat, they were either better prepared or just lucky that day. If somebody flatted and still finished faster, then they definitely earned it and showed that I've got more work to do. It won't be next year, as I'll have a seven month old by then :), but maybe the year after.
Sorry this is so long, but I primarily write them for myself, anyway. If you read it, thanks! Stick around, lots more to come.
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