Ouachita Challenge

The name says it all. This race will challenge you in every way. It’s been a few years since I’ve done this race, and I forgot how damn hard it is! For those who aren’t familiar with it, Ouachita Challenge is a 60 mile MTB race through the Ouachita National Forest consisting of the very technical Ouachita trail and the less technical, but still challenging Womble trail. 

The family loaded up and we headed out Saturday after work. I was the only one racing so we had much less “stuff” to take. Pretty uneventful drive other than a mountain lion spotting! We arrived at the Oden School around 10pm, had a quick chat with Ray Hall and went to bed. 

I got up early to make some breakfast and have some coffee, it’s an 8am start so I didn’t want to be rushing around. I quickly realized it was going to be much cooler at the start than I had planned on. Luckily I brought just enough extra clothing to get by. The start is a neutral rollout lead by a truck. The ideal position is on the trucks bumper as you don’t want to get shuffled back into the mass of riders on the narrow gravel road. I found myself right in the middle of the bumper, with Ray on my left and Austin Morris on my right. Very cold at this point due to the higher speed but lack of effort. 

I think we were all dreading the first deep water crossing, it wasn’t going to help with the cold, and it was deep this year! 

The pace up the gravel road for the first 10 miles was high. Ray and I controlled it mostly to keep any attacks from going, but I eventually dropped back a bit as he continued driving the pace. Ray claims that according to something called “Strava”(?) we set a new record time up this section. I put in one last effort to get in third into the single track. 

From that point on to the halfway point in the town of Sims, I knew would be tough. The first half has some of the worst rock gardens you’ll probably ever encounter, a ton of climbing, and so also an equal amount of descending. The hardtail was great uphill, and not so great downhill. I was dropped fast on every downhill and attempted to do damage control on every uphill. I mainly tried to ride smooth, not crash, and not have a mechanical for the first 30 miles. I succeeded, but the damage was done, 3:20 behind by halfway. Not impossible to make up but wouldn’t be easy.

I had good legs still and tried to stay steady and make up time. The next time I saw Vanessa she said 3:14. Not much, but it was something. In this type of race, there’s a constant battle within yourself, both physically and mentally. Things can be great one minute, then a few turns later you’re telling yourself to quit, then you hit a section smoothly and it’s all turned back around. I did this until about 40 miles where I saw the family again for another feed, 5 min to Ray leading, 2 min to second place. This was good, I didn’t think I would catch Ray but for sure I could catch second, if I kept it together. Well about 3-4 miles later it fell apart. Legs began to cramp and mentally I started to crack. I was riding bad, making mistakes and it was costing huge chunks of time. I got passed and dropped to 4th. I struggled through the last of the single track and had only gravel road for the last 5 miles. Oh, but also one of the worst climbs up about 1/2 mile of gravel. I was in my easiest gear, standing, and barely turning the pedals. Cramps with every pedal stroke, but the only way for it end was to get up the hill. Two more guys came by on that climb. I made it up and over and limped it back to town. Then I had one last damn hill to ride up to the finish, it’s not big, but so hard to ride up when you’re in this condition!

I was pumped that Ray got the win, just wasn’t my day. 6th isn’t terrible, but not what I was hoping for. I’ve never had a great race here, can’t decide if I want to give it another go on a full suspension bike, or just accept it’s not for me. Big thanks to my wife and kids for driving around the back roads of Arkansas to make sure I had food and bottles, it’s a big ask, and they made it happen. 

Sooner Stampede

I was impatiently waiting for the Sooner Stampede MTB race after the beating I took in the rocks at round 2 of the TDD. The Tulsa boys (Ray Hall and Jake Lasley) put it to me and I was ready to go at it on my home trail. To be fair, I gladly went out and rode the course with both of them. After all, they are two of my best buddies so it’s not like they had to twist my arm to get me to go ride with them. 

We arrived several hours early on Sunday to set up a tent and table to be well prepared for the first hot day of the season. Ryan again was the first of the family to race, with Aubrey going off after me again. Ryry had a really good race coming in second again. He’s learning to know when he races good but just gets beat. Rather than being upset about not winning, he’s happy with his race. I think he learning that he’s just so much smaller, and weaker in some areas because of his age(he is 10 racing up in 13-15). I keep trying to get him to be patient and wait a couple years for his body to catch up with his skill. Then we may all be in big trouble haha! It was another huge turnout for the Jr fields as well which is so good to see!

I actually got it together much earlier than the last race and got in a solid warm up. On top of the normal competition so far, Brandon Melott was also racing and I know if there’s someone that can match my speed and flow on this course, it’s him. We both have more miles in on this trail system than we can count. So I knew the start would be important and I would need to be ready to go full gas, so that warm up was pretty important on this day. 

I hit my pedal perfect on the start and put in a big effort, I did not want to be anywhere but first into the single track. Brandon second and Ray was third the first time I glanced back to check. I rolled pretty smooth trying to keep the pace high but still recover a bit from the start effort. It was going to be a very strategic race, I had to find a way to beat them. I wasn’t going to cruise away. 

This year I’ve put a lot of effort into improving all the small things. Cornering smoother, working on my bike fit and position, working on strengthening my body to be able to handle the abuse from MTB racing, etc. It all paid off because it’s those fractions of seconds here and there that win races like this. You have to take little bits of time where you can. These guys are all very fit, and extremely good bike handlers. 

It was early on I decided on my game plan to win. I decided to punch it, hard, anytime we went uphill. My hope was to catch them off guard and get away. If it didn’t work I was going to be in trouble as I was going all in, the whole first lap. It took a long time to break free, they were hanging right around 10-15 seconds, I had some doubts but stuck to the plan. Towards the end of the lap I knew I was getting away. Through start/finish on lap 1 there was no one in sight so I knew I had a decent gap. It worked! BUT, with the heat there was still the big question of actually maintaining that lead to the end. Second lap was good, (passed Aubrey through the finish line area and she had a good lead in her race, gave her some encouragement and went on) last lap, the heat was getting me some. I was having some stomach cramps and feeling not so good. I had a few spots to watch and saw no one coming so I was easing up little by little to try and not be completely trashed for the rest of the day. I held on and I was pretty much over it by the finish line. I was hot and felt like crap! I think everyone did though. 

Aubrey came in a bit after I did and won her race by a decent margin, woohoo!!

It’s been a long time since I’ve had so much excitement and put so much prep into racing the Tour de Dirt mountain bike series. The competition is the real deal this year and it is awesome! To have some of, if not the best in our region to battle with and not have to travel is a promising thing for Oklahoma racing. We’ve already reached those levels on the road and in Cyclocross so it’s good to see it on the trails as well. I also believe it was close to, if not a record number of racers for the series! So a great job is being done by the series and race promoters. Coming up this Sunday is my first Ouachita Challenge in a few years. Hoping for a decent ride there as it will be my only good test before marathon Nats in May. After that I guess I’ll reluctantly go to Medicine Park and take my thrashing. I am NOT excited about that race.

TDD #2 The Beatdown

Yesterday was the second race in the Oklahoma MTB series. Outback at Post Oak in Sapulpa, OK. I’ve been once before about 2 years ago. I remembered it was rocky but not too bad. Well I have a bad memory or as was suggested erosion has exposed the rocks much more, but this course was relentless. Granted I was on a full suspension bike and not a hardtail last time there. 

We arrived pretty early so the kids and I could get a lap in to try to learn the course. It went ok, and it also let me know this was going to be a hard day on the bike. I felt like maybe I could win, but if I did it was going to be extremely taxing on me.

Ryan was first race and he did great. He was fourth overall junior and third in his age group. He wasn’t happy with his race, but I just told him you can’t win every race. Told him he rode well and to be happy he didn’t crash or have a mechanical. The other kids were a bit bigger, as to be expected because he’s 10 racing up in 13-15. I don’t think he realizes how much more strength the bigger kids have that helps on rough trails like that. I think it’s a great thing that we have such healthy junior competition in our local series to push all the kids. 

Next I was up with Aubrey following a few minutes behind. I was a little nervous for her but she’s got the skill, and it pretty smart when knowing what she can and can’t do. I figured this would be one of her worst trails so getting through would be a good goal. 

I got a great start, something I knew Ray and Jake didn’t want to happen. I knew they would be faster in the rocks, my goal was to hopefully disrupt their rhythm and still make a race of it. That didn’t last long. Ray attacked up a hill in the first 2 min. I tried to go with him but just couldn’t ride that pace smoothly. I backed it off a bit right about the same time Jake crashed. So I had space behind me and was monitoring the gap to Ray. I figured his pace would slow, or I could get the lines figured out and pick my pace up. Neither happened. He kept creeping away, then Jake caught. I let him by and rode his wheel for a few corners but he then crept away too. At this point I was blown. I didn’t get much of any kind of warm up and was thinking on lap 2 my body would come back around and maybe I could go after them. I started to feel slightly better, but I was too worked over. By mid lap 2 I knew I wasn’t catching either of them. I just was keeping tabs on Corey in fourth. Going as hard as I needed to maintain that and no more. My whole body was tired and I just wanted it to be over! I was excited when I caught up to Aub, she was leading her race! So I finished it out, and was glad that one is in the past. Aub won her race too!

So I’m sure everyone that’s been following the #yearofthehardtail is either laughing at my expense or questioning what if I had been on full suspension. The way I see it, I chose to race a hardtail. All year, every race, every trail. Did I know it would be slower? Yes, every race, every trail. My other option, an Epic FSR is absolutely the ultimate XC race bike. That said, I don’t regret it. I’m having a good time with the challenge it presents me. Yesterday there may have been moments I wasn’t having a good time, mainly from right after the start, to the finish haha! Regardless I’ll stick to my plan and race the same bike. Would I have finished better on FS yesterday? I really don’t think so. It may have been more of a battle, but Ray was absolutely flying, and Jake wasn’t far off that pace. Something many of you have not or probably will not see, is Ray Hall,  on good form, going through a rocky trail at race pace. Hell, I’ve never seen it for very long lol! I’ll never show up to a rocky trail and expect to beat him. Not that I won’t try, but it’s a tall order. It makes me smile to think that MY home trail is the next race, can’t wait to have a nice casual cruise with those guys on the trails I love at Lake Thunderbird. 

Oh, and I did have a consolation prize after my beating, my SPCX Stars and Stripes jersey came in and Jake brought them to me! Hoping for short sleeve riding weather now.