Ouachita Challenge Weekend

Wow, am I behind. Take a few days out of the normal workweek and head out on a four day, 2000 mile road trip and suddenly I'm behind.

Oh...after being along the Mississippi River...I'll never complain about how flat it is here (or try not to).

Danielle has my favorite shot from the weekend on her blog. On the drive down we found not one, but TWO pink elephants! What is not visible in that pic is the SECOND pink elephant with horn rims on.

After a stop to eat some great Mexican we continued the drive.


Saturday we knew we were getting close when we came by this stop.The trees were just starting to bud. The rocks are just a hint of what was to come later in the weekend.













We had a super nice pre-ride, did the main gravel hill to the single track. Stopped for a couple of photos along the way. Here are my travelmates, I'm stylin' the new Founders jersey.













The town that this race starts from has a population of just over 200. The graduating classes number about a dozen. The race that these folks put on though is incredible.
Here's the landmark at the final turn just before the finish.


Race day: just below freezing, a hint of frost. Got in a chilly warmup and then we lined up. Rob Pennell (Badger Cycles) stoped by to wish us well. Fun to meet a number of people who I'd only talked to by phone or read their posts on the mtbr 29er forum.

The sun was out and warmed the day nicely. It eventually hit 60. A very fast neutral roll out got us to the gravel road, folks jockeying for position. After a brief wait we were off. Sprinting on the gravel two track. This road climbed for quite awhile and eventually we got to the singletrack. The trail was sweet. I was feeling really good. The density of the monster rocks increased until at some points I was almost bouncing my way through them. Occassionaly they would bring me to a complete stop. On and off the bike a bit doing some running too.

There was a gal from Texas that I was trading places with, she finished fourth. Danielle had a stellar race and had a solid finish for second.

I’ve been racing a lot of years. Finished races with a separated shoulder, cracked ribs, etc. but I’ve never had a DNF. I now have my first one. I’m still not clear what happened to my rear der. but after fishing that woody vine out of a cage that was pointing toward the sky, it wouldn’t shift right. I'd also knocked my wheel out of true. The rubbing rear wheel I could deal with but the inability to get out of the four largest cogs was a problem. The chain skipped gears when in the 4th or 5th cog. I could use 6-7-8...nice tall gears for the more LEVEL portions of the course but certainly not what I needed to get up the remaining mountains.

Repeated dismounts to physically move my chain from the larger cogs back to the middle got old quick. There didn’t seem to be a reasonable or realistic way to continue that for another 35 miles. I stopped and disassembled things, looked them over. Put it all back together. Continued on the trail. Same problems.

Well...it was a good race while it lasted. So with a heavy heart I abandoned the Ouachita Challenge. I’d already gotten through the worst of the rock gardens and was looking forward to the Womble trail. It will have to wait for another time.

Trying to remember to only use a limited set of gears in the rear and the middle or large front ring I found my way to the cut off to start my return to the school in Oden. I got my head back on straight, thought about all the good things from this trip and put in a few climbing efforts on the return ride. I soaked up the views of the mountains, the greening under story of the woods and the sunshine.

By the time I had to sprint from an unchained dog I was back ‘on game’ Was focused on the positive. Disappointed I couldn’t finish? For sure. Angry? No. Guess those years of experience helped me refocus and make the best of things. We had a great pre-ride on Saturday, I got to do part of the trail. Had a good time.

The riding there is unlike anything I’ve ever encountered. The rocks of the Michaux State Forest are probably the closest but the density, size and sharp edges of the Ozark rocks is something.

The climbing was epic and the Badger was an awesome bike to ride at OC. The big wheels: awesome! I just may have to make a return trip.

You can read a bit more at the Founder's team site