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Ouachita Challenge: The Full 80

Bear with me if this report is brief or not fully expanded with pretty pictures, pie charts or videos. I just spent the last 1300 miles in my car to get home with the family and would at this point, happily spend time with them. I can always elaborate later.

I got to Arkansas on Thursday and spent the evening hanging out with the Chainwheel Gang, chilling at the the shop, then later with some mexican, beers, Halo 3 and Rock Band till the wee hours of the morning. The next day we hit some local trails "camp" as they we're known, on the local military base, a good shakedown of the bike and the legs after being in the car for 2 days and Lizzy was happy cause she got to run for the first time in a bit also.

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Friday afternoon, I headed out to the "Henne Compound", where I was staying for the weekend. I made my way over to the course and managed to squeeze in a pre-ride of the first section with the Ergon Crew for a bit and get a nice preview of the opening climb and the first section of singletrack. The legs we're good and I was happy. After being treated to a nice homecooked meal by the Henne's and Sarah, I was ready to go. (BTW, hugest thanks to the Henne's for putting me up for the weekend, and you should all thank Todd as the 80 is his baby!!)

Sunday was go time, it was a bit chilly at the start and would stay mostly cool and quite windy all day for the race. At the start as usual the front runners massed up and got ready for the charge into the singletrack. I saved a little bit on the dirt road climb, but picked my way back through to the front and could see the top 5 or so just ahead. Rolled it into the singletrack and carnage right away. Flat!!. Stans wouldn't seal the hole, so I pulled the rear as I was ready for a fast change, but it wasn't meant to be. The nut on the valve stem for my tubeless was fastened a bit too tight. Spent very near 30 minutes on the side of the trail (27 I believe to be exact) bashing at the valve stem trying to break it with my multi-tool or just beating something cause I was super frustrated!! Every single rider in the race passed me. Though the sweepers never got me, they must have been sleeping!

Just as I was about to give up and covered in mud, stans and blood cause I gouged the he'll out of my fingers with the knife and screwdrivers, it popped loose like it was free the whole time. I got the tube in, inflated and took off. I gave a frantic chase for the next 40 miles to aid station #2. But there was sooo much lap traffic on the trail and it was all singletrack that it became nearly impossible to pass people. Surge like he'll the wait the 30 secs or so to find a spot to pass. Thankfully most we're on the 60 and that was over with at the first aid station. I rolled in to the first and second aid stations 30 minutes down, which was pretty much my time on the side of the trail in the beginning and probably was riding a bit faster than leaders as I was picking my way through the riders, and not losing any time from that. But it wasn't meant to be. The tough singletrack and my frantic pace, brought me to my knees between aid station 2 and 3. I realized, I was never going to close a 30 minute gap, and I was definitely not drinking enough (5.5 bottles over 8.5 hours!). I rolled it back a bit and returned to a good pace and finished out the ride/sufferfest that was to be had.

I was pretty happy with the ride (8:01 of ride time, and most of the loss coming early in the lapped riders and a bit of a slow when I realized I wasn't going to catch anymore). I think the leaders we're somewhere around 7:40ish?? someone correct me?

All in all a solid first race and I felt good and ready, so who know what the next one will bring!

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Of course, I absolutely have to say the outline to this post was generously furnished through Paul from EcoPropane. They are absolutely an awesome gas to propane conversion services. We definitely value a good tip!

Thank You

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Posted in Home Improvement Post Date 08/10/2021


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