Ouachita Challenge Race Report Part Two

I slept really well the night before the race. Jeff's alarm went off at 4am and soon the rest of us were up. Surprisingly, we were all in a decent mood and not too grumpy. Breakfast was coffee, toast, and fried eggs.

We arrived at Oden Public Schools (the race start) before 7am and had at least an hour to change, walk dogs, and warm up. It was slightly chilly but really windy.

We lined up at 7:45 am for the race meeting and I chatted a little with Andrea, TN state champion roadie, winner of Southern Cross 2010, and up and coming endurance mountain bike race star. I was calm and relaxed and thinking to myself about something Dave Wiens (I think) said about how you can do everything possible to best prepare for an event but you really never know how you are going to feel once the race starts. I really had no idea whatsoever what I was going to feel like when they said "Go".

The plan was to stay in the pack on the 8-9 mile road/dirt road section up to the first bit of narrow, slightly technical singletrack. However, as soon as the neutral roll-out ended and the dirt road turnoff came, the front end of the race went and my legs said NO. I watched Carey and Sonya pedal away and stayed behind Andrea. I tried not to panic and just concentrated on my pedaling form, breathing, and staying relaxed and efficient. I hoped I could tag on to someone's wheel that was moving fast but not too fast for me. Yeah, that never happened. At this point I just hoped that when I got to the singletrack I wouldn't have anyone clogging up the trail in front of me. I had pre-ridden that singletrack and I knew I could ride it pretty fast and smooth and make up some time on slower singletrack riders. By now, Carey and Sonya were probably up way ahead but I could see Andrea up about 10 riders from me. I kept my eye on her for the next 2 hours but there were so many slow riders in between us and very little passing room that it took me awhile to catch her. That first section of singletrack was absolutely ridiculous. I think my heart rate was 60 beats per minute. I could have eaten a chicken biscuit while we were riding it was so painfully slow. Riders were crashing everywhere, walking up and down any little incline or decline with a rock or root in it. Our pre-ride with the dogs was even faster than this current "race" pace. I tried not to be completely bitchy because, after all, it was MY FAULT for not going faster on the road to get in front of this train. In hindsight, I should have just hammered and suffered to gain 10-12 spots to enter the woods earlier and I would have been able to ride my own pace on the trail. These trails have a lot less passing space than our trails in the Southeast. And, this race had so many people that it seemed like there were always people ahead of me on the trail. The trail conditions were slightly sloppy and wet--wet mossy rocks and roots everywhere. My climbing legs seemed to come and go (mostly go) but at least my descending was good. I just chilled at a steady pace and watched Andrea for awhile..I wasn't ready to make a move quite yet. I wanted my legs to feel better first.

It was sometime towards the end of the real technical part of Blowout mountain that my drivetrain started acting up. My little ring wasn't cooperating and I had to resort to the middle ring just in time for the hellish climb up Clebut (sp?). This effort would also catch up to me at a later point. After that, there was a flat-to-rolling dirt road section and a SAG. I wished for a draft on each of these road sections. The headwind was awful and I flat out suck on the road. I wanted to recover but then I probably would have stopped or started rolling backwards..so I pressed on into the wind..alone. Andrea stopped at the SAG and I kept rolling onto the next section of singletrack. Here I started the hammerfest (and here is where my race memory goes very fuzzy) and periodically looked over my shoulder but there was no sign of anyone. I was thinking that once we hit the Womble trail we only had 12-15 miles left so I would be home free if I could hammer the rest of the singletrack. Because Andrea is so strong on the road and the last 4-5 miles was a road section I wanted to have a nice gap by then as I knew if it came down to her and me on the road she would absolutely destroy me. What I didn't really think of is that the Womble trail is practically Andrea's back yard and she actually knew what was coming up. I didn't.....

Here's where things go even more fuzzy in my memory. I somehow dropped one of my bottles in the twisty singletrack so I was down to two empty bottles. I had already eaten about 4 gels but I had no idea how long I had been out on the trails..note to self: Next time bring at least a watch! Preferably a HR monitor and cycle computer..duh. I was so worried about Andrea catching up that I didn't stop to retrieve my dropped bottle. And, for some reason I had it in my head that I only had an hour left of racing--I was thinking 10-15 miles tops. However, the Womble trail kept going...single track, double track, dirt road, pavement, single track, double track, repeat repeat repeat. And, it seemed like most of the Womble trail was steep uphill. I asked no less than 4 people how much farther we had and I got answers such as "18 miles, 30 miles, 22 miles, 15 miles" and I started to get more and more confused and pissed off. I was no longer having fun..I was delirious and suffering bad. I apologize if I offended anyone with my "language". I had no concept of time and location. I was practically going backwards on the steep climbs and even flat sections at this point. All of a sudden I happen to look behind me and it was Andrea. It was inevitable. I was dead. I had nothing to respond with..I hoped and hoped for some sort of mechanical so I could just put myself out of the misery. But, my bike kept pedaling me there even though the drivetrain sounded like it might crap out at any given second.

A mile or so later, the road finally came. However, neither Andrea nor anyone else was in sight anymore...I was left alone to ride into the headwind again. I was so slow that 2 riders caught me from behind and passed me in the last mile. I could barely pedal uphill to the finish line.

Jeff Kerkove was there and gave me a can of FRS and wheeled my bike to the car. It turns out I rode 6.5 hours with only 700 calories and 48 oz. of fluid. And, at least the last 1.5 hours was with NO fluid or calories. duuuuuhhhh. Sometimes my stubborn personality only hurts me. If only I had taken the 5 seconds to pick up my dropped bottle and taken 30 seconds to stop at a SAG, my race could have ended much differently...and a lot quicker! Right now, I just have to laugh..I can't be too bummed, I still finished in 5th place just a few minutes behind Andrea. I even got a little trophy and a little cash money! Congrats to Andrea for riding a smart, steady race...and of course, congrats to all my teammates for also having stellar races.

photo by Jeff Kerkove

Here is a list of lessons I learned from this race. Maybe it will help someone else, and it will definitely help me for next time:

- bring PowerBar Endurance and PowerGel
- use a pack instead of just bottles if the singletrack is really tight and technical
- use a gel flask instead of carrying 15 gel packs
- use a HR monitor and cycle computer
- stop at the SAGs
- bring an ipod
- use chamois butt'r
- rest enough before the race!

Thanks to Jeff Kerkove for helping with my Stan's No Tubes setup, thanks to all our awesome sponsors for setting us up with the best equipment around--believe me, we push it to the limits in some of these longer races!