Odens Beard

Not to be confused with Odin's Beard! Oden was the name of the town where the Ouachita Challenge was staged. Steve Miller and I left town on Saturday morning for the drive down to Oden. I decided to put some Coke that I had flattened for the race in my water bottle on my bike. Bad move. We stopped at the Arkansas/Missouri border for gas at the worlds largest liquor store. Well, I was coming out of the bathroom and Steve said "did we drive through something sticky?" He had sticky all over his bike. Well, come to find out, about half of my soda had leaked out of my bottle and glazed his frame and drivetrain. Nice. We finally arrived at our destination after about 8 hours in the car, Mt Ida, AR. The Mt Ida motel, to be exact. Steve had made reservations at this motel, and they had even charged his card. Well, guess what? They did not have a room for us. Great!! So, down the road we went, to the Aqua Motel outside of Washita. After unpacking and getting cleaned up, we drove to Oden to pick up our race packets and partake of the free food at the school. Pretty uneventful, afterwards went back to Aqua and slept. Sunday morning we got up and rolled over to the race for breakfast, which was extra nasty. Microwave pancakes. Gross. CBC was represented in the race by me, Steve Miller, and Jasen Matayas. We were scheduled to roll out at 8, so we got lined up. My strategy for the 60 miles was pretty simple: survive. I decided to start out fast to get warmed up before hiting the single track. I made it through the 2.5 miles of gravel with the lead group, decided I was sufficiently warmed up and going too hard, and sat up when we entered the singletrack. Ok. Well, pretty much all I can say is that I suffered pretty bad for most of the day. The trails were technical and hilly, I think we climbed over 8000 vertical feet. There were some rock gardens that were unrideable, at least for me, and a ton of deep mud puddles. I went over the bars once on a treacherous descent, so I have a bunch of scrapes on my legs and one on my face.

The race was really well organized, each aid station took great care of the riders, and was well stocked with food and drink. Really, I can't say enough about how well the race was run, and I think the entry fee was a bargain. Probably the toughest point of the day was climbing blowout mountain, my legs were toasted by that time, and I was looking to just finish the ride. Also, there was a guy in front of me going so slow that I kept bumping his rear whel, but he wouldn't let me pass. Argh!! Needless to say, I finished in 6 hours and 46 minutes, not a very good time. But, like I said, finished, and as an excuse, I have been sick and am still sick, and have been lucky to get 3 hours a week on the bike. So, not too shabby, considering that this is the longest I have ever ridden my bike, time wise. Also, I burned over 8500 calories.

Afterwards, we got cleaned up and hopped in the car for the drive back. We took a different route, which led us through the mountains. It was beautiful!! We stopped in Russelville for some mexican food, and I immediately started cramping up. Nice!

Not a whole lot to report, really, I have some pics I'll post later.