I signed up for this race by sheer dumb luck while surfing the
internet 1 day before registration was full. After I did I had to start making
arrangements for carpooling and sleeping and what not. By the time that was all said and done I found myself
cruising down to Arkansas with
Zach Brace and a man by the name of Jeremy King.
After we hit the road Friday morning we stopped for coffee and talked shit on mother nature and how much of a whore she was. Oh man, was she being a bitch!! We drove through a
"Derecho" which was kinda cool actually, but still a bummer on the way to a
MTB race.
When we got down to
Mountain View we decided to
pre-ride a little to check out the trails and ice damage that had
occurred from the previous winter. The f
orrest was
devastated in sections and the man hours that went into clearing it was very evident. Thanks volunteers!!!
The 3 of us got to the race good and early to get our numbers, geared up and warmed up. There was a 1 miles climb to start us on our 50 mile race which actually benefited me since I was racing my SS. It hurt, but it was a good way to string the field out and make life in the single track a little better.
I think I entered the woods in the top 15 of the 350 man field at the top of the climb. There was a lot of dismounting taking place due to all the downed trees. Lots of wet rocks and roots as well to make thing a little more hazardous. I took things pretty slow to avoid crashing on dumb shit early in the race. I saw several people fall on slick rocks that were dangerous even to walk across.
After a hour or so had passed, I felt comfortable and wet. My legs felt pretty good and my HR was low. I just kept the pedals turning but hiked a few hills to keep from smoking my legs to early in the race. Zach
caught me at some point before the first check point and we stayed together for some time
until then. After the check point he got away from me a little....
The next section of trail was pretty tech. I feel
I'm pretty good at riding technical trail and rode very well through there. I found my way back to Zach on a long climb and actually passed him. After that climb he caught me back and pretty much dropped me. I was starting to see less and less people on the trail now that it was good and strung out. When I came to the second check point the man informed me that I was the 13
th rider in. Sweet!! My only goal for the race was top 20.
From here on out I pretty much had it in cruise control, just riding the trail in front of me. The trails for the second half the race were very dry which was much welcome. The first half was pretty wet. I could tell that my body was started to reject the bullshit I was asking it to do. I still had about 15 miles to go so I tried to just keep it smooth and moving forward.
When I finally came to the
fire road down hill back into the campground where I started I was pumped. I was pumped to be done, pumped for a maybe top 20 finish, pumped to get beer in me. As I
approached the finish line Zach high
fived me (he was already done) and said "top 10". I thought, "man
that's awesome, Zach finished in the top 10". What I
didn't know is that he was talking about me. When I crossed the line the kind folks there looked at me, smiled, and said good job..... you finished 10
th. I kinda sat there for a sec and looked back at them, " Really??".
I finished 10
th out of 350 with a time of 5 hours 48 minutes. I
wasn't expecting it but it happened and I was/am pumped about it.
I immediately went to the
TEAM SEAGAL pit for some
PBR to start my celebration which almost got cut short by some park rangers that "claimed" no drinking was allowed in the park. Yeah right.
Zach finished 7
th, I finished 10
th.... both one spot out of a trophy. Oh well, there was beer waiting for us back at our cabin....
The race was awesome, wish I had some pictures, wish I
didn't waste my
BB. Had a blast and now that
Syllamo is over, I decided it was time to wash my bike from
Ouachita...
Thanks Zack and Jeremy for the good times and good riding.
Holla atcha boy.....
