Finishing the Ouachita Challenge

This past December I signed up for another Ouachita Challenge.  An event that I have been racing since 2008.  The course is hard and challenging but with the proper training, mental toughness and if you can get through Blow Out mountain without bike failures or bodily harm you should be able to finish.  Against my better judgment I also signed up Christopher.

Three years ago I signed Christopher up for his first attempt at the Ouachita Challenge.  Prior to that his only other distance event had been the Dakota 50 which he attempted in 2010 when he was 15.  Christopher is a good cross country distance rider.  He usually sticks to rides/races around an hour which is normal for a teenager I would think.  So far all of his attempts at completing Marathon type cycling events came up short.

Would 2015 be any different?  When I registered us I kept seeing this image in my head.  I know from first hand experience what it feels like to be dead tired and not wanting to continue on. To have those voices in your head say things like "why did I want to attempt this?"  "I just want to quit" and  "where is my mommy?".   I asked him did he really want to go through the suffering to finish and he said he did. 

The goal was to just finish the Ouachita Challenge.  No course records would be set.  No awards won.  Only the personal satisfaction of finishing.  Early in January I gave the above photo to Christopher as motivation and to help him realize that any goal worth attempting would take work.

I put in enough rides during the winter that I knew I would be able to finish.  I was really worried about Christopher because he never wanted to go ride this winter.  I do not blame him.  Who the hell wants to go ride when it is 15 degrees out?

I think his first ride of any distance/time was the Mullet Ride back in January.  After that he kind of did his own thing which had me very worried about 3 weeks prior to the event.

About a month ago we headed down to Arkansas for Spring Break. In my mind this would be the decision maker.  If he did not put in some long rides and feel good after them then he should not attempt to finish.  

We hit several trail systems including Lake Leatherwood in Eureka Springs.  Damn that place is hilly! This was a good thing because it offered up ideal training grounds for the challenge ahead.

It rained 3 out of the 4 days we were in Eureka Springs.  Luckily most of the trail systems down there are very rocky.   Despite the rain we got in several long rides.  After the trip Christopher confirmed that he wanted to attempt the Ouachita Challenge again, and this time he was going to finish.

While Christopher was confident I had my doubts.  Not only in him but myself.  My knees, especially my right knee, have been giving me trouble as of late.  It has gotten so bad that I can not even put weight on my knees while kneeling down.  Some days are fine but other days I take a handful of pain meds to make it tolerable.  More on the knee later...

 
We got a bit of bad news two days before the race.  During our final ride on Wednesday he said he was having trouble shifting.  When I checked everything out I found a broken link on the non-drive side.  No bike to ride.  Not really the news you want to hear a few days before your big event.

Luckily we had a spare bike.  My Ritchey P-29er was built up for gravel and still had CIRREM mud all over her and a rigid fork.  It took a long cold evening (and several beers) in the garage to switch everything over.  With no saddle time on her we loaded up and headed to Tige's house Saturday morning.

After 6+ hours of Smokey and the Bandit type driving we somehow safely arrived in Oden, AR.  Tige wanted to get in a little ride and Christopher wanted to at least ride the P-29er once before the race on Sunday.  I am glad we did ride because we ended up doing several adjustments on the bike to get Christopher somewhat comfortable.

Race morning came too quickly.  Before we knew it riders were lining up.  I told Christopher before the race to remember to pace himself, eat and drink.  If he did not blow up then he could finish.  Deep down I had my doubts but I wanted to sound confident.

The first 10 miles of the challenge are easy.  I stayed with Christopher until the final gravel climb before the single track began.  After that I rode my own event.  Christopher wanted to do this event on his own.   The event gets hard once you hit Blow Out mountain.  This trail sucks ass.  Part of it you can not even ride (at least mortal riders like myself).  I was really concerned that Christopher would try to ride the really rocky sections like he did 3 years ago and waste a lot of energy.  I later found out he listened to me and walked those sections.

I was feeling fine up until the Sims aid station at around the 1/2 way point.  My legs started to cramp a little.  If I am already cramping what the heck is Christopher feeling like?   I kept riding and they went away.  At the 5 hour mark they came back.  The next 1 1/2 hours basically sucked ass.  Leg cramps and fatigue.  While I was going through my own little misery I kept thinking about Christopher.  Did he pull out at Sims?  I told him that if he had any doubt that he should bail at Sims as it was the closest to the Start/Finish area in Oden.  I had two goals on the day: Finish without suffering and to have Christopher finish (he was allowed to suffer).  I finished up in 6 hours 46 minutes.  Despite the leg cramps I felt fine. After a quick shower and some recovery food and I go and check the finish area for Christopher.  After 7 hrs still no sign of him.  7 hour 15 min still no Christopher.  I tell Tige we should load things up and go see if we can find him at the final aid station.  As I walk over to the finishing line one last time I hear the announcer say "we have our next finisher from Kansas City, MO,  #119, Christopher Locke".  The little shit did it!  It took 7 hour 30 minutes but he did finish and I am very proud of him! He did not give up and despite only a handful of training rides he finished. 

Ouachita Challenge Race Report

The 7th Annual Ouachita Challenge was held this past Sunday. This was my first big test of the year. If I were to give myself a grade it would be a C+. A combination of changing my race day strategy, overworked/overtrained and just not having good legs for the race. In reviewing my data from my Garmin 305 I will change some things for the Cohutta 100 which is in two weeks. If you are interested in the course and the data you can view/download at Motion Based (best viewed in IE). Pictures can be viewed at Phillip Walrod website. Phillip did an awesome job and got some great photos as you can see by the two trail photos below.

I met my teammates Randy Cartwright, Rich Anderson and Mike Classen the morning of the race. This was everyone's first Ouachita except for Mike who had raced here I believe twice before. Before the race Mike gave me some tips which I appreciated. The race started with a roll out.

There was suppose to be a "bang" to start the race, but I never heard a thing. It was full on from the moment we left the parking lot. I got boxed in and fell back toward the end of the pack, but quickly started to work my way up which was the first mistake of the day. My heart rate was in zone 5 around 180 before I knew it. I should of backed off then, but I kept pushing and soon bridged up to the lead pack of about 30 riders. Gerard told me to "save something for the last half and don't be a hero", which I did remember at about mile 45. Once we hit the first section of gravel road I decided to ease off some and wait for Rich and Randy. They were both soon on board and we road together with some other riders until we hit the Womble trail.

I for one was very glad we were finally on some single track. Course conditions were good in most parts, but due to some heavy rains in the area some parts of the course were very muddy. I was o.k. with this as I am usually good in the mud. Rich, Randy and I rode the Womble together and worked our way around several packs of riders. The overall pace was still a little high for me and I was really trying to pace myself and make sure I drank and ate enough. This event was really just training for Cohutta 100 and our pace was too high for a 100 mile event so I started to back it off some.

After crossing some very wet muddy sections including about a dozen creeks we finally got to the first rest stop. Rich's friends and Carolynn were there to give us some much needed support. Rich was first to the stop and was gone just has I got stopped. Randy worked on his slowly leaking rear tire. I got a fresh bottle of Accelerade which was my main supply of food for this event. I took off at an easy pace as Randy finished pumping up his tire. He bridged up to me, but still was having tire trouble. I did not know if I should wait for him or just keep going. I decided to keep going and steadily brought back Rich who was long gone by this point.

After a long section of road we were on to the Ouachita trail and more climbing. I signed up for the event to get in some serious climbing and I got just that. 6,636 feet according to my Garmin. I finally caught back up to Rich, but by then my stomach was not feeling very well so I was just looking to finish the event. What I did not know was the hardest part of the race was just coming up. Sections like Blowout Mountain just kicked my butt. Team Seagal has a good post on the race and these trails. I ended up passing Rich on a climb and rode some of the harder sections by myself. I started to get some serious leg cramps and was having trouble keeping everything in my gut. In the beginning of the race I did not drink/eat enough and I tried to make up for it which was a mistake. Now my stomach was full of my drink mix and was not digesting very quickly. This was my second mistake of the day and I paid for it dearly over the last 20 miles of the event.

In the end I finished with a ride time of 5 hours 33 min and 34th place overall. I learned some lessons and feel I am ready for my next big challenge - The Cohutta 100. Rich did awesome and finished in 29th. Randy came in 53st and Mike finished in around 6 hours 15 min.