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. 

Hitting Rock Bottom at CIRREM

The 7th Annual CIRREM was held last weekend.  It was cold as hell (10 degrees) at the start but the gravel roads were frozen and remained that way for the entire event.  Conditions were really not that bad for racing and several course records were set including overall male winner Joe Peterson, overall female winter Liz Martin, Single Speed winner Marc Thierry, Fat Bike winner Taylor Webb and the overall tandem winners Dennis Grelk/ChristieAnthony.  Basically every category except fixed gear set new records.  That frozen gravel sure is fast.

While other riders were having great rides I was having one of my worse.  It has been a rough winter for me.  I have put in what I thought was some quality training rides including several gravel grinders.  As with anyone, with enough miles my form comes along nicely by the beginning of Spring.  This year that has not been the case.  I have reviewed and analyzed  my training logs but still have not found a reason for my poor performance.

Part of me did not even want to go to CIRREM this year.  When you are not not felling strong it is easy to stay home.  I had already made plans to head up with Tige so I stuck with those plans and we ended up staying with his cousin up in Des Moines IA.  It was nice not having to drive the 2 1/2 hours in the early morning like I have always done in the past.  After Tige's super secret breakfast and "Dirt" coffee I actually felt good and was looking forward to getting out on course.

I knew my day was going to be long when within the first 5 miles I went to shift into my big chainring and nothing happened.  After a quick look down I see my front derailleur had twisted.  I checked every bolt on my bike except that one 5 mm clamp.  Nothing to do but stop and fix it.  It took awhile, especially with the freezing temps, but I got the cage all lined up and shifting again.  I start rolling again in last place.

After a couple of miles I catch up to George Williams and Chris Orr of  Dirty Dogs.  All of us settled into a comfortable conversational pace with an focus on finishing.   This would become a real challenge later on as with each mile my legs became more tired.

In past years I usually roll into the half way checkpoint in around 2 hours.  This year I was pedestrian slow at 2:26.  As a reference my teammate Tige Lamb rolled the first half on a single speed in 1:44.  That is really sad when you think about it but when the legs are dead they are dead.  The ladies at the checkpoint were offering water, food and hugs.  I needed all three just to get up enough motivation to continue on. I filled up my water bottles, got a nice warm hug and tried to ignore the guy who was calling out "if anyone needs a ride back I am leaving now".  I downed another cinnamon roll and reluctantly rolled on.

The next couple of hours were some of the most trying of my life.  Each hill got progressively harder.  While my energy level was normal my legs were like piece of iron.   For about 10 miles I rode with a group of women but they soon left me behind.  I stopped trying to figure out what was wrong and just wanted to quit.  But when you are out in the middle of Iowa you can not really just put up your hand and ask for a ride home.  At one point I stopped just to rest some and eat.  A couple of rolls of hay provided a nice shelter from the cold wind.  After a couple of minutes I realized I needed to keep going.  There was not going to be any sag wagon to pick me up.

As the miles slowly clicked off and the finishing town of Cummings grew nearer it started to snow.  Great, just what I needed.  I was cold, tired and hungry but I still had an hour or more to go.  The last 10 miles or so skirt the edge of town but then takes you back onto the frozen gravel roads.  Part of me really wanted to take that short cut direct route back up to the Cumming Tap but I knew I would not be able to sleep well if I did not complete the entire course and finish.

Finally the last mile came and I rolled in the finish.  5:38 was on timer stop watch.   As I ate my post race meal I questioned whether this would be my last CIRREM and/or my last endurance race.  When you are at bottom it is hard to find a reason to continue on.

Veterans Cross Report

This years Veterans Cyclocross race was one event that I was actually looking forward to and had on my calendar as a must do event.   Last year Roger said he wanted to bring back racing to the University of Saint Mary campus.  I remember those old races there from the De Stad Cyclocross Van Kansas Series.  Sadly Roger was not able to secure Saint Mary and moved his event across the street to the Leavenworth VA Medical Center.  

Last one?  I have heard this many times from my good friend Roger Harrison.  He says that this will be his last cyclocross race that he ever promotes.  I would not bet money on it.   This year Roger teamed up with Big D Cycling to promote the 2014 Veterans Cyclocross race.  They did a great job together and put on a very fun event. 

Carolynn and I were out taking some photos: 2014 Veterans Cyclocross Photos .  My photos of the Cat 4 was taken after consuming several beers but after reviewing them they actually came out great.  Maybe that is my new secret to great photos.

Prior to the race Roger announced that I had won a special award for the best looking racer with the longest hair.  I can not argue with that award and happily accepted a haircut  and style from Tom and Ann's in Leavenworth, KS.   Also got a free wax job.  It has been a long time since I got a Brazilian.....

Big D Cycling provided the food.  Post race I had one of the brats.  Very tasty if I do say so myself.

It was fun racing with my teammates today.  Doug Stone had a lot on the line with the KBCXR series title.  He got off to a fast start ahead of Rick Moseley.

There was a little crash in the first turn.  During warmups I just new someone would go down and it turned out to my by teammate Damian Almanza along with a few others.  I narrowly avoided the pileup.

I settled into a comfortably hard pace early on.  I wanted to ride strong for the entire 45 minutes and have my last 3 laps my fastest.  This season I have been along side David Romisch several times.  He paced me on the second lap just before the barriers.

I decided to pick up the pace mid race and actually brought back David and passed him.  The effort was short lived and David got back by during the last few laps when I burped my rear tire and had to slow the pace. 

My main goal for the day was to try to place in the top 3 in the 45-49 division.  My second goal was to beat David and Damian.  Both goals were reach  :-)

Roger put a $50.00 bounty on Steve Songer's head.  Any rider who beat him took home some gas money.  Steve worked his way through everyone except overall race winner Moseley. 

Overall I liked the course.  It was a bit fast and very bumpy in sections, but I did well on the tight corners.  Heck I even liked the very narrow course - no one could pass me there :-)  This course would have been great if it was muddy or snowed. 

I was happy to see the finish of the race.  The last 2 or so laps were hard.  I had burped my tire and lost about 10 psi.   The low pressure smoothed out the rough course but the turns were very tricky.  I should have just came in for bike change but the low tire really was not slowing my down much so I rolled on to the finish.

It took an act from Roger Harrison for me to actually win an award.  Roger gave out awards in 5 year age groups for the Masters.  With the competition this is actually a good idea.  An even better idea is to have a Masters A/B class.  The A class for Cat 1/2 masters.  The B class for Cat 3/4 masters.  

Doug Stone had another great event and took home the the series championship. 

Christopher tried to race the Kona single speed in the Men's Cat 4 class.  He got off to a strong start and looked good.  This lasted about 2 laps when he came in for a bike change and grabbed his old flat bar MTB bike that we built up for him.  Still unsure what to do for a bike for him.  He is about 6'1 now and needs a larger frame bike but his lack of training does not motivate me to spend the money on a new bike.  I was hoping that he would "earn" a new bike by putting in an honest effort to train some and not just show up on race day. 

I put my award to good use and consumed about 3 beers.  That is a lot for me but since Roger got Bud Light just for me and I was lucky enough to win an mug I just had to.

I am Pack Fodder

 

Two more cross races are in the books.  I can see very small improvements in my form but not much.  Having said that, it keeps me motivated somewhat but my results have not shown the hard work I have put in which is depressing.  Still, even being Pack Fodder I have enjoyed my cyclocross season.

A review of my last two races starting with the 360 Cup two weeks ago.

Day 1 of the 360 Cup brought cooler weather and high motivation to do well.  Course had a few cool features, but overall was a real power course.  Power is something I am down on now so my results were around mid-pack. 

A rider went down in my class on an off camber downhill section with a tight turn.  It was a little slick but nothing bad.  He ended up breaking his Fibula and Tibia clean through.  Pins were required and he should heal up fast.

There were 3 really tight sections of the course that caused havoc during some of the races.  I really did not care for these sections as it did nothing more than slow everyone down to a crawl and require a rider to accelerate hard out to get going again.  There were plenty of long fast straights for the power riders.  I like turns that allow a rider with skill to make up time or pass.  Corners that are narrow and tight do nothing but slow riders down which is fine if you need to slow them down for  scoring, but not to stimulate racing.

Day 2 of the 360 Cup saw Christopher test his legs again in cross.  He gets the award for the ugliest socks.

Christopher is focused mostly on school and girls.  The only riding he does is at the cross races and is hoping for a muddy cross race soon. 

Doug came out to race with me on Day 2.  He continued his strong cross season with a 2nd place against a solid field of racers.

Dan Hughes raced 3 events on Day 2.  Got up on the podium in two of the races - Cat 4/5 and Single Speed. Dan has a huge engine and endurance.  Two things I need right now.

For Day 2 the 360 Team changed up the course and put in a new section of turns.  The only problem was they were still very tight and only allowed one speed. 

This weekend brought us the Robidox Roundup Cyclocross in Saint Joesph, MO.   What a breath of fresh air.  The course was awesome and even had some short single track sections.  Christopher really liked the course.

The barriers were tall.  Even Christopher's tall frame had trouble getting over them.

The descents were a little slick but that was the fun part.  If you took the right line you could flow through them nicely and allowed a bit a recovery which you would need on the climbs. 

Course was great up in Saint Joesph.  Even the start was nice.  Kind of a "Moto" type start with a short sprint to the first turn.  Here Eric Burch gets the holeshot on the Masters 40+ field.

Corners were really setup nicely.  Lots of flow and they allowed you to keep your speed and pass.

There was an ass kicker of a climb.  I am sure glad I decided not to race in the single speed class because I think I would have broken a chain if my fat ass had tried to climb this monster on my single speed.

I went out hard at the beginning but could not keep up with the likes of Tige, Eric and Terry Higgins shown here passing me on a climb. 

Tom Price and Tige Lamb won the Masters 50+ and Masters 40+ respectively.  Tom killed it today.

I had two good laps in me on Sunday.  That was it.  My goal was to keep John Williams behind me during the first part of the race.  At least I accomplished one goal :-).  John had another solid race and finished in 5th place.  I would fall back to 8th by the end.

So far my season has been very unsuccessful.  Basically I am just Pack Fodder right now and I have to live with it.   I kind of feel like the Alaskan Pack Fodder.