okearthbike.com | 03/29/2003 - 2003 Ouachita Challenge

2003 Ouachita Challenge

A Challenge Indeed...

For years Clifton had talked about how great an event the Ouachita Challenge is. Even though the format has changed over the years the most important ingredients have remained the same; an endurance mtb ride in Arkansas that includes the Womble trail and the Ouachita trail, some of the sweetest single track in the USA. For those who are not familiar with the Womble and Ouachita trails, they are just 5 hours South-East of OKC.
When I decided to sign up I wasn't even sure if I would make the registration list. You see, there was a limit of 200 riders and when I mailed in my form there were already 188 riders signed up. I wasn't too dissappointed when 2 weeks later the final list was published and my name was not on it. But my luck changed, only a week later the limit was increased from 200 to 250 and suddenly my name was on the list. The interesting thing was, there were only a few people from Oklahoma signed up, and Walt Brittain was the only one I knew.
When I saw my name on the list I quickly realized I had a big problem; 3 spare tires around my waste and not enough time (lame excuse) to get rid of them! But I did remember why I signed up in the first place, to ride some of the best single track around! I have ridden some great, and well known, trails in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New-Mexico so it's easy to forget about how good the Womble trail is, even though I have ridden it several times as part of the OEF Womble Weekends. It has everything that a single track junkie like myself wants to experience on a good mtb ride; fast flowing sections, slow & technical stuff, difficult climbs, lots of contour type trail, creek crossings and a lot of scenic stops along the way. And for the first time I was going to ride it the 'opposite' way, the way the locals ride it. Since I had never ridden the Ouachita trail I could only go by the many stories I had heard; how much more difficult it is than the Womble, extreme, brutal, etc. So I was looking forward to start riding that section after 40 miles of Womble... Yes, the most difficult sections were scheduled for later in the day. Really my only objective was to have a good time and ride as far as I could. I had ridden maybe 2-3 hours a week in the months prior to this event, now it was time to ride 60 miles with 5,000 or so feet of climbing in only one day...

Ouachita Challenge Profile

On March 29th Walt and I joined the other 248 riders at 8 in the morning in Oden, on a day that turned out perfect for riding. The temperature never went above 50 but also never dropped below 40. The wind was out of the North but the Sun was out most of the day - not like last year when most people never made it to finish because of the rain and low temps. Walt and I were going to ride together as long as our pace was compatible. We would go our separate ways if things didn't work out but we ended up riding 95% of the time together. My objective was to ride smart, ride an easy pace and make sure to eat something every hour. The ride started on the road, after a few miles the pack was already spread out and we didn't have any problems when we hit the first single track section and small stretch of road that would bring us to North Fork lake (where the OEF Womble 'hardcore' rides always ended). We started to grind our way up the trail looking for the good stuff - fast downhill's! This trail is good for those that know the art of ascending AND descending. The steeper climbs require good balance, an eye for the best line and a good dose of commitment, otherwise you'll be walking quite a few sections. On the descents it really helps if you can read the terrain and don't use the brakes like on-off switches. It's all about keeping the momentum going for ya! After only 10 miles it was clear that this was going to be a good day!
During the ride we would talk to other riders when we were traveling in groups. There is nothing better than railing a trail with a bunch of good riders - you know what I'm talking about... Anyway, we were making good progress and were ahead of 'schedule'. There were several checkpoints put in place that you had to reach before a certain time. If you were too late you would not be allowed to continue to prevent that people would be out in dark without lights. We never had a problem with this, even though we probably stopped for at least 5-10 minutes every hour. The checkpoints had plenty of water and food; the organization was excellent. But we didn't just rely on the event organizers to bail us out - besides the 3 spare tires around my waste I brought my HAWG filled with goodies; 100 ounces of Gatorade, a bagel, 2 bananas, numerous bars and gels and some beef jerky. Besides food I carried some tools, 2 tubes, a shock & tire pump, my (infamous) box of screws, bolts & nuts, some zip-ties, a shifter cable, a small first aid kit and last but not least, my 10 year old camera. Fortunately we didn't need any tools, or even worse, the first aid kit. We had no mechanicals and didn't have any crashes...
Even though we were riding a pretty decent pace and passed a number of people, we also got passed by the locals - who were riding their single speeds... Those guys rule! One particular group of 4 riders motored by us and made it all look way too easy. That doesn't necessary mean that you'll see me riding my single speed next year :-)
Eventually we arrived at the last checkpoint/bail out, appropriately named 'Gut Check', 40 miles into the ride, at the bottom of Suck Mountain. We did the spare tire check, ate some food and rode on. The hike-a-bike up Suck Mountain literally sucked! At the top it connects to the Ouachita trail, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - a little rougher than the Womble but still a good ride. Both of us started to feel tired though. It started to show on the technical (downhill) sections; we were all over the place. The climbs were also more difficult but I managed to clean some tricky stuff and that really helped me with staying positive. After several more miles of up-down-up-down sections we reached the last long downhill, a section with 40 or so dirt jumps! My upper body was toast by the time we finally reached the road, which would lead us to the finish back in Oden. 6 miles later we reached that finish, after 8 hours of being 'out there'. What a ride!!!
I can only highly recommend this event. The organization was great. Mike Kelsey really knows what he's doing and for only 25 bucks you can't go wrong. Way Too Much Fun for that kind of money! Thank you Mike Kelsey and all the volunteers! I also owe Walt a thank you for hanging with me; I know you could have finished way ahead of me. Charles Long, thanks for tuning my bike before this ride - it was perfect.
I only took a few pics. I just couldn't ask Walt to ride sections over and over again to get the perfect shot - that's what I normally 'ask' from 'my' photo b!tches :-)

Official Ouachita Challenge website.