After the trip to Bentonville, the Blades family headed back to continue our regular schedule of events. AKA work and school.
The AK crew got to play for a while longer, Monday - Thursday were play days for them. On the Friday they all headed towards Oklahoma City to stay the night at our place before flying out on the Saturday. The plan was they would get a ride in along the way, before coming to stay at my place.
The problem I was facing is that the Oklahoma trails close due to rain, wet trails and clay soil = ruts and poor riding in the future. They even have a system to keep track on what trails are open and closed. Link to trail closure page.
It had rained on and off all week and was looking like everything would be closed. A little more research revealed that St Crispins was open. I sent the AK crew an address and Megan (she had come in to OKC on Thursday) and I met the rest of the AK crew at the trail head.
Getting ready to ride - PC Andy
I had done very little research into the trails at St Crispin's and as we started riding along the yellow trail I was a very apprehensive. The trail was in the woods but very tame. As we approached the lake at a reasonable pace we dropped into a technical rocky section. It was totally unexpected and a blast to ride. The trails continued to surprise me for the duration of the ride with technical climbs and descents linked together with fast and flow sections.
Although the trails were a little wet from all the rain, due to the rocky nature of the area the trails were grippy and not muddy.
After around 8 miles we hit the road where the blue trail was currently closed. We made the decision to turn around and re ride all the trails we had just ridden in the opposite direction. The fun downhills now became technical climbs and the climbs fun descents. Looking at Strava I believe most people ride the trails only one way (Yellow to Blue), which is a real pity as they ride well in both directions. Note we all had to walk a couple of sections in both directions on the trails.
Chasing Megan again... some things never change.
- PC Megan
Another rocky step up - PC Jason
End of the Purple trail - PC Megan
It was a great set of trails to get out and ride with some of the top riders from Alaska. I was reminded how much I miss riding with these people and how I really need to find more people down here to ride off road with.
Hopefully I will keep finding little gems of trails in the surrounding area so as when people visit, I have great options to take them riding on.
The epic ride series had its final round in Bentonville, Arkansas on the weekend of the 5-7th October 2018. Megan was finishing up her Pro series and a hoard of Alaskans made the trip down to race and spectate.
Given this trail network is only 4 hours away from where we now live it would have been silly not to get out to the event, if not to ride, at least to see all of our friends.
The trail network in the area is impressive and due to the unique geography of the area, manages to put a lot of elevation changes into each trail, though I will say the rocks are sharp, more on that later.
After a summer off the bike, I was a little apprehensive about racing the 50 mile event so initially I signed up for the 35mile event. Since signing up I managed to get in a few miles and, a couple of weeks ago I was also able to change my entry from the 35mile to the 50mile event.
We arrived in Bentonville around 4pm on the Friday afternoon. After meeting up with everyone we headed over to watch the pro's race in the fat tire criterium. As ever with these events the racing was fast and furious. Pizza was on the cards for dinner then we headed over to where the Alaskans were staying, there was enough space to park Baby Groot at the house they had rented.
All of the amateur crew then checked over bikes and loaded them up for the early start the next day. The race starts at 07:30 on the Saturday morning, so soon it was off to bed for an early night.
Saturday morning rolled around far too quickly for me, I didn't sleep well. At 06:15 we headed into town to ensure we had good starting positions for the rollout. We need not have worried though as it was super quiet at the start until around 07:00.
AK guys pre race - PC Janice Tower
At 07:30 the shots were fired and we were off, the pace was high for the non neutral roll out, I sat in with a group and we shared the workload until the singletrack started at around mile 8.5 and 25min of racing. As ever with these events some of the faster road riders are definitely not the faster singletrack riders, but within a couple of miles things have started to spread out and people appeared at least to be riding a little more confidently.
A little before the first aid station at mile 15 it started to rain. Not knowing the trails and how they react to rain meant that everyone seemed to be riding a little more cautiously over the rocks and wooden sections. The aid station passed before I knew it, at mile 15 and 1hr 5min in. I didn't stop, and it would seem many who were riding around me didn't. More singletrack sweetness followed the aid station. As we climbed alongside a road I made the choice to stop and take off my glasses and have some food. I was stopped for less than a minute but it was a smart choice. I don't think I would have made aid station two at mile 30 without the stop, or been able to see much more as my glasses kept fogging up.
A little way further down the course the trail popped out onto a road and I was able to take in some more nutrition; I also saw Dave and family out supporting which was a big moral boost. More sublime singletrack followed and after stopping for a bacon and beer stop at around 2hrs 15min, thanks trail fairies, we started a longer downward trending trail. The next thing I heard was psssstttttt, oh shit I had a flat. I was riding along and being sprayed with sealant from my front tyre; I have no idea what I had hit. I stopped to check the tyre, the leak appeared to be stopping. I continued riding, hit a bump and it started spraying sealant again! But, I decided to continue along the trail as I knew I was close to the 30mile checkpoint and if it went completely flat I would tube it.
I heard the noise from the 30mile checkpoint before I could see it, and was being cautious on the descent into the checkpoint as my front tyre appeared to have sprung another leak. I rolled in and saw a track pump, an aid worker added air to my front tyre, another filled my waterbottle and a third guy offered me dry gloves. My wife and friends were there cheering me on and in a few short minutes I was off again with dry hands, about to ride Ledges.
At this point my front tyre had finally stopped leaking. I passed a girl going into Ledges and had the trail mostly to myself for the full run; I cleaned everything once I had passed the girl. I did manage to get a flat on my rear tyre, but this time the sealant did it's thing. What is it with the sharp rocks out there?
The checkpoint at 40 miles came around really fast, in my head at least. In actual fact it took me 1hr 3min to get between them. Another refill of the bottle and some pickle juice to prevent the cramps and I was off for the final 10ish miles. I was expecting some singletrack, paved trails and a little climbing. I was not expecting Sally (the trail!). Luckily for me I was following a couple of the pro riders who were out practicing for Sunday. When I could keep them in sight, they sure were good at picking great lines.
After what seemed like forever I could hear the finish line announcers and I joined the road where I could see my wife cheering me on. I pedaled as hard as I could towards the finish and stopped the clock at 4:56:31 to take 60th place overall.
I had a blast racing and although I didn't win or get anywhere close, I do think I managed to fuel pretty well and finish strong.
Full results here
Post race in the sun with the Alaskan crew PC - Janice Tower
Comparing to the Whiskey 50
At the Whiskey I cramped a bunch and finished around 1hr 10min behind the leader. At Oz Trails I finished within 1 hr of the leader. I also closed the gap on the guys I used to train with in Anchorage, finishing within 15 min of Andy and 12 min of Tom, compared to 35min of Andy and 25min of Tom at the Whiskey. All in all a good day on the bike.
Chasing Megan
Megan has raced the whole Epic rides series this year as a pro. Although I have only managed to see her at two of the four races, the difference in her between the two rides was huge. At the Oz Trails event she was cool calm and collected before the race compared to being very nervous at the Whiskey. As far as I am concerned at all events, she has absolutely crushed the courses. The pro's raced the same course as the amateur's at the Oz trails and Megan put the same time or faster on the Strava segment as all the Alaskans, aside from her Husband (and even that was close). At the Oz Trails, Megan finished in 10th place, and I THINK 6th overall in the Epic rides series.
It has been a real pleasure to watch her race, as ever she is always smiling.
