I Wanna Rock!!!!!!

Really, that is I want A rock, not I want To rock. Subtle difference. The rock of course is one of the Syllamo's Revenge Trophies. Why? For starters, check out the pimp Award Trophy's. These bad boys are much more impressive in person. Last year, the winner could barely pick his up by himself.



Syllamo's Revenge is the highlight of my race season. For me anyway it is the single most difficult event held in the state of Arkansas, and likely in the eastern US. (Of course exclude ultra-endurance 12-24 hour stuff...that's a different category.) I know the Ouachita Challenge is longer and you have Blowout & Brushy Mountains to contend with, but each of the two times I've finished the OC and SR I clearly felt that Syllamo was harder on me. It's a full body 50 mile beatdown. It is the ultimate mountain bike race. Almost 100% singletrack. You have to be in peak form of fitness and skill just to finish the damn thing. I'm not positive, but have been told there is over 5000 feet of climbing, not to mention the gnarliest decents & technical riding you'll find on an xc trail. Mix that in with the Bad Branch Loop where you can just lock it in and big-ring it for 12 miles or so, and it's a real test.

As I mentioned above, I've finished it twice. That's exactly how many times I've started it. Most folks will tell you that batting 1,000 at the Revenge is pretty damn good. I haven't had a single mechanical issue there or even a flat tire. But for some reason, I still feel the mountain bike gods owe me out there. (See Todd's involuntary dismount in the middle of Livingston Creek with water temp about 40 degrees. Going down. All in!) That water was eff'in cold!

In 2007 I rode the Revenge with my buddy James. We chilled out and rolled in at about 9:15 or so. Last year I ventured out solo and shaved about 3 hours off that time down to 6:32. Not a bad improvement. But for some reason I just have to believe I have more in me. Third place in Men 30-39 last year was 5:13. Why am I looking at third? That's the last rock! So...Is it possible for me to knock better than an hour off my time? I don't know. I'm not physically or genetically gifted enough for me to pull it off without some serious training. And I don't know if I can train enough to do it. We'll see. Truthfully, if I went sub-6 hour I would be happy. But damn I want to win in this race worse than any other. So much so that I'm using the Spa City 6 Hr and the Ouachita Challenge strictly as training events. In each of those I plan on tinkering with my bike setup (tire choice, pressure, fork pressure, etc...), strategy (start fast, start slow, ??), hydration and nutrition selection, etc. I'm planning on riding the carbon fiber-sex on the trail-Orbea Alma this go round. It's a hot bike no doubt, and a full 7 lbs and change lighter than the reliable monster truck-roll over anything-Titus I've ridden the last two years, but can I ride a hard tail over 50 miles of Chief Syllamo's most brutal singletrack at race pace? Yet to be seen. But I'm going to try it. I'm hoping carrying 7 lbs less weight alone will buy me 30 minutes...Maybe that's wishful thinking though...

More to come...

First Lager

After a half dozen or so batches of homebrew ales, I've got my first lager in fermentation. Today it was time to move the sinister strawberry lager to secondary fermentation.

I know it looks like refuse from an urban sewage treatment plant, but let me assure you, about the time of Syllamo's Revenge I won't be able to keep enough of this stuff. So anyway, I racked the brew to secondary, and in 6-8 weeks I'm thinking we'll be knockin these cold ones down.

After a hellacious week at work, a disheartening feeling of reality regarding my mountain biking potential (more on that to come), and just generally a hectic day, it was nice to chill at the house, drink some homebrew, and work on the next batch.

What's Next?

So...After a 2008 in which Bell & Co Mtn Biking shocked the world (or at least the world of Arkansas Mtn Biking) by winning the Fat Tire Fest Team Competition, laying claim to 6 individual state championships, and coming in second in the Class A team competition, how possibly could the team follow that up in 2009? Well I'll tell ya...how about co-sponsoring a race at Camp Robinson to get it back on the AMBCS schedule after a multi-year hiatus and adopting a section of the Ouachita Trail.

For those that may not know, the Ouachita Trail is a jewel smack dab in the central US of A. Go to http://www.friendsot.org/ for the full low-down, but the short story is that it is a 223 mile trail stretching from Talimena St. Park in Oklahoma east through the Ouachita Mountains and ends at Pinnacle Mtn State Park right here in Little Rock, AR. What a resource!

Well...back to the trail adoption...Anyway, Bell & Co Mtn Bike Racing has adopted part of Section 8 from Mile Marker 133.6 to 136.1. This past weekend 8 of us went out to scope the trail and conduct our first trail work day. Richard Bell, Clayton Bell, Jeff Lovelady, Greg Jeffers, Zane Jeffers, Kevin Williams, Curtis Racher and yours truly all braved 10 hours in sub-freezing weather to do our civic duty for the greater good of the hiking and biking community. It didn't feel like work one bit. I forgot just how fantastic pretty much every step of the OT is. We blew leaves, lopped most face slappers and knee slappers, weedeated, cut down trees, and built 2 jumps just for the bikers! Also on this section is the Big Branch Primitive shelter. What a great shelter in a beautiful valley. We even thought we heard a black bear, but turns out that was Kevin (don't go there). After the work was done, we devoured every crumb of food we brought, then headed to Hot Springs Village for pizza & beer. What a way to unofficially get started on the season. 2009 is gonna be great!

I forgot my camera, so pictures to come once I get some emailed to me. Till then, happy trails!

Here we go...

So...I came to the conclusion that I needed to start blogging. Let's see how this works. If you're reading this bear with me as I figure this thing out. Amanda finally talked me into starting facebook last week. So in about 7 days I've gone from using email as a necessary evil straight into the throws of 21st century social networking...