Last weekend, I made the last – minute decision to race the Ouachita Challenge gravel race. This was the second year they would have a gravel race on Saturday ahead of the well-known mountain bike race on Sunday. Even though there were only about 200 riders in the field, there looked to be plenty of strong riders there and it promised for some fun and competitive racing.
https://www.strava.com/activities/6886390258/overview
We drove down Friday afternoon and set up camp on the banks of the Ouachita River – there are no hotels within a reasonable distance of the course – and then I went out to preview the final miles of the race route. The 61-mile course has a couple of moderate climbs in the first 25 miles, followed by mostly flat roads leading up to one final half-mile climb that tops out four miles from the finish line. From looking at the profile and past experience riding on roads in that area of the state – the surface is smoother than what we have in the Ozarks – I wanted to experiment racing with clip-on aero bars, something I haven’t tried yet in a mass start gravel race. My belief was that the clip-on bars would aid me in sustaining a long range solo attack over the climb at mile 24, or help me in a drag race to the finish if I tried to launch a move over the final climb.
It was cold at the start, but it promised to warm up quickly and be a beautiful day in the Ouachitas. The racing was fairly calm at the start, and a large front group of around 30 to 40 riders was together as we hit the first checkpoint at mile 15. A mile later, we came to a creek crossing where the smooth gravel surface gave way to large rocks. As I rode out of the water I felt the rim on my front wheel making contact with the rocks; I had sliced a hole in the sidewall almost an inch long. A plug wouldn’t work, but for some reason I tried that anyway. By the time I had a tube in the tire and was ready to go, I had been stopped for 8 minutes. Part of me wanted to give up and ride in easy, but instead I went into chase mode, trying to catch as many racers as I could. At the very least it would be good training.
For the last 45 miles of the race I rode solo, getting in the aero bars as much as I could.On the second big climb, I passed several riders who had passed me while I was repairing my tire, but after that I would ride for long stretches without seeing any other racers. Finally, with about 20 miles left I started to see some groups of riders who had been with me when I flatted. The closer I got to the front of the race, the harder it became to keep closing gaps to the groups in front. I caught up to Cole Tininenko and Olivier Laviguer with 10 miles to go just as they finished fixing a flat, and that gave me hope that there might be more riders within striking distance. I passed a few racers on the final climb, and from there it was just 10 more minutes on a flat and downhill stretch into the finish. As I entered the final mile of the race I saw a lone rider ahead of me on the road. I tried to dig deep to catch him before the line, but couldn’t quite make it. That rider ended up being Neil Simmons, who grabbed the final podium spot of the gravel-only category (9 other riders in front of us were also competing in the mountain bike race on Sunday and scored in a separate category).
I was quite a bit surprised to have come within 14 seconds of the podium after the setback earlier in the race. Sometimes finishing in fourth can be disheartening, but this time I knew I had given it everything I could. Apart from the bad luck, I really enjoyed the race on what I thought was a nice course, and hopefully I will get to go back next year a little better prepared for the challenge.
Andrew Evans 