Syllamo's Revenge 2011

Head up to Mt. View Arkansas a few days early for Syallamo's Revenge which will be on Saturday, May 14, 2011. My mom is in tow which is usual for these events. Haven't been to this race since 2008.

I get to Mt. View, get checked into the hotel and head over to the trail to take a little spin. I am on my ss and running 32x21. I spin around a bit and then take on the 1 mile climb with about a 11 percent grade. I don't kill myself on the climb. Once at the top, I turn right onto the single track and ride it for a couple of miles before it startes getting muddy. I turn around and ride back out to the jeep road climb, go furter up it and then head back to the car. I get about a hour of riding in. Get back to the hotel and mom and I go and get some dinner.

Friday morning, I head back to the trail and catch the Bad Branch section, which is about 13 miles of the sweetest flowing single track of the entire Syllamo's trail. I ride it at a pretty chill pace, finish up and head back to the hotel. Mom and I then go up into town where she can check out the shops and I pick up my registration packet. We catch dinner and get back to the hotel.

A storm rolls thru and it rains a good 2 inches or so before morning.

I get up Saturday morning to temps in the low 50's with a stiff northish wind. I get over to the race start and boom, it is on.

I ride pretty hard for the first 1/4 mile to make it do the climb before all of the really slow folks. I enter the climb and then set into my pace grinding out the next 1 mile. I make the top of the climb and then take the right turn into the single track.

The trail, which usually drains really well, is showing signs of the 2 inches of rain the nite before and the 10 or so inches of rain in the last 10 days or so. It is not long before folks are dismounting and making their way over mud and water slickened rocks that are virtually unrideable. The going is pretty slow due to all of the riders in front of me dismounting and navigating the rocks. All is well because it is doubtful that I could of ridden these sections anyways.

About mile 6 or so, I see Cope pushing his bike against the flow of traffic. He tells me that his steerer tube has cracked and he is done.

A few miles later, I have to stop and remove my long sleeve base layer because I am heating up bad, even thou the temps are still in the mid 50's.

I get going again and a few miles later, I notice my front tire getting really soft. I stop and air it up and get going again. Probably 1 mile later, I pull into the first aid station at about mile 15 and the tire goes completely flat. I put 1 of the 3 tubes that I am carrying into the front tire and get going again.

In probably less than a mile or so, I hear the rear tire loosing air every now and again. My sealant is trying to seal the tire so I am hopeful. The tire keeps loosing air and I stop and add air to it a time or two.

At around mile 25, I come back by the first aid station and use a floor pump to add more air to the tire. I then see a Big Pig rider, roady, who is out of the race due to a mechanical. I ask him if he has any tubes he can spare and he gives me 2.

I take off and within a couple of miles, the rear tire gets really low so I stop and put my second tube in. I get rolling again and within 3 or 4 miles, the rear tire goes flat again. I stop again and put my third tube of the day into the rear tire.

The next 5 or 6 miles are pretty uneventful. Just lots of mud and really misreable trail conditions in the bottom areas that we are riding.

I make it to checkpoint 3 which is around mile 37 or so. I now get to do the Bad Branch section which I had ridden the day before. I knock this section out in little more than an hour and roll back into checkpoint 3 which is now checkpoint 4.

From here, I have about 1 mile or so of single track and then I get to bomb down the 1 mile climb that started this thing.

I roll across the finish line in 7:35.

It goes without saying that I never got into a rythm on this one. Probably wasted atleast 1 hour dealing with the tire and flat issues.

Oh well. I did not hurt myself or destroy my bike so all was good.

It will probably be another 3 years, if ever, before I go back to Syllamos. All 3 times I have done this race it has been a wet and muddy mess and I hate those type of conditions.

Later,

Steven