That's what everyone says until they do it... then it's always... "here's what I'm going to do to to my setup for next time".
Ive ridden and raced all kinds... MTB, road, cross, gravel... It's the gravel adventures that produce the best times and the best stories. I did the Ouachita challenge...
I'd say 80% back gravel roads from Tulsa, north past Bartlesville on all back gravel roads... we went through 1 town called Barnstall where the water is not safe to drink... the gas station had twinkies and gatorade though, so it was alright :)
Last year I posted about this same thing that ended with me looking like the elephant man from an allergic reaction... this one was better. Except I did it sick... was going to conquer this thing once and for all sick or not. Here are a few photos, and a ride breakdown enjoy.
Day One 72 miles...
OG not being a dick... but definitely has a different view of "usual day on the bike". 40 miles is not a "usual" MTB ride for me, and I ride over 700 miles a month.
Specifically this one is the one that's got my blood boiling. I'm going to build up an Ultegra one for her with 50/34 x 12x30 gearing (just incase), and some 40mm Challenge gravel grinders set up tubeless, wheels will likely be the same that I run on my BSB, DT350s laced to Velocity A23...
There are 2 guys in my neck of the woods that have those, pretty sweet.
I almost bought a vintage one a a few years ago... aluminum luggled carbon bike. I lost the Ebay battle :(
Bring food enough to eat about 100 calories every half hour. On long rides 5+ hours, its critical not only to bring food but remember to eat it at regular intervals, even it you aren't hungry. So make sure you have stuff you enjoy, no one feels motivated to eat a cliff bar... Some of my...
GF has me selecting parts and building the perfect weapon for the Land Run 100. And now I have the bike bug for myself... all the sexy steel rigs I've been looking for her has me wanting a new steel steed for myself.
More... cuz why not.
At the first summit.
Not sure how he made this look flat. I don't remember flat anywhere.
Break, regroup before climbing the wall of hell on the way back.
Camp.
It's easily as steep as it looks, and you're not even close to seeing the top. I believe this one continued up around the corner for another 5+ miles. It would climb out of sight to a turn, then you'd get to the turn and it would ascend more around another turn, and so on and so forth for what...
Here's a few more. 2nd day we did the climbs again on the way out but descended into the valley on the way back cut about 2k feet out of the day for a total of 12,000+ feet of climbing for the weekend.
Yep. 13% sucks.
Bike fixin.
Best bike lean photo of the weekend.
The hardman award...
7000 feet of climbing yesterday in about 3.5 hours. Biggest climb was a category 3, 6 mile climb with stretches of 14% grade. Felt like it was never going to end. One guy in our group brought a bike with lowest gear of 39x25. He was hurting.
Nuts are no longer allowed anywhere near my face ;)
Next trip will be Womble... more MTB oriented. This pavement sh!t is what happens when you date a roadie that eats centuries for breakfast. If only I could upload MTB skills into her head matrix style.
Gonna go attempt to rock out 150-200 miles out here... never been. Climbs are suppose to be legit and numerous, but the views, oh my.
I shall return with in-person photos of the badassery.
Yeah. I did, I didn't feel like I was going into shock or anything, it was purely swelling. So I was fairly certain that I was going to be able to get to an ER. But no question if I had started to whease, or struggle to breathe I wold have stabbed myself in the leg with that sucker.
Anytime I'm...
I found the bag itself to be quite nice, it just has 1 design flaw that kills the usability. DIrectly under the saddle where the webbing connects to the bag is a buckle that slides fore/aft on a piece of webbing. I'm not sure what the point of it is... but if you can move the buckle to the rear...
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