We made it after a loooong car drive! After holing up for the night in Fort Smith, we went straight to one of the trailheads about 20 miles into the race course.
From our team, Namrita, Eddie, Jeff, and myself are here to race. It’s so great to see Namrita and Eddie again! They live in Georgia.
It’s so handy to have the sprinter van. The FJ Cruiser is a really cool car, but with the size of our team, we have outgrown it for road trips.
HUGE HUGE thanks to Crank Brothers for rebuilding and replacing some parts on all my pedals. They are ready to go!!
And then it was onto the singletrack. I haven’t ridden singletrack in awhile, and it was evident that my technical skills were rusty.
The trail is completely covered in leaves making some of the rock gardens hard to navigate.
Unfortunately, I went down pretty hard today and slammed my knee on a root. It hurt so bad on the ride I felt like barfing. Fortunately, it wasn’t right on the joint, but just below it so it should be just a minor annoyance by Sunday.
There is a lot of water around here! I remember one of the river crossings last year was so big and fast that there was a rope we had to hold onto to get across!
Quartz is huge in this region. In fact, last year’s trophy was a huge chunk of quartz. Pretty cool. Everything in the small towns is pretty rustic and quaint.
Me and Namrita!
We have some nice digs… staying in a small cabin right on Lake Hamilton. What a contrast to the massive amounts of snow that got dumped at home. However, that means the storm is headed this way in the form of rain. Will I have to race 60 miles in a rainstorm? Either way, bring it on epic shit!
(googled the race and found your site)…awesome that you guys made it to arky for the race. if you are in hot springs for any time at all, for a bite to eat, check out doe’s famous eat place or mcclard’s.
p.s. our bikes live in singletrack and leaf strewn rock gardens around here. good luck guys!