Mt. Magazine Area - May 16, 2009Three intrepid (meaning "without a lick of sense") LSR riders, Jeff, Geo, and I drove out to Arkansas to attempt the baddest looking 200K I've ever seen. The route begins in the podunk town of Havana, AR and almost immediately makes a 6.5 mile climb up to the the highest point in Arkansas. Then, after a long descent and a couple little climbs arrives at the first control in Paris, AR. Then, about 30 miles of fairly flat state highway to the base of the most brutal 2.5 miles and 1200 vertical feet I've ever seen to get to the top of Mt. Nebo. But wait. There's more. After the harrowing descent back down Nebo, there's the second half of the ride, including two more major climbs (though minor compared with what has already been done) before a nice flat run in to the finish. But, I get ahead of myself. The weather forecast called for 65% chance of thunderstorms until early afternoon, when the probability was to slowly decrease. So, I put on my Lion of Flanders Flahute socks packed a rain jacket to be prepared for the worst. Well, the Flahute socks did the trick and caused the front to pass through the area before sunrise taking nearly all the rain with it. Geo, Jeff, and I arrived at the start 15 minutes before go time. It took quite a bit longer to drive the 34 miles from our motel in Russelville. We really did not want to start late since we knew we would be losing a lot of time right off the bat climbing Mt. Magazine. But all worked out and we were able to start right on time at 7:30 AM. Two other riders, from Tennesee had signed up, but were no shows. So, it was just the three of us. The climb up Mt. Magazine was actually pretty easy. The grade is only about 7-8% at the worst but it goes on forever. I just found a good rhythm and kept grinding away. We had a pretty constant drizzle and light rain all the way up, but it was no factor. With plenty of recent rains, we saw a lot of small waterfalls along the road and I saw one deer ahead of me. It took us about a hour to make the climb, arriving at the top at 8:45. With a long downhill ahead, I felt pretty confident that we'd make the first time check without difficulty. The descent off Mt. Magazine isn't to bad. There's a few sharp turns so you have to keep speed in check. the road was wet from the rain as well, making brakes less effective so we really couldn't get as much speed as we might have liked. Not being familiar with the roa, we certainly didn't want to get up too much speed for fear of a swichback around the next bend. We all made it down without incident and passed the beautiful Cove Lake before making a short climb. then, it was pretty much flat to downhill into the control at Paris where the RBA, Dana Johnson was waiting to sign our cards. We made the control with 30 minutes in the bank. So far, so good. The drizzle had even stopped. My plan was to get to the base of Mt. Nebo, 35 miles away, with 2 hours in the bank. That should give plenty of time to get to the top of the 2.5 mile climb, even if we had to walk the whole thing. Fortunately, the route to Nebo is fairly flat and we had a little bit of tailwind. We made great time, passing the huge Benedictine Abbey in Subiaco and the only nuclear power plant in Arkansas, Arkansas One, just before the turn to Mt. Nebo. I arrived at the base of Nebo with almost three hours in the bank and felt very good. The sign at the base of the climb says, "Crooked and Steep". It's an understatement. The next hour was absolutely one of the most brutal few miles I've ever spent with a bike. I made it about halfway up this beast before the worst of the switchbacks finally broke me down and I took the Walk of Shame up most of the rest of the hill. there's about 12 switchbacks on this climb and the further up you go, the steeper they get. When I finally gave it up, I was barely able to make 3.5 mph. Walking, I could do 2.5 mph. So, I hung my head and walked. Jeff Elmer and George Elizondo proved their mettle by riding up every inch of that mountain. A hearty and well deserved congratulations to both of them for their perseverance in conquering that mountain. We all made the control with plenty of time to spare and after a good rest and photos, with dark clouds approaching, began our descent off the mountain with about an hour in the time bank. The descent down Mt Nebo is down the same, and only, road. My hands ached from squeezing the brakes to keep the bike from running away down through the switchbacks. I am very glad we didn't have to make that descent with wet brakes. Safe from the descent off Nebo, we made a quick run into Dardanell, AR then tuned south to head for Lake Nimrod. We made more good time to Ola, then turned left to make the four mile climb up Ola Mountain. This wasn't a bad climb with only the last mile being very steep, and that was only about 7-8% grade. Jeff and Geo were paying for their Mt. Nebo accomplishment though, and were starting to suffer from a bonk. The descent off Ola Mountain was fast with only a couple sharp curves, so we quickly dropped down to Lake Nimrod where we turned west to the control five miles away along the shores of the lake. We arrived at the control with about 2 hours in the bank, making up an hour from Mt. Nebo. Jeff and Geo were able to get a sandwich at the store which helped revive them for the last 26 miles and final climb ahead. With only 26 miles to go, and the shortest climb of the day ahead, we were feeling pretty good about the ride. The rain had held off all day, the temperatures were cool, and the scenery had been beautiful all day. So, off we went to Plainview, then west for five miles before turning north to Danville. Just before we reached the base of the last climb, we came upon a fellow on a Mt. Bike who lived in the area and had just ridden back and forth over this mountain twice. We talked a bit as he rode alongside us for about a mile before wishing us luck. The last climb. At the base was another of those "Crooked and Steep" signs. But, this was the smallest of the four climbs at only 1.4 miles and 400 ft. But it felt like more. The climb started out very steep, especially for our tired legs, but soon relaxed to a manageable grade and most of it was fairly easy in comparison to the others. After reaching the top, we had almost 3 miles of fast downhill that dropped us right into Danville. Cross the very swollen Petit Jean River, and we just had a flat 9 mile run to Havana. We could smell the barn and made a fast dash to the finish, arriving a few minutes before 6:30 PM and giving us a total time of just under 11 hours. Dana was waiting for us, as he was at every control on the route, to sign our cards. We thanked him for an excellent and challenging route and over the top support. We did it! The stats: This was a stunningly beautiful route. The scenic views along the climbs and at the mountaintops are gorgeous. The motorists were courteous. There was a bit of traffic on some of the roads - particularly the 30 mile stretch after Paris and about 10 miles after Dardanell. The road surface was wonderful. When's the last time you did a 200K with no chip seal? I commend Dana on putting together this route and highly recommend it. George Evans |
Ultra Distance Cycling in Arkansas
100k - 200k - 300k
100k - 200k
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