Training Log Archive: kgeisen

Rode down to rich mtb general store for a big breakfast plus food to go, then Steve the owner chased me down in his car a few miles later to give me a bag of pork jerky bc I’d mentioned him having it last year.

Most of the route was downhill or rolling. Really fun riding. At Bates turned off the ARHC route to avoid climbing Poteau Mtn (site of my last year breakdown) again and met up with @Rocky33, who’d ridden my way from the other direction. SO MUCH FUN to ride together and talk, especially on a section where I felt good and she didn’t have to watch too much walking.

Camped at an informal campsite back in the route.

C • So fun! 2

Ate a huge (delicious) breakfast at the Hatfield C store. Life changing

Felt great and strongly the rollers leading to QWSP, then almost all walking once I hit the gravel road up Rich Mtn. Camped at the SP cg, ate huge dinner at the lodge (so weird to see it so empty in these covid times). Lots of time to relax at cg. Neighbors were really interested in what I was doing, lent me an extra blanket, sang songs and played guitar around their campfire. . Really nice, relaxing evening.

Sugar Creek to Hatfield, finishing out the rest of the previous day’s route. Very cool in the morning.

Last year this was the first part of my day 3 and felt utterly redeeming after a rough day previously. Felt kind of the opposite this year. Absolutely beautiful section but more climby than I’d remembered and my legs were dead.
Disheartening...and yet this year was 40 minutes faster for this section than last year.

Crystal Springs to Shady Creek

Aerah dropped me off in CS, allowing me to skip another 20 miles of highway riding. Nice paved country roads followed by beautiful gravel. No rind advisory today but the wind was WAY worse than yesterday.

Still, this day was literally the only reason I hadn’t gone home yet. Finally a high of 80 after days of 100+ heat index. Seemed crazy to suffer through the shift weather and skip the nice weather, even though riding put me in a way more inconvenient place to get picked up.

This was once of my favorite parts of the route last year. Moondance Rd to Mt. Ida, then Little MO falls/Albert Pike Rec Area, then (the part I’d forgotten) over Buckeye Mtn. Stayed at Shady Rest Cabins again.

This day was the exact same section I covered on day 2 of last year’s race, and it was interesting to compare how I felt. Last year I felt like I was crawling and was so dispirited. This year I looked at the elevation screen on my Garmin (not sure I'd discovered this yet at the same point in last year's race) and realized I was going subtly uphill for a while, which might explain a little of why it felt hard last year.

Still, my moving time this year was almost an hour shorter and my elapsed time was 3.5 hours less. Last year I did waste about 45 minutes looking for a non-existent informal campsite, but still.

Instead of subway/gas station food combo like last year, this year I stopped in the grocery store to resupply. Even with not being particularly efficient I made solid choices for WAY cheaper than C-store or restaurant $$.

Nice, cool morning. About 40 miles of pavement to get to the gravel, but crossing the Big Dam Bridge was cool. Pretty good morning, really windy but that didn’t bother me as much as the super soft gravel once I finally hit Tram Rd. Sky stayed overcast for quite a while, keeping temps manageable for longer than usual. Once it cleared up, though, it was pretty miserable. Aerah picked me up about 10 mi outside of Hot Springs so I could avoid the busy highway miles in the heat. Knowing I’m not going to finish the route is awesome bc I don’t have to worry about staying on course or riding every inch. Rode through Pinnacle Mtn SP, Tram Rd, Flatside Pinnacle vista point

Hiked up the (wet, rocky) Trail (in bike shoes) to see the vista point view. Worth it.

Walking to get breakfast and the next days race good before the rain hit.

Took a zero day at the hotel because a big storm (remains of Cristobal) was supposed to settle over the area of the route we'd be crossing through and after getting caught in that huge storm at the end of ARHC 2019 I was pretty nervous about a repeat in the middle of nowhere. In retrospect I'm not sure I'd repeat the decision since we just got a lot of rain and not until 11 am.

Woolly Hollow SP to Maumelle. Morning miles to Greenbriar felt great in the cool. Stopped for McD's breakfast and some discussion about group plans moving forward. Good morning ride until we stopped in Conway for Tracy's bike repair. The owner was very nicely coming in 2 hours early (10), but we got there at 9 and didn't get out of there until after 10:30.

Other than buying a pair of swiftwick socks to replace the Darn Tough hiking socks that were proving to be a poor choice for cycling, I didn't need anything there, and in retrospect waiting for T's stuff to get done was a mistake because basically I just whiled away the last comfortable parts of the day.

Lack of resources on the route between Maumelle and Hot
Springs kind of necessitated a stop there unless I wanted to attempt a 150-mile day or roll up for some sleep on a porch in the middle of nowhere (big no to either option), so this was planned to be a short, easy recovery day. But it was ungodly hot and almost entirely exposed to the sun. It actually reminded me a lot of Dirty Kanza.

Got to see Rocky33 and ride with her a bit! :) She got a close-up seat at the walking up hills that don't warrant walking show as I was so done by that point.

Fifty-Six to Mountain view (the rest of Saturday’s planned route). IIRC, this was faster than when I did this part last year, but I may just remember wrong.

Speedy ride into Blanchard Springs, then long walk up an overgrown forest road for a couple miles. Lovely, cool, misty morning. Good riding once back on gravel, past a couple Syllamo trailheads and into the town of Allison before some long paved climbs to Mountain View.

Mountain View to Woolly Hollow SP. The big climb out of MV was paved but still mostly walking. Hot again but with considerably more shade and creeks to soak my clothes. Filled my sports bra with ice twice. Focused on doing better with getting in electrolytes. Still hard, particular in the end when in the sun, but way better than day 1.