Made It To Arkansas

After a long day of travel, with a midway stop at Montgomery Bell State Park to loosen up the legs on some sweet singletrack, Zeke and I finally arrived in Mountain View, Arkansas. This will be our base for Syllamo's Revenge.

Since Zeke had done this race before, he was given the task of acquiring a room for the 3 days that we would be here. All I requested was a coffee pot, microwave, frig, and wi-fi. Being the nutrition geek that I am these days, I like to bring all my food so that I know EXACTLY what food I am fueling my body with.

So when we pulled up to the Dogwood Inn, my first thoughts were "No Tell Motel." There was bird poop on the room door and a fly swatter on the AC unit. There was also a peculiar odor to the room, one that I did not quite recognize ... other than it not being smoke. But all the appliances worked, the bed was comfortable, and the shower hot. And the fly swatter works!

The funniest, or perhaps saddest, thing that happened to us on our drive here, was being "strafed" by a group of kamikaze honey bees. Yes, as we were speeding along at 70mph, the windshield was hit all at once by at least a hundred bees. It was so loud, it sounded like pea-size hail. At first I thought we were "poo'd" upon by a flock of birds. Then I noticed about 10 honeybee carcasses stuck on the windshield wipers.

I have never really thought about the carnage that occurs on my windshield on a daily basis. These poor bees, with legs full of pollen, dutiful little workers, on their way back to the hive to deliver food to the family, were now smeared across the truck, their lives snuffed out in a second. I had a small "Awww...." moment. Back to reality ... now we had to stop and clean the windshield so that we could see where we were going!

Tomorrow is a recon of the first section of the race. From what I have been told, it is an all out start on a fireroad climb, about 1 mile, to get the "hole" shot into the singletrack, where, for the next 49 miles, it is difficult to pass.