There are some rides worth just riding and there are some worth talking about. This past week Cole and I adventured in several new-to-us areas, making the best out of what could’ve been a very boring, sad trip.
It’s not in the littlest bit unusual for Cole to scout out gravel routes to ride wherever we go. Just an FYI, east Texas is very, very flat with the closest thing to resemble a gravel road is someone’s private drive. But this story doesn’t take us to Texas, but instead to rural Arkansas.
Now, during this time of year in Iowa, much of the cycling community is kicking into full RAGBRAI training mode. When I’m out and about and get asked if that’s what I’m training for, my answer has become “And then some.” This ride fell haphazardly into the “and then some” category.
Mena, Arkansas is a smaller community. Large enough for several hotels, gas stations, restaurants and I’m sure more. We really didn’t spend enough time in town to see all it has to offer. I will say that you should most definitely check out Fully Baked Cafe for breakfast! It was there that I finally started to feel like I was okay going for the ride we had planned. Cole had found a 31.9 mile that looked like there were a couple places we could short the route. We were both thinking along the line that a shortish gravel ride before we got on the road again would be nice.
Right away I said it wasn’t just going to be a little 30 mile, we needed to get to the route and our best option was going to be to park the car in town and ride the few miles to the route. The first 400 feet of climb were fairly smooth on some nice country pavement. It took a while longer for my breathing to adapt to the high level of humidity and even a little longer before I actually found myself enjoying the ride.
That’s just about when we finally reached the fun part of the route. The paved road fell apart into gravel and the adventure really began.
One of the things that I especially enjoy are rideable water crossings. This route had plenty! I lost count somewhere after 7 of them, we figured by the end there were at least 20 of them. The water through all the crossings was tinted a slight blue, which I’ve now figured out is from all of the limestone in the earth around the area (see this for more info). With each additional water crossing we came to, of course my confidence riding through them increased even more than usual.
One of the best parts of this route was that it was almost entirely covered in tree canopy. It was a very nice day out to start with, perfectly sunny, a few small clouds in the sky, upper 70’s (farenheit) and at times just the slightest breeze – enough that when you stopped you got a nice little cool down. Still, the tree canopy was a pleasure to be under, not really something we experience much at home.
As the day went on, we realized we were going to be out quite a bit later than we originally thought. So at that point, let’s take our time to smell the roses…or other flowers and take time for the pretty things – Cole had to do something to pass the time while he waited for me to climb all of the many, many giant hills. He failed to mention to me before we rode that part of the route is right in the heart of the Arkansas High Country course. I may now be considering riding that one day…
We really didn’t see many vehicles throughout the day. For the most part, the roads really were not conducive to driving them with anything but a 4WD. The one type of traffic we did see a bit of, and really only for a portion of the route, were a number of side by side ATVs. Can’t say I blame them, it was a great day for it and they were extremely courteous.
I spent a lot of this ride thinking about a lot of different things – my grandma and her cow collection (there were no cows on this route), my love for my granny gear (no one should ever say that it’s a terrible thing to be in your granny gear), and what kind of training this might qualify under. Would it be RAGBRAI training? No, not even close. Short miles, lots of hills, and no beer does not equal RAGBRAI training. Would it be Crusher training? Perhaps – all the elements were there: pavement, gravel, water crossings, hike a bike (I tried really hard to ride all the hills, I came very close but stopping to walk your bike is better than falling down a hill face first). P.S. The sand had nothing on the U.P. sand pits.
I mentioned there were hills right? The best part of the hills you ask, the descents! Pretty much every single climb was rewarded with a fitting and often gorgeous decent. Cole dropped him Embark maple syrup on one of these. I stopped to pick it up, I figured I would steal that from him at that point and I didn’t want to litter. Unfortunately the package had broken and there was now maple syrup everywhere – my hands, my handlebars, my seat, my water bottle…. you name it. Fortunately we weren’t too far in and there were still some homes around and I found an outside garbage can.
What is a little adventure without some kind of snafu? Remember how I said that I was getting more confident about riding through water crossings? We were coming up on the end of the route, only a few more miles to go before we would hit the pavement back to town when we came up to what was probably the deepest crossing we went through. It was perhaps a little foreshadowing when Cole stopped to take a picture of the “gravel” not too far before this crossing. My gut said to walk this one, but I shut that down and rode right on through.
Hisss…. That’s right, I should’ve listened to my gut. I got to experience my first slit in a sidewall! I was planning to put new tires on when I got home anyway. I did not pack much of a tool kit, Cole left his on the kitchen counter at home, I took out my “too small” spare tube to save weight before we left home, and my bacon strips were quite dry. Try as they did, the bacon strips weren’t going to cut it. I finally convinced Cole to ride ahead to the car and come back for me, I would walk my bike in the meantime.
Things I learned from this adventure –
- This was never going to be a quick ride
- Embark is EXTREMELY sticky
- Replace your bacon strips regularly
- I need a better toolkit solution
- If I want to ride the High Country one day, I’ll probably need a different set up
I had so much fun! It was the best day of the trip, hands down. I keep smiling every time I think about it. It wasn’t long ago that I told Cole that it had been a while since we’d really been on an adventure ride together – this ride was perfectly that.
