I just wanted to say a big "Thank You!" to all the staff and volunteers who gave up their weekend (and many many other weekends for the organizers)
for our benefits. It was a first class event!
- Hot Springs Bicycle Association
- Ozark Off-road Cyclists
- Ouachita Cycling Club
- Planning A Trail Ride? Looking For A Trail Ride?
- Mountain Bike Racing
- Downhill Racing
- Paydirt Work Days
- Trail Advocacy
- Planning A Road Ride? Looking For A Road Ride?
- Road Racing
- Cyclocross
- Triathlon Racing and Activities
- Tech Talk
- Arkansas Bicycling Classifieds
- Notes From The Bulletin Board Administrator
Thank you!
| Author | Comment | ||
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 sarah |
Thank you! |
Lead | |
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Posts: 50 (04/07/08 05:49:16) |
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Charley |
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Posts: 8 (04/07/08 06:22:32) |
Same here! All the volunteers were helpful and friendly. It must be a huge logistical challenge to put on the OC. Thanks for all your hard work!
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ohpossum |
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Posts: 1 (04/07/08 07:01:58) |
Me too! I appreciate everything ya'll do to put on such a great event year after year. I've got a special "Thank You" to Saturday's
first-aid crew at Big Brushy. The bandage and grippy-tape was the perfect thing to keep me riding.
Thanks! Brian - www.msmtb.org
Last Edited By: ohpossum
04/07/08 07:16:07.
Edited 1 times.
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smiller |
Big Thank you | ||
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Posts: 2 (04/07/08 07:41:25) |
Had a blast. Thanks to all of the volunteers and organizers for putting on this event. The course was tough the scenery was beautiful and the weather was awesome. |
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mtbchickjen |
thanks for the thanks! | ||
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Posts: 39 (04/07/08 13:08:04) |
we (or at least i know i do) appreciate the kind words....yes, the Challenge is almost a full time job, so the appreciation we get from our wonderful
participants makes it almost worth the effort...
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mtbkendall |
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Posts: 47 (04/07/08 13:19:50) |
Stand up promoters, stand up volunteers, and stand up participants! Ive never been so catered to at a cycling event. To the point little "older"
ladies were taking my bike to lean it on a tree, grabbing my water bottles and filling them up, holding my camel back, telling me i needed to eat, etc. Even
though it hurt, the volunteers made it a pleasent experience. THANKS
Special thanks to Todd Henne..keeping us posted on trail conditions and reroutes, maintaining that trail, and all the encouragement I received from you. However, I do think your a sick bastard for making us ride / hike up that freaking mountain..spur trail..whatever it was!!! then all the water holes at the bottom that my truck wouldnt have made it through! lol just messing with ya! It was a great and very challenging course. |
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Charley |
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Posts: 9 (04/07/08 13:32:05) |
mtbkendall wrote: Brady, I know what you mean about that mountain. I thought I had taken a wrong turn. The climb was way too long and steep for me to climb. I'd be amazed if anybody cleared that whole thing. It was hard enough to walk. There were some great views from the top! |
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sarah |
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Posts: 51 (04/07/08 13:44:33) |
Jen,
I know you all are absolutely EXHAUSTED! Take a week to relax and unwind. I bet this year was particularly difficult with the weather challenges. |
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fatad |
Another thank you..... | ||
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Posts: 92 (04/07/08 18:08:49) |
Great fun, pain (physical & mental) and COOKIES!!! Did anyone else find the chocolate chip and oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies at aid station #4 on Sunday
phenomenal? That was enough to get my hind quarters going again and finish. Whoever baked them, I'm sure you know who you are, thank you. And many
thanks to everyone else that worked the race and had kind words along the way. It helps. A lot!
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tonofearth |
Thank you, thank you, thank you | ||
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Posts: 131 (04/08/08 04:31:11) |
On Saturday I got to see just a hair behind the scenes and I must say that I am absolutely amazed at how well all of you put on such an amazing
"Epic" event. Major kudos go out to Ed & Sue Hawkins, Scott Hopkins, Jennifer Brotherton, all the awesome volunteers and FOOT members and the
"80 Mile Masochist" AKA Todd Henne.
Thank you all so much for putting on the best event I have ever had the pleasure of riding in. |
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sarah |
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Posts: 52 (04/08/08 05:42:02) |
Clayton,
Thank you for assuring me that I wouldn't die on Big Brushy! You are always so supportive and a welcomed face on the trail. Sarah |
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mtbchickjen |
oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies | ||
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Posts: 40 (04/08/08 06:08:42) |
fatad wrote: Hey fatad,
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CoastRat |
Great Time | ||
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Posts: 17 (04/08/08 06:30:03) |
I want to tag on and agree with all the compliments and thanks from everyone above. From the cookies to the ladies holding your bike while you stretched and
another filled your water bottle, to all the volunteers helping with everything you can imagine, to all the Ouachita Cycling folks hours of hard work, this
event is the highlight of my race year. All the volunteers are great, fun people, the racers are too, this is just a cool event.
Todd G |
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rockdoc |
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Posts: 234 (04/08/08 07:55:01) |
First class as always, us racers have no idea what it takes to put on a high quality event like this, esp in the trying conditions leading up to it, kudos to
all above who have the grace to say thanks. As Todd said, we were lucky to have an event at all.
I am pissed though, in the rush to finish I missed the cookies, although I did have my fair share of what seemed to be home made choc chip cookies at dinner Sat night. As others have said, the volunteers are outstanding, the best volunteers I've ever seen are at Leadville 100, the grandaddy of 'em all, the OC volunteers are their equal and that's saying something. One suggestion for next year and that's a course marker at the fork off FS Rd 48 onto 6, I think some racers got confused there on the return. Great job, thanks for all the hard work. Looking forward to seeing race results. Rick |
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ridingdirty |
Another Praise | ||
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Posts: 3 (04/08/08 13:03:44) |
I've never been to a first class event like this before. I was amazed when I hit the aid station 1. It was like they found a bunch of ladies just like my
mom to work those things! They happily took my mud infested waterbottles and filled them while I ripped my heed out of my camelback. They'd hold it as I
would spill half of my heed in the bottle, half on their hands. They would then put the cap on and shake it up while I cramed everything back in my pack. The
volunteers were amazing, cheering us on all the way. Great trails, great weather, and great people. Looks like the OC will be on my calendar for many years
to come. Thanks everyone, specially the principle for letting us post up in the gym the night before!
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Doug Long |
It was the best! | ||
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Posts: 12 (04/08/08 14:02:50) |
I want to jump on board and pass a very hearty thank you to everyone that made this wonderful event possible. I'd been hearing about the Ouachita
Challenge for some time. Now I know what all the Hub bub was about.
I race all over the USA and I'm not sure I've raced at an event with better organization or more thoughtful volunteers. At one of the stations I had one of the volunteers request to clean my sunglasses while another was filling my camelback with Cytomax and a third was stuffing my backpocket with cookies. They were all grey hairs like me and probably haven't forgotten the days of full service gas stations. It was certainly a "full service" aid station. For an area that got close to 10 inches of rain for the week, the trails were very rideable. Thanks to Todd and all his "route crew" for the well marked routes and challenging choice of trails for the 80 mile race. It was a great race venue starting and finsihing in the community of Oden. I though everyone in the county was cheering at the first feed station and it was great moral support having the school children in the finish area spuring us on to the finish line. As a race promoter myself, I know how much personal time and effort an event like this demands. Thanks to everyone that made a personal sacrifice to allow us to race. Special thanks to Todd Henne, Ed and Sue Hawkins, Scott Hopkins, Jennifer Brotherton, Jim Gifford and FOOT. I will be talking about this event for some time and hope to be back next year. Kudos to all! Doug Long |
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MenaMike |
My First Participation in the Ouachita Challenge | ||
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Posts: 659 (04/09/08 08:03:53) |
This was my first time to participate in the Ouachita Challenge. Got to ride the Big Brushy section on Saturday and looped back to Oden. And got to join in
with the racers on Sunday and was able to reach my goal of making it to Sims. Road about 3 1/2 hours each day, which is about my max right now.
I look forward to next year, and maybe I will be able to do the whole thing. Big praise to the Ouachita Mountain Bicycling Club. I do know how much work it takes to put on this event. Mike Kelsey |
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mtbchickjen |
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Posts: 41 (04/09/08 08:40:13) |
sarah wrote: thanks sarah! unfortunately I have just as much work after this event as before and during....BUT I'll eventually relax..maybe! haha...well, at least the weather was nice for the event, that helps so much, because last year there were more injuries because of the rain on the actual event day....I also wanted to say CONGRATS, you did awesome!! |
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bsquared |
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Posts: 16 (04/09/08 09:16:00) |
MenaMike wrote: And on that recumbent mountain bike, too! Nice job, Mike! Great having you cheer us on at the highway on Sunday. Thanks for the legacy. Brian |
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Ludachris |
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Posts: 1 (04/09/08 09:52:42) |
My compliments are the same as everyone else. This is the second year that i have attempted the tour and even though it kicked my butt and I didn't finish,
I had fun. Big thanks to the volunteers and organizers and to Shawn and the Oden school staff who were extremely helpful. I am still bruised from my falls but
am proud of my silver finish. Thanks all and see ya again next year!
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davis437 |
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Posts: 1 (04/10/08 06:01:05) |
Huge Thanks and Job well done to the promoters. However, my biggest thanks has to go out to Wes and Michael from Champion Cycling in Fort Smith and ORBEA! Without their generous offer of a demo ride my Tour de Bruise would have been over before the first section of single track! I snapped the rear hanger at about mile 6 and these fellas offered up a demo, and not just any demo but a brand spankin new ORBEA. Heck it was an upgrade
to my 08 RockHopper! That demo gave me the chace to make it up and over the famed "Blowout Mountain", where I proceeded to demostrate endo's and
and yard dart maneuvers Thanks for saving my vacation! We will be back to finish the course!
Sincerly, Team Trail Monster |
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with class. ps..the bike was returned with a few small courage badges.
- Hot Springs Bicycle Association
- Ozark Off-road Cyclists
- Ouachita Cycling Club
- Planning A Trail Ride? Looking For A Trail Ride?
- Mountain Bike Racing
- Downhill Racing
- Paydirt Work Days
- Trail Advocacy
- Planning A Road Ride? Looking For A Road Ride?
- Road Racing
- Cyclocross
- Triathlon Racing and Activities
- Tech Talk
- Arkansas Bicycling Classifieds
- Notes From The Bulletin Board Administrator
