Van of Constant Sorrow '19: Day Five.2

Given the fact that there were sooooo many riders suffering flats on this ONE section of the OZ Trails Off-Road backcountry course, I did not want to fix my flat in a half-assededly manner.

I wipe the inner sidewall with my glove, Gorilla tape it... (note to self, throw away years old, non-sticky Gorilla tape and replace with fresh stat), toss in the tire boot I made from an old number plate, tape that into place, stick in the tube, break out the CO2...

Doh.  No bueno.

Pull the CO2 off... and see that it's already be punctured.  Musta loaned it out... somewhere sometime to somebody and...

"Watts, can I borrow your pump?"

Mine being crusted over in layers of mud, his all protected in his jersey pocket.

Pump, pump... some dude stops to borrow the pump, telling us his story of taking an actual arrowhead to the tire, one of FOUR flats he's had thus far.  While I'm busy pumping, Watts watches as two single speeders pass by (as well as dozens of other riders).  Really, the only other single speeders either one of us had seen on course all day long.

Anyways, this is how I needed to finish the final twenty five or so miles of my fifty mile day:

We ride more carefully.  Methodically.  Slowly.  Still passing riders, but probably having more fun at a slightly more mellow pace.  Watts's rear tire is going soft... meh.  He stops and takes his turn pumping and it seals right up.  So undramatic, his flat was.

Unofficial checkpoint number two...

Beer and also meats.

Needless to say, we stayed longer than we needed to... because... this was the  best.

The rest of the ride is a blur.  Fun trails, tunnels with almost hub deep water, features, bacon... and a course that went something more than fifty miles by my computer, but whatever.

We finish in a tie for for 7th place (Watts getting the credit for 7th by a second tho), but more importantly, one place away from DFL SS.

Clean up, grab a beer, Watts borrows a blowup piece of furniture from Pivot so we can sit in the sun...

Eventually, we find ourselves talking to race promoter Todd Sadow, he looks at the slice in my sidewall... and I notice my tire is almost flat again.

Meh.

Head over to the Stan's NoTubes booth, borrow a pump... Watts wants to get a special drink from this swanky hotel lobby bar.  We do that, come back out, my tire's almost flat again, pump it up...

Watts wants to say goodbye to Gabbi and Thomas.  Back to the venue, say goodbye... pump up my tire again.

Ride off towards the hotel, stop, pump some more, Watts stops to pee, ride to a public pump on the greenway (thanks, Walton family), pump... ride back to the hotel.

Take a shower with my back wheel joining me in the tub, remove the tire... find the thorn that was causing my secondary flatting issues, pull out the Tubibooster (a must when traveling IMHOMO) and mount a 2.35 Ardent Race to finish out our trip.  Watts tries to talk me into leaving back out into the real world, but to be honest, neither of us had the energy to embark into the cool of the night to chase more experiences.  We ordered a sad pizza and managed to be in bed before 10:00 PM.

Bed pizza.  Also post-ride trail food the next day tho.

Footnote: The OZ Trails Off-Road was a hell of an event. The trails were incredible despite the moist conditions. Considering that Bentonville had experienced flooding just the week before (and heavy rain Thursday into Friday morning), color me impressed.  The course absolutely ripped.  Bands, beer, vendors, hob-knobbing pro riders, a dope-ass bike friendly town, and such a quality (and challenging) fifty mile course. I'm stoked that I finally took a bite.