East Texas Showdown 2023

Race Stats:

400 miles

17,400 ft of climbing

32.5 hrs

4th place

The race had organized a neutral rollout with police escort guiding us for the first 8 miles. That was super cool, and definitely made the highway riding less sketchy. As soon as it ended, and there was immediately attacks going off. Everyone hit their aero bars, and the front group got smaller and smaller. 15 miles from the start was the infamous Old Onalaska/Groveton Road. It has a reputation for being miserably sandy in the best of conditions, and after the massive storms overnight, it was a nightmare. The sand made progress slow and power higher than I would’ve liked. As soon as we hit that section, a guy flew out of nowhere and was out of sight quicker than I thought possible. I figured we’d never see him again, but I learned after the race that he was riding fixie (maybe SS and someone was mistaken) and slowed way down around mile 140. 

After an hour or so of sandy riding, we were treated with pretty normal riding until mile 40ish when we hit the death mud. The road would switch from shale-y gravel to sloppy mud every 50 feet. My tires started collecting mud until they couldn’t spin any longer, and mud built up quick. I’m not sure how long that section lasted, but it sure felt like an eternity. 

The first 60 miles were easily the worst of the race, and I was having serious doubts about making it past mile 100. The average speed was decent, but definitely not sustainable effort wise. 

A group of three formed during the muddy section, and we took our first stop at mile 60. It felt great to shed some layers after the rainy morning and lube my obnoxiously loud chain. That turned out to just be a waste, though, because not even two miles later the road was turned into a series of creeks by the overnight weather. 

The next many miles we’re pretty uneventful to be honest. We made a water stop at mile 90, and our group of three stayed together until mile 110 where the route became much hillier. Kuya and Dennis, who are teammates and first and second place finishers from last year, had a nice pacing strategy going. Kuya, who is smaller, would push the uphills, and Dennis, who is tall and heavier, would catch up on the downhill. I’m sure I could’ve kept up for a while longer, but it didn’t seem worth it given the effort I’d have to put out. 

I grabbed a soda, Reese’s bar, and a few Gatorades at mile 140 in Jacksonville to up the spirits some. The riding after Jacksonville was pretty enjoyable and smooth which felt amazing. 

The only memorable section for a long, long time came at mile 175 which was the last really sandy section of the race, but only lasted for a few minutes. 

I took half of a 5 hour needed at 10 as I started getting a bit tired, and it worked wonders. The timing worked out that it wore out right around 12:30, so I took the rest then, but it did nothing. As I got more and more tired, my riding got sloppier and slower. It seeming like I hit every washboard, pothole, or mud patch on the road, and I knew it was killing my pace. I dealt with it not working for a long time, eventually having to narrate everything going on so I keep myself awake. 

There was a long, incredibly straight old semi-paved road in the middle of nowhere that was doing no favors to keep me engaged. At some point I must’ve fallen asleep for just an instant, because I was in the ditch on the side of the road about to go OTB. While I did manage to save it, I decided that I wasn’t doing myself any favors by continuing pushing on, and decided I needed to lay down. I set my alarm for 5 minutes and laid down on the side of the road. I wasn’t having any luck falling asleep, so I downed another 5 hour energy and got back to riding. 

More crappy roads to match my crappy riding, but at least I wasn’t quite as tired anymore. Just as I was rolling into the gas station at mile 280, I saw someone riding down the street a few hundred feet away. I never caught them or figured out who it was, though. Another racer, Fernando, got to the gas station a couple minutes after, and we rolled together for a couple hours (I think?) when his pace was just too quick and I dropped back. I’m not sure why he was behind me, but he was absolutely flying. 

I was really staring to ride the struggle bus as I hadn’t been able to eat very much overnight as every bite upset my stomach. My energy and power were low, but there wasn’t really anything I could do without vomiting up what little calories I had left. The race is set up as a figure 8, with the start finish in the middle, and is considered a neutral point where you could drop or pick up things as needed. 15 miles before passing through for the first time, I flatted up front on a paved road. At that point I was so exhausted, in so much pain, and so hungry that I really didn’t even want to do the final loop to finish. I knew I couldn’t actually quit, but it sounded nice in my head. 

I filled up with water, ate a couple bites of rice crispy, and grabbed some snacks (all done very slowly in a lot of pain) before heading out on the final “Death Loop.” It felt aptly named as that’s how I felt pretty much from start to finish. 

I wouldn’t call my riding for the next 40 miles inefficient, more just wasteful. I had to stop to eat a couple times as my hands couldn’t work while riding, I had to pump up my rear tire because of another slow leak, and wasted time trying to untangle earbuds. Not really sure what I was thinking. I also realized my Wahoo was at less than 10% and I had used the last of my cache battery on my phone. Using a list of resupply points that another racer had made, there was supposed to be a store in just a couple miles, but it just did not exist. I leaned that the next guy behind me who was 18 miles back when I started the loop was now only 7 miles behind 40 miles later. I hadn’t realized just how much time I had lost, but that was my wake up call. 

Thinking he was hot in pursuit, I did as much as I could to push as hard as I could until the end. At one point I had to stop and eat because I was completely out of fuel, and figured that would be the point where he’d catch me. I kept pushing until the end while simultaneously memorizing all the turns to the finish in case my Wahoo died. I was checking over my shoulder constantly, thinking he would be right behind me. Thankfully, that never happened and I rolled into the Bullet Grill for a 4th place finish. 

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the effort, but there are definitely some things I’d change if I ever did again again, which I won’t because I’d choose mountains over sand and mud any day. I was hoping for a podium finish, but that isn’t always in control and 4th place is still a good finish especially considering the competition. Now to rest and get ready for 130 miles of the Fried Clay 200k in less than a week!