Buffalo Headwaters Challenge, January 26 2008

Ride begins at 9am SHARP in the Buffalo National River Headwaters at Foggy Rock Farm near Red Star, Arkansas east of Fayetteville. Test your skills on an epic ride through the Ozark Mountains. The challenge begins at Red Star and courses through the ridges and hollows of the Buffalo Headwaters then crosses over to the Piney Creek Watershed near Fallsville before finishing at the White Family Farm.  Expect to ride 35+ miles of challenging single and double-track.  This year a half-challenge ride is available consisting of 15 miles of challenging BNR Headwaters singletrack. The Kuff and White Family always step up to provide great food and beverages. Contact How Kuff at howkuff@yahoo.com to reserve your spot today and for directions to Foggy Rock Farm. Note that this ride is only available to OORC members. $20 memberships may be purchased on the morning of the ride.

2008 Ride Report:

2008 Headwaters Challenge
By Don West

My Headwaters challenge began early on January 26, 2008.  After I finished packing my gear and bike, I picked up Kyle and headed for the Foggy Rock Farm for a 9am start.   As the sun started to rise over the horizon, we were greeted with a show left over from the freezing fog the night before.  Everything was covered in a quarter inch of frost, which painted the entire forest white.

How’s home was a warm oasis from the cold morning. The house was buzzing with 37 participants eager to ride.  Hot oatmeal and coffee was available for anyone needing a last minute boost before the ride.  After a short introduction by How, the ride began with a short section of frozen dirt road.  I found myself attached to the end of the first group as we climbed over the Highline trail and descended to the Sidewinder.  It didn’t take long for the frost to drop from the trees as the temperatures climbed into the upper 30’s. We made our way over to the Zster and onto the South Bench Trail.  After completing the keyhole loop of the Point Trail we dropped down to the Main Fork of the Buffalo River on Twisted Hickory.  On one of the corners of the descent a boar’s skull rested just off the edge of the trail.

We regrouped shortly at the native stone chimney at the bottom of the descent. I shed most of my warm clothes in anticipation of the upcoming climb.  The initial part of the climb up Wildcat Hollow is relentless and insanely steep. Even the best riders find themselves suffering up the climb in their granny gear. It was made even worse when we made the left turn onto the North Bench trail. The North Bench trail is probably the most technical trail in the Buffalo Headwaters.  It serves up a nasty combination of steep trail, rock gardens, and off camber sections of trail.  To add insult to injury we were routed up a section of hike a bike to complete the first loop to the Foggy Rock Farm. We took the opportunity to warm up by the fire and refuel on hot tea, cheese sandwiches (thanks Kate), soup, and cookies.

After stuffing ourselves with wonderful food and beverages, we headed off again to tackle the next leg of the Challenge. We rode over to Knuckles Road and made the 2-mile descent down to the creek. The dirt road was beginning to thaw, so we were covered in mud by the time we reached the bottom. After crossing Knuckles Creek several times, our bikes were relatively clean again. We turned left at the intersection with the Buffalo River and continued the descent down to Hailstone.

The climb up to Hwy 16 can be summed up with one word, pain. It was made even more difficult in spots where the road was completely covered in ice. We turned left onto Hwy 16 and rode a short section of road to Sandy Gap Road. I was starting to feel the effort of the day and gradually slipped off the back of the group before the double track descent down to Essex Hollow. I was thankful everyone stopped at the intersection. The first section of double track was pure hell. Temperatures had warmed into the low 50’s turning the ground into s soupy mud that slowed your progress to a meager crawl. I was ready to get back on the singletrack.  Shortly after arriving on the singletrack, one of the riders from Kansas picked up a stick in his rear derailleur, which ripped off the derailleur hanger and all.  After converting the bike to a singlespeed, we were able to finish the ride.  The Piney section of trail has a totally different feel than the Buffalo River side.  Large stands of pine trees make the trail silky smooth in spots, which allows you to rail the corners with complete abandon. We finished out the ride with a wonderful switchback descent down to the White Family farm.  Several of the riders were surprised by the pine tree squeeze on the final descent. Scares on the trees are a constant reminder to the riders to slow way down. The Whites stepped up again by providing a quality spread of food for all the finishing riders.  A big thanks goes out to all the volunteers who made this ride a reality.  I can’t wait until next year.