SYLLAMO!!!!

I have been building up all Winter and Spring for Syllamo's Revenge, my "A" race. I had talked to the race director, Steve Parker, about adding on a women's singlespeed division this year prior to opening day of registration. He said he would add it. I was so excited since this is such a big race that draws folks from all over the country. Unfortantely, the women I know who have singlespeeds chose to race geared and the only other SS female registered in the male SS division. Therefore, we didn't get our own SS division and got added in the overall geared women's results. Come on SS women! Don't you want one of these? We need more women to register with SS to get a division.

Syllamo is probably the most technical and hardest race of the year for me on the singlespeed. However, I think I have an advantage on the SS since it is all pure singletrack and no roads like the Ouachita Challenge on the SS. The only disadvantage for me is that I get lumped in with the geared women for the Arkansas Marathon Series points, which my goal was top 3. I made it my goal to go for 7 hrs and beat my time of 7:35 last year.

It wouldn't be Syllamo unless it rained the night before the race. The only difference was last year I was driving like a mad women in my car with Loreen to seek shelter the night before since we were warned by a restaurant owner to leave immediately due to 2 tornadoes coming our way. The other difference with Syllamo this year was the NUE 100 mile series would be starting on the same day but, a hour before Syllamo's Revenge.

31 women out of 33 who registered showed up to race. Wow! I believe this is a record for the number of women racing in Syllamo history. This is awesome. The race started as a mass start on bikes out on a short paved section that led us to a .9 mile climb up a gravel road which is a 11% grade. There was a pile up immediately at the start of the gravel climb due to too many people (over 300 racers) and a couple of crashes. I quickly jumped off my bike and ran around it. I felt I had a good pace going on the 1st section, the yellow loop, which is somewhat rolling with a few rocky technical sections. They did a better job trimming the brush on this section this year.

The blue and orange sections of the trail are much more technical and rocky. These sections were really wet and slick. The stream crossings were pretty high this year too. I remember sliding on a rock and what stopped me from going off the trail was the side of my face and neck hitting a tree. I felt strong climbing up the technical sections this year. I knew to not get too carried away and to save a little for the end. I always find it funny that the last 12 miles of this race, the red section, seems like forever even though it is singlespeed friendly and hardly any technical sections.

I came in stronger this year with a time of 7:01 and beat my time last year by 34 minutes. However, even though I was faster, there were many faster geared women this year. Last year this time would have given me 4th overall. This year I was 12th overall. A little bummed with overall finish but, very happy with my better time. The only other female SS to compare to came in 52 minutes after me and I beat 13 SS men. I guess this is why we keep going back to seek "Syllamo's Revenge."