Arkansas High Country is Calling
One reason we’re working with racers and also enter events ourselves is R&D: It’s the best way to check whether our ideas, calculations and tests work in the real world. There’s a second reason why we love races: They’re great fun.
The Arkansas High Country Race ticks both boxes: The course is about as challenging for tires and equipment as they come. As to the fun part, despite its international renown, the High Country Race remains a grassroots event run with passion rather than a look at the bottom line. There’s a real community around it, and you feel it as soon as you arrive at the start. I remember meeting racers all over town. We chatted, had lunch together, and had a great time—before the race even started. And the race itself… When my power bank fell out of my bag unnoticed, and my race seemed over, Jim Phillips, who had caught up with me, lent me a spare he was carrying. Talk about sportsmanship! Together with the beautiful landscapes of Arkansas and a course that combines fun and challenge in equal measures, it’s an adventure I’ll never forget.
The Arkansas High Country Race has inspired our latest tire, the 700×48 Poteau Mountain semi-slick. The ARHC is unique among long-distance races: 50% are on rough gravel and 50% on pavement. For any race, you want tires that are speedy, offer excellent grip, and are durable. For the High Country Race, that means speed on pavement and grip and durability on rough gravel and rocky trails. And rough it is—anybody who’s ridden over Poteau Mountain, especially at night, knows what I mean.
When the organizers saw that we named our tire after the roughest and most remote section of their race, they reached out to see if we could work together—not to name an ‘official tire of the ARHC,’ but to offer advice to the racers who will line up on the start line in 10 days.
I guess you could say that we’ve got a lot of experience with (and love for) the ARHC. It started when Ted King set the FKT on the full course (above). Intrigued by Ted’s stories and then-organizer Andrew Onermaa’s prediction that somebody might, just might, complete the 475-mile South Loop in under 2 days, I decided to give it a try. Andrew’s challenge spurned me on, winning the race and setting the FKT in just under 47 hours. That inspired Andrew, himself a strong ultra racer, to come out the following year and push the FKT below 40 hours. That year, the first three finishers on the South Loop were on Rene Herse tires. (Bryan Dougherty came 2nd, and I was 3rd.)
So when the ARHC organizers reached out and asked about the ideal tires for the race, I distilled those experiences into advice for choosing tires for the High Country (and similar terrain):
- Volume is your friend. The days when racers worried about ‘too much tire’ for a given course are over. Test after test has shown that wider tires roll faster on rough terrain, and just as fast on pavement—at least up to a width of 55 mm or 2.2″. Both Andrew and I ran 55 mm tires, but you can win the race on 42s, as Ted King did back in 2020. These days, Ted also runs wider tires—he just set the FKT for the VTXL bikepacking route in Vermont on the new Poteau Mountain 48s.
- For tire pressure, lower is generally better for speed and control on rough terrain. (And again, you don’t give up anything on pavement by running your tires soft.) Obviously, you need enough air to avoid bottoming out. Beyond that, the limit is usually when the tire gets too bouncy for optimum power transfer. Start with the ‘soft’ values of the Rene Herse tire pressure calculator and experiment from there.
- Durability: A reinforced casing is a good idea. Lower pressure also lowers the tension on the tire casing, reducing the risk of punctures or cuts. For the ARHC, Ted ran our ultra-tough Endurance Plus casings, while Andrew was on the Endurance. I chose the speed of Extralights—taking the calculated risk that I might need to fix a flat or two. (Fortunately, I didn’t.) For most riders, the Endurance is the optimum compromise between speed and durability.
- Tread pattern: The speed of slicks for the paved sections, or knobbies for the rough terrain? The jury is split, with Ted and Andrew running knobbies, while I opted for slicks. That’s where the new Poteau Mountain comes in: It features a thin center tread and round profile, so it rolls and corners like a slick on pavement—something riders will appreciate on the fast, twisty descents from Queen Wilhelmina and Petit Jean. On the sides, the Poteau Mountain features Rene Herse’s big, widely-spaced knobs for excellent traction—perfect for, well, Poteau Mountain (and the many other rugged sections). The noise-canceling tread pattern also makes our semi-slicks almost eerily quiet, which is nice on the long, paved sections that connect the gravel roads and trails.
Remarkably, there are still a few spots left in this year’s race. If you’re looking for a challenge—and a lot of fun—head to Russellville on October 4. You can ride either the full course (1000 miles), the Central Loop (430 miles) or the Ozark Odyssey (250 miles). You’ll enjoy some of the best riding you’ll ever do, and you’ll join a wonderful community. (Above, with the owners of the Rich Mountain Store that’s been supporting the racers for years). You won’t regret it!
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Photo credit: Kai Caddy (used with permission)
