Justin's story: East Texas Showdown

BaseCamp athlete Justin Hersom shared his experience at the 2025 East Texas Showdown event in Point Blank, Texas.

East Texas Showdown 165 mile route. This was out of Point Blank (Onalaska, TX) up through the Piney Woods of East Texas. I think if it had not rained, it would have been a great course.

Second gravel race, first mud race. I had not ridden in mud since I was a child, so this was new, and I thought of Rebecca Rusch and allowed my inner-child to come out and play. This part of Texas has very peanut butteresque mud with just a layer of clay. While most were doing this ride for a bikepacking trip, my goal was to see how I would do on a 165 mile course in a day. I was riding strong, and doing well, I did have a mechanical around mile 40 that took me a while to figure out. Then I was able to hop back on the bike and get to the refueling point, grab some water and food, and was surprised by my father who showed up to support me.

And then I was back on the bike, for more mud, and clay. I was riding well, making good time, and then at mile 70, I was coming down a hill, and I didn't see a clayish/muddy area and I am not sure what happened but I went down. I put a few dents in my helmet and cracked my helmet it, and cut my arm, along with other road rash on the right side of my body. I sat for a minute, and a bikepacking had a first aid kit, and even though the bleeding wouldn't stop, I was able to wash my arm and apply some triple antibiotic to it. Because I didn't have a helmet (and my arm didn't want to stop bleeding), I called it quits.

Unfortunately, I was not the only one who suffered injuries due to the course, but I do feel like I got off lucky compared to some of the others who were knocked unconscious.