Monster Cross 2013, Race!

Race website
Race results 
My Strava data 

According to the "confirmed riders" list leading up to race day, Monster Cross 2013 looked like the unofficial February Mid-Atlantic off-road championship, with big names and a huge field (573 riders).  Normally at an ultracross race I would enter the "open under 40" field, but Monster cross had a unique set of divisions.  There was the Pro/Elite division that was choc-full of Cat 1 roadies and cyclocrossers, as well as pro mountain bikers who all crush me at their leisure.  I felt that field was too big for my britches.  So I signed up for a "non-elite" division, the cyclocross under 40.  Top 3 in this division get winners jerseys so that was a sweet prize to race for.  I felt if I raced very well I had a chance for 3rd-ish in that division.

My Setup:
For nutrition I continue to go with Cerasport for hydration and Probar nutrition.  This is a no-brainer.  No Camelbak Rogue this time, since the race is only about 3 hours.
For equipment I continue to use the Backcountry Research - Awesome Strap  to hold my spare tube, tire levers, and hand-pump.  It totally works (take the time to adjust it correctly) and I recommend no one uses a saddle bag ever again (man i hate saddle bags!).  If you are worried about your stuff coming loose and falling all over the place, well stop worrying.  Get the right awesome strap for the location that you want (stem, seat post, seat rails, etc.) and go Awesome.  Also, watch this video because its fun Awesome Strap baseball bat test.

I continue to ride tubeless on my Stans Alpha 340 Comp wheels.

For tires I chose to NOT use the Schwalbe Marathon Mondial, Double Defense, 700x35 at 570 grams.  This course is one of the tamer ultracross courses with pretty fast avg speeds over 17mph.  Not to mention I had previously promised myself that I take Danny Atkins advice (he's right a lot).  I put on the Vittoria EVO XG cx 700x32 tubeless.  They are so easy to air up tubeless on the Stans wheels.  I took'm for a spin on my local cx course a few days earlier.  It was a rough and bumpy ride since the ground was all frozen and I am used to my comfy mtb.  I started to waffle towards the mondials again but then i saw this video which shows a lot of the course in speedy time:

Vittoria tires it is.  Thanks to Danny Atkins and articles like this article that helped me to step away from my fear of flatting, to go to a lighter tire for this years' ultracross experiences.

I am still using TRP CX8.4 linear pull brakes because cantilevers are rubbish and i can't afford to upgrade my cx bike to have disc brakes.  I still want a Cannondale SuperX with disc brakes ;)

The weather:
It was in the 30s in the morning but climbed to the low 50s.  The ground was wet but still fast after hard rain the day before.  The skies were clear (beautiful!).

The Race:
The pro/elite group went off a few minutes before us.  I was glad of that because I wanted to try to go with the lead group of non-elites.  But if they had all been mixed together it would have been chaos in the non-elite standings.  Pat was in the elite race.  Sug was on his single speed cx bike in the non-elite race with me.  I didn't have high expectations going in to this race so I was calm as a cucumber.  I chatted with my ultracross buddy Brian Patton at the start.  It was a good atomosphere.  We had a neutral start for a while and the crowds were thick.  The initial pace wasn't anything crazy.  It felt a lot like a group training ride. The double track was fast and gravely.  There were muddy spots here and there.  The lead group (pace-line) was huge!  Turns felt dicey with people all around, coming forward and moving back.  I was doing everything I could to stay calm.


The race is two 24 mile loops.  Winning times in 2012 had been around 2:47 so I expected this group would go 3 hours.  At an hour of racing I looked around and there were just tons of people in the pace-line.  The pace was fast enough that no one wanted to attack away from the group and tame enough with only a few steep hills that no big separations could occur.  In a way it felt like a dream because I am used to just burying myself early trying to stay with crazy fast guys.  But now I was around peers and was racing well within myself.  Its like all those races you read about, with tactics and strategy.  It felt really good.  I was having to exercise patience in a lead pack for the first time.

As we came through the start/finish around 1:20 I continued to feel great.  I hadn't spent much time at the front and started to wonder if people were hurting or hiding.  I took to the front, working with a rider from the Winchester Wheelmen.  The pack was still in tact.  So I made a small move on my next turn up front.  A gap formed.

pic

I wasn't really sure what to do.  Its still early, but that gap formed fairly easily.  I decided to go with it for a bit.  I didn't really step on the gas but just kept the pressure on.  I caught up to a pro/elite rider Zach Morrey.  He is a super good NUE mountain biker that is coming off a double collar bone break.  We chatted some and worked together.  I enjoyed not having the pack around me on the descents and turns.  But after a while the pack caught me.  And I tucked back in.

That effort might have lasted 10 minutes.  I'm not sure.  But it moved me from comfortable, to engaged. And now the pack is starting to turn up the pace.  I went from engaged to pushing in a short time.  In retrospect it was a tactical mistake to have gone it alone for a while.  Go or stay, but don't hang out.  I drank and ate and tried to prepare for some tough racing in the last 20 miles.  The smooth rolling double track was drying some and becoming thicker/slower.  The screw was tightening and I started wishing I never made that move.

With maybe 15 miles to go or maybe 10, the real attack comes.  It kinda happened, nothing immediately noticeable, but I was gapped.  I was feeling tight, a little out of energy.  Thoughts of "u blew it!" started creeping in.  Sug came by me and said "let's go!  get on my wheel!".  I decided that I would bury myself to stay with him in hopes that we could bridge.  He stood up out of each turn. I thought "I haven't really been standing" so I stood out of the turns.  The legs started to sizzle but it felt right.

The gap was holding to the 5 or so leaders.  They had maybe 10 or 15 seconds on us.  It seemed that we had been beat.  But Sug kept drilling.  And once he let up I moved to the front and drilled.  I got down in the drops and put my head down on the straights and just let it rip.  The legs kept giving so I kept asking.  A minute or so went by and I had done it!  I was back with the leaders (so I thought).

We hit the last big climb with about 5 miles to go.  I threw down all the way to the top.  The five of us crested together but it seemed that only 4 of us had anything left.  The road section was fast and I tucked in.  Small attacks kept coming and all I could think is how am I going to win this?  Where should I attack?  How close are we to the finish?

We entered a trail section that had people cheering and some one said "make your move now!" so I thought it was now or the final sprint.  I made some nice descending moves to get on the wheel of the leader.  We entered the park proper.  I tried to shift to the big ring but the mud had taken its toll and the small ring was all i had.  We sprinted through the muddy grass to the line!  I couldn't get around the leader.  I congratulated him on the win and he said "no i was in the pro/elite race."  Wow!  I think I won!

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I was super proud to have bridged to the group (thanks to Sug!).  And was stunned to have finished ahead of all the non-elites.  Unfortunately, the results show an over 40 cyclocrosser that has a faster time then mine.

Photo evidence has surfaced that #27 was not in my race, he started with the elites (he's towards the right in orange and light blue ;)
evidence (lol)

I won the under 40 cyclocross division and got a sweet jersey :)  Happy days!

(left to right) me, pat blair, and adam (sug) driscoll.