Oh man, where to start…I guess the first and most important thing here is to thank Katie for the support to make this event happen for me in what can only be described as pretty unfortunate timing. The event fell 12 days after baby Christopher was born so for a lot of reasons me being gone for 7+ hours of a day for what I would call personal fun was not good, even with that Katie stayed reluctantly supportive and for that I’m really thankful. Monstercross is part of the King of Pisgah series and while we knew the timing when I signed up for the series I think in the back of both our heads we thought Chris would be early and closer to 3-4 weeks old at the time of the event. That week or two really does make a difference, it still would have been tough but maybe a little easier. So again (and something I’ll probably be saying for a long time) thanks so much to Katie for being supportive of my often less than favorable ideas.
Monstercross is a gravel road race so instead of being back on trails in the woods the race is largely on gravel roads with some interconnecting paved sections. This year was the first year of a new course for the event, 72 miles and about 9k of elevation. I had pre-ridden a lot of the course and most of the gravel was in pretty good shape, also being in the King of Pisgah series which has no classes I decided that I needed to ride the bike that was truly the most suited for the course. Which meant riding with gears and drop bars, so I rode my Salsa Warbird. After some new bar tape, cables/housing, and tires she was all race ready.
All of 2018 I’ve had some issues with nutrition in races, so I’ve constantly been reading, talking to folks, and trying to find a good solution for this. In my searches I came across some more liquid based race nutrition from a smaller company called Carborocket, I’ve read about a number of folks who for races under 5-6 hours have used it exclusively to help get in enough calories and not upset their stomach. Basically it’s a mix that you can tailor the concentration of to get anywhere from 200-400 calories in one bottle of water and most of the reports were saying it was pretty easy on the stomach. I tried some on a few hard rides and honestly it drank really nicely, sat really well with me, and kept me feeling good so I was pretty excited.
Monstercross was going to be the first “Race” test. I had a little solid food to mix in just to keep the hunger feelings at bay really, but most of the nutrition was coming from the Carborocket in my water bottles (keep this in mind). The Plan was a bottle of Carborocket from Start to aid 1, pick up a bottle of carborocket/a bottle of water/two stinger waffles at aid 1, pick up a bottle of carborocket/a bottle of water/two stinger waffles aid 2, then only stop at aid 3 if needed. This would hit my targets of things I needed to take in well and should keep energy levels good and stomach good for about 5 hours of hard exertion.
Race morning comes things are going pretty smoothly, I catch up with a few folks and take a spot on the start line kind of near the front. The race has kind of neutral rollout until we make the right on 477 (Avery Creek Road) so while the starting position isn’t critical it’s still a good idea to be up near the front.
Just like that we’re off, we make the right onto 477 and the race is live. With having all the gears things stayed pretty mild until we hit the stables and the road really starts to pitch up. Then everything really started to spread out. I got in a small group with a few guys I know who are really strong, Art, Brad Cobb, and a couple others. I make it over the top with them and as we start downhill I was in the back of the group and one guy who I didn’t know was making a mess of the descent. I finally got around him but it was too late the others were out of reach and going downhill I wasn’t going to catch them. Oh well, it’s probably better that way, it would have been a lot for me to stay with those guys for too long, both Art and Brad are riding really strong right now.
Continuing on, the descent on 475B down to Aid 1 is amazing, we had just enough rain to tighten the gravel up and we were flying. I did get passed by Jacob Mcgahey, the VP of Industry Nine and really strong rider. I knew that I wanted to be going downhill near him as I tend to ride better following folks. I manage to stay pretty close to him for the rest of the descent. I stop at aid 1 and notice he doesn’t, nuts. I picked up my bottles and headed on. I managed to catch up to a guy I’ve met before, Kieth, we chatted for a bit before I noticed that Jacob and crew were just ahead. Knowing there was a good descent coming up I wanted to be on their wheels. So I put in a little more effort and rode away from Keith and caught up to Jacob and crew.
We started down and boom, I hit a good bump, no flat…but shit one of my bottles is gone, shit it’s the one with the carborocket in it, shit…. We have a long way to go before we hit the next aid station and a lot of climbing to do and the only thing I have now is one bottle of water, I need that bottle. Apparently this decision making took me way too long because I did turn around to look for the bottle and as I’m going backwards on the course and people are flying by me I don’t see the bottle, I looked in the bushes, I never found it. So now, I’ve gone the wrong way for a few minutes given up a lot of time and didn’t find my bottle with over half the calories I was counting on. Oh well, I turn back onto the course and catch up to a group of familiar faces. Mike, Nick, Matt, all of which I had more than 5 minutes on I suspect. I tried to settle in with them for the climb up 215 and mostly did, we chatted for a bit, which helps the brutal climbing slide by a little faster. At the top they pulled away a little bit as I was starting to settle into conserve mode. I was going through my one bottle far faster than I should if it was going to make it all the way to aid 2.
After a long slog I finally got to aid 2, picked up my bottles, an extra cookie, and an extra swig of water and started the long road home. I went through those bottles faster than anticipated but already being behind in water/calories I figured that was ok, and Aid 3 wasn’t really that far away. I could feel some energy coming back, we hit aid 3 and I grabbed two full water bottles, a swig of coke, and BACON….Starting the climb up 475B I passed one guy and was feeling some life again. Short descent to 276, and just one more short climb to the top of 477 and then keep it rubber side down to get home.
Started down towards 276 and I hear the dreaded psssssssss of a pretty good flat tire. I got my plug out, and C02, put the plug in, fumble with the C02 thing for a while (it was new and come to find out it operated differently than I was told and stupid me didn’t try it ahead of time or think to have it threaded to a cartridge ahead of time even though 2018 has been a year of flats for me) finally I got it inflated, only to get back on the bike and find it flat again……..Figures, that is how this year has gone. Take the wheel off and engage in a stupidly slow tube insertion, although now I know how to use my C02 and luckily have another cartridge with me so I had that going for me. Finally I’m going again, much further back in the field, I catch a few guys. But at this point I’m not going to lay it all out going down Avery Creek road so I’m a little more cautious than I would have been.
At the bottom I see a few guys up ahead, I push a little and realize I’ve recovered a little bit. So I put the hammer down and manage to catch them as we hit the pavement. On the short pavement section one of the guys and I manage to catch a car and subsequently another rider and the 3 of us make the turn into the parking lot for the finish. Since the race has cross in the name there are 3 barriers to jump at the finish. So after 70 miles and 9k feet of elevation I race a guy across the barriers for maybe 40th place???
When it’s all said and done, I didn’t crash or get hurt, I got to ride bikes on an amazing course with a lot of friends, challenge myself, learn a few more things about bike racing, and dig myself out of that dark hole a lot better than I did at ORAMM, so it really was a pretty good day. I would be lying to say I wasn’t a little disappointed as I felt like I had a really good plan for the race and was feeling pretty good heading in, but that’s how it goes sometimes. For some reason racing in 2018 has been rough, I’ve had more mechanical issues, nutritional issues, and just tough days than I’ve had in years however I’m always learning more, meeting new people, and trying to have some fun riding bikes fast. I’m really pretty lucky to have the opportunity to do what I do.
Oh and next year I think I’ll be back on the SS for this event (if I am lucky enough to ride it again) there is something about my two single speeds that just makes me feel at home. I do think I will do another event or two with gears again next year though. It’s been fun trying that out.
