This year was the 13th running of Monster Cross, and I've now officially participated in more than half of them! I had a whole great big long intro planned for this post, but then I re-read last year's post and tbh it was gonna be pretty similar, so let's lay out the season-to-date.
Just like in 2023's race, I hadn't done any racing since the 2nd Sorry Honey CX race in mid-September. Weird coincidence that was at least driven by weather this time, and not a months-long recovery from injury. But my fall season, while full of rides, was not an effective training season. It was just a mix of MTB rides, which I've really started to enjoy by finally having a good bike (more on that later?), and trainer rides. I finally realized, after 3 years of struggling with chilblains, that my feel cannot tolerate cold road rides.
But on December 1 I did the first of several Zwift fondos and decided to kick my training back into purpose. With a focus on volume and Z2, I pushed my hours up to ~12/week and held there thru early February.
Along the way, I learned about W' and added it to my data screens when dual-recording Zwift rides, and when I did push to big watts it became invaluable in knowing when to push on and when to conserve. Seriously: learn about W'. It's an absolute game-changer for racing, and I have a power meter coming for my mountain bike so I can be more precise with my efforts there, too.
Then came the annual New Year's Day not-a-race, which gave me my first opportunity to see if my training had paid off, and I've never felt fresher after ~80 miles, even if my feet were out of commission for a week afterward.
The Tour de Zwift further sharpened the stick, but I started running the risk of not training to 3 hours consistently.
The last piece of the puzzle for me was having spent very little time on the gravel/cx bike since September. The new mountain bike is *SO MUCH BETTER* than the old one that I really prefer it to riding gravel. So I forced myself to make weekend jaunts to Pocahontas State Park and put in hot laps. Since part of the official course is only open on race day, most folks either opt for a "training course" lap that starts & stops in the main lot, or the Monsterkarst Strava segment, which covers the same ground but starts at a more convenient trail hub.
Monsterkarst became my gold standard, and 1 week before race day I put in a lap that is currently 4th overall on the segment, over a minute faster than my previous best from the year before. I guess that meant I was ready.
So with aero skis on my CX bike, a power meter and W', 50 hours of volume in January alone, and a forcibly-imposed taper, I felt as prepped as I could be for a COLD day on the bike.
And it was cold. The warmup was the coldest riding I've done in months, with 2 jackets and pants over my tights. I kept all of that on until the last possible moment, and then by an absolute confluence of luck found myself at the start line right as folks were starting to assemble.
10 minutes of standing around later, and a shuffle forward that saw me pushed back to about the 6th row, and we were off! Last year I did not grid well, and while my position was far better this year, it was still going to be work to get to the front.
Just like last year, the leaders pounced from the gun, and even where I was--maybe 50th--there were already dudes gumming up the works by 1 mile into the race.
You can see it right there in the first chart: 30s Power. A big saggy dip from 0:02 - 0:04. And just like last year, that meant jumping through traffic and bridging repeatedly for the next several miles. Each peak on that chart represents catching one group and jumping to the next, and each time you can see the W' balance dropping on the bottom chart: I was burning matches quickly. But I was also VERY close to the front--by the time we turned onto the trail paralleling Beach Rd they were no more than 50' ahead.
But the surges kept taking me to groups that were getting dropped--nobody else was moving forward. So coming through that last turn I was really hopeful to have made it, but the 3 guys I caught were, predictably, getting shunted off the back. So I watched the leaders ride away and focused on recovering. We were still moving pretty well, and nobody was catching from behind, and maybe most importantly, we were picking off others who were either dropped or had mechanicals.
Also as with last year, the aero bars come with the curse of expectation: nobody wants to work when you could just get aero and do it all. I was doing a whole lot of work, along Beach Rd, down thru & up from the dam, and onto the road section, until an e-bike came rolling through and picked up the mantle. We held his wheel thru the first 2-way zone and up toward the road crossing toward the campsites until his chain dropped, and then the 4 of us were alone again through the entire north side of the course.
We came through start/finish in under 1:27:00, making it just possible that I might achieve the goal that had eluded me since 2017: a sub 3-hour finish!
I'd managed an extremely lucky parking spot where I could leave a bottle on my bike rack without exiting the course, and at the beginning of lap 2 I stopped just long enough to swap bottles. Two of the riders in our group rode on, but backed off enough that a quick trip to the skis brought them back before we even left the pavement. A pair of other riders caught us up soon after, and then an extremely fast racer dragged us for a mile or so before we gave up chasing him.
But once he was gone, it was back to being glued to the front.
Every stinking year I do other people's work sitting out there in the wind, but I also really wanted that 3-hour finish, so I didn't waste any time waiting for folks to decide to work.
We lost a rider along the way, possibly at the dam climb, but then Sneaky Dave caught us up on his rigid mountain bike, and at least there was a small amount of rotation on the road section.
As Sneaky Dave is 60, I'm in my late 40's, and our 3rd was a junior, I strongly suggested that we just work together and keep things smooth. They seemed to be willing...so long as I was on the front. I'm really not exaggerating when I say I was probably on the front for 20 miles of that lap. Fully 80%.
But at least they weren't attacking, and while I didn't feel great, I wasn't cramping. I was remembering to drink. I had forced myself to eat when I didn't want to. Cramps have undone my race several times, and I wasn't having it this time.
We got back to the north side and caught a small cadre of riders at about 43 miles. Our group of 3 briefly became a group of 7, and then the junior attacked. Literally no reason to do so: nobody in our group was racing him, and there could not possibly have been more than 15-20 riders ahead, and by this point there was no possibility of catching the front group. No point. Sneaky Dave and I both cried foul, but I dutifully got on the skis and limited his damage to ~10 seconds and held him there until the Monsterkarst trail hub, where he inexplicably tried to make a wrong turn and came to a full stop. MAYBE NEXT TIME DON'T ATTACK THE GROUP.
We bombed down the final trails as a group, and Sneaky Dave put in a big dig at the final walking trail, and I was happy to let him (and the junior) go. I had just about a mile left to go, and if I just focused I could barely cover that ground before the 3-hour mark.
I dismounted for the final creek crossing because I'm horrible at it, but unlike last year or the year before, I was actually able to get back on the bike and pedal. Final climb, final rooty dangerous descent, and there was the bridge. The Garmin showed 2:58.
I made my way to the foot of the paved dock climb and just put everything i had into the pedals, crossing the line at 2:58:28 on the official timing clock. Somehow the 2nd lap was only 5 minutes slower than the first.
I'd done it! On the 7th try, and having done roughly 60% of the race in the wind on the skis, I finally cracked my goal of 3 hours. And also unlike last year, I was actually able to get off the bike afterward.
No cramps, food consumed, only just over a bottle of water in me. I've never felt as good after this race. It took a few minutes to figure out how to walk, but that was it. I didn't even need a nap when I got home. I guess all that volume and Z2 training paid off!
As an added bonus, I got hardware! Last year I brought home a 5th place medal in Men 40+, and this year I brought home the 4th place medal. Weirdly, the online results show that I actually got 4th last year, and 5th this year, but either way I have the correct medals, so it evens out.
No comments:
Post a Comment