[Closed] Monster Cross.

But we appreciate not everyone has as a cross bike so your're welcome to join in on any wholly human-powered bike suitable for racing off-road, whether that be an mtb, gravel bike or whatever. There's no silly restrictions on tyre size here. No e-bikes & no tandems tho

Ditch the drop bars and finish 😉 Look fwd to the post-race report 👍🏼

I've done the Delamere one a couple of times, which is superb. Not ridden this one but will be doing it all being well.

Doubt there's anything to worry about, the Delamere one had a couple of descents that would test your cross bike handling, plenty dismounted, but they were a small part of the lap (which was really fun to ride overall).

It was a super hard effort, mind, but that was just me not being used to racing for 3 hours. Normally do 50 min cyclocross races, and recall fading pretty bad last hour. But if you ride within yourself and at a sustainable sort of pace it'll be no problem.

It'll be a laugh if nothing else, I've done two of the Delamere ones, once as a solo and once in a pair - equally knackering.

I did Single Track 7 at Catton Hall a few years back and if it's dry and the horses have been out it will smash you into a million pieces on a CX bike, I'm taking my 29er for two reasons, I don't want to get smashed to pieces and I'm not likely to be even slightly competitive this year.

I want to do it on my CX bike. I have this stupid idea that it will be good training for the 3 Peaks...........

Why so many DNF?

Not sure why so many DNF's, not the kind of course that would destroy bikes and the weather wasn't too bad either IIRC.

I'm riding in May, it's going to be a mountain bike though as I don't own a CXer.

I did Delamere solo last year, thoroughly enjoyed it and did quite well. Still got my prie voucher and beer on the shelf too! No idea why the DNF's might be the fact that it's harder than people expect for the length (a reasonable amount of running last year) which is much harder with an MTB compared to being able to shoulder the CX bike. There were also some tight gaps that wider bars may struggle with.

I'm booked on for this year, looking forward to it!

What do you do for drinks? 1 bottle enough? Will it stay on?

Bottles in the pits.

Probably not for 3 hours.

Don't know.

I had a rack of 6 bottles in the pits, lot's of food in the pockets! 1 bottle probably wouldn't be enough for a 3 hour plus event.

It's full 🙁

Any more pairs type races coming up?

So I can just leave a pile of bottles in the pits?

Yes, and unless you are podium bothering don't worry about drinking and eating out on the lap, just take a little break when you need it.

@molgrips, one of my club mates entered as a pair by accident. Are you wanting a full pair entry or looking to buddy up with someone? I could ask if he found a partner yet.

Thanks, but I was going to do it with my own mate (for a change!)

I've somehow let him persuade me to enter a tri bloody athlon instead

Looks like the rain it raineth, tomorrow, but clearer skies on Sunday. Anyone local know if a mudfest is on the cards? SHould be a great event, looking forward to it.

The pics on social media look fine and if not totally dry, certainly not muddy.

Currently deliberating over which tent to take! Just hope it's dry for taking it down, also hope we get to start in the dry, I hate the wait if it's raining ><

Annoyingly I don't have any "inbetween" tyres. Some fast, very worn power gravels and my favourite mud combo of challenge PDX/BOS. Will take two sets of wheels, so can switch easily. Say hi if you see a bit of a chubber on a bight orange bike (fading into a klien-esque look 👍)

Likewise say hi if you're passing, I'm on a Pickenflick with purple anodised bits, riding in Red Rose kit 🙂

I'm on my XLA possibly in last place or rolling on the floor.

Can't muster any enthusiasm for it at all, and I usually get excited for the few races I enter, so I'm going for a social bimble with my mates instead. Enjoy it all you more committed types!

I emailed the organiser to tell them, hopefully they will resell my place.

It was a mudfest. I clearly had the wrong tyres. What should I have been using?

limus at 25psi made the difference for me @geomickb - did two laps on intermediate tyres, rear too firm, and it wasn't riding well. Changed to the second bike on the soft muds and felt like Van Aert, relatively speaking. Risky running cross pressures on a longer mixed course like that great if you get away with it.

Super tough event - 3 hrs on a heavy cross course was punishing, how did you all get on? Managed a steady five laps and loved the technical mud sections, found my groove with them, but the overall effort had me gasping.
Put the bike down plenty of times (like most I reckon) but had two hard crashes so feeling pretty banged up right now. Heavy one on that fast stony track that kicked up into a muddy bank, got it completely wrong and ended up in the nettles.

I was on my BOS/PDX pairing which worked well. I rode everything except the impossible steep climb near the end and it's baby brother half way through. I was also loving the tech muddy sections. I think tyres and experience helped here. 10th in pairs, but my pair was riding G-ones! (Mistake), so I don't think he enjoyed it quite so much!

14th in vets. Started losing places when severe cramp kicked in on lap 4. Managed to get 6 laps in. I was running a Schwalbe X One on the back and X one Bite on the front at about 23 PSI which worked well. I was able to ride the long off camber no problem, until I caught a tree with my shoulder which floored me and everything decided to cramp at once. I'll be sore in the morning. having a raging dose of the shits at half 9 last night didn't help.

I saw lot's of folks using a gravel bike and subsequently gravel bike tyres, madness!

Couple of clubmates were there, one podiumed in Vets pairs. They are reporting it was brutal

Took my 29er XC FS which promptly clogged up with everything from mud to bluebells and brambles, called it a day after 2 hours and 3 laps, just couldn't be arsed wrecking my bike - saying that my other choice is a gravel bike with gravel tyres.

In hindsight I should've fitted the gravel tyres (well treaded) to the 29er and had tons of clearance, but hey ho!

My team mates faired better, we got 3rd in ladies vets, 6th in ladies senior (16yr old) and 13th in male vets.

@steve_b77 I think there's a pic of you dunking your bike in the pond on Facebook!

@BenjiM yup that's me, I had a soak in there after the race too to get all the mud off 😀

Well done boys. We've got out of the loop with races in general. Was hoping to see some of you at mwm but they seem to be selling out stupidly quickly.

@mick_r I'd love to do MWM but it's too much during the week with other commitments. Got the littlun enrolled on to NWCC at UCLAN Arena on a Tuesday night which get's a bit of a fix at least 🙂

Hi BenjiM

Sadly youngest is on edge of too old to carry on doing NWCC Tuesday, and has started doing 5 a side with his mates that evening so wouldn't come anyway 🙂

Kirri 10 hour could be a possibility....

And should allegedly be out your way from end of September if they ever finish building.....

I totally messed up and did it on my CX with G-One Allrounds.

3 laps done, pretty happy since I was going to sack it after the first lap because I had to push/carry so much.

What's next?