With “regular” cross, at least in my limited experience (two races), you are absolutely red-lined from the start.  Typically my race would begin with royally screwing up clipping into the pedals, causing a blockade to those riders behind me, while the lead racers are already 30 meters up the course.  “Hole shotting” aka getting a great start, is a pretty big deal in “regular” cyclocross.

Unlike “regular” cyclocross racing, where competitors hammer themselves around a short course for multiple laps, for an hour at worse, Ultra CX goes beyond that.  Ultra CX competitors typically face an open road type course, featuring paved roads, gravel roads, sludge pits and hike-a-bike sections.  The shortest race is usually around three and a half hours in length, with some events such as the Dirty Kanza, stretching to over 12 hours for most competitors, with 200 miles of terrain to traverse.

Williston, Florida, a bustling metropolis some 22 miles south from downtown Gainesville, Florida, was the scene of Saturday’s training ride.  The route was one some of the regular limerock crew had ridden in the past.  Several new roads were added to the route, as well as a couple of tweaks to correct an issue or two from the original ride.  And, to make things interesting, the route was ridden in reverse.  In all, about 66 miles of  awesome.

Population Zero

There isn’t a lot of humanity in these parts, which also means there are few chances for hydration.  Translation, only one stop for refueling and it’s after 54 miles (85kms) of chugging mostly on limerock.

Several of the regulars were out of town, in bed, or had bikes under construction.  That didn’t stop K-Dogg, JOM, Jimbo and newcomers Shannon, Ronny (Deutchsland) and Adam (on a fixie!) from rolling up.

How much stuff do you take on a cycling road trip?

Before I began my recent gravel grinding road trip, which would encompass North Carolina, Washington D.C., Vermont, and every between, I figured I need to shoot for maximum petrol (or gas if you prefer) mileage efficiency.  Not counting my hotel fee split with K-Dogg and Dr Pain in Marion, NC for Savage CX, I would be traveling solo.

I purchased a Toyota Prius recently, which thus far has proven stellar for being lean on the gasoline consumption.  Jokes about Prius owners are welcome, so submit your cheeky comments!  Apologies to anyone on Facebook who is sick of hearing me talk about the Prius, or posting photos of my dashboard mileage gauges 🙂

The day before a race, one should ride easy.  In my case, a Friday morning ride from Derby, Vermont and north into Canada by bicycle.  44 kilometres of planned goodness, with lots of gravel.

Crossing the border on a back road

Crossing the Canadian border at a lesser traversed immigration station can be a cool experience, especially on a bicycle.  The Canadian immigration officer took care of my passport check, and told me about the sweet cycling in the area.  In between the few incoming vehicles into Canada, we spent about half an hour chatting about cycling, culture and life in general.  A really nice welcome.  My return trip into the USA wasn’t as in depth, but the folks there were interested in hearing about my Canadian ride, and the Dirty 40 race.

The Great White North

This was my first trip to Canada.  What better way to do it, than drive across the US / Canadian border from Northern Vermont, into the province of Quebec.  Having a .00001% grasp of the French language, what could go wrong?  Thankfully, I had my little smart phone, with the Google Translator application installed, and the French language saved offline.  No data plan for outside of the USA means I had to think ahead a little bit.

Riding Around

I found a fantastic 65 kilometre urban route around Montreal, courtesy of a nice gentleman who shared his ride details on the ridewithgps.com website.  The route profile was very flat, perfect recovery considering I pre-rode the entire Dirty 40 course in Vermont yesterday.  I researched where to park the car, and chose a grocery store parking lot.  Thank you Google Street View!