Ben Frederick and the Small Monsters Project are Back for Year 2
The Single Speed National Champion is back after he did the thing and raised money for a good cause in 2021
One of the great stories in cyclocross in recent years has been the return of Ben Frederick to competitive racing. In 2016, he suffered a traumatic brain injury while training for the coming cyclocross season. Frederick didn’t know if he would ever ride a bike again, much less race UCI cyclocross.
Frederick returned to racing in 2018 and had a standout season in 2019, when but for a shoe mechanical, he would have won the Single Speed National Championship in Lakewood. Last season, Frederick started the Small Monsters Project, which is a vehicle for raising money to support Love Your Brain, and organization that helps folks who have suffered from TBIs.
Frederick reached out to me recently to chat about Year 2 of the Small Monsters Project. We sat down to chat about single speed cyclocross, raising money for a good cause, steel bikes, and of course, Cool Runnings.
Interview: Ben Frederick, Small Monsters Project Year 2
Zach Schuster: This seems appropriate, we had Sunny Gilbert, the Women's Single Speed National Champion, in for an interview and now you. I know winning last year was a big deal for you. You had that unfortunate incident in Lakewood, how was it waiting those two years to get some redemption?
Ben Frederick: If I'm honest, I wasn't planning on racing that race until the week before. I kind of had gone all in on gears and do the best I could in the Elite ranks. I was getting super in my head about how to quantify my season, and then my coach Grant Holicky was like, "Well then do the Single Speed race. It will be fun. Remember, fun, what we used to have on bikes?"
I was fortunate enough to have a good mechanic who bought into ripping the gears off my bikes the day before and then putting the gears back on right after. I ended up having a really awesome race. It kind of reminded me about how much fun bike racing can be.
Zach Schuster: I feel like we did an interview before last season where you said Single Speed Nationals was a goal for you. How did that change during the season?
Ben Frederick: I was having a decent amount of success. Making the World Cups was a really big goal for me, and I was able to do that. Then all of a sudden Worlds became part of the conversation. I just got really caught up in results-based stuff and then how I can get the most points at the U.S. National Championships to maybe secure a spot at Worlds, because how crazy would that be?
I also didn't want to do the race an injustice by not riding a single speed at all during the year and then showing up on a single speed. That's kind of why it wasn't part of the quote plan. But that is not going to be the case this year.
Zach Schuster: It's kind of interesting to me looking at Nationals and the Single Speed race being one of my favorites of the entire week, just because there are so many talented folks racing. Jake Wells had his streak you snapped. You're targeting it. Sunny is targeting it. Sarah Sturm does. It seems like it has some legitimacy to target that race now.
Ben Frederick: I think all the credit goes to Jake [Wells} for kind of owning that. I guess in my mind, the perception was it's the silly, fun race. There was definitely a time in the mid-2010s where people got really mad that the pro guys would show up and do it for openers or to test the course when they haven't been doing it all year.
As one who both really enjoys fun and also cares about biking racing--I really want to be fast--with Jake bringing that professionalism and "If I am going to do it, I am going to do it right" mentality, I think it added some legitimacy to actually being able to break that streak. It meant a lot more to me given the way he carries himself.
I don't know if he raced a geared bike all year, so it was very much a part of what he did. He showed up on a single speed and was the single speed national champion, even in the geared races. I did a lot of that in 2019 based in part on the way he was doing it?
Zach Schuster: So here's my question. I feel like the women have made costumes a thing. They've found a way to straddle that fun versus serious side. Any chance we can get a costume out of you? We'll talk about it in a bit, but you've got a really cool program with a really cool mascot. I think there's an opportunity here.
Ben Frederick: I agree with that. There is definitely some room for fun. There have been some Cutty Cross races in San Francisco this summer, and one of the things that is a requirement is a Hawaiian shirt. I was able to find a silly American-flag Hawaiian shirt that could be part of a costume, maybe.
Zach Schuster: I don't want to belabor the single speed thing too much, but Single Speed Worlds is back. It's in Durango this year. Is that something you're looking at?
Ben Frederick: Yeah, I just chugged a beer right before as practice.
Zach Schuster: Okay then. We did an interview last year and talked about your story coming back from injury. You were on your way up before suffering a catastrophic TBI, and then recently you've been getting back into it. I wanted to hear your thoughts on your season last year? I know you had those big aspirations and were going for it, so I'm interested in hearing your take on last season for you.
Ben Frederick: It was incredible. We raised $20,000, that's huge. That's huge! That's the most important part, being able to give back to people who are going through what I went through. It was really important to me because I was supported and was able to become a human being again with the support of cycling and the cyclocross community. So being able to give back in that way was really cool. I didn't even need to start the season, and it already was a success.
But also the stars aligned where we had three World Cups in the U.S., and my work situation allowed me to work from home, and my lovely partner supported me to kind of do the thing, go all-in. To be able to have this crazy goal and accomplish the goal and then do the thing, go to the World Cups, was amazing. It was amazing. That was really neat.
And then having the National Championship go as well as it did for the Single Speed race was a nice cherry on the top for the end of the year. And then I was an alternate for Worlds. One of my biggest goals pre-injury was to make the Worlds team, so to even be in that conversation was a pinch-me moment. I got to stay on the road all season. Get in the van, do all the races. I didn't have to compromise on which races I did or didn't do.
I am not going to say that any future seasons aren't going to be as fulfilling or as gratifying, but at the end of the day I can say I did the thing. I got to do the thing. I reached a level I wanted to reach as a Cat 4 with dreams watching Behind the Barriers. I got to tick a lot of boxes, and it meant a lot more being able to do that while raising money.
Zach Schuster: Did you go to Worlds?
Ben Frederick: I did. In the Covid-fraught world at the time, I was like, "I don't know," but I decided to make the trip and make a weekend out of it. I didn't want to have a situation where I got a call Saturday night and then had to go to Arkansas.
At Nationals during pre-ride I fell and broke my rib, so I took some time off after Nationals. Then I got that email that was like, "Hey, you're one of the alternates," and I was like, "Let's see if we can squeeze out a last little bit of fitness so I can show up in the best shape possible, no matter what happens." Sunny and I got to have some really fun mountain bike rides, and I got to see the spectacle. I was at Louisville in 2013, so it was cool to have been to every U.S. World Championships so far.
Zach Schuster: You said something earlier that reminded me of something Sunny said, since we're just making comparisons to the interview I just did, you talked about your priority for the season changing. What was that process like, in terms of doing single speed, and ope, now I'm trying to make the Worlds team.
Ben Frederick: It kind of happened naturally. The goal and focus was the World Cups, so that put me in a really good spot in that half-way part of the season. Instead of ripping the gears off my bike and switching to a different mindset, I was like, "Well, let's kind of keep a good thing running." In hindsight, I don't know. I don't know if it was the right choice because I was trying to lean into the professional side of it more than my lifestyle allowed, and more than my default personality is.
You look at what the quote pros are doing, and I was like, "Oh yeah, I should do that. I need to be off my feet and try to maximize everything." I think it was a little bit to my detriment for the second half of the season. I just never felt like I had that spark I had at the beginning of the year. That's a non-answer, but yeah, I think I'll do it differently this year.
Zach Schuster: I have some advice for you, I just thought of this. Have you seen Cool Runnings?
Ben Frederick: Oh yes.
Zach Schuster: Ok, you're Jamaica. And all the other guys are the German team or whatever.
Ben Frederick: The Swiss.
Zach Schuster: Ok, the Swiss, you clearly remember it better than I do. Stick with what works for you. Is that fair?
Ben Frederick: At the start line, I won't be going "Ein, Zwei, Drei, Go," it will be "Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it's single speed time."
Zach Schuster: You've seen this movie like 20 times haven't you?
Ben Frederick: I have this weird like savant knowledge of random movie stuff, so you're welcome world.
Zach Schuster: One thing that you've been doing that's really cool is your program, the Small Monsters Project. We talked it a little bit last year, but we all have memories of a gnat, what is it, how did year one go, and what are you looking forward to this year?
Ben Frederick: The Small Monsters Project is a program designed to get rid of some of the stigma that can surround mental health issues, with an altruistic focus toward fundraising for an organization called Love Your Brain, which helps Traumatic Brain Injury survivors and their caregivers with resources and knowledge. After my brain injury in 2016, I had a pretty rough go with my mental health, and it wasn't until I was able to bring those monsters out of the closet and start to live with them that I was able to make progress in a meaningful way.
So the small monsters, if you are able to walk alongside them and live with them, they don't go away but you they become a lot smaller and manageable. Alex Carlson did some really cool monster designs for me. That's what you see on the kit; it's kind of a visual representation of breaking down the barriers of having mental health struggles. It's ok to not be ok and all those sayings.
Zach Schuster: Last year did you end up auctioning off your bikes? How did that go?
Ben Frederick: Richey was able to give me two bikes we did custom paint for. At the end of the season we auctioned off one of the bikes. And my employer and kit sponsor ORNOT did jerseys you could buy, so you could also have your monsters with you. We're going to do a very similar thing to last year. We'll have an updated Small Monsters jersey people can purchase, and all the proceeds from that go directly to Love Your Brain.
New for this year, we're hoping we can have a bike frame raffle for one of the production bikes, so just in case you're a 57cm frame size like me, you can get a bike you'll be stoked on and can rip around on knowing that you're able to give back in a meaningful way. And Sweet Protection is getting on board, Challenge Tires is getting on board to have different prizes for the raffle at the end of the year. I'm super excited. It would be amazing if we could match what we did last year in terms of fundraising.
Zach Schuster: So that means you're getting at least one new bike this year? Maybe three, or two? For the single speed.
Ben Frederick: Luckily I am supported by SRAM, and it's super easy to plug and play single speed components. This year I am going to be running the bike I won Nationals on as a single speed full time as one of my bikes. And then I'll be helping launch a new Ritchey Swiss Cross that's coming out. I'll be using that as my geared bike.
Zach Schuster: I don't know if you're necessarily going to have an answer for this, but we recently did a story on Nice Bikes.
Ben Frederick: Big fan.
Zach Schuster: And Ritchey's been involved in 'cross. Richard Sachs has been in 'cross. What's it about custom steel bike makers that attracts them to 'cross? It seems like it's a nice fit that's maintaining that historical vibe that cyclocross had. The anti-bike race kind of thing.
Ben Frederick: I think it goes back to that fine line between fun and serious. The bikes aren't as light as the modern carbon bikes, but they still ride great. And the stories behind the bikes give them a lot of character. It's more than just a bike. I get more heckles and yells about my bike than I do about me. "Go Ritchey. Steel is real." All those things.
And with the heritage of Ritchey specifically, they won a world championship in cyclocross. It's the same company, the same people. The same technology even, and it's still able to race at a World Cup and national level. Besides the fact they supported me through the brain injury and were the first people to give me a shot, it's a really credible company with a really cool story. Especially now that I live like 30 miles from the man himself and get to ride with him occasionally, it's really cool.
Zach Schuster: I'm not going to pretend what I've gone through is comparable, but I've had like four dislocated shoulders that have substantially affected my riding. I have probably retired as a mountain biker. Finally this year after a few 'cross practices, I think I feel a little bit more comfortable and confident on the bike. So what did it take and what kind of advice do you have for folks dealing with an injury that's still always kind of in your head?
Ben Frederick: I think it's easy to just flash forward six years--I just had my six-year anniversary of the accident--and be like, oh yeah, it will be fine. I spent a year after the accident pretty convinced I would never ride a bike again because I didn't want to put myself at risk of feeling like I did after the crash. For me and what I was going through, I kind of had to let go, and anything that was more than zero was better. It was just better.
A lot of it was letting go. A lot of it was having patience, because it's going to take as long as it takes. So instead of spending energy fighting and wanting it to go faster, having that patience is important. Way way easier said than done. And honestly a bit impetus of me ripping the gears off my bike was to change what cyclocross, specifically, meant to me. All I wanted to be was at the front of these UCI races. At the time, it was like geared bikes, be at the front, that is what the elite are doing.
I knew I couldn't be there because not only was I recovering from my injury and things like that, I wanted to re-frame what the sport meant and have fun. Single speed kind of gave me--not a built-in excuse--but a way of doing it differently. So I can't necessarily compare myself to Curtis White, Stephen Hyde, Kerry Werner. I'm doing a different thing than them. I'm running a single speed with cantis, and it's steel. It helped me be able to brush off any feelings of feeling less than, when it comes to that stuff.
It's kind of like reframing and refocusing and finding those small wins that help keep showing progress. And going through enough experimentation to decide if it's something you want to do. My accident took me out of racing, and it wasn't by choice. Before swearing off racing forever because of how dangerous it is, I kind of wanted to know if it was still something I still wanted to do and still had the fire to do.
Knocking on wood and everything else, it's worked out so far. I have had a few bonks on the head that were enough to bring back some symptoms, but luckily I have gotten to the place where I have enough resources and knowledge to address it really quickly and take the time off immediately and not try to push through. That's allowed me to continue to want to pedal bikes hard and put myself in situations I wouldn't have a few years ago.
Zach Schuster: If folks want to donate to the Small Monsters Project, how do you do that?
Ben Frederick: Starting around GO Cross we're going to open the preorder for the jerseys. The main hub is thesmallmonstersproject.com. That's where I'll have links to everything. Or you can go to ornotbike.com. That's where the jersey preorder is going to be. And then at the end of the year we will be doing some raffles. On thesmallmonstersproject.com, you can also just donate at the site or go to the Love Your Brain site.
There's no ego in it for me, in terms of how much I raise, but I want to get as much money to those folks as I can because they're really doing some good work.
Zach Schuster: You mentioned folks cheering for you and you also mentioned the World Cups and Worlds, and it makes me think about this season. I think everyone's a bit nervous about how this season is going to go. What do you think us, as a cyclocross community, can do to make 'cross more popular. Bigger. Have a successful season.
Ben Frederick: I think if we call it Short-Track Gravel.
Zach Schuster: That's good start.
Ben Frederick: Gravel's in the name, and that's all anyone cares about right now. I honestly think teams such as the Nice Bikes team and hopefully what I'm doing show it's not just about racing bikes really fast in circles. It's about telling a bigger story and supporting people who are passionate about what they're doing or trying to raise awareness for stuff.
I think the investment the USCX series is putting into having it on GCN and Discovery Plus is huge. Continuing to tell those stories. Last year was amazing to be able to have my grandma watch cyclocross. I think that's a definite advantage we have as a sport. You can't watch 12 hours of Unbound, but you can sit down and watch 2 hours of cyclocross. I really want to highlight GCN and what you guys are doing; telling the stories of people, so it's not just names riding around in circles. It's people who have jobs and have lives and are still trying to make a go.
Zach Schuster: By nature, the CXHairs Bulletin, when we write a race report, we focus on the front of the race. We've been trying to expand to at least cover the wide-angle podium, and we've also been trying to highlight some of those 5th-10th finishes that are an exceptional result for a given rider. I feel like we did a good job of that last year, especially though our Instagram.
I feel like you're kind of in that 5 to 10 zone. What's your perspective on being successful and trying to get noticed? What are you there for?
Ben Frederick: I'm in a privileged position because as much as I would love to race for my job, I'm not racing for my job. So all the results I get are for personal goals, and if I don't get them, it doesn't affect my life, broadly. I might get bummed if I can't go to a World Cup. From that standpoint, being in the 5 to 10 zone is, I don't know, it's cool. You want to chase five, and if you're fifth, you really want to chase number three. I've been in that 5 to 10 zone for a lot of years, even before the injury. I think we have fun back there.
Zach Schuster: I think one way we can make things more interesting is to build up rivalries. I was trying to get Curtis White and Eric Brunner to start getting after it. We know Kerry will be dropping bombs when he shows up. So who are your rivals? And who is your aspirational person to beat? I mean, we all have that person we want to beat. Who's the guy who maybe doesn't know you have your sights set on him?
Ben Frederick: I mean heck, every single person in front of me.
Zach Schuster: But there's the first step! There's that guy, you really want to beat that guy.
Ben Frederick: I'll put it out there. Brannan Fix. I want to have steel supremacy. The real battle is steel supremacy.
Zach Schuster: I love it. And he has a similar fun personality. I think that will be a fun one. I'll try to remember to add the Steel Supremacy Report to the race reports.
Ben Frederick: You're seeing it become more en vogue. It's not just Richard Sachs and myself on steel bikes anymore. I think it's actually more important than the podium.
But all joking aside, I am so excited to see the cyclocross family again. Pet everyone's dogs, and just catch up. Last year was really cool where we got to go to every race with everyone else. At the end of the day we wanted to beat each other, but like I was stoked when Brennan got in the top five and was moving up. I was like, "I want to be doing that! Good for you homie." And when Eric switched on and was just crushing people, it was like, "Man, would I love to be doing what you're doing? Yes. Am I jealous and bummed it's not me? Obviously."
I love bike racing. I love the people in bike racing. There's no one I'm actively rooting against. When someone has a good race, even if it's at my expense, I'm still stoked.
Zach Schuster: That's awesome. I like that about the scene. Thanks for your time, and I'm looking forward to seeing you out there again this season.
Ben Frederick: Yeah man, thank you. I'm excited.