Single Speed World Championship
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| Single Speed World Championships | |
|---|---|
| Local name: | SSWC |
| Region: | different venue each year |
| Date: | variable |
| Type: | Single Speed Mountain Bike Race |
| History | |
| First Edition: | 1995? |
| Number of Editions: | 8? |
| First Winner: | Male-Travis Brown Female-Marla Streb |
| Most Wins Male: | Travis Brown - Two Wins |
| Most Wins Female: | Marla Streb, Linda Eckhart and Stella Carey -Two Wins |
The Single Speed World Championship race is an annual event. It is open to only bicycles with a single gear ratio. Those bicycles can be either single-speed bicycles or fixed-gear bicycles. Most of the bicycles in these races are mountain bicycles, however many people take part in the race on cyclo-cross bicycles, racing bicycles and bicycles defying easy categorization.
Contents |
[edit] History
The first event was organized in 1999 and was less of a race and more of a bike rally. The race was not the most important thing to most of the 260 people that took part. The camaraderie, beer drinking and just riding your bike seemed to be the most important. Over the years, the idea has been maintained pretty well. At times people have proposed the SSWC be a true race, with timings, placing, and strict rules. This has been fervently resisted by those that understand the true nature of this event.
World Champion bicycle races usually award the victor a title and the right to wear a jersey denoting their win. The SSWC does award a title but instead of a jersey the winner receives either a tattoo or branding. The race promoters and organizers have always warned competitors, "do not win if you do not want the tattoo." As of yet, no winner has attempted to fight off the tattoo or branding artist.
Unlike most World Championship bicycle races, the SSWC is not sanctioned by any cycling governing body. The race itself has little organization other than the individuals putting the race on each year. Surly Bikes currently has a strong influence over picking the location the race will be held, but that is about it. They were awarded this responsibility since they won the Bike Derby held the day before the actual race in 2005.
[edit] Alternative Races
Many people unable to attend the annual World Championship or considering the venue or organizers as poor, have gone on to organize other SS races. These events have had names such as the Universe Single Speed Championships, the East Coast Single speed Championships of the Universe.
[edit] Venues and Victors
[edit] 1995
Big Bear, CA, USA
- Female Winner - unknown
- Male Winner - unknown
[edit] 1996-1998
Not known if held and is so where and when.
[edit] 1999
Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA
- Female Winner - Marla Streb (USA)
- Male Winner - Travis Brown (USA)
[edit] 2000
May 13th Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Female Winner -Stella Carey (USA)
- Male Winner - Hollywood Jay Henderson (USA)
[edit] 2001
June 2nd Afan Forest Park Country Park, near Port Talbot, South Wales
Held in Afan Forest Park a beautiful narrow valley in southern Wales. The park is within Valleys forest, the largest urban forest in Europe. One of the most memorial prizes were awarded to the fattest and skinniest racer. These titles were determined by the crowd's cheering at the award event. Prizes were also awarded for best seen crash, most vomitings in the race (4), person most in need of a new frame (award a new Bianchi frame), best male legs (decided by the top ten women), pimpiest bike and most hungover. The winners of the race were both from the UK and are:
- Female Winner - Alison Rushton (UK)
- Male Winner - Jeff Wherlock (UK)
An American visitor reports on his trip
[edit] 2002
Saturday October 12th Downieville, California, USA
The 2002 event was the first to awarding the winners branding instead of tattoos. Stella Carey said the branding hurt much less than the pain endured during the race. The brands were applied by professional brander, Michael Hare, of Exotic Body [1] in Sacramento, California. Additionally Stela and Travis were each awarded a pig trophy. These frames of the trophies were made by welding expert and bike frame maker Rick Hunter. Steve Smith [2]assembled dissected embryo piglets into cylinders of formaldehyde and/or urine held in each trophy. The most memorable moment for the participants was the complimentary Budweiser-in-the-can and BBQ'd hot dogs provided at the top of the initial climb by two drunken, obese men.
- Female Winner - Stella Carey (finish time 3:59) (USA)
- Male Winner - Travis Brown (finish time 2:51) (USA)
[edit] 2003
November 9th Castlemaine, Australia
- Female Winner - Linda Eckhart (USA)
- Male Winner - Clinton Jackson (NZ)
[edit] 2004
August 21st Berlin, Germany
- Female Winner - Linda Eckhart (USA)
- Male Winner - Florian Eschenbach (German)
[edit] 2005
August 21st State College, Pennsylvania, USA in Rothrock State Forest
The 2005 event was organized primarily by Eric Roman, Jim Malta [3] and Joe Gore. The course was a single lap approximately 25 miles (40 km) long. The course featured three major climbs and four descents. The total elevation climbed over the course was approximately 3500 feet (1070 meters) The course traversed many technical trails full of rock gardens challenging the racers bike handling skills. The race started with an approximately 1 mile trail run to help separate out the field of 400 plus riders.
The 2005 event highlighted its resistance to a racing focus by awarding the title of World Champion not to the winner of the bicycle race, but to the winner of a Go-kart race after the bike race. Winning or finishing well in the bicycle race (top 20 men and top 10 women) only qualified you for the Go-Kart race. This has caused a controversy in some portions of the single speed community. The World Champs were awarded 29"er Gary Fisher Rig singlespeed bikes with custom head badges made by Philadelphia jeweller Jennifer Green and of course a tatoo of the event's official logo. The Official World Champions are:
- Male World Champion - Brian Keich (USA)
- Female World Champion - Marla Streb (USA)
The placing in the bicycle race stage were only recorded for the first two men, Jesse LeLonde then Travis Brown and the first two women, Abby Hippley and then Tiffany Mann. Jesse and Abby both failed to win the Championship even with their pole position in the Go-Kart race. For their first place finishes they were awarded bottles of 15 year old scotch. Other prizes were awarded for the person requiring the most stitches, drinking the most the night before and still finishing well, riding some one else's bike to the end, having to ride somebody else’s bike since someone else took your bike, and doing the most damage to your bike during the race.
Event report by Keith Bontrager
[edit] 2006
August 18-20 Stockholm, Sweden according to the announcement posted on the Surly Bikes Blog Jan 6, 2006. [4]
- Male Winer - Sveinung Bjørkøy from Oslo, Norway
- Female Winner - Tiffany Allmandinger from Goleta, California, USA
[edit] 2007
Scotland, dates and location will be confirmed soon.
