By Steve Medcroft
Over four hundred singlespeed bike riders showed up in State College, Pennsylvania this past weekend for the Singlespeed World Championships (August 20). But before we move on to the Cyclingnews race report of the event, there are a few things you need to know.
Firstly, Singlespeeders are not the mainstream of mountain biking therefore you should not expect a race report for the Singlespeed World championship to look like a mainstream cross-country race report. What we mean is that singlespeed mountain bikes are a fringe passion. The people who ride them say that removing gears takes the bike out of the equation and reduces riding (and competition) to just the marriage of the athlete and the terrain. A singlespeed bike is often the antithesis to the five thousand dollar mountain bike; the one with a high percentage of carbon and every technological advantage bike and component manufacturers can offer.
Singlespeeders, by average and not rule, are the punk rockers of mountain biking. They represents the image of the hardened, tough-as-nails, ride all day with no food, drink all night, ride all the next day kind of mountain biker. This image is partially myth though; singlespeed mountain bikes are popular among people as varied as downhill legend Marla Streb to U.S. Elite Road National Champion Carl Decker. The guy who fixes your bike at the local shop and the woman who tears the legs off the men on your Wednesday night mountain bike rides are probably singlespeeders. Enough said?
Also, The race is not a sanctioned world championship. Promoter Eric Roman, part owner of Nittany Wheelworks in State College, Pennsylvania, says that he earned his bid to host the Worlds by simply asserting himself as the host whenever spontaneous discussion formed around the subject. “We just kept telling people it was going to be here whenever anyone asked,” he said. The race became the world championship because everyone who wanted to race in the Worlds agreed that this was where it would be held.
Read the complete Singlespeed World Championships report here.
