2006 was the last time I made the Singlespeed UK Champs. 5 years ago! Can't believe it had been so long. From about 1999 onwards all I did was just ride singlespeed when I was on the MTB. It was ingrained. The organisers took pity on my beaten-to-hell Kona back then and I was given a beautiful singlespeed Titanium DeSalvo as a prize! The best thing I've won hands down. And a game changer. I went from being happy to pootle around the hills to someone who now wanted to sprint around the hills. A change in fitness wasn't what promoted this, it was a change of bike. It simply wanted to be ridden fast. Always wanting to go faster than I currently going. It was inspiring and was the catalyst for a whole change of mindset in terms of what I was looking for in cycling. Speed. It was exhilarating and the resulting increase in fitness just made me want to go faster. Get to see more of the countryside that way, right?
And this was all 5 years ago! We've designed the t-shirts for the singlespeed champs for the last couple of years which has been great, but it's not the same as taking part. Thankfully this year it was to change. Since The Kinesis Morvélo Project I've been riding, unsurprisingly, Kinesis Bikes, but after 2 hours of faffing I just couldn't singlespeed the Maxlight as well as I would have liked so the DeSalvo came out of retirement. It was a fitting return. At last I made the short hop from Brighton to Pippingford, wondering how things might have moved on in the 5 years since I've been away. Not one bit. The same familiar faces, some new ones but with the same great atmosphere. Most of the "competitors" are there for the occasion and a ride around but there is always a thin slither at the business end who like to thrash it. Enough to satisfy my racing craving. What makes the SSUK such an entertaining race is that there is zero attitude on the track. Even in the close tussle I was having with my friend Tym and another couple of riders there was still friendly banter and some decent piss-taking.
Also there was the familiar beer stop at the bottom of the main climb.
There is no stranger, or more enjoyable, way of ensuring some close racing than the beer stop. Often by this point I'd managed to get a bit of a gap from Tym but his drinking style was too quick for me and my 'Ladies who lunch' sipping technique. This resulted in a sprint for me to catch him up the climb and my best attempts to keep the Dark Star from reversing back out. Mix this up with some proper mud fest conditions and it was a cracker. The course was excellent and despite the conditions still provided some very entertaining riding with steep drops and off camber sections. Quite often the best technique was lay off the brakes, hang on, point downhill and see where you end up.
After about an hour and a halfs close racing it came down to a three way sprint. A rider had caught me and Tym as we distanced ourselves from 2 other riders, and he went straight through. I felt wasted so stuck on Tym's wheel until the final climb and then gave it one last dig. I managed to just catch the rider with 100 metres of the line and the uphill finish I though would favour my '9 hills in 9 miles commute'. It did, just and I pipped him on the line. I didn't know at the that point what position I was racing for. Like a cross race, it didn't matter. It's the racing that counts not the position although I was told it was for 4th so got to say I'm chuffed with that!
Finish it off with a whole afternoons drinking and an evening Rollapaluza and you have an awesome event! It's like I've never been away.
Photos courtesy of Sam at Singular Cycles