Here's the man himself Eric
Roman (event coordinator) -
like Moses paring the Red Sea...
|
 |
Here's everyone running from
the first lot to the second lot where the bikes were, though we had
to pass
through the bikes and take a few trails before we could come back and grab our
bikes.
|
 |
|
There were a
lot of interesting characters.
|
 |
There were
whole teams of characters.
|
 |
This guy is Travis Brown. He's
won the Single Speed World's at least once before. He works
for Trek's
bike development team, so he pretty much gets
whatever bike he can come up with. This one is a carbon
fibre
single speed specific frame with a Maverick long travel
fork restricted to hold a 29" front wheel while
he's got
a
26" wheel in the back.
|
 |
What you don't see is
a picture of me taking off on my bike. When I got to the parking lot
to pick up my
bike, it was gone. Some spectators told me some
other guy got frustrated looking for his and took mine
instead.
The bike I have is a pretty common single speed bike, so he had
plenty to choose from. I ran over
to Eric to tell him the news -
not so much for him to do anything, but to let them know I was about
to find
this other guys bike and finish the race anyway. After
waiting a few minutes there was one bike left. I
grabbed it and
took off. It was setup a little differently then mine, but it
had way nicer parts. I could
have made some adjustments,
but decided to ride it as is and do my best.
Starting
from the back I had to deal with a lot of people that weren't
comfortable or anywhere near able
enough to ride the sweet
Rothrock State Forest trails. The first trail was like a sidewalk in
downtown NYC -
people walking everywhere. There was no use even
trying to ride past or through them. Eventually there
were some
breaks and I got through. As I progressed I met up with little
groups of riders I knew and
enjoyed riding with. Eventually I'd
move on and pass a bunch more people. Finally I completed the 25
mile
race. By this point everyone knew of my predicament and
directed me to the culprit. I got my bike back
and he got his.
In the end it was no big deal and we all had a good time.
|
Here's a photo of me on the course. This was one of the few
more level and less rocky sections. I keep
hoping some pictures
of me will show up from one of the rocky downhill sections. They
were so much fun.
|
 |
While hanging out with a volunteer who also had a Gary Fisher
Rig, a represnetative of Gary Fisher bikes
took our picture.
Notice we each had a post race beverage.
|
 |
The format for all of
Eric's races in State College ends with the Go-kart track deciding
the overall winners.
The top twenty guys, ten gals and
ten random people got to duke it out on the go-kart track at the
base of
Tussey Mt. Here's a group of the guys going at it
for positions in the final heat.
|
 |
|
Topher in true Single
Speed form, couldn't put his
beer down for
the
race.
|
 |
|
And the final winners
of the Single Speed World Championsips in State College, PA
were
Brian "Buck" Keich from PA and Marla Streb
(pro racer with Luna Chix). As you can see the winners
get SSWC tattoos.This was actually Marla's second SSWC
win and her second tattoo. Buck actually had to first call his wife
for permission. But they weren't the only winners. For having
to do the race on someone elses bike and finishing it, I got a brand
new Kona Unit single speed frame. I was really quite surprised. I
had a great time
despite the
mix-up.
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
Unfortunately
there's no record of finishers after 20th place, so I don't know how
I did against my peers or even what time I finished in. In the end
it doesn't really matter. I felt strong that day and rode well.
Stay tuned for more possible pictures. There were people all
over the course snapping pictures. I'll post them as soon as they
show up.
|
| |
