Beer, Ride Bike, Beer and More Beer
Or in other words - Single Speed World Championships, Aviemore, Scotland
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Report by Jess Hemming Well it was in Scotland,.... Photo taken from a layby on the way home |
Why? You might ask.
Ray liked the sound of the singlespeed world championships, he’d not done a singlespeed race before, but for some reason, thought it sounded fun! Perhaps it was the fact that the word ‘beer’ seemed to be included in any sentence that included the SSWC acronym. Here is part of the itinerary that was received after entering the event:
Friday - Find singlespeeders milling around. Herd them to pub.
Saturday - sign on at Bothy Bikes from 10:00 - 19:00, rides, beer.
Sunday - rideout, race, rideback, prizes, 2008 decider, beer.
And so it was that on the Thursday prior to the race weekend, we stuffed our car with tent, bikes, food and all the 'just in case’ detritus that you seem compelled to take, plus Sam the dog and headed for the mountains of Scotland.
We decided we’d spend a day or two getting there - we didn’t just have the singlespeed, we had my Trek and Ray’s On One to test out on the Scottish trails. Looking at the map, we chose Peebles as our mid-way stopping off point and Glentress, as the trail we'd ride.
The Rosetta Caravan and camping park at Peebles turned out to be a good choice for pitching the tent, since the camping area was full of likeminded people who were there to ride their bikes. Eager to get on our own bikes, we got up early on the Friday morning and headed straight for the Glentress Hub, finding ourselves pretty much the first to arrive. We decided to dispense with the easier trails (at least Ray did!) and opted to ride the black route – Ray leading, Sam in the middle and me (wondering what I'd let myself in for) at the rear.
It turned out though, that it was graded black more for its length than its technical nature - that said, there were a couple of short sections that were pretty demanding (rocky slabs and drop-offs); there was also some interesting North Shore, which we stopped to play on, or rather Ray did (and promptly fell off) – shame I missed that photo opportunity!
All in all, it was a good course, but I think Ray would have preferred a bit more singletrack; I enjoyed it though - it was, on the whole smooth, with plenty of flowing, sweeping sections through the forest and not a huge amount of demanding climbing.
A bit of the North Shore at Glentress where Ray managed to fall off!
Back to the hub, we had food and drink at the café then headed back to camp. After a quick shower, we walked into Peebles – it’s a very nice town, with a cracking butcher’s – he sold very good pies, which we consumed greedily back at camp. In fact they were that good, that once stuffed full of pies, Ray decided he wanted to go back to Glentress and ride the red route (don’t know what they put in the pies up there, . . . on second thoughts, that’s just Ray). So off we went again, except this time I left Ray to go it alone, whilst I walked the dog – my excuse was that it would give Ray the chance to tear round as fast as he liked without me holding him up!
To Aviemore we go
Saturday, saw us packing up at the crack of dawn to complete the last leg of the journey to Aviemore. We decided we’d stop en route for a cooked breakfast, however, Scotland, doesn’t appear to have the proliferation of cafes that England boasts (at least we didn’t find them) and we were almost within reach of Aviemore when we finally saw a sign to lure us from the road with the promise of ‘food’.
It turned out to be a trendy place (part of a hotel) – Ray went for bacon, eggs and tomato – what arrived was 2 eggs, 2 small pieces of bacon and half a tomato – for five quid (it was also about 4 quid for beans on toast)! I decided I wouldn’t bother. Typically, when we arrived in Aviemore about 20 minutes later, the first thing we saw was a great café, offering the full works for about £3.79!
Aviemore was packed with singlespeeders (you could tell them apart, because they were peddling at warp speed and going nowhere!). After a quick drive-through recce, we headed off in search of a campsite and found one (that had vacancies and accepted pets) about seven miles away in the Glenmore Forest Park.
Up went the tent next to a stream (yes that was a mistake in midge country – speaking to a Scotsman later, he had one word for them – eeevil – I’m still scratching now, even as I write this back at home). It was then down to Bothy Bikes for sign on where Ray received a really cool pink t’shirt; a really cool bottle opener (for all the beer); some stickers and a poster, along with race numbers (which incidently were sideways orientated – to make them easy to read when you crash!) and a wrist band (pink).
The location of the course was at this point, secret, but since I was going to be spectating and carrying back-up supplies (there were no facilities at the start/finish and that you couldn’t drive to it), I needed to know where to go the following day. I was given directions and handily, we discovered that the start was not far from where we were camped.
Since we had already planned to do a bit of off-road exploring that evening, we decided to ride up, to see how far it was and how accessible for me and the dog. As it happened, we also discovered the trail itself!
It turned out to be a great trail – some really serious singletrack and some very scary stuff, which I didn’t think anyone would be able to ride (but, they did it turned out!). Ray, me and Sam gave it a big thumbs (read paws for dog) up and Ray couldn’t wait for the event to start the following day.
The Race
The 9:30 ride-out (which was 7 miles) to the event start, began at Bothy Bikes. It was confirmed as soon as we arrived, that singlespeeders are definitely a different breed of mountain biker. Some serious effort had gone into the right riding kit – there was a guy with dreadlocks who was wearing what looked like brightly coloured moon boots; he had also rigged up a sound system (2 speakers) to the front of his bike. Then there was a 'lass' dressed as a scotsman, including something she’d strapped on under her kilt (she was later to win a prize for that). I also happened across a bike riding robber, complete with stripy jumper, stripy bike, stocking over his head and a swag bag.
One of the riders hoping for a quick get away!
We hung around, chatted, laughed and took in the sights; caught up with some friends who were also riding in the event - Mandy; Sheldon and Pete from the Ashton MTB Club.
When the ride-out began, I parted company and went back to camp for my own bike ready to meet everyone trailside, arriving back just in time for the le Mans start, which effectively meant a run up and down a hill followed by a mad scramble for the bike you'd left somewhere in the heap (they kept that treat quiet). Amusingly, some found their bikes halfway up trees! There was also a domino-effect pile up shortly after take off which added to the excitement.
I took a few photos and moved off to the next vantage point, settling at the base of a wicked descent, one that caused many a cry of ‘oh sh***t’ as the riders attempted it. I should also point out that an ambulance had also taken up a strategic position in the same spot!
It was a section that I remembered from the night before – I’d decided it was too far away from the nearest hospital so opted for the dismounted option, thinking hardly anyone would ride it. Sickeningly, loads of people did (albeit with varying degrees of success) – some made it look incredibly easy, but most came perilously close to disaster (the expressions on those rider’s faces was priceless). For those that did end up crashing - they earned a place in the ‘best crash’ prize category!
May be not! The picture doesn't really do the descent justice - it wasn't just rocky, but steep, going
into a nasty curve with a nice big tree route right across the middle!
I think Ray was really wishing he’d built a better bike for the event – for the hell of it, he’d converted a real skip job into a singlespeed – it had no suspension and it was debatable whether or not it would go the distance without breaking up. He hadn’t banked on such an extreme course and would really have loved to have made the most of it.
It was when I was waiting for Ray to emerge at the top of the dastardly descent that I heard the weirdest noise coming from somewhere in the forest – I stood there puzzling about it until moments later the music man appeared, dreadlocks flying, speakers blaring, grit and gravel spraying – he rode the thing, speakers, boots and all (apparently, he had been delayed because he’d had to fix his damaged sound system).
The music man himself, at the start.
It was here also, that I was privy to a view of ‘the flying scotsman’ a guy who went on to win the event – he was wearing a scots Jimmy wig, plus a kilt, and was thankfully riding so fast, that everything was a blur to the onlooker!
The Finish
The race finished after the first person (the scots Jimmy guy) had crossed the line for the fifth time. Ray had managed four laps and was overtaken by Sheldon towards the end. Ray tells me it’s because he was forced to stop for a beer (beer was being handed out en route)!
Back at Bothy Bikes for Beer, Barbecue, Prize Giving, Beer and more Beer….
A bar, curtsey of the Cairngorm Brewery had been set up in the car park – it sold real ale of the like of 'Sheep Shaggers', 'Wildcat' and 'Nessie's'.
Then there was the barbecue, which was not only impressive, but free (for the entrants). It was provided by the Cairngorm Mountain Café – real home cooked food (including venison sausages) to go with the real ale.
Then there was the free beer (of course) – bottles of Cairngorm Brewery real ale were being given to the riders!
Following that was the prize giving – the first male and first female over the line weren’t present – they had already gone off to receive their obligatory winner’s tattoo - participants were warned beforehand if you don’t want a tattoo, then don’t win!
The other prize winners (there were categories aplenty) were decided by audience heckling; dance offs (in the shape of highland flings) and races around the car park. Ray had hoped to win the category for ‘most shoddy chainset’, but clearly those in favour didn’t heckle loudly enough and the award was given to someone else!
It was a fantastic event - fun, but also hard – you had to be fit (even on a geared bike it was demanding), fearless and be able to drink large amounts of beer. And next year? Next year it takes place in California, . . ..
Useful Links
Glentress Hub
SSWC 07