Singles Party
The SA Singlespeed Champs is a hoot.
UUnlike other endurance events, in which – as a participant – you can take confidence from knowing the organisers have thought of every logistical contingency to make your race easier and safer, the South African Singlespeed Champs and the guys behind it have a slightly different agenda.
That said, ‘slightly different’ would be an accurate descriptor for all things related to singlespeed mountain biking. ‘Completely bonkers’ is another phrase used – often by mountain bikers on conventional bikes, with multiple gear ratios. And suspension.
Basically, a singlespeed mountain bike is as stripped down a bicycle as one could safely ride on a trail. It has a single chainring up front and a single cog at the back, often no front (and certainly no rear) suspension, and is generally made of steel tubing rather than moulded carbon fibre.
‘But what’s the point?’ is usually the question that follows. Surely gears and suspension were invented to make riding up and down a mountain easier and faster?
It’s an excellent point… and true. But all that fancy stuff also dulls the memory. It makes you forget why, as a kid, you picked up a bicycle in the first place. You sure as hell didn’t sit in that
TO MOST MOUNTAIN BIKERS, HAVING JUST ONE GEAR (AND OFTEN, ZERO SUSPENSION) MAKES LITTLE SENSE – BUT TO STEVE SMITH, WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE RECENT SA SINGLESPEED CHAMPS, IT’S ALL THAT RIDING A BICYCLE SHOULD BE.
saddle thinking ‘I’m so glad I’m riding this 2018 Commondale 1x12-speed, and not that outdated 2017 1x11 model. Sure, it cost me R150 000, but it’s a whole 100 grams lighter!’
No – you were thinking: ‘I just want to get on, and ride.’ No white noise in your head about which gear ratio you should be in, whether or not your suspension was perfectly tuned, or if you and your bike were a few grams lighter than the person behind you.
Nope. You just hopped on and rode, enjoying that simple freedom that a bicycle provides.
SUBCONSCIOUS PRAGMATISM
Singlespeeding also proves that age-old adage that success in sport is as much about one’s mental approach as it is about skill and training. Faced with a hill and one gear, your brain simply tells your legs to get on with it.
It’s a level of subconscious pragmatism that balls up the safety net that gears provide, and lobs it neatly into the trash. Ride your bike, dude… just ride your bloody bike, and you’ll get up all those hills.
But that’s easier said than done when you only have one cycling shoe.
Hiding your bike or stealing your shoe is a common tactic used by the SA Singlespeed Champs organisers; it’s a start-line reminder to anyone with race-winning ambitions that crossing the line first should be the very last thing on your mind.
This event is all about celebrating the joys that cycling can offer – riding beautiful trails with your mates, and enjoying a few beers along the way.
The dress-up costumes reflect this, and this year we had
That triumvirate of racing snakes still hadn’t got the memo; they’d already gone bulleting off into the distance. An unfortunate strategy, as they were later to find out.”
everything from the obligatory tutus to denim dungarees, Deadpool unitards and vintage tweed.
So once we’d fished our shoes out the pool, and located our bicycles dotted around the Garden Route Trail Park’s pump track, all but three of the 35 participants pedalled slowly up the road towards the first climb. That triumvirate of racing snakes still hadn’t got the memo; they’d already gone bulleting off into the distance.
An unfortunate strategy, as they were later to find out. Back in the pack, things began to spread out in the approach to the first hill, as various singlespeeders who hadn’t seen each other since last year’s event coalesced into smaller, chatty groups. The climb itself stopped most conversation other than the odd expletive – make no mistake, there’s always some proper riding at the SA Singlespeed Champs.
The total race distance may only have been some 27km, but anyone who’s been to the Garden Route Trail Park (gardenroutetrailpark.com) will know there are some steep climbs and challenging technical singletrack to go with the long, flowing downhills.
The initial 3km grindfest was rewarded with a sublime descent down smooth, beautifully-bermed singletrack. And a beer. Of course there are water stops at an SA Singlespeed event – it’s just that they only serve beer.
And stopping to drink a beer is one of the event’s few actual rules. One may chug it down if one wants, but it’s frowned upon. Why would you choose that, instead of spending a good few minutes sipping your brew and having a chat with your fellow riders?
SNEAKY LITTLE UPHILLS
On this warm Southern Cape morning, a few more sneaky little uphills among the shaded forest trails, some big sweeping berms and some large table-top jumps (it was the shamefully poor execution of one of these that gave me those few nicks and bruises) brought us to water point two, for another refreshment and a bit of a chinwag. From there, it was one final fastflowing piece of singletrack to the finish at the trail park’s facilities.
Later that afternoon, the prize-giving reflected the relaxed, fun and informal nature of the event. Kurt de Beer, who’d sped off at the start and had the temerity to actually win the thing, was called up, presented with the ‘Fast Butt… Last’ trophy – a bedpan – and given a good-natured ribbing.
Instead, the winner is declared to be Anton Schoon, who cycled up to Sedgefield from Stellenbosch over 16 days, his singlespeed carrying himself and all his bags. Anton cycled 1 800 kilometres to do a 27km race.
The decision was unanimous.