How’s this for a summer road trip idea: pack your pink jock strap and the lucha libre mask you bought in Tijuana on spring break years ago, bungee your single speed mountain bike to the top of your station wagon, and get on the open road to witness one of the wildest mountain bike races in the world—the 2009 Single Speed World Championships (SSWC).Held on Saturday, September 19th, in Durango, Colorado, this year (about 900 miles from Omaha), the SSWC is a mysteriously run annual event that attracts a wide variety of single speed enthusiasts from all over the world. Costumes and drinking are de rigueur, athletes range from the world class to the half-assed and are routinely thrown a competitive curveball (the top 20 finishers in the 2005 mountain bike race were forced to race go-karts--yes, go karts--in order to determine the champion), and the winner gets not a trophy…not a medal…not a Taco Bell bean burrito gift certificate…but a tattoo. (As the race organizers say, “Don’t win if you don’t want the tattoo.”)
Anyone interested in participating should’ve registered months ago, but that’s okay—there’s a ton of interesting things to do (other than watch the spectacle of the race itself). For one, there's a ton of great mountain biking in the area. For another, there's the Durango to Silverton narrow gauge rail, which will provide you with spectacular views of the San Juans and the Animas River (which you can also go whitewater rafting on).
For a full schedule of events, check here. And for a write-up in this month’s Outside magazine on last year’s SSWC, held in Napa, check here.
And, for a better idea of the weirdness associated with this event, check out the registration video that appeared on the SSWC web site earlier this year:
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