Wrap Up
World Champs Crowned for Single Speed Cyclocross By Matt Karre
A muddy and unusual single speed ‘cross event found the newest World Champions Sunday. Canadian Drew MacKenzie won the second annual Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships (SSCXWC) in Portland, OR. MacKenzie bested some big names, like Ryan Trebon, Nat Ross, Steve Fassbinder and Adam Craig, more familiar to cycling headlines. Sue Butler took top honors in the women’s race, winning a come from behind battle.
The SSCXWC began Saturday with a time trial qualifier in Portland’s Forest Park. Racers had to climb about 2 miles of fire road before turning right and descending a twisty section of single track with slick, rocky corners. Fastest times were just under 12 minutes, with Kevin Hulick taking the top qualifying spot and MacKenzie second. Sue Butler won the women’s qualifier followed by Joele Guynup.
The main event on Sunday afternoon showcased a new form of course design, obstacles and start line call-ups. Giving no one an unfair advantage, promoters lined up all the racers in a long line across the infield. Complete with a real drum roll provided by Drum Corps, racers awaited the start gun for a mad, Braveheart like charge for the hole shot. 100 men spread wide quickly had to squeeze into a section no wider than a Cyclocross barrier. Local hero and style master Matthew Slaven, dressed as a Hooter’s Girl, blasted to the hole shot, driving toward the first barrier at about 30 mph. He promptly bunny hopped the barrier into the courses most unique obstacle, an eight foot tall, 12 foot wide foam bubble machine that created a wall of suds. Slaven plowed through the foam not really knowing what awaited him on the other side. “I felt like I was in a waterbirth. A foamy, bubbly water birth,” Slaven said. Trying to hold Slaven’s wheel, one racer narrowly missed his bunny hop attempt catching his front wheel and flipping over in a spectacular crash through the foam fountain. This allowed Slaven a huge lead that he held for a couple laps before dropping his chain during a double barrier bunny hop. He finished 4th.
Following the foam was a quick descent into a steep run up with barriers, topped with a huge windmill directly on the course. Racers had to navigate between the rotating fan blades before remounting and descending a slick, off camber curve. During a later lap Kelly Ryan, in a beautiful display of love and kinship and team tactics, took a beer hand up from his wife while his brother ran his bike up the hill. Ryan flawlessly remounted and rolled away among great cheering.
The backside of the course was sloppy, thick and very slow going. While generally rideable, the four inch deep, thirty foot long mud puddle followed by a lengthy flat section of what could have been peanut butter and molasses, found many single speeders wishing for lower gears.
Olympic mountain biker Adam Craig hit the start line on a slightly modified version of his usual Giant ‘cross bike. It was, of course, single speed but Craig had a partner in crime. Attached to his bike was a tag-a-long trailer bike ridden by Tina Brubaker (who happened to be wearing his Short Track national champion skin suit). Technically not a tandem and not truly two bikes, the two raced around the course with surprising grace and speed, even trying to bunny hop the Vault. Trebon came to Portland with winning in mind. After winning two previous races, the Cross Crusade single speed race and Category A race, Trebon found himself caught behind the initial pile-up and was unable to catch the lead group.
While Craig may have had a unique racing bike, many other racers competed perhaps without speed in mind. One strong man raced on a Surly Big Dummy, a 45 plus pound long tail cargo bike converted to single speed. Another wore an outfit best called lots of moss. A crowd favorite wore PBaRmor, a knight suit made of PBR cans. Perhaps the slowest contender was Brody Boeger riding a plastic pony mounted to a 20 inch kid’s bike. Many donned bikini briefs. One man wore a women’s one piece bathing suit. Last year’s winner Wendy Williams wore her world champion bikini.
The women’s race saw crowd favorite Megan Farris take a huge early lead. Destined for victory, Farris suffered an untimely flat that allowed Butler and Williams to pass her. Over thirty racers qualified . Butler, Williams and Farris caught and passed most of the men’s field even after starting 30 seconds behind.
In the end, after too much fun and chaos, the champions prevailed. Sue Butler takes home the coveted Champion bikini, a Pereira Cycles custom frame and the SSCXWC tattoo. Butler reportedly made an appointment for her tattoo the day after the race. Drew MacKenzie is the proud new owner of the golden Speedo, a SpeedVagen from Vanilla Bicycles and an SSCXWC tattoo. The racers and thousands (seriously) of spectators agreed that the event was an unprecedented show stopper. A great time was had by all and the spirit of Cyclocross continues that much stronger.
Results
Top 5 men:
Drew MacKenzie
Craig Etheridge
Soloman Woras
Matthew Slaven
Jacob Rathe
Top 3 Women:
Sue Butler
Wendy Williams
Megan Farris
Saturday
Saturday - Time Trial Qualifier
Please be at Chris King to check in at 10am. We will be announcing the time trial location at 11pm with some other very important announcements (for your friends that have not registered, registration day of is $50 and is from 9am - 10:30)
King Cycle Group | 2801 NW Nela St. | Portland, OR | (503) 972-4050 | Map
Key points for the time trial:
- We will be riding to the venue from Chris King so tubular wheels are not a good idea
- There are no pits for the time trial (regular pit for the main race on Sunday)
- Everything is easy to get to by bike
- Sunday will be the spectator friendly race not Saturday
- Weather is supposed to be wet and cold, please bring a lot of extra clothing as well as a change of clothing. A backpack would be a good idea to cart clothing to and from the time trial. We will be staging hosts to take people to the venue at different times so if you have a later start time you won’t have to stand around in the wet/cold. We will be leaving Chris King every 30 minutes so make sure if you don’t know the area that you get with a host for your staged time. We will also have a host taking people to Lucky Lab every 30-45 minutes after people are finishing their time trials. This is optional, but a good place to warm up, get some food and a beer before the evenings festivities.
Lucky Labrador Beer Hall | 1945 NW Quimby St. | Portland, OR | (503) 517-4352 | Map
Saturday Evening Shenanigans - Hosted by Vanilla Bicycles
- Cross Crusade is bringing a keg and it will be tapped at Vanilla at 5pm
Vanilla Bicycle Co | 717 SE 35th Ave. | Portland, OR | (503) 233-2453 | Map
- Details of the Last Chance Race will be announced at Vanilla, and the race will begin at 6:30. You’ll need to have a bike with you if you hope to participate in the Last Chance Race.
- The best pub crawl ever…will be hosted by Team Beer (who else could host the best pub crawl ever) they will be departing after dodge ball at 8:45
Sunday
Sunday - Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships at Portland International Raceway
- We again pulled off free beer, thanks to Pabst Blue Ribbon. There will be a beer garden all day. They will be carding so please bring your ID’s if you expect to have a couple of beers.
- Please bring a designated driver if you will be drinking. PIR is easy to ride to, no driving necessary
- If you do not qualify for the world championship race you can do the regular cross crusade single speed race - OBRA requires a license to race in Oregon. If you are traveling from out of state and do not have an OBRA license (different from USA cycling or UCI) you must purchase a one day license at the bargain price of $5. This will only be required on Sunday. You must check in at registration to get your number. The race will start staging at 3:50 and starts at 4pm
If you ordered t-shirts you can pick them up at check in on the day of the time trial. For those that did not order a t-shirt, they will be available at Chris King for $25. Thank you and we will see you all this weekend!
Crap
Shirts and other goods will be coming soon…
Map
Pics
