Back when I first learned that the SSWC was coming to town it was just the excuse I needed t0 shop for and ultimately purchase a dedicated single speed. It seems like just yesterday Pete and I were braving a snowstorm on our way to Jersey to pick up my new ride. Since making that trip way back in March the SSWC has been in the back of my mind as one of my most anticipated events of this season. I treated every ride on the Haro as a prelude of sorts to the big day. Well before I new it the months had blown by and I found the weekend was upon us. I’m not quit sure how an event you’re looking forward to so much can sneak up on you the way this one did.

Since Pete nor I had an abundance to time or cash to spend this weekend we chose to do this one as a day trip.We’d drive up the morning of, do the race and then turn around and come home. We knew it’d be a long day but it was either that or miss it all together. I know we missed out on some of the festivities surrounding the race but with so many events and priorities to balance you gotta make some sacrifices somewhere.

Since we were driving up just for the event this meant a wickedly early start to my Sunday morning. At 5am a familiar yellow GTI was in my parking lot and we were underway before I knew what hit me. Did I mention Grumpy J is not a morning person? Since Pete was kind enough to handle the driving duties I caught a few more much needed z’s on the way to State College. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Yahoo maps had way overestimated the driving time required. We arrived at the scene of the race with plenty of time to spare and much earlier than expected. This meant that the drive home wouldn’t be nearly as bad as feared.

The sheer number of folks in attendance didn’t truly dawn on me until I found myself in one hell of a crowd during the pre-race meeting. Despite understanding the need for it with a race field of this size I was still dismayed to learn we’d be doing a lengthy Lemands style start. Since I despise running even short distances I really hate Lemands style starts especially long ones. Pete and I hung back and pretty much did a walking start. With that many riders and bikes there was definitely some major league chaos occurring as people scrambled to find their bikes and get underway. One advantage to having hung back during the start was how easy it was to find my bike. I would soon find out the disadvantages to having hung back.

Pete and I managed to hang together for the first several miles but eventually we both had to settle into our own paces and I pushed on ahead. One of the most surreal moments of the race came fairly early on in the ride. I was chugging up a little uphill section and I looked over to see this big guy on a Gary Fisher Rig. Well since I’ve never seen so many Rigs in one place at one time I initially paid him no mind. It took a few seconds before I did a double take and realized that the big guy on the Rig was none other than Gary Fisher himself. This is another example of what a unique sport mountain biking truly is. Where else do amateur level competitors get to compete on the same playing field at the same time as the pros?

The first few miles taught me a couple of important lessons. The first was I had way underestimated the difficulty of the course. It was clear I was going to be in for a long hard day. The second lesson was why walking the Lemands start while good in theory was in fact a piss poor idea. As I found myself in a long line of single file riders that were walking many of the technical sections was regretting my decision. Most of the stuff a lot of folks were walking was completely rideable and even fun. Damn did all my track stand and slow speed practice that I’ve been doing pay off. At least I was able to ride the technical stuff even if it was at a snails paces. The first section of the course just seemed to roll on forever as I did my best to ride what I could and pass folks that couldn’t. It was a truly a test of both skill and patience. It was during those first few miles that I took my one and only tumble of the day. I was plowing along a rocky section when I lost my concentration for a second plowed my tire into a huge rock and found myself sailing over the bars. I landed hard on my right thigh and hand. Both bothered me for the rest of the day but luckily not badly enough to cause me to bail out. I was able to shake it off and keep rolling. I need to make a note of this and keep some Ibuprofen or something in my pack for instances like this. Eventually I kept painstakingly moving my way up in the pack until I got to a point I could find my rhythm and ride. I”d really like to come back and ride this stuff again and do it at my own pace so I can really enjoy it.

By the time I hit the first big climb I was able to really settle in and find my rhythm. Lots of folks were walking up the longish fire-road and gravel climbs so I just kept stomping away picking my way past folks as I went. I figured riding even slowly was both preferable and faster than walking. I wasn’t actually until well into the long climbs that I ran across any of my riding buddies. I first ran across Stoner on one of the longer climbs and a short time later I ran across my buddy Trevor. Seeing a couple of friends even if it was just briefly really helped give me a second wind which as it turns out I was going to need for what was still to come.

My favorite section of the course came in the form of the first steep and sketchy descent. I made up my mind at the top that I was either going to ride down it or tumble down trying. As luck would have it I made it down on the bike in one piece. In fact passed a ton of folks who were walking their way down in the process. I will confess the first downhill was a great deal more exhausting than any of the climbs had been on the day. My legs actually cramped a bit at the end of the second big downhill of the course. In all honesty I was really surprised to find myself riding these sections rather than walking, Just last year I could have never ridden this stuff on my full suspension geared bike, let along a single speed hard tail. It’s definitely nice to run up against something every now and then that really shows you that you’ve been making some progress in your riding.

By the time I finally crossed the finish line I was a worn out and a bit beaten up but overall no worse for the wear. At the finish line I ran into my buddy Joe F.. It’s always nice to see a friendly face or two at the end of a long hard ride. We chatted a bit and from there it was back to the parking lot to get ready for the long trip home. Pete rolled into the lot a short time after I did. The leg cramps that were plaguing him early on never went away and he was forced to bail at the 19 mile mark. Despite the bad luck Pete seemed to have had a great time on the ride. With a long drive ride ahead of us Pete and I cut our post ride festivities short in favor of getting home to see our wives. I would have liked to have stayed for more of the events surrounding the ride itself for sure but the main event itself was in fact more than worth the trip.

Despite having suffered a great deal more than I had anticipated I truly had a blast. Eric Roman and crew put together one hell of a fun event that truly lived up to all the positive buzz surrounding it. It was well worth the time and effort and even the super early morning start to attend this one. This may very well end up being a once in a lifetime event. I’m just glad I got to share it with so many good friends and have a damn great time in the process.

This entry was posted on 8/24/2005 at 8:07 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Posted in Ride Reports by Crashmore 3 Comments