Single Speed World Cup 2007, Aviemore Scotland

Aviemore...
There is something about riding singlespeed bikes that I have never been able to get out of my blood. It started in 2001 when Swedish Mike (of HammerHead fame) and some of the 855heads met up and nailed the trails in Wales, UK - the singlespeeders and the 855heads just had that hard-to-describe vibe about biking and camaraderie that turns a ride into one of those rides that you tell tales about in years to come.

Mike, his brother Jase and Dangerous Andy travelled to Scotland - not to race and consider tyre choices, gear ratios - but to just be here, do some riding and have plenty of tales to tell.

In the spirit of it all, I got my tired old Proflex 856, gave it a shonky lick of paint and made sure that it had authentic Girvin Chubbie forks customized with the latest XT disk brakes.

the trails..
Maybe I'm a little biased in calling Scotland the best mountain biking country on earth - but it is. The government here are pro-mountain biking and we are allowed to ride anywhere - the government sponsor lots of trails and riders are free to make their own trail into the back country.

The SSWC2007 trail was deeply technical - a real hit with all the riders although, really steep, a 14km offroad ride and 1000ft vertical climb to even get to the start of it! The trail was mostly singletrack that was rooty, slippery and had big step down rocks and steep technical sections that I'd feel more at home riding off on a freeride bike.

This is Mike on the 29" Singular bike that Sam from Singular bikes lent him for the race. It was so good he bought it! The 29" bike was amazing to ride - the big wheels make off road riding so much easier and it was a very light bike...

the life...
It's not all about riding... the nightlife was pretty intense. The Vault - a local hotspot became a favourite for the singlespeeders. A hen party crashed our party - the bride-to-be was soon covered in Rapid Descent Scotland stickers and eventually had a SURLY sticker on her face and high on her legs...

There is something magically disturbing about a bride being branded... anything goes at SSWC.

We ran the beer stop at this years race. We took 100 big cans of beer up and dumped them in the forest on the day before the race and made a layby half way round thr course for refreshments. Which other race would you get the leaders stopping for a drink on their way round?

Next year it is at Napa in California, we'll be there.

summarising: drank loads, shouted, ate curry, did some riding.