Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships 2011 - Qualifying Ride

[Jim Hewett]

As luck would have it, the San Francisco installment of the SSCXWC happened to be while I was racing cyclocross.  I love to ride single speeds, so I had to overcome my distaste for "ironic racing" and check it out.

Saturday was the qualification process, as they had hundreds of people that wanted to race and only 150 spots for the main event.  I was encouraged that there was a qualification process, as that did suggest a level of raceworthiness that has always been lacking with the mountain bike version of this same event.

I showed up at Mojo Bike Cafe on Saturday under cloudy skies and left with my qualifying group of 10 or so riders, all on the singlespeed 'cross bikes we would be racing the next day.  Though it was quite cold and looked like it might rain on us at any time, we were told we would be out for around 2.5 hours.  Our guide Toby would be leading us around the city to see the sights and hit the 5 locations for the "feats of strength" that would weed out the worthy from the more worthy.  It was actually my first time riding around the city on a bicycle, though I live just over the Golden Gate Bridge.  This was as novel to me as it was to my ride mates, who hailed from Denver, Bozeman, Logan, Santa Rosa, and beyond.

We took a leisurely cruise on market and made a stop for beer and coffee at a bike shop (I abstained from both).  After our stop we made our way casually to the first feat, where we were quickly instructed we must climb a super steep four block section of California Avenue, first finishers scoring highest - GO!  I stood up and mashed, running a redlight and dodging through pedestrians at two intersections.  As I approached the last block, it really hit me how wrong my gearing was for the grade.  The thought of getting off and pushing entered my head, but I saw the finish and kicked it in to come in first place by quite a bit.  I was immediately sorry that I had done that and started to see stars.  No warmup to full competitive throttle on a very steep hill with 36x15 gearing was not the way I usually prepare for the next day's race, but I wasn't really sure what the details were on the qualification process and I wanted to do as well as possible in hopes of some type of starting position advantage.  We regrouped and recovered at the top of this hill and rode on over to a park.

At the park, we were instructed to remove our front wheels and lay them beside our bikes on the ground.  We then lined up and proceeded to sprint to our bikes and remount our wheels.  The advantage I had in using a disc wheel (no cantilever cable to reconnect) was negated by my use of bolt on skewers.  I was not the first to start the last riding portion of the feat and came in a discouraging 6th place.  Oh, well.  Three more to go.

We rode over to the Presidio and up to Lyon Street.  We were briefed on the next feat, which involved sprinting on our bikes to the start of a long set of stairs (280 of them) and running to the top with our bikes.  Seemed like it would be important to be the first one to the stairs, as passing didn't look too easy.  I hammered it on the sprint and shouldered my bike and started climbing.  Up, up, up.  I reached the top out of breath but in first place.  Definitely the runup from hell!

We rode down the hill to Crissy Field and over to the Roaring Mouse bicycle shop for our fourth feat of strength.  This would involve a skill I have never actually used in a race - grabbing dollar bills out of beer cans.  This would be done on foot and again we went from cold to sprinting hard in cycling shoes.  I was the first to get three bills and back to the start, but I immediately felt a twinge behind my right thigh muscle - the hint of a strain.  The victory had come at a cost and I didn't even get to keep the three dollars!

We climbed up to the bridge and around to the ocean side for some great views, then rode down to Ocean Beach for the last feat of strength.  They lined us up ankle deep in the Pacific Ocean and we all sprinted in the sand with our bikes on our shoulders to a short but sandy runup.  I came in second, giving me a pretty high score for the qualifier and insuring that I would have a place in the big race on Sunday.  Thankfully, none of the feats had involved drinking alcohol!

The group made its way back over to Divisadero and the cafe, arriving four hours after we had left.  I had barely taken enough food and not enough water for 2.5 hours, so 4 hours out had left me a bit depleted.  It was nice to socialize with the rest of the group, though, and I enjoyed the experience.

My friend Sam and I attended the party at Sports Basement that night, where Pixiecross was the main event.  Looked pretty violent.  I saw that I had qualified for Sunday's race and enjoyed hanging out with some old and new friends from the 'cross scene.  I made it home in time to get to bed by 11:00, pretty exhausted from my "leisurely" day of riding.  The rain had begun and it looked like we would actually have wet conditions for a 'cross race in NorCal!