We have been doing a lot of hand-wringing lately on these pages about the state of cyclocross and what the future holds for the sport at the highest level. And amid a potential surfeit of conversations about creating development pathways for the next generation of world-class U.S. racers in an underfunded and resource-starved niche of racing, it’s important to remind ourselves that, at its core, this discipline is truly fun.
Sometimes it’s the type of fun born out of the difference between forgetting your umbrella and getting rained on for a few minutes, and being upset about getting your hair mussed up versus just throwing the umbrella away and embracing the soaking until it doesn’t matter. The latter is the magic of cyclocross. Just letting yourself be subsumed by the pain, and muck, and suffering, the stuff that gives credence to your friends, family and co-workers’ belief that you’re nuts.
But it’s also reliving those moments of pain and misery and muck with your cyclocross friends that brings us joy. It’s gathering in a park on a weekend afternoon, cheering on and gently heckling fellow racers, and knowing that in this special community of weirdos, you belong.
Enter the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships. This event started twenty years ago in Portland, Oregon. For year twenty, SSCXWC is back in the Pacific Northwest, with Bellingham, Washington, playing host.
The organizing committee reached out after reading Lies, Damn Lies and Cyclocross and listening to recent Cyclocross Radio shows, realizing they had an antidote for some of what ails cyclocross in the U.S. For this episode, I chatted with Kate Staver, Becca Book, Zach Hewell and Justin “Rez” Resnick, who are part of the crew bringing single-speed worlds to Bellingham.
My biggest takeaway from the conversation is that, as a community, we need to get back to our roots (and ruts) and support the events that are the foundation of American Cyclocross. If you can’t make it to SSCXWC in Bellingham, go race the single-speed race in your area, especially if you have never done one before. It will give you a whole new appreciation for the sport.
If you do want to go to Bellingham, and I really think you should, information on the event and the Beard Scholarship is available at SSCXWC26BHAM.com.
The episode is available at the links below or wherever you consume podcasts.
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