Team Iron Horse Extreme

Beer on the podium - nice touch!

It seems that not a great deal that I do gets under the radar these days. There I was thinking I’d just sneek back to one of my former playgrounds, whip round the woods with a number on my bars, enjoy the sunshine, see some old friends and then sneek back to Bristol undetected…

Just had a phone call from one of my sponsors who wanted the low-down on the singlespeed race I did at the weekend as the rumour he heard is that I won it and that I’ll be gunning for Neil Newells South Downs Double Single Speed record some time soon!!! So much for keeping a low profile! Ok, so here’s the story…

West Drayon Mountain Bike Club run a grass-roots xc meeting about this time each year at a venue that was once on my commute to work and back route. Being an ex-member of the club I like to keep in touch with a few of the club members and see what they are all doing from time to time. I noticed the event had a singlespeed cat so decided that was the sort of fun I’d hoped to get involved in when winning races was no longer the primary concern for my sponsors.

Rumours aside, I’m really glad that I went along. It was great to catch up with people and to visit a few of my old haunts. The weather was perfect and the trails almost dry for their most part. The club had done a great job with the course design which was a lot of fun for such a limited space and flat terrain. It was a great event.

Chris Denman, the organiser, looked a bit tense at times but did a great job and when he pulled out his single speed just before the start I knew he would be giving people a hard time. I’ve a great deal of respect for Chris and I can’t remember a day when he wasn’t pushing the pace and taking on all comers in any bike discipline I’ve seen him do. He was one of the riders I looked upto when I first moved to that area and joined the club. I don’t know how he stays so strong and motivated, inspirational.

I usually start the next paragraph with something like “I wasn’t expecting to go so well” or “I didn’t really know what to expect” but really I started dropping lines like that in when one of my team mates told me I was arrogant. What to say then? I’m a confident guy and I know I can go ok even if I’m not training so how do you say “I thought I’d be at the front somewhere” without sounding arrogant? any ideas?

So anyway, I lined up near the front, surrounded by West Drayton club members and listened to everyone as they discussed what gear set-up they had. I felt under-geared, it has to be said, as no one else seemed to be admitting to running anything near as easy as my 34/16. I hoped my fast cadence would be enough.

The horn started and we headed out into the woods. Singlespeed racing is ACE!!! The first lap was only about 14 minutes long but the lead changed hands several times and everytime someone attacked they struggled to make it stick as they just ran out of gear. It was almost comical. Chris was pushing the pace a lot and drove the lead group of four around for a lot of that lap. That guy is so strong that I knew I’d have to give it some proper beans if I wanted to get away.

Proper beans applied and I had a small gap on lap 2. Eventually I grew it and could ease back a bit but it was an interesting way to have to race having spent so many years plodding along at a constant rate. the course was great fun on a singlespeed and I simply loved every minute. Eventually came home the victor with Chris only about a minute back and with a healthy gap on his team mate in 3rd.

So yeah, I won a singlespeed race, wierd! Not sure that leads me to a singlespeed South Downs double attempt but who can really say what the future holds…

Rob