2015’s Single Speed Cross World Championships coming to Victoria’s Western Speedway this weekend
This weekend, Nov. 21 and 22, Victoria, B.C will serve as host. And as ever, there are only two rules: everyone must qualify to race on a bike with one gear, and if you win, you have to get inked.
For the first time in its history, the Single Speed Cross World Championships of 2015 will be held in a city outside the United States. Further attesting to the fever-pitch popularity of the discipline north of the border, this year’s competition — continuing a tradition of both celebrating and showcasing the more “ridiculous,” hard-riding aspects of single-speed ‘cross, to quote the event’s website — is coming to Canada.
This weekend, Nov. 21 and 22, Vancouver Island will serve as host, as the championships come to Victoria, B.C. And as ever, there are only two rules: everyone must qualify to race on a bike with one gear, and if you win, you have to get inked.
“Other than those simple rules,” the website reads, “all bets are off.”
A weekend devoted to the wildest, most devil-may-care spirit of cyclocross, events kick off Friday at noon Pacific time, with the “Good Stuff” cyclocross group ride, exploring the picturesque coastal trails of Victoria. Competition then officially rolls out on Saturday, beginning at 10 am and continuing until 12:30 with SSCXWC Feats of Strength presented by Pearl Izumia, the 30-kilometre, three-hour qualifying event for Sunday’s action. Single-speed ‘cross mayhem then concludes at Western Speedway with Sunday’s “Everyone’s NOT a winner” consolation race, followed by the Women’s SSCXWC throw down at 1:30 and the Men’s SSCXWC debacle at 2:30.
Described as “raw Canadiana,” Western Speedway features an asphalt track, challenging dirt berms, grass and mud segments, and an overall course that winds through a wild series of cambers and surfaces — the ideal track for an event with the Single Speed Cross World Championship’s reputation for rough-and-tumble riding. Since 2011, the Victoria-area venue has hosted a number of events, a list that notably includes Cross on the Rock since 2011.
As in each year since the event’s inception, organizers have a simple warning for competing riders: don’t win if you don’t want the tattoo. Unlike other competitions, whose winners often receive commemorating items like special jerseys, those who emerge victorious from the world championship ‘cross track are forced to receive either a tattoo or branding — something no rider has so far resisted, reports say.
