Pages

Thursday, October 11

SSWC Bound and Down

I'm leaving for SSWC '18 in Bend, OR early next week.  I don't expect to make an appearance here until I get back.

I'm sure I'll have stories to tell.

The ones I can remember.

Probably for the first time in the history of me attending a Single Speed World Championship, I had to choose between two very righteous single speeds.  It wasn't easy, but...

There are a few reasons to leave the Vassago Meatplow V.8 at home and bring the Vertigo Meatplow V.7 with me (well, send ahead of me VIA Bike Flights).

1. I heard the trails in the Bend area (the ones you can ride to from downtown) ain't all that gnarly.  I would need to swap tires and whatnot on the V.8 to something lighter and gear a little taller, lest I find a hungover me trying to lug too much bike around for six days.

2. I haven't ridden the V.7 since I got the V.8.  After Pisgah Monster Cross, I installed an ENVE Stem and bar, new ESI grips, and also replaced the rear brake lever with a new (functional?) one.  Then it got hung on the wall, and I've been enjoying the squishy happies I've been lacking since some time in June.  I miss riding this behk.

3. Sending the V.8 would mean no gnar riding the weekend before or the one after.  It would be in a box, and I'm pretty sure I'll be in Pisgah one or both of those weekends.  I want my Pisgah behk in Pisgah.

4. The V.7 was born in Oregon, and it seems like taking it to its birthplace is just the thing to do.  This is despite the fact that Tom from Vassago will be at SSWC but Sean (Vertigo) will not.  Certainly Tom will give me a hard time all week.  So will everyone else that knows me tho.

I guess it's worth mentioning that I packed the bike and shipped it thinking that it was geared 32 X 19 at Pisgah Monster Cross, but after a quick inventory of my cogs, I'm pretty sure it has an 18 on there.

Doh.

Mebbe I brang tools and cogs and mebbe I don't.  I have no visions of grandeur and glory, but I do plan on riding around town a lot... so 18 might be okay after all.

So, yeth.  Stoked to be going back to an SSWC after a.... nine year hiatus?  It's been that long since Durango?

Yeth.

It almost killed a forty year old me, so let's see how an almost fifty year old me can stand up to almost a week's worth of riding and debauching.

1 comment:

Eric Wever said...

Take pictures of the shame baskets for posterity