To cap off our week of not having our kiddo, George and I headed down to New Windsor, NY for Singlespeed-apalooza. It was awesome to look forward to another singlespeed specific race and the date couldn’t of worked out better for us as it put us in a perfect location to get back the kid from the grandparents.

On Saturday I convinced George to close the shop early so we could get down there with enough time to pre-ride the course. The rumors I heard were true, the course was wicked fast with a downhill-esque start, not really any climbing and really fast, but still interesting trails.

It was dry as a bone and we had a blast on the pre-ride. But my fears were confirmed, my gearing was wrong. All wrong. I was kicking myself because I should have put on a 19 or even an 18 tooth cog. As it stood I expected to get spun out and spit out the back at the start.

We grabbed dinner with friends from far away and stayed up late drinking beers and tequila and planning to take over the world with grassroots 29er teams. Someone looked out the window and said, “oh look, it’s raining.” And raining it was, still, when I woke up at 6 the next morning.


inside the factory SSAP

I hadn’t been able to make a gear change happen, so I was running what I brung. and I made sure to get a good placement in the start clump as i wanted to go into the singletrack in a good position. We were off and i felt good. Passed lots of guys, was only passed by a couple guys at the beginning in the mud section. Didn’t see any women anywhere, thought I was probably the first sport woman but not entirely certain and decided to just keep hammering as best I could.

2nd time through, more muddier

The second lap was even muddier, there was one section that was now unrideable. I came upon and passed a woman in the open class who let me know that i was the first sport woman to come by. So i picked up the pace and then passed another open woman. Tryed to keep surfing the fun, flowy course and to not slow down. My bike was almost twice as heavy due to the mud and that was definitely making my legs more tired. Happy to see the sections go by, still no other women in view. Crossed the finish line as the 1st sport woman — soaking wet, covered in mud, and completely in need of a beer.

there's that 18t cog i was looking for on saturday

there's that 18t cog i was looking for on saturday

Dark Horse did an excellent job on this event. It was fun and easy going with a cool course that included a section through an old factory and a stair run-up with Homer Simpson at the top. Thanks to Mike and George for putting on such a great event and also to the sponsors. For my trouble I walked away with a snazzy new Cane Creek headset, a set of SS Stan’s NoTubes wheels of my choice and a fancy trophy.