The Ballyhoo Known as SSCXWC

This weekend the Portland Single Speed Collective put on a cross race for the history books. The race is know to the locals as SSCXWC, which stands for Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships. In the second year of it's original conception by Dani Dance and Matt Slaven it was a spectacle to see. If you were not in Portland for this event I invite you to check out the pictures and videos below.

The week brought plenty of the northwest rain to entrench the course in some peanut buttery mud. But, once Sunday came alive the rain got replaced by crowds of spectators. Starting at 9am over a thousand racers took part in the Cross Crusades sixth race of the series. Every racer of the day came across muddy with a smile from ear to ear.

After the Cross Crusade races the infamous SSCXWC race was to begin. The Yakima Bike Vigilantes packed some special treats to take down any racer coming out to take SSCXWC seriously. The intention was simple, we came to piss off the serious racer and bring a smile to every one else.

At the start racers were dressed in everything imaginable, men as women, women as birds, racers in fur, wife beaters, bathing suits, beer cans and anything else you can imagine. The starting process was pretty simple, everyone is in the front row. We lined up in a field 160 wide, drag race style heading to a 12 food wide section 100 yards ahead. The view was amazing, bleachers to the left, a tall metal fence to the right, and I giant blob of a white blur right in the middle. The racers all scratching their heads, what is that white stuff? Are we going to ride through that? Is that whip cream? Their was no way around it, we all had to go right for it with no idea what was on the other side. We sprinted right for it and everyone disappeared into the first ever cyclocross foam pit.





The next treat the Yakima Bike Vigilantes packed was a giant put-put style widmill at the top of the climb. The enormous propellers spun while racers had to dodge them while running with their bikes. In the opening lap the run up was like nothing I've ever seen. The Windmill of Death was taking out riders left and right while were all pushed as wide as the tape would let us go. It came to a stand still as I looked to my left all I could do was shrug my shoulders at Ryan Trebon from Kona.


Every lap got more and more insane, we got pummeled with beer, we got spanked, we got heckled, we got kissed, we got smoke bombs in our lungs. It was the wildest racing experience any of us had ever seen. In the end we smiled and told stories of all the insanity of the days events. In the end the Yakima Bike Vigilantes took home some new world title numbers, see below.



Thank you to everyone that put this together, the racers and most importantly the spectators who turned Portland into the wonderful little Europe it became on Sunday. I invite you to take a look at the images, videos and stories below.

>>> Dirt Rag Story

>>> A Collection of Photos

>>> PDXcross Photos

>>> Bicycling Magazine Story

>>> CX Magazine Story

>>> Bike Portland Story

>>> Dave Roth Photos

>>> Full Results



Thank you,

Dylan VanWeelden and the Bike Vigilantes