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August 29, 2008
Carl Decker Wins Single Speed World Championship
Carl Decker, two time Star Crossed winner, won the Mountain Bike Single Speed World Championship last weekend. Here is his report Napa, CA:
Since Adam Craig was in Beijing last weekend for some kind of sports festival thing, the hopes of a Nation would rest on my shoulders at one of the most (un)important events of 2008; the Single Speed World Championships(SSWC), held in Napa, California. This would be my fourth attempt at SSWD (SingleSpeedWorldDomination), and as it turns out, my most successful attempt to date.
Race day started out foggy and had me concerned, as my "race kit" consisted mostly of dental floss and good intentions. Fortunately the sun burned through and the weather was perfect. The Scottish contingent was suffocating from the heat. It was probably 79 degrees. After the usual LeMans style start, I was in maybe 50th place of the 400 racers. A little pedalling and cape crusading later, I was at the front with Barry and Mark Weir. Mark had a nice low gear and a 6" travel bike. He was haulin' ass. Weir led most of the race while B.Wicks and I were cheered on by the sizeable crowd, who were undeniably turned on by our dead sexy outfits. On the last lap I caught and dispatched Weir for the lead. At the top of the last descent, with an insurmountable gap, I stopped for a small sip of beer. With a half mile of flat gravel to go, I slapped Curtis, the race organizer on the bum as I lapped him. Curtis said "Good to see you guys" and I looked over my shoulder and saw Weir on my wheel. Cheeky bastard. At that point I had ridden 98% of the race in way too big of gear (34/16) and Weir had been picking daisies with his 32/18. So I pedaled away from the lycra-clad God Of Downieville, leaving him a view of my best parts and a fluttering cape.
After 30 minutes spent sipping beers and scrubbing my entire body with Tecnu poison oak remover, I headed to the Tatoo parlor with women's winner Rachel Lloyd to receive my hard earned reward. I was almost disappointed to see that the tatoo was kinda small. Almost.
Posted by tnbuck70 at August 29, 2008 08:50 PM