Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships Report

The Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships were held last month in Portland, Oregon. If you're into singlespeed riding, cyclocross racing, or just want to see some crazy video about the shenanigans that go on at this sort of event in the Pacific Northwest, check it out.

Perhaps more hotly contested than the race itself was the competition to decide the host city of the event for next year. The contest involved an arcane and not-entirely understood-by-the-general-public series of three events: an open debate the night before the race, the race itself, and a mud-wrestling competition.

The host city contest was narrowed down to San Francisco and Seattle. The debate was held between Brian "Sally" Fornes of Seattle, who also happens to be the Marketing Manager for Raleigh Bicycles (based in nearby Kent, Washington). Arguing on the San Francisco side was Sheila Moon. Yes, THAT Sheila Moon, of Sheila Moon Athletic Apparel fame, not just some other woman who happened to be named Sheila Moon.

The race itself featured typical Northwest weather and conditions, as you see from this video shot by and featuring several other Raleigh employees (including the guy racing in his tighty-whities):

Raleigh SSCXWC from Saleigh on Vimeo.

As we reported last month, Raleigh held a give-away for a singlespeed cyclocross bike. Here's a video interview of the lucky winner:

Golden Ticket Winner from Saleigh on Vimeo.

I'm not sure how the mud-wrestling competition shook out, but if you can find any videos of that, please let me know. But somehow, in the end, Seattle was declared the winner, and will host the SSCXWC in 2010.