Big Bikes

Lit Up Like a Big "Frickin" Whiny Xmas Tree

The above title refers to the prevailing sentiment being bandied about over on the MTBR forums regarding the registration situation for SSWC08 in Napa. I'm not going to go and post on the forum and add to the overwhelming negativity myself. I'll go ahead and say it...forums are (it seems to me generally) for whiny wankers who just sit around contradicting and correcting what other people say about any subject. A thread will stay positive for about two seconds and then it goes all to hell. "Ban! Ban!" Shut up. I hope the forum zombies have a sense of humor and don't pull out my viscera and eat my brain. I guess that type of thing happens with the Bloggers as well, in the form of comment abuse, but abuse seems to be ALL that forums are about.
Yes, I digress before I even bothered to try to make a point. My point is this...I was bummed when I got the rejection email from the SSWC guys. I was confused about why I didn't get in just like a lot of folks. That stage of the grieving process lasted all of ten minutes. Then I said, "Fuck it, I'm going anyway, I might get to race, I might not, but I'm going to go drink beer, get some rides in, and have a good time". This is a quote from an email I sent during that stage of the process:

"Either way, I'm going and I plan on racing.
It's worked out two out of two times thus far."

It's true, I didn't technically get in to either of the SSWC's I went to, and I raced them both. Going to Scotland with no guarantee I would get to race was a hell of a lot scarier than someone going to Napa in the same situation. Someone once said (maybe they said it more than once, I don't know) something like "The first step toward winning is showing up" or maybe it was "The first step toward whining is logging into your forum".

Dave from Dirt Church had this to say:

"Uh, of course the SSWC08 is closed out of registration already. And we didn't even know it was up. No big deal, we crash 'em all anyway".

There's no need to trash particular offenders over there at the MTBR forum I'm just addressing the general wankiness of it all, but I have to take issue with anyone who is taking swipes at the organizers themselves. Curtis from Retrotec is a super cool guy, he is an amazing frame builder, he can dance a sick Scottish jig, but he is not nor (as far as I know) are any of the SSWC08 Team professional race organizers. Thank god for that. I'll channel 2005 SSWC race organizer Eric Roman to address this issue:
"If you want timely results that go more than one deep...go do a NORBA. If you want a race broken up into six hundred and thirty seven separate age categories...go do a NORBA. If you want to win a pint glass and no money and not have to get a tattoo...go do a NORBA". Hey, another note from Eric's book - if you got a problem with the "official" SSWC, have your own race like Eric's "East Coast Single Speed Champioships of The Universe".

From the SSWC Wiki page:

Alternative Races

Many people unable to attend the annual World Championship or considering the venue or organizers as poor, have gone on to organize other SS races. These events have had names such as the Universe Single Speed Championships, the East Coast Single speed Championships of the Universe.

Ah, I'm about vented out, in closing, you can go on having a whinge, having a sook, (I don't even know what those words mean)or having a cry about it. Or you can make like Chopper,
"Harden the Fuck Up",and get your ass out to Napa for all the good times surrounding The SSWC's.