Single girls get dirty

Ok, so they may not all be single, but my good friends and riding buddies Rachel, Marjolein, Ashley, and their friend Natasha did get down and dirty (well, muddy really) on their singlespeeds at the Wainui 6 hour race a couple of weekends ago. Of course, Ashley couldn't let them just ride around; there had to be a dress-up involved, and the results were pretty attention grabbing. Pity I wasn't there to see it first hand, but the pictures tell a story, as does Rachel, who penned the following. Enjoy. (Brett)



Brett once told me about a couple of blogs that I ought to check out. This was one of them. That was back when I first started to ride a bike with one option of gearing, and there has been no new posts here since! So I suggested to Brett that I could write some words.



These words are about last weekend when Marj, Ash, Natasha and I went to ride around at the Wainuiomata Winter Weekender 6hr Worldz. Our team was sufficiently niche enough; female and on SS's. (We would have been niche with gears). Our original plan was to find a generator and a TV so we could attach Ash's X Box and play 'Rockband' the game. Three of us would be ripping it up vocally, drum padding and windmilling the power chords. The rider would tag team one of the band out. Disorganisation got the better of that idea. So we did the next best thing by dressing up as roller derby girls.



There is a lot of crossover in outfits between cyclists and skaters, so we blended in seamlessly. Marj got us off to the greatest start imaginable, she hurtled in for a smooth transition and saw us waving goodbye and good luck to Ashley on her trusty 1 full inch of travel, V-braked beauty. Natasha, or 'Naughtasha' to those who get it (Marj), caught me in idle and in the need of a hunt through the tent for necessary equipment.



The course was beautiful. Just the right amount of ups and downs and gaps in-between. The amount of cleaning to be done was substantial, but a whole lot less than what would've been necessary with a fully geared and suspended bike.





Winter is definitely a time for singlespeeds to shine. Brett's even talking of getting his one back from a garage somewhere in Aussie and I spied Marj eyeing up potentials on TradeMe (but not in work time).

Rachel.