Dear Lord,

It's me...Sally.
I'll never ask anything from you ever again...if you could PLEASE stop pictures from SSCXWC from showing up on the Internet.
Thank you.

{Boy do I know how to debate!}

{it felt this trippy...}

{when they say run up...they mean it}

{I can still hear this body slam when I close my eyes}

{ummmmmm....yeah.....}

{Enouragement for the ladies?}

My good friend (????) Kelsey is responsible for ALL of this. You can see more pictures and his write up here or if your smart...you'll skip that debauchery and check out his amazing book Kwa Zulu and place an order.

Why?

Dear Lord Why? Knowing full well what is going to happen to me at SSCXWC every year...Why do I go? I liken it to the Laboratory Hamster who just can't figure out why the pellet dispenser continually shocks it...time...after time...after time... It just keeps going back for more.

This year, was different.
This year, was going to be the last year it was going to be in Portland.
This year, after the mud was removed and the hang over wore off...the knowledge would sink in that SSCXWC would be in a different city.
This year it would be traveling to either Seattle or San Francisco after a 3 part battle. A debate. A race. A gladiator battle.
This year, was going to be special.

Debate.
Why I was chosen to be the Seattle Debater is well beyond me. I was the only person in Seattle who was actually arguing against hosting SSCXWC. Alas, my arguments fell upon drunk ears and the debate concluded with a beer in hand and a "Shut Up Sally. We're going to win it".
I'd go into the details of the debate...if I remembered.
I remember I was debating Shelia Moon of Shelia Moon fame.
I remember my superhuman ability to silence an entire crowd of enthusiastic Seattlites with a simple wave of my hand.
After that it seems I pulled a "Frank the Tank" and blacked out during the entire thing...and yet managed to pull off the victory.
Stevil cited..."Watching the debate was like getting hit in the balls with a chalkboard that had nails dragging across it."
And CyclocrossBuild (later reported in CXMagzine) said..."Fornes better fit the singlespeeder’s mindset...Fornes sported a cycling cap with a Seattle Sasquatch doing unsavory things to a Portland unicorn, quaffed a bunch of beer when asked about his favorite beverage, rides his company’s Raleigh Rainier, and spoke to this group’s longing for inclement weather. Combined with Fornes’ own energy and his enthusiastic entourage and Seattle looked to be gaining momentum early."

Again...I really don't remember much of it. Mainly because I was spending way to much time, and going through too many $ingle$ with these two...




Race.
The race reports are everywhere.
And while the Eskimos have some 30 different names for snow...the PacNW has the equivalent for mud. All the different kinds were present. It was everywhere. It got in everywhere.

Who really won this event? Hell if I know.



Gladiator Battle.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
I don't know who the girl was that SF put into the thick of it all (mud)...but she was awesome! She survived the body slam heard round the Dome. A face full of mud. And multiple body bow-ties to emerge victorious.

It was glorious.

All things told...Seattle is hosting SSCXWC next year. Portland has made some big pants to fill over the last 3 years. But I think we've got the right stuff to fill'em.

Spread the word, and start your planning...I know we already are.

{Click the Brown Bear at 2pm…there will be a Live announcement Here and Here the site will be blank until it’s time so no one can cheat}

Spread the word. At 2PM Pacific Standard Time the SSCXWC framesets will go live. Click on the banner above to go straight to the site and get ready to order yours.

In the truest form of “Limited Edition” there will be only 50 of these Single Speed CycloCross beauties that will EVER be sold. And in the truest spirit of SSCXWC, there is 1 random white frame in the batch. And to that one lucky person who opens their frame box and receives the White frame, Chris King has provided the gear, and Shimano America has generously donated a complete SS build kit that will be the envy of every cross dressing racer at the WC this fall. (honestly…Di2 brake levers!?!?!?!)


Raleigh is extremely proud to have partnered with the crew at SSCXWC in creating this frameset and this promotion. We at Raleigh so enjoy this event (alright, Brian REALLY enjoys this event) and the inspiration that it has provided us, that we will be donating 100% of the profits of these framesets to the event itself. Yup…you read that correctly. 100% of the profits from this promotion will go directly to the crew at SSCXWC. The hope is to see this event grow, expand, travel and to encourage more people to try the crazy sport of Cyclocross.

Remember…once they’re gone…they’re gone.

We can’t wait to see what the host city next year will do.

Good Luck.

as a technical side note for anyone wondering…due to the unique nature of this promotion, please understand that any valid warranties will be handled with a suitable replacement.

Technical Difficulties

We apologize as we are experiencing some Technical Difficulties in getting the SSCXWC framesets up for sale. We are working on a solution to this and hope to have more information up very soon.

What you need to know for right now…

Yes. The framesets will still be made available to purchase.

Maybe. They will be up today.

Hopefully. They will be up by the end of the week.

Yes. I will update this site. The Raleigh Bicycles blog site. Raleigh Face Book. RaleighBicycles Twitter. Raleighs_Sally Twitter. And I will release the information to multiple bicycle news sources and blogs once everything is in place.

Thank you for understanding. We want this to go as smoothly and as fair as possible.

Misplaced Dignity

Much like waking up in a strange place.
Feeling like someone left a hairdryer on in my mouth.
Head pounding.
Pants missing.
Covered head to toe in shame.
I've been on the recovery trail of a wicked blog party. And much like every good party, I've had a hangover that's gripped me tight like a chubby kid to a piece of cake.

For better or worse...I think I'm coming around and coming out of hiding. Massive amounts of bacon, Mountain Dew, and the idea of getting muddy again this fall have been my Ibuprofen. With that...I want to make sure ya'll know that registration is now open for the best time you'll never remember...



Sign up now. It's the best regret you'll ever have.


To get you ready for it...I've been hard at work (drinking) and soon...very soon...I will be unleashing a SSCX frame and promotion the likes the cycling community have never seen. To give you an idea...think "Willy Wonka" and that magical Golden Ticket.

{start saving your pennies...you're going to want in on this}

Much...much more to follow.

One Last Parting Shot...

I see Orange Shorts EVERYWHERE!

Now...back to our regularly scheduled blogging...

UPDATE>>>I almost forgot to add the link with some of the prettiest pictures in cross. Check out PDXCross.

Alright...

life still feels like I'm looking through empty pint glasses for goggles. I've been reading so many posts, articles, blogs, scrolls, and parchments about SSCXWC that you'd think I'd have my story straight. But it's no where close to making sense right now. Reading other people's accounts has only clouded my memories of what I saw and did, that I might be blending in other people's stories to create a magical tale that is only lacking leprechauns right now.

So today I turned to my camera for some clarity. After all...if I can't trust my own camera...who can I trust?

Scrolling through the photos I recall that I took absolutely NO PHOTOS of Saturdays time trial. The rain was falling faster and harder than the stock market lately. I do recall setting up a tent. I also recall Team Beer hanging out under my tent. And I remember Team Beer drinking all the beer I had in my car at 10am in the morning. This was verified later by CXMagazine...

"The...thing about the SSCXWC is that qualifying doesn’t require anything superfluous like “points” or “winning” or being Belgian. That’s why I’m standing in the parking lot of Chris King components looking at guys in Rainier jumpsuits who are drinking beer at ten in the morning."

The nerve of those Team Beer guys! Anyway...

The ride to the start was awesome. Just what everyone needed to get warmed up before hurling themselves on the snot covered course for 13 minutes. Unfortunately, the 30+minute wait we all had before we started gave us plenty of time to cool down.

The course went up until you were ready to puke. Then you were handed up a shot of Tequila and you really wanted to puke. Then you descended like a tripod around the grease covered corners. Crossed the finish line and prayed you didn't puke.

The top 100 qualified...unfortunately not everyone from Hot Cross Buns qualified.

Fortunately, in true SSCXWC style, they offered other opportunities to qualify. The first being a quick Alley Cat style race around Portland that started at Vanilla and included a stop at Mount Tabor, Voodoo Donut, and someones house to grab a PBR. Upon returning to the studio the donut was inhaled and beer slammed to qualify. (2 more HCB's racers qualified here)

{What a crew...can you spot the Kiss Kross shirt?}

The second way was to be the last person standing in the pub crawl hosted by Team Beer. (I still can't believe they drank it all!) One of our troop thought he could win this...I wish he would have done the Alley Cat...because I saw things that nite that will haunt me forever.

{Sabotage...reunited and it feels soooo good}

The first being Steve Fassbinder showing us all he could use a little "manscaping".

The second was my good friend Higgins receive a birth day lap dance by the biggest Zoo Bomber in Portland.

The third was a Zoo Bomber version of "Chicken". In which 2 hetero males "fight" seductively and try to make their opponent 'turn away'. (I'm still at a loss for words how to properly describe this)

{What not to say to a Team Beer member...while slurring}

{I can drink you under the table!}

Saturday was everything you can imagine and more. It truly is something to be experienced. The "crack" team I assembled was awesome. Their energy and enthusiasm for this was unmatched. Everyone in costume. Everyone participating. Almost everyone either on a RX 1.0, One-Way, or a Rainier...(which THIS girl won at the end of the event(i think she was psyched))

Results...well...we had 2 Hot Cross Buns dressed riders in the top 5. The rest were littered through the results like so many beer cans on the course. And one DQ.

{shouldn't someone be yelling at us about our Freedom?!}

{like lambs to the slaughter}

{How could I be DQ'd!?!?}

{I can hear mechanics everywhere groaning right now...it had to be done!}

I think one of the emails I received summed up the event pretty well.

Maybe it's because you sent Mr. "Munson" over the edge on Sunday. Good lord, it was like trying to corral a 3 year old after a bath. Dude stripped down in the parking lot and was running around trying to clean the mud off of himself with a 5 gallon jug. Not caring who he ran across, or past. Then again G running around in his thong was much, much worse.

I don't know who the "you" is that this email speaks of...but they know who they are and I'm sure the guilt they feel far out ways any punishment they could receive.

To polish off our SSCXWC experience we honkered down in a fine PDX establishment, tried to order Rainiers...but they were out. All they had was Hamm's....hmmmm...I wonder what a Hamm's painted cross bike would look like?

Till next year...