Sven Nys will be leaving Portland, Oregon, without the tattoo that the winners of Sunday's Single Speed Cyclo-cross World Championship are required to get, but watching the thrilled spectators who lined up to see, talk to and take selfies with the recently retired Belgian 'cross legend you'd never guess he didn't win the race.
Nys' last-minute appearance at the 10th annual Single Speed Cyclo-cross World Championships – an unsanctioned and highly irreverent three-day event that is probably best described as Burning Man meets bike racing – was a surprise that had been planned for some time. Although rumours had been running through Portland's 'cross-crazy cycling scene, it wasn't until Nys showed up for the packet pick-up on Friday evening that most people learned the two-time world champion was in town to compete for the 10th SSCXWC title.
"The Single Speed Cyclo-cross World Championships has been a pretty big event for years, and we thought it would be pretty cool to bring a big name here just to experience the event and see what's happening," said Scott Daubert of Trek, the bike company Nys represents as a brand ambassador. "He's really here just to participate in a historic event, a grassroots cyclo-cross thing."
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Over the last decade, the SSCXWC has been as much about performance art and conspicuous consumption of alcohol as it has been about racing. Organisers have sent riders through bubble machines, a 'Thunderdome' and at least one tub of hygienically questionable mystery liquid. Costumes are common, if not the rule, and the rules, such as they are, are openly flouted.
Champions – who win a "golden speedo" and are required to get a SSCXWC tattoo to immortalise the win – have over the years included Barry Wicks, Chris Jones, Sue Butler, Julie Krasniak, Mical Dyck and Mo Bruno Roy. But the undisputed king of SSCXWC is Adam Craig, the Bend, Oregon, rider who beat Nys on Sunday and now has five consecutive titles going back to 2012.
'I don't think I'm going to see this often'
Nys got his first taste of the craziness on Saturday during the one-lap qualifying races. On Sunday morning, he told Cyclingnews he was looking forward to the 50-minute championship race later that afternoon.
One spot shy of the required tattoo
— Sven Nys (@sven_nys) December 5, 2016
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